The situation in the studio Lucasfilm is a puzzle, and insiders throw up new pieces of the mosaic. Another piece of information sheds light on the conflict around the series “Mandalorets “. This project is the flagship of the streaming platform. Disney +However, not everyone knows that the series was born in agony.
Lucas’s unfulfilled dreams
Back in 2005 George Lucas announced a series Star Wars: Underworld. Events were supposed to unfold between events “Revenge of the Sith“and”New hope“. The main scene was planned to make the lower levels of Coruscant, where the dregs of society and criminal authorities live.
Producer Rick McCallum called underworld “Deadwood in space“. The story was supposed to ride between many characters, and cameos of famous heroes were expected. In particular, a mercenary also appeared in the story Boba Fett.
The game was associated with the series Star Wars 1313, the first trailer of which blew dust, because the bounty hunter was supposed to be the protagonist, and the main location was the lower levels of Coruscant. Unfortunately, both projects were eventually phased out.
The fate of the character himself was also difficult. Despite the fact that the rules of the universe dictated by the canon existed at Lucasfilm “Star wars“, Lucas could well replace individual elements. Therefore, Fett’s biography has changed several times.
Initially, it was positioned as a mercenary who acquired a unique armor. Then he became a clone of the Mandalorian Django Fetta. However, in the end, in the animated series “The Clone Wars“a scene has appeared in which the Mandalorians call Django an impostor.
As the head of animation projects told Dave Filoni, the order came from George Lucas himself. But this contradicted the comics and books that said that Django Fett was not only born in the Mandalore sector, but also received the title Mand’alora (leader of all Mandalorians). Later, Bob also wore the title, and it was the elite mercenaries who trained the Republic’s Great Army.
The Clone Wars redid the history of the mercenaries and the history of Mandalore again. And after the transfer of franchise rights to Disney a new canon was created in which there was a place for the animated series, but not for books and comics. In addition, the very concept of Mandalorians has changed, as seen in the Clone Wars and the first season “Mandalorian“
However, Bob Fett should not be discounted, because the character is still loved by fans. According to The hollywood reporter, at “Mandalorets Season 2“expect a full-fledged appearance of a mercenary. His role will be played by an actor Temuera Morrisonwho played and voiced Django Fett and his adult clones.
Trancostropha
Despite all of the above problems, Lucasfilm was interested in the Bob Fett project. And the young director made the engine Josh Trank.
Having shot the low-budget film “The Chronicles“, Trunk has become one of the most sought-after filmmakers in Hollywood. As a result, the studio Fox invited him to work on “Fantastic Four“. The project was problematic, because in order to preserve the studio’s license it was necessary to release the tape by a certain date. The director was given a huge credit of trust, but that one did not justify it.
However, even before the production of the film, the producer Simon Kinberg (responsible for projects Marvel at Fox) recommended the head of Lucasfilm Kathleen Kennedy approve Trunk as director of the Star Wars spin-off. The filmmaker was eager to make a film about Bob Fett, but before preparation for the project began, there were rumors in Hollywood that the Fantastic Four were experiencing huge problems.
As it turned out later, the main one was Josh Trank himself, who rejected the ideas of the scriptwriters and started making the film without having the third act in his hands. As a result, all this led to a disaster, which the director only aggravated by publishing a message on social networks in which he transferred the blame to the studio. It cost Fox about 10 million dollars in fees, and Trunk got a black mark.
Later it became known that Trunk refused the Bob Fett movie, citing illness. However, in a recent interview Polygondedicated to his new film “Face with a scar“, the director admitted that if he had not left, Kennedy would have fired him.
The departure of Josh Trank put an end to the film, which went to production hell and eventually reborn as a “Mandalore.” However, he also became Kennedy’s first personnel failure. After that were Gareth Edwards (“Outcast One“has been redone Tony Gilroy), Ryan Johnson (his “The Last Jedi“became the cause of the collapse of fees and the split of the fan community), Phil Lord and Christopher Miller (their “Han Solo“almost completely redid Ron Howardthat did not save the project from failure), and ultimately itself J.J. Abrams. As a result, Lucasfilm now has not the best reputation – the studio is considered an unreliable place to work.
Baby Yoda – the cause of the civil war at Lucasfilm?
One way or another, the film about Boba Fett was eventually reborn in the form of the series “Mandalorets”, which became the starting project and the flagship of the streaming service Disney +. Showrunners were directed by John Favreauwho worked with Disney on the basis of the cinema Marvel, as well as the head of animation projects Dave Filoni – a man whom many fans consider the successor of George Lucas.
Blogger Doomcock With reference to an insider, he shared new details about the Civil War and how the series was created. Although information must be taken with skepticism, it fits into the general outline of the data of which we are aware.
According to the source, during the preparation of the concept of the series, Kathleen Kennedy suggested that the Mandalorean should protect the child, which will become the central element of the script. The idea was supported, but Favro specifically proposed making the baby Yoda. This was one of the reasons for the conflict, during which Lucasfilm was divided into two parts.
The fact is that Kennedy held a grudge, believing that Favreau had appropriated all his fame. In addition, she insisted that the child be girl, and also demanded to transfer the first episode of the project under control female director. In response, John Favreau was called to direct pilot Dave Filoni, which infuriated the head of Lucasfilm.
The civil war in the studio only exacerbated the success of the first season of “Mandalorets”. Earlier there were rumors that Kennedy was trying to change the script for the second season of “The Mandalorian” so as to close the plot holes in the ninth episode of the saga, after which she was forbidden to appear on the set.
A new round of conflict occurred in April 2023. The fact is that Favreau is already working on the third season, because Disney wants to launch it as soon as possible because of the coronavirus. A few weeks ago, Kennedy met with Disney Board Chairman Bob Igerto discuss the project and the situation around the pandemic. And then a blow awaited her: Favreau and Filoni not only started to work, but also attracted to her George Lucas. At the same time, Kennedy is not going to let anyone into the script.
This enraged Kennedy, after which threats rained towards Iger. A source said the top manager said the following: “Either everything will be done in my opinion, or I will burn to the ground this stupid nonsense”
The threats were not empty. It was after this meeting that violent activity began in the bowels of Lucasfilm, which led to the organization of a “leak” in the media about the series from the former assistant Harvey Weinstein Leslie Headland. Given the dubious reputation of directing, Disney management itself would never have invited her. This Kathleen Kennedy maneuver was a powerful blow to the positions of Bob Iger, which is difficult for him to answer. In order not to provoke a scandal, the official announcement of the Hadlan project took place, but he was buried in the bowels of the press release, in which the emphasis was on the new films Thai waititi.
Lucasfilm spit on canon
Despite attacks from all sides, Kathleen Kennedy does not intend to give up, and her contract is valid until 2023. Bob Iger does not want to dismiss her ahead of time, because this is fraught with reputational losses and a new blow from the infuriated subordinate. Despite the resistance camp led by Favro and Filoni, Kennedy’s position is quite strong: she controls the story group, which in recent years has been hit hard.
So, recently, writer Matt Martin, who is part of the Lucasfilm story group, stated that the canon is still fictional, so anyone who doesn’t like the Disney trilogy can ignore it. Hearing this from a person who just needs to monitor the safety of a single storyline is rather absurd. Such a policy just causes huge damage to the brand.
Yes, under Lucas, the canon was constantly redone and clarified, which introduced a portion of the contradictions. However, a single structure was preserved at the very least. At the same time, the writers provided many great stories, and restrictions in their time prompted the studio Bioware create a game Knights of the old republicgiving a new breath to the franchise and opening up a new layer for stories.
Then the old canon was thrown into the scrap by the owners from Disney, proposing a new one, which from the start contains a lot of frankly crazy ideas (just play Battlefront ii from Dice and read related literature). The updated script team broke the established rules and in a fit of creative impotence was not afraid to crawl into old ideas for ideas.
There were good examples (the appearance of Grand Admiral Thrawn in the third season “Rebels“), but this ultimately did much more damage to the franchise at the expense of JJ Abrams, whose scripts were compilations of stories from the original trilogy, as well as books and comics.
The apotheosis was the crooked and oblique ninth episode, which is an inept remake of the comicDark Empirewhere Leia and Luke confront the clone of Emperor Palpatine, who secretly created a new fleet from everyone. The original story itself was pretty stupid, but at the same time, by adhering to the canons, logic and the world were spelled out much better.
Kennedy’s team does not care about such nuances. Moreover, in recent times, suspicions that her minions are deliberately destroying the Star Wars franchise from within have been growing more and more. In particular, it is about belittling the role of Luke Skywalker in history.
So, in one of the latest books, they directly declare that the protagonist did nothing, and the heroine “Outcast One” did all the work for him. Gene Erso. In another interview, Kennedy stated that the girls “don’t want to associate themselves with heroes like Luke Skywalker or Han Solo”
The terrible mistake of Lucas
In this situation, the position of George Lucas himself is interesting. It was he who approved Kathleen Kennedy at the head of Lucasfilm, so that through her to influence the projects of the studio. But she betrayed him, standing on the side of Iger, who threw Lucas into the bin.
Seeing the resulting material in the form “Awakenings of power“, the director was very upset, after which he compared the tape with”a child who was sold to white slave owners“He believed that in each new film it is necessary to give the audience something new, but the brainchild of Abrams was only a lazy remake.”New hope”
According to Doomcock sources, after that, Kennedy allegedly began to convince Lucas to wait for the Last Jedi to exit and not to worry. The eighth episode shocked him.
“I made a terrible mistake,” the director said, seeing the work of Ryan Johnson, who simply destroyed the character of Luke Skywalker and broke the basics of the saga.
Regarding the movie “Skyoker Sunrise“then Lucas was also invited to show a draft version in the later stages of production. Abrams did not like the work of Abrams again, but he saw the opportunity to modify the tape, making it better.
It is about introducing the “secret Skywalker” into the plot, rumors about which were actively discussed in the fall of 2019. Then the sources reported that there were several options for mounting the tape, on one of which Lucas worked.
According to Doomcock, the version of Lucas really exists, for the sake of it even organized filming of materials at the very last moment. However, the insider cannot confirm the information about the “secret Skywalker.”
Having completed his editing option, the director looked at the Skywalker Ranch final version from Disney. The studio again ignored the work, which only made him more angry. People who worked with him were also outraged by the actions of senior management and did not hesitate to criticize the actions Mickey mouse.
The insider blogger did not go into the details of the version of Lucas. He only noted that she was not perfect, but her ending was much better than that “piece of shit“, which received the audience in theaters.
On one of the last streams, the voice actor Sam Whitverwho gave the voice to “The Clone Wars“ Dart Mol (and Deacon St. John at Days gone and Galen Mareku at The force unleashed), shared his opinion on the new trilogy. According to the artist, director Ryan Johnson failed the homework that he had to do before setting about creating The Last Jedi.
Whitver’s words successfully describe the situation, for Kathleen Kennedy’s team also failed in their homework to build a successful film studio. Instead of arranging a redevelopment in the building, efficient managers for some reason decided to blow up the foundation, forgetting that without it the whole structure would inevitably collapse.
And the further the Disney leadership stomps in place indecisively, the more massive the destruction will be. After all, until 2023 there is still plenty of time to arrange a movie apocalypse..
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