Stand-Alone Movies David Benioff and D.B. Weiss to Write and Produce New Series of Star Wars Films

[DarthSkywalker]

As long as it is not X, I will live. I don't want Rian or them near X. I will live off the shows, which look pretty great so far.

 

[Snow Queen]

https://io9.gizmodo.com/the-first-star-wars-films-after-rise-of-skywalker-will-1834749699

"Look, we know the last time we picked two white guys to do a Star Wars movie, it didn't work out. But we're pretty sure these two white guys will be better!"

I'm not asking for affirmative action behind the scenes, but can we at least try to get some diversity behind the camera?

Good time to confirm they're up next, I'm sure it's an uncontroversial decision.

 

[Grootster]

https://io9.gizmodo.com/the-first-star-wars-films-after-rise-of-skywalker-will-1834749699

"Look, we know the last time we picked two white guys to do a Star Wars movie, it didn't work out. But we're pretty sure these two white guys will be better!"

I'm not asking for affirmative action behind the scenes, but can we at least try to get some diversity behind the camera?

Good grief. Their skin color and gender have nothing to do with their filmmaking quality. I'm not particularly happy that these guys are in charge of the next series, but their skin color and gender have nothing to do with anything. In trying to support diversity, this post ironically come across as both racist and sexist (whether that was the intention or not).

I have no problem with people wanting more diverse filmmakers, but acting like the last movie went wrong because they were "white males"? Beyond ridiculous. If it's bad, I'm pretty sure it will be because they lack filmmaking skills. Which could just as easily be the case with a filmmaker of different ethnicity or gender. Proof: Kathleen Kennedy (a non-"white guy") was overall in charge of Solo when it went wrong.

 

[samsnee]

My point wasn't to say these guys weren't deserving of a job. But so much discussion of late has been about how to get more diverse voice not just in front of but also behind the camera. It's a fine balance between intentionally saying "We will only look for a non-white director" which is discriminatory and not realizing the optics of hiring two more white straight guys to make a movie of this size.

I get the argument that there probably isn't a lot of non-white directors who would have the experience for something like Star Wars but Rian didn't exactly have a lot of experience either.

I think if they had announced a non-white director, the news would have been much more well received. So far, I haven't really seen much media traction from it.

 

[Roose Bolton]

Have they actually announced that Benioff and Weiss are directing these, or just writing and producing?

 

[samsnee]

For now just writing and producing, so I concede the point that the director could still be someone different.

 

[Grootster]

My point wasn't to say these guys weren't deserving of a job. But so much discussion of late has been about how to get more diverse voice not just in front of but also behind the camera. It's a fine balance between intentionally saying "We will only look for a non-white director" which is discriminatory and not realizing the optics of hiring two more white straight guys to make a movie of this size.

I get the argument that there probably isn't a lot of non-white directors who would have the experience for something like Star Wars but Rian didn't exactly have a lot of experience either.

I think if they had announced a non-white director, the news would have been much more well received. So far, I haven't really seen much media traction from it.

Okay, that makes more sense.

 

[2kt09]

Have they actually announced that Benioff and Weiss are directing these, or just writing and producing?

Deadline says directing.

 

[MagnarTheGreat]

....and they're gone

‘Star Wars’ Setback: ‘Game Of Thrones’ Duo Exit Lucasfilm Trilogy – Deadline

 

[TheVileOne]

Not surprising with the Netflix deal. When would they even have time to work on Star Wars with all of that?

 

[Doctor Jones]

It's not surprising given the nature of their hiring. It always came off as superficial and cynical to me. Here are these hot writers we need to get instead of someone inspired. With the exception of Johnson, all of the hires fell into the same pattern.

All these people being gone is just so strange given Kennedy's pedigree as a producer. I just don't think she has a handle on this. Imagine if this happened with Marvel.

 

[Travesty]

All these people being gone is just so strange given Kennedy's pedigree as a producer. I just don't think she has a handle on this. Imagine if this happened with Marvel.

She clearly doesn’t have a handle on this.

 

[TheVileOne]

It's not surprising given the nature of their hiring. It always came off as superficial and cynical to me. Here are these hot writers we need to get instead of someone inspired. With the exception of Johnson, all of the hires fell into the same pattern.

All these people being gone is just so strange given Kennedy's pedigree as a producer. I just don't think she has a handle on this. Imagine if this happened with Marvel.

I'm not a Kennedy hater or anything, but I would agree she doesn't have a good handle on these writer and director hirings. Because they make a big public show of getting these guys on board only to turn around and get rid of them later.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

I'm not a Kennedy hater or anything, but I would agree she doesn't have a good handle on these writer and director hirings. Because they make a big public show of getting these guys on board only to turn around and get rid of them later.

I am going to say, at least she gets rid of the actual bad ones. It seems she takes hires on advice. What is interesting is the only one she herself picked, JJ, seems to have worked out solidly for her. Even Edwards needed handling.

At least the Mando looks to be going swimmingly.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

Lord and Miller were one thing. But the other firings were 1000% necessary.

 

[Elayis]

Strange that the trilogy Lucasfilm decided to fast track is the one that gets canned. Given how Kennedy's statement was worded, it's not exactly clear what happens now. Will their script/ideas still be used? Is the project simply on hold until their schedule clears up? Or is the entire thing essentially dead?

Hopefully this means Johnson's series will be next in line.

 

[Orba]

From what I have heard they did a Q and A the other day that was a bit of a dumpest fire.

 

[harlequinade]

Good riddance

 

[Silver Surfer]

Saw this coming right after GOT ended. No way was Bob Iger going to allow another divisive Star Wars movie, and that's what these guys would have brought to the project just by being attached to it, same with Rian Johnson.

Disney needs a sure thing to get the Star Wars brand out of perpetual divisiveness, that's why they brought in Fiege.

 

[Zant]

The GOT dudes really dodged a bullet ...Lucasfilms have become so incompetent people are jumping ship now....

 

[Doctor Jones]

I'm not a Kennedy hater or anything, but I would agree she doesn't have a good handle on these writer and director hirings. Because they make a big public show of getting these guys on board only to turn around and get rid of them later.

I think there's a bigger picture here. People are just focusing on Benioff and Weiss as if they were the problem to begin with. Because Game of Thrones sucking or whatever. Sure, but just for one moment, forget how you personally feel about these individuals as creatives. In this context, they're a symptom to a larger issue of Kennedy. These people aren't hiring themselves and making these decisions. What is it, 3/4's of everybody originally hired are now gone? She has a penchant for getting the big names and most of the time it's fallen through. Imagine if this was any other company, from a studio to just a business. Do you know what would happen? They would be fired. You don't hire all of these people just for most of them to be gone.

I get the film industry can be crazy and things change, and I'm not asking for perfection, but this isn't a couple mishaps, or even growing pains, this is a common occurance. Kennedy is a seasoned producer. When she was hired I thought she was perfect. But I did not expect the ball to be dropped like this. She's fallen short of expectations. And when you do that, it's time to go.

I just don't get why generally people don't want to point the finger at Kennedy. And I'm not talking about the insane people on the internet. There's a real problem here that needs to be addressed. She's the boss. By now, there needs to be responsibility. I don't think this is what Lucasfilm had in mind when they bought the company. Again, things won't go exactly according to plan, but you don't spend 3 billion on a company with the largest universe ever only for your creatives attached to your big plans to mostly leave it.

Here's my tin foil hat theory: In a couple years, Kennedy gets a sweetheart production company deal and goes her separate way, which I do think she'd be great for. She won't be fired, she'll have a respectable "send off" with a tenure who kickstarted the whole thing and she'll "pass the baton" to someone else. Right now, depending where Feige is, he might be the one, because who the hell else could it be? This is very difficult to do.

 

[TheVileOne]

I think there's a bigger picture here. People are just focusing on Benioff and Weiss as if they were the problem to begin with. Because Game of Thrones sucking or whatever. Sure, but just for one moment, forget how you personally feel about these individuals as creatives. In this context, they're a symptom to a larger issue of Kennedy. These people aren't hiring themselves and making these decisions. What is it, 3/4's of everybody originally hired are now gone? She has a penchant for getting the big names and most of the time it's fallen through. Imagine if this was any other company, from a studio to just a business. Do you know what would happen? They would be fired. You don't hire all of these people just for most of them to be gone.

I get the film industry can be crazy and things change, and I'm not asking for perfection, but this isn't a couple mishaps, or even growing pains, this is a common occurance. Kennedy is a seasoned producer. When she was hired I thought she was perfect. But I did not expect the ball to be dropped like this. She's fallen short of expectations. And when you do that, it's time to go.

I just don't get why generally people don't want to point the finger at Kennedy. And I'm not talking about the insane people on the internet. There's a real problem here that needs to be addressed. She's the boss. By now, there needs to be responsibility. I don't think this is what Lucasfilm had in mind when they bought the company. Again, things won't go exactly according to plan, but you don't spend 3 billion on a company with the largest universe ever only for your creatives attached to your big plans to mostly leave it.

Here's my tin foil hat theory: In a couple years, Kennedy gets a sweetheart production company deal and goes her separate way, which I do think she'd be great for. She won't be fired, she'll have a respectable "send off" with a tenure who kickstarted the whole thing and she'll "pass the baton" to someone else. Right now, depending where Feige is, he might be the one, because who the hell else could it be? This is very difficult to do.

Well arguably despite these creative hirings fallen through, financially the movies have been majorly successful.

 

[Doctor Jones]

Well arguably despite these creative hirings fallen through, financially the movies have been majorly successful.

Oh, sure, and there's solid quality control. I think this and her reputation are the things keeping her from being fired. But at this point, I think you are in denial to some degree if you don't think something is wrong.

Unfortunately, the narrative online is just going to be about the relief of how white guys won't be failing upward or how Games of Thrones was so bad so thank God they aren't doing it. Pay no attention to who hired these guys and the recurring pattern. The behind the scenes of these movies are more interesting to talk about than the actual movies. It's a big reason why I never come here anymore. I just don't care about the movies themselves anymore so there's just not much of a point. But when something like this happens, I can't help but post.

 

[Yellow Cyclone]

the cold hard truth is kennedy is not a born and bred nerd who grew up on this. she's a good producer but she isn't fluent in geek and was the wrong person for the job

the ST was treated like a "regular" franchise/ip in hollywood, instead of being carefully planned out, which is funny because it was "only" a planned trilogy, it's not like you had infinite movies, you needed to plan out 3. from a pure logistics standpoint, rian and jj not being on the same page while TFA reshoots were going on, etc. it's going to lead to a less cohesive universe. and you are already making film entry #7 into said universe, and you disregarded nearly everything for the sake of a "soft reset" that didn't really need to happen.

i'm still in the firm belief that feige's SW movie will be what SW fans have been wanting for decades, and will feel nothing like a MCU movie, which is what some people are already trying to say. it'll "feel" like a worthy entry in the universe, the man is a nerd machine, i'm 100% confident and all-in

 

[Doctor Jones]

I don't think you need to be a nerd to run this franchise properly. I think you need to understand what it's about, have vision, passion and curiosity for it, and make the correct decisions. Just be a great producer.

Feige has what it takes because he's proven it time and time again. He's the only person who knows how to run something like this but I think most of all he fundamentally understands the movies and characters he's making and makes the correct decisions from that.