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J.J. Abrams Says 'Time Frame' of 'Star Wars' Caused Writer Trade-Off

by Ethan Anderton
November 7, 2013

There were big waves of worry when Lucasfilm announced that director J.J. Abrams and Lawrence Kasdan had taken over writing duties on Star Wars: Episode VII. And those worries were even bolstered by rumors that Michael Arndt's script had been thrown out and Abrams and Kasdan were doing a complete overhaul on the story. It's hard to know at this point, but this is the ugly side of filmmaking that gets blown out of proportion. Recent articles have pointed out the script debacles when The Empire Strikes Back was in production, and that turned out to (arguably) be the best Star Wars film in the saga. Now Abrams has given a short statement about the changing of the guard, and it's not really revelatory. Read on!

Speaking with Deadline, Abrams said:

"It became clear that given the time frame and given the process and the way the thing was going that working with Larry in this way was going to get us where we need to be and when we needed to be. Working with Larry Kasdan, especially on a Star Wars movie is kind of unbeatable.”

As for the contributions Arndt offered the project, Abrams says, "Working with Michael was a wonderful experience and I couldn’t be a bigger fan of his or adore him more, He’s a wonderful guy and was incredibly helpful in the process." Perhaps Arndt was helpful to the process because it gave Abrams and Kasdan an idea of some things that they didn't want to do, but it's hard to tell, and really isn't a part of the process that the fans need to know about. It's things like this that are fueling the endless open letters and bitching about the sequel, when we should just be letting these guys make the film. If it turns out poorly, then you can start whining. So let's just give Abrams some space and let Star Wars happen. Cool?

Find more posts: Development, Movie News, Star Wars

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