Not My Luke Skywalker: Mark Hamill Details Creative Differences On THE LAST JEDI
“I said to Rian: ‘Jedis don’t give up. I mean even if he had a problem he would maybe take a year to try and regroup, but if he made a mistake he would try and right that wrong.’ So right there we had a fundamental difference, but it’s not my story anymore. It’s somebody else’s story, and Rian needed me to be a certain way to make the ending effective. That’s the crux of my problem. Luke would never say that. I’m sorry. Well in this version, see I’m talking about the George Lucas Star Wars. This is the next generation of Star Wars, so I almost had to think of Luke as another character. Maybe he is Jake Skywalker.
He’s not my Luke Skywalker, but I had to do what Rian wanted me to do because it serves the story well, but listen, I still haven’t accepted it completely. But it’s only a movie. I hope people like it. I hope they don’t get upset, and I came to really believe that Rian was the exact man that they need for this job.”
Tom Hardy’s Cut THE LAST JEDI Cameo Sounds Really Weird
Actor Tom Hardy originally had a cameo as a First Order stormtrooper in this sequence. A group of stormtroopers get in the elevator and our heroes are nervous they are going to get caught. One of the stormtroopers slowly turns to Finn and gives him a look. Finn turns around in his Imperial officer uniform and asks him what his problem is. The stormtrooper, played by Hardy with a southern accent, says “I know who you are…. FN 2187! Damn boy, I never took you for officer material!” The tension is cut by the reveal that the two grew up together, but the troopers are somehow unaware of FN’s treason.
Edwards has claimed since that there was always the intension of doing reshoots, his style being to shoot a hell of a lot of material that might be useful then see how things work out in the rough edit before going back to fill the gaps playing up the films strengths.
This is the problem with fast-tracking films; this Edwards approach as you have described it is a process that should be hammered out at the writing stage. One method how scripts get written is first you come up with an idea and then you come up with the ideal closing image, which punctuates whatever question established by the opening idea. From there, you build structure weaving back and forth from beginning to end fashioning the best peaks and valleys in broad strokes, then tailor it down with each succeeding pass.
It's criminal to take such an approach at the filming stage, despite all the times we hear of re-shoots and pick-ups shots. Those are done because they are necessary; beta-testing should never be part of the production plan. Ain't nobody got time for that backwards shit, Gareth.
It wasn't just the tone of that film which reminds me of the originals but also that its the first Starwars film since them that actually felt slick as if the script had been perfected over a long period of rewrites/editing. The prequels and now the sequels to me all feel like they would be decent first drafts of a script that could be greatly improved by cutting out irrelevant material and giving more time and depth to the good stuff.
ROGUE ONE had it D3AD 51MPLE.
Everyone already knows how le plot's supposed to end up. From the beginning it's easy to parse a clear and tight timeline. It's easy to stick to the mission, plus the audience KNOWS the mission (it's a simple one), so it's also easier to add bits of character work and fan-service.
With the main trilogies, anything can happen. We don't know where it's going beforehand. With all the available options of choices (literally ANYTHING imaginable) it's hard to pick and choose a myriad collection of the most satisfying story events and hallmarks. And not just one mission, but the multidinous lives and motivations of several characters in different settings.
The enormous pressure to pull from
absolutely nothing a fresh yet respectful new foray into this universe only adds to the margin of difficulty.
Particularly under tight-as-hell deadlines.
