By Jim Vejvoda of IGN had a chance to speak briefly with Lawrence Kasdan and Simon Kinberg at the Final Draft Big Break screenwriting awards. Both writers were brought on to consult/script some of the new Star Wars material on the horizon. (We had a lot of things to say last week about the forthcoming standalone character Star Wars movies, including a pro-Yoda movie op-ed, an anti-Yoda movie op-ed, and a standalone Star Wars movie wishlist.)
Obviously Vejvoda didn’t get any juicy spoilers, but he did get some interesting (and vague) insight on the creative process. Here’s what Kasdan had to say about collaborating with J.J. Abrams and other writers on these new Star Wars films:
They’re going to be fun. J.J. (Abrams)’s a great director for the first sequel. Perfect. We’re very happy to have him. The writers I’ve been working with — Michael Arndt, who’s going to write the sequel, and Simon Kinberg, who has, like me, been sort of consulting — they’re great. I’ve never really collaborated a lot, and I’ve never been a room with a bunch of writers thinking, ‘Well, what should this thing be?’ It’s fun. It’s really fun. And J.J.’s a writer. Yeah, lovely guy. I’d met him but didn’t know him. But now I’m totally enamored by him. He’s really funny and so enthusiastic.
After the cut, a little bit from Kinberg on his involvement as a writer and how he feels about the speculation from fans. To read the full interviews, visit the IGN feature here.
[IGN via First Showing]Here’s the exchange between Vejvoda/IGN and Kinberg:
IGN: Is there anything you can say in terms of working with established Star Wars characters, or are you coming from a whole new plot and characters for your standalone movie?
Kinberg: This is what I would say: as a fan, I wouldn’t want to know too much. I know that’s impossible because it’s not the ’70s or ’80s anymore, but part of what was so exciting about A New Hope for me was I was entering into a universe I didn’t know. Even in Empire, I was surprised by a twist I never would have seen coming. But it’s different nowadays. I understand the excitement, and I’m happy that people are interested, obviously. But I’d rather people have something left to discover when they go in.
