J.J. Abrams To Direct New ‘Star Wars’ Movie For Disney dlvr.it/2rLGv8
— Deadline Hollywood (@DeadlineCom) January 24, 2013
Now, a few thoughts:
more so that Star Trek, Star Wars is a space opera. In my humble opinion, "grandeur" is the key aesthetic sensibility. Widescreen. Very large depth of field. Very steady camera work so you can actually drink in the spaces. NO lens flares.
The world of Star Wars is actually very old. In many ways, it's a historical epic. Since the world has largely been in disrepair in the original trilogy, I'm guessing the new trilogy should show a renaissance. I think of Europe in the 60's, twenty years removed from the great war. Lots of rebuilding and construction.
Inevitably, someone in this new Jedi order is interested in more power. I'd like to see the origins of a new Sith.
My earliest memory from inside a movie theater is watching Princess Leia dissing Luke Skywalker for being too short to convincingly impersonate a stormtrooper. I always remember the scene differently from how it was actually shot: some how, my 3 year old brain knitted together the stark black and whites from the hallways of the Death Star with this scene, so I always remember what is actually an all-black room as a high contrast black & white.
Weird, I know. Maybe it was just a bit of information overload for my developing cranium.
Point being, while I'm a much more rabid Trekkie than Star Wars fan, I basically know the dialogue from Episode IV by heart.
I remember when the Star Wars movies were good. Sadly, there's the kernel of a good story in the most recent trilogy, but the difference, as always, is in the storytelling details - the everyday choices made by a director on dialogue, on performance, on camera position, on edits. SOMEONE could have made "The Phantom Menace", "Attack of the Clones", and "Revenge of the Sith" into good movies.
There was a time that the film snob in me completely dismissed the idea of someone else making Star Wars movies because they're really George Lucas' magnum opus, but clearly George Lucas doesn't agree with me, and he's probably right.
So, my thoughts?
Hire JJ Abrams and Damon Lindelof. Unlike me, they really do froth at the mouth about Star Wars. And my namesake has gone on record on more than one occasion about why this whole Mitichlorians garbage completely defeats the entire point about The Force. A great starting place.
Do as many things practically and in camera as you can. The CGI is killing the dramatic tension of the action and it's distracting from the drama.
First of all, let's start with the movie itself. Here's the trailer for "Red Tails", George Lucas' big budget action movie about the Tuskegee Airmen.
Looks pretty awesome, right? Action, history, social drama, good clean fun.
Also looks pretty expensive, too.
And to that point: here's an interview George Lucas did with The Daily Show where he broke down in really stark terms how no one in Hollywood wanted to finance this movie because it has all Black actors in the lead roles.
So, you all have heard me railing against the evils of Tyler Perry movies for a long time. But, as the Emperor of Star Wars points out, the studios are happy to make more Medea movies because they're dirt cheap, so they can always turn a nice little profit from the niche audience of people who like to watch 6 ft. tall Black men disgrace themselves, our mothers, and our grandmothers all in one single performance.
But the Tuskegee Airmen are real heroes: men who risked their lives to save the lives of others. Literally. Black men who stood up to be counted. Americans who embodied the very best of all of us.
Real role models.
And the movie looks like it will be very, very good.
I'm tired of only seeing Black actors in movies that are either about crime or relationship drama. We have SO many more stories to tell.
Why do you think I love "Event Horizon" so much? :-)
I feel like I see these sorts of pleas all the time, but this one is pretty serious, because if this movie, from one of the few untouchable filmmakers in the world, bombs, it's going to be extremely hard to get some more diversity in Black cinema.
In short, get all of your friends, and all of your friends' friends, and go out on opening night next Friday, January 20th, and actually BUY A TICKET for "Red Tails".
