A glimmer of hope for Star Wars?

[Neil]

Academy Award winner Taika Waititi, who recently won Best Adapted Screenplay for Jojo Rabbit and directed the widely-acclaimed first season finale episode of The Mandalorian on Disney+, will direct and co-write a new Star Wars feature film for theatrical release.

Joining Waititi on the screenplay will be Academy Award® nominee Krysty Wilson-Cairns (1917, Last Night in Soho), who received a BAFTA Award for Outstanding British Film of the Year on the three-time Oscar-winning film, 1917.

https://www.starwars.com/news/taika-waititi-announce

[Moon Knight]

I’m still a Star Wars fan so I’m excited. :)

[EvilNed]

Waste of talent...

[bassman]

Waititi is great, Mandalorian was phenomenal, and Star Wars can still have a bright future in the right hands, so I’m totally on board with this news!

[MinionZombie]

Well, if it's a new story and set of characters, then it's got a chance. The Mandalorian and Rogue One have shown that.

While I enjoyed the sequel trilogy, it was certainly plagued by many issues, one of which was how unsure it was in regards to what came before. It didn't know how deep it wanted to go, how much it wanted to change-up, etc ... got a bit muddled (most of all in Rise of Skywalker, which felt like a reverse ferret at several points).

[Neil]

Waititi is great, Mandalorian was phenomenal, and Star Wars can still have a bright future in the right hands, so I’m totally on board with this news!

Hunt for the Wilderpeople is on there in the UK this week. Lovely flick!

[shootemindehead]

I'd say no. Or at least not sure. I don't believe Waititi is 100% suitable for Star Wars, unless his writing is very closely monstered. He's a decent director. But a director of comedy.

Star Wars isn't comedy. Nor is it Marvel, where nothing matters on screen and characters go from genocidal maniacs one movie to having a laugh the next...hello Loki.

I just don't see his type of meta humour fitting into what are essentially dramatic adventure movies that for the most part are taken seriously by the characters within them. Sure, there's some humour in the Star Wars films, but it's not the focus and never should be. Whereas, Waititi's films, so far, have all had humour as their primary goal.

That doesn't mean, of course, that he can't switch mode and his work on 'The Mandalorian' was ok. But, to me, he's a curious choice. And the last comedy merchants that got onto a Star Wars set got booted off half way through shooting.

[EvilNed]

I'd say no. Or at least not sure. I don't believe Waititi is 100% suitable for Star Wars, unless his writing is very closely monstered. He's a decent director. But a director of comedy.

Star Wars isn't comedy. Nor is it Marvel, where nothing matters on screen and characters go from genocidal maniacs one movie to having a laugh the next...hello Loki.

I just don't see his type of meta humour fitting into what are essentially dramatic adventure movies that for the most part are taken seriously by the characters within them. Sure, there's some humour in the Star Wars films, but it's not the focus and never should be. Whereas, Waititi's films, so far, have all had humour as their primary goal.

That doesn't mean, of course, that he can't switch mode and his work on 'The Mandalorian' was ok. But, to me, he's a curious choice. And the last comedy merchants that got onto a Star Wars set got booted off half way through shooting.

Jo-Jo Rabbit was far less of a comedy than what I expected it to be, and also what it was marketed as.

[Moon Knight]

I'd say no. Or at least not sure. I don't believe Waititi is 100% suitable for Star Wars, unless his writing is very closely monstered. He's a decent director. But a director of comedy.

Star Wars isn't comedy. Nor is it Marvel, where nothing matters on screen and characters go from genocidal maniacs one movie to having a laugh the next...hello Loki.

I just don't see his type of meta humour fitting into what are essentially dramatic adventure movies that for the most part are taken seriously by the characters within them. Sure, there's some humour in the Star Wars films, but it's not the focus and never should be. Whereas, Waititi's films, so far, have all had humour as their primary goal.

That doesn't mean, of course, that he can't switch mode and his work on 'The Mandalorian' was ok. But, to me, he's a curious choice. And the last comedy merchants that got onto a Star Wars set got booted off half way through shooting.

Funny I felt kinda the same way when Peter Jackson was announced for TLOTR.

[shootemindehead]

When you have an imaginary Hitler talking nonsense with a 7 year old boy who gets rid of him by kicking him out of a window and yelling "fuck off Adolf", I don't know how else to take that other than comic. Sure, there are some serious moments here and there. But, yeh, it's a comedy.

Anyway, the point is, that Waititi's back catalogue, film wise, are all comedy affairs. That includes 'Thor Ragnarok', which was far more light-hearted that any previous Marvel entry. I just don't think he's suited to something like Star Wars, unless his penchant for the funnies can be tempered a lot.

Personally, on the basis of her work in 'The Mandalorian', I'd have given Deborah Chow a go. Or, if he wasn't tied up as showrunner, Favreau.

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Funny I felt kinda the same way when Peter Jackson was announced for TLOTR.

Wasn't that pushed on Jackson myself, when I heard the news Moonie. But, at least Jackson showed he could do "serious", with 'Heavenly Creatures'. Even so, he couldn't resist putting in stupid nonsense, like "Dwarf tossing" and having Legolas slide down steps on his shield, or keep a kill count with Gimli. If I was an editor on that film, all of that rubbish would be on the cutting room floor.

[MinionZombie]

A lot of filmmakers struggle against being typecast in the genres of films they make - Romero struggled to do anything outside of the horror genre, and couldn't get anything at all done outside of the zombie sub-genre in the last part of his career. Romero did accept his position in the horror genre ultimately, but it was painful to see him get boxed in nonetheless. More recently, but also with horror, you've got a filmmaker like Rob Zombie who has only been able to make horror movies (he's wanted to make an ice hockey movie about the Broadstreet Bullies as well as a movie about the last days of Groucho Marks - both of which sound really interesting - but the money isn't there, or easily accessible in any real way - he was struggling to get the above mentioned movies made and some money came through for a Rob Zombie horror movie (with total creative control and final cut), so he did that instead.

Waititi has done some excellent stuff, but he has perhaps got a little bit 'typecast' in the comedy realm. Despite the light hearted tone of Thor Ragnarok (which was also an awesome movie), it did show he was capable of helming a large scale movie. I would hope that with Star Wars he doesn't just make a 'funny Star Wars movie', but I have faith he'll recognise the tone of the sandbox he's entering and act accordingly. It doesn't have to be stuffy and pompous (in fact, that'd be awful), there does have to be a sense of fun about a Star Wars movie - as in, it should be entertaining - just not silly or self-aware or post-modern or any of that kinda stuff.

[bassman]

Yeah, Waititi seems like he has the chops to tackle different genres. I haven’t seen JoJo yet, but I heard it’s mostly drama.

His episode(finale) of The Mandalorian was fantastic and wasn’t overtaken by comedy. It had comedic elements of course, including a great “target practice” visual joke that isn’t addressed through any dialogue, but Star Wars fans get the laugh immediately. So if that’s the tone his film could go for, which is basically the same tone Lucas started in 77, it could be amazing. Of all the directors having worked on SW in recent years, his attachment is by far the most exciting, imo.

[Daoyinyang]

MCU is great! They did well with those films mainly because they had a ton of great talents working on those films. I can see Star Wars working in the right hands like Waititi. I am afraid of what might happen though since it seems to be a curse that these concepts are just not going to work on film.
I do have faith in the upcoming star wars films though especially since they have Waititi on it.
JJ Abrams was always fumbling director. Great and deep concepts, but always ends with a sad execution (Lost for example). He just needs to learn to juggle his films. I think he does well and then he starts to stutter towards the end.
I don't know who Rian Johnson is and looking at his filmography, it's obvious why I don't really know who he is. So I can see how TLJ didn't do so well.

With Waititi working on the project, I have faith.

[bassman]

^ RE: Rian Johnson

Don’t let Last Jedi deter you from seeing his other works. Brick, Looper, Knives Out, and his episodes of Breaking Bad are all great. Whether you liked Last Jedi or not(I personally liked it), his other works are so vastly different that I’m sure every viewer could at the very least find certain elements that they enjoy.

[Daoyinyang]

^ RE: Rian Johnson

Don’t let Last Jedi deter you from seeing his other works. Brick, Looper, Knives Out, and his episodes of Breaking Bad are all great. Whether you liked Last Jedi or not(I personally liked it), his other works are so vastly different that I’m sure every viewer could at the very least find certain elements that they enjoy.

Oh dude no way!? I watched Breaking Bad in its entirety and loved it! I should have paid more attention.
I've yet to see Brick, Looper, or Knives out. I should give those a try. I've mainly been binging Better Call Saul and other various animes (attack on titan, the promised neverland).

[MinionZombie]

Oh dude no way!? I watched Breaking Bad in its entirety and loved it! I should have paid more attention.
I've yet to see Brick, Looper, or Knives out. I should give those a try. I've mainly been binging Better Call Saul and other various animes (attack on titan, the promised neverland).

Brick and Looper are excellent - Brick is like detective noir meets high school drama with Joseph Gordon Levitt.

I've not seen Knives Out yet, but I've heard it's also great, so looking forward to seeing it some time.

Also - Better Call Saul is very, very good. I think there's one more season to go (being written right now) and that'll be it - then I'll do a re-watch of Breaking Bad to follow the continuity. :)

[shootemindehead]

'Knives Out' is one of the best of last year.

Johnson is on/off for me. 'Brick' was a bit silly and outstayed its welcome real fast. 'Looper' was pretty good. 'The Last Jedi' was utterly wretched and 'Knives out' was great. The best thing he's done so far, by a country mile.

Didn't think much of his 'Breaking Bad' bottle episode.

[EvilNed]

Am I the only one who tought Looper was meh?

Oh well.

[bassman]

Didn't think much of his 'Breaking Bad' bottle episode.

I enjoyed his bottle episode “Fly”, but I feel like his real crowning achievement with Breaking Bad is the penultimate episode, “Ozymandias”. For my money, one of the top three episodes of the whole series, and possibly one of the best episodes of television ever...

[Moon Knight]

Ozymandias is def top 3 BB.

[shootemindehead]

I enjoyed his bottle episode “Fly”, but I feel like his real crowning achievement with Breaking Bad is the penultimate episode, “Ozymandias”. For my money, one of the top three episodes of the whole series, and possibly one of the best episodes of television ever...

That's the one were Hank gets done in?

If so, yeh, that was a good episode.