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[veryfrank]

Does anyone really believe that George Lucas had even the barest outlines for nine Star Wars movies planned out in the late seventies? Hell, I doubt he would have let slide Leia sucking face with Luke in Empire if he’d had thought one movie ahead.

[GuanoLad]

I think most of the myths around George Lucas’s grand plans were only idle thoughts churning around in his head. He knew where the immediate story was going, he knew how its origin story was basically structured (the prequels match very closely with the prologue to the Star Wars novelisation), and he likely had a very loose idea of where it could go after that, but that’s all. That kind of thing can easily get blown out of proportion, as any tiny Star Wars thing still does even today.

I do think that the purported ideas he put forward to Disney after they took over were those vague thoughts now more concrete, but from how they’re described, they don’t sound very cinematically compelling.

[Voyager]

@veryfrank

Does anyone really believe that George Lucas had even the barest outlines for nine Star Wars movies planned out in the late seventies? Hell, I doubt he would have let slide Leia sucking face with Luke in Empire if he’d had thought one movie ahead.

I read the early versions of the Star Wars script, and all the plot lines are way different from the movie. I doubt he knew that Vader was Luke’s father. On the other hand, the first biography of Lucas, Skywalking which came out about the same time as Empire, said that he wrote stories as a kid about rescuing his sister, so Leia being Luke’s sister might well have been known.

[Elmer_J.Fudd]

@Voyager

On the other hand, the first biography of Lucas, Skywalking which came out about the same time as Empire, said that he wrote stories as a kid about rescuing his sister, so Leia being Luke’s sister might well have been known.

Did he really come that close to spoilering Return of the Jedi before its release?

[Push_You_Down]

@veryfrank

Thought of another. I never bought that Kill Bill was going to be one movie. Maybe an early draft of the script was self-contained, but there’s no way Miramax was going to release a four and a half hour kung fu movie. Partly because a) QT’s movie immediately (well, six years) before that was Jackie Brown which had made money, but substantially less than Pulp Fiction had, and the director’s mega box office successes were still several years in the future and b) structurally it’s flawless as a two-parter, with the cliffhanger about B’s daughter at the end of part 1 setting up the entire climax of part 2. The whole “hey, let’s chop it in half!” brainstorm seems really fanciful.

Tarantino explains it – Quentin Tarantino Settles ‘Kill Bill’ Debate: It’s One Movie, Not Two – IndieWire

This I can believe. He wanted to make it 4 hours but listened to good advice.
The line “My uncle would love this movie. But not for 4 hours.”
They say films are made in the editor suite. Tonally vol 1 and 2 are VERY different and I wonder if that’s more something that was able to be crafted rather than intended.

[Just_Asking_Questions]

@veryfrank

Does anyone really believe that George Lucas had even the barest outlines for nine Star Wars movies planned out in the late seventies?

I have contemporary quotes from before Empire was released that Lucas planned on doing 12(!) films. So, in some sense, yes, absolutely.

Do I think his plan for the films was anything like what we actually got? Not at all.

[Voyager]

@Elmer_J.Fudd

Did he really come that close to spoilering Return of the Jedi before its release?

I read it before Return of the Jedi, and I never made the connection until afterwards. It wasn’t mentioned anywhere near the movie plots.