"Jonathan Hales joins Episode II Development

April 13, 2000 -- Pre-production continues on Star Wars: Episode II, with the script nearing completion. George Lucas has written several drafts of the screenplay and set the stage for the action, events and characters to be seen in the movie. To refine the script into its final drafts, Lucas has enlisted the aid of screenwriter Jonathan Hales. Hales and Lucas have had an association through The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles. Hales wrote or co-wrote several episodes of the critically-acclaimed television series, including the feature-length Young Indiana Jones and the Curse of the Jackal, Young Indiana Jones and the Scandal of 1920, and Young Indiana Jones: Tales of Innocence (available on videocassette)."

Hahahaha!!

Still, it is great to know Lucas has realised he's NOT Hollywood's best writer, and has decided to get help. (Of course, only when the film opens will we know whether or not to go, "Perhaps Hales should've wroter the entire thing himself.")

Dan (UK)

Trivia: The sheriff played by Charles Cyphers(sp?) in Halloween was named after Brackett. Heck! Just about ever character in Halloween was named after someone else. Laurie Strode was named after a girlfriend John Carpenter used to have, and I think we all know where the name Sam Loomis came from.

Darabont is cagey about what he did or did not contribute to earlier versions, but I KNOW that he worked on previous drafts of what became THE PHANTOM MENACE. I'm not, however, suggesting that any of his work appears in the final film -- it appears that Lucas simply went back to his own concepts (a great deal of THE PHANTOM MENACE, after all, is just reconstituted storylines he didn't have room for in the previous trilogy. Nothing wrong with that, this is his baby.)

According to the recent Lucas biography "Mythmaker," Lucas was none too happy with the Leigh Brackett versions ... he admired her, but when it came down to it, felt she wasn't properly tuned into his universe at all. Then she died, and getting rewrites from her became immaterial. In comes Kasdan. Of course, of the four pictures made so far, Lucas had the least to do with EMPIRE.

quote:

---

Lucas had Frank Darabont working on earlier versions of THE PHANTOM MENACE...

---

That's only sort of true. In a recent interview I read with Darabont he discussed in great detail his involvement on Episode 1 as well as Young Indy, and his surprise that he's never been called upon for Indy 4.

Drabont was asked by Lucas many years ago if he would like to pen an entire draft, but as time went by Lucas found himself taking on the task himself and Frank was never called upon about it again.

Lucas did show the draft (published version) to Darabont though, and Darabont said "don't change a thing..."

Dan (UK)

But in the final analysis, I don't think Darabont had much, if anything, to do with the final script of THE PHANTOM MENACE.

I do wonder about this new fellow Wedge mentioned. So many wonderful writers have contributed to so many wretched films (no, I'm not even talking about Star Wars, I'm talking in general) -- what I'm getting at is that I really wonder what Lucas's instincts are these days. I actually think his recruiting another writer for Episode 2 is a very good sign. He realizes he can't do it all by his lonesome.

Lucas appears to have a simultaneous desire for control, and a desire to retreat -- hence his nearly simultaneous abandonment of, and subsequent horror of, THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK. I think the formal term for this is "passive-aggression."

I do wonder where the Lucas who made A NEW HOPE went. If I haven't made it clearer, I still adore that one.

He also became a bilionaire because of all the toys and videogames that some stupid folks - like myself - bought, and still makes some cheesy and naive sci/fi movies with unknown actors instead of earning easy money with blockbusters like "Titanic" or "Armageddon"... Go figure!

For DREAMS, Lucas's name doesn't even appear on the Japanese version, it was merely attached -- with his permission, obviously -- to the American version, for publicity purposes. His Industrial Light & Magic did work on the special effects, however -- although there aren't really THAT many in the finished film.

Francis Coppola was also involved in the financing for KAGEMUSHA. (The whole deal came about because of a trip either they took to Japan or Kurosawa took to the US -- can't remember which right now -- and they were appalled that the master was facing such financing difficulties in his own nation.)

Kurosawa's first movie in twenty years to be financed by his own countrymen was the relatively simple and inexpensive RHAPSODY IN AUGUST (1991). Much of which, as with all his last few films, was ghostwritten and ghostdirected by his "creative consultant," Ishiro Honda (cocreator of Godzilla).

Back when his little story was called simply "The Star Wars," Lucas actually looked into doing the special effects IN Japan, because he figured, rightly, it would be cheaper. Everybody there thought he was nuts. He showed them, didn't he.

That's exactly what I said, Rocco. Don't see much difference between what I said and what you said, except that you have more details than me. As for "Dreams", sorry, but I won't buy this version that Lucas didn't do anything except to put his name on the american version just to look cool to whoever...

You guys seems to hate Lucas too much for my taste. I don't know why. He's no saint (who is?) but he's no anti-christ, you know...
Anyway, this debate is useless and pointless. I won't talk about this anymore because I feel we are this close to start offending each other, something I would most regret.

Thanks again for mentioning Leigh Brackett and bringing in the Hawks connection to Star Wars.

Leigh wrote lots of pulp, SF, Noir. It was a crime novel that Hawks read that led him to hire her to work on the script for The Big Sleep. She worked with Hawks on Hatari! but also Rio Bravo, Rio Lobo, and El Dorado. Kasdan says that in writing both Raiders and Continental Divide he was trying to create the heroines as like Hawks' women. I'm not sure just who suggested bringing Leigh in on the Empire script. Lukas owes a lot of debt to Kurosawa (which may be one reason he aided him in whatever way he did), but also to Hawks. Go back and compare the Tie Fighter attack in Star Wars with the Zero attack in Air Force. My hunch is (and I could be totally off on this) that Kasdan said Leigh worked with Hawks and Lucas said OK then.

The Star Wars movies, like the Bond films and other franchises, are both wonderful and exasperating because they get a lot of things right and then miss other things. Ebert was right in saying that Phantom Menace added the one thing that was previously missing from the series--beauty. A shame that they added that and lost a lot of the other stuff. Lucas was so good at getting the story stuff right in the 70s--what help did he need then? Maybe with help this time he'll do it again and SW II will be more than just special effects.