Wednesday, July 20, 2011

He's no good to me dead.

First, the possibility: There's a ghost of a chance of a Boba Fett spinoff film.

But might director Joe Johnston have the key to another film? Johnston, who is doing the press rounds for Captain America at the moment, told Screen Rant, "I'm trying to get George [Lucas] to make a feature based on Boba Fett." When then asked if it's a film he'd like to direct himself, he said, "I would like to. It would be a lot of fun."

Then, the point of divergence: Obviously, this could be the best or worst thing to happen to Star Wars since 1991.

In one universe, George Lucas is willing to relax his creative stranglehold on Star Wars films, and hands the director's reins and a decent amount of creative control over to other people, and allows them to set a reasonably adult tone for it. In this universe, the film has a decent chance of being great, and the the creative team has a relatively easy job to at least make it fun and awesome.

In the other universe, George Lucas writes and directs it himself. All the sets and ninety-eight percent of the characters--including half the action shots of Fett himself--are done in CGI that's conspicuously less convincing than the current state of the art. The film is about a sympathetic Boba who's come to understand the error of his ways, and works for the law-enforcement bureau of the New Republic, hunting down rogue bankers and Rodians who miss child support payments. With the help of his wacky Gungan navigator and spunky, wisecracking Ewok sidekick, he travels the galaxy in search of his lost father, learning the true meaning of friendship along the way. The last half hour of the movie is about improperly filed extradition paperwork.

No points for guessing which is more likely.


[On first composition, this post suggested Fett would only go after "legitimate" targets like fugitive Imperial war criminals hiding on space-Argentina. Then I realized that would be awesome. Joe Johnston, if you read my blog (and I know you do), this would be a great way to pitch the idea to Lucas. It'll trip his Greedo-shoots-first instinct to legitimize protagonist violence, but without being lame.]

1 comment:

  1. There's been a suggestion in a couple places that Lucas was (essentially) forced to have Greedo shoot first by the MPAA. Recall that the PG-13 rating didn't exist in 1976...

    (Which would neatly explain his habit of wearing a "Han Shot First" t-shirt).

    Everything else he's done in the re-releases hasn't changed the story, just the presentation. The cantina shoot-out change changes Han's characterization completely - and his nonchalance after being frikking shot at doesn't match at all. (Particularly when you read the novelization's characterization of that scene - in which Han is clearly stringing Greedo along for the lulz).

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