Screenwriters Lawrence Kasdan And Simon Kinberg Talk Star Wars

By Rudie Obias | Published

This article is more than 2 years old

StarWars

When Disney announced they would be making a new Star Wars sequel trilogy, they brought on writer Michael Arndt to pen the first film, Star Wars: Episode VII. A few days after that announcement, Disney announced that screenwriters Lawrence Kasdan and Simon Kinberg were also at work in the Star Wars universe, serving as consultants on Episode VII, and possibly writing the remaining trilogy installments or even some stand-alone Star Wars films.

In an interview with IGN, Kasdan and Kinberg discuss the future of the Star Wars saga, and what fans should expect from the new trilogy. Kasdan is no stranger to the Star Wars universe, of course. He co-wrote The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi in the early ’80s, and he also wrote the screenplay for Steven Spielberg’s Raiders of the Lost Ark in between. To Kasdan, returning to the Star Wars franchise was exciting, especially when Kathleen Kennedy brought on J.J. Abrams to direct Episode VII. Kasdan explains what the Star Wars sequel will be like for fans:

They’re going to be fun. J.J. (Abrams)’s a great director for the first sequel. Perfect. We’re very happy to have him. The writers I’ve been working with — Michael Arndt, who’s going to write the sequel, and Simon Kinberg, who has, like me, been sort of consulting — they’re great. I’ve never really collaborated a lot, and I’ve never been a room with a bunch of writers thinking, ‘Well, what should this thing be?’ It’s fun. It’s really fun. And J.J.’s a writer. Yeah, lovely guy. I’d met him but didn’t know him. But now I’m totally enamored by him. He’s really funny and so enthusiastic.

As for Simon Kinberg, he wrote the scripts for some of the highest grossing films of this past decade, including X-Men: The Last Stand, Sherlock Holmes, and the upcoming X-Men: Days of Future Past. He also opened up about his approach in handling the Star Wars universe:

I honestly try to approach all of these movies — whether it’s a title like X-Men or Sherlock Holmes or Star Wars — as a fan. I try to block out the anxiety I feel if I worry too much about the responsibility, and I just try to focus on the fun of it and the reasons why I grew up reading X-Men comics and watching Star Wars movies and reading Sherlock Holmes stories, that first time I read or watched any of those things and why they were so magical to me. I try to honor that and return to that as I would a fan. That’s the way I feel. When I wake up in the morning and I’m working on an X-Men movie, it’s insane for me every day because I’m so excited to get to work.

You can read the complete interview on IGN.com.