1983 Lawrence Kasdan Talks About Writing Return of the Jedi
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With the promise of Star Wars: Episode VII only three years away in 2015, it’s important to gain some perspective as Lucasfilm hires a team of writers and filmmakers to create a new vision for Star Wars. In an interview with Lawrence Kasdan from just before the release of Return of the Jedi in 1983, the screenwriter talks about the writing process and the future of the Star Wars saga.
The most notable things about this Today Show segment are the fan that is first in line to watch Return of the Jedi and the future of the Star Wars saga. First the fan, it’s cool to see that he’s wearing a Revenge of the Jedi T-shirt and he’s adamant about knowing the fate of Luke Skywalker. Don’t you wish you felt that way about Anakin Skywalker before watching Revenge of the Sith?
Seeing that we have almost 30 years of perspective on this video, Lucas has made three other Star Wars movies to this point and we’re awaiting three more in the future. Now that we’ve seen how it all began, it’s exciting to watch this segment and think about how it will all conclude with the new trilogy.
This video interview from 1983 comes on the heels of Lawrence Kasdan signing on to return to the Star Wars universe. Kasdan co-wrote the screenplays for Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi in the early ’80s and will return to write the script for Episode VIII or Episode IX, along with X-Men: First Class writer Simon Kinberg. And, of course, Toy Story 3 writer Michael Arndt is writing the script for Episode VII.
On paper, the writers locked up by Lucasfilm for the new Star Wars trilogy are well versed in both the Star Wars mythology and the art of screenwriting. If anything, all three writers are a step up from George Lucas’ writing skills, and hopefully we won’t get any dialogue like this in the new Star Wars films.
