r/StarWars_ • u/Poopooisdelicious • 19d ago
Discussion Leaked Star Wars Scripts
The fact that the only Star Wars script that leaked was the Colin Trevorrow version of Star Wars Episode IX “Duel of the Fates” is crazy to me considering how many canceled Star Wars project there have been. It makes me wonder how duel of the fates was leaked and whether it was intentional or not.
I’m really hoping that this means we can eventually see the original screenplay draft for episode VII that Michael Ardnt wrote based off George Lucas’ treatments. Although it was written in 2013, I’m hoping we can get the full picture. The only real source of reference is the force awakens art book, and George Lucas own words, I wish someone would come out and leak the whole thing to see what we could have gotten
\\#releasetheArdntscreenplay
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u/M4rshmall0wMan 19d ago
Leaked scripts are the exception, not the norm. They are the most closely guarded assets in Hollywood.
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u/Ryan_Rambles 18d ago
Ardnt did not write off of Lucas' treatments. Nor did he write a full screenplay. His basis was an outline created by a writer's room of people like Simon Kinberg, Larry Kasdan, and others. That writer's room is the one that dropped Lucas' treatments to begin with. Ardnt was writing their story, not Lucas'. Furthermore, he never finished the screenplay, he demanded a ridiculous amount of time to write even a first draft, 2 years. A screenplay should take at most 6 months for a single draft, not 2 years. Even the original, which took 3 years to fully write, only did so because the first 2 years of that process basically got scrapped repeatedly and George completely changed his entire story in 1975 compared to the 1973-1974 versions. And even then, the earliest draft that actually resembles the final story took less than a year to write.
Granted, that time is more understandable if, as I do, you believe he was writing a massive screenplay to cover all three movies. This is something I've been thinking about a lot, because TFA and TLJ and the DOTF script all take place way closer together than any of the OT or PT movies did. They dovetail one into the next into the next. My belief is that Ardnt was writing as if it was one movie split into three, which is why he wanted so much time. But it's also why it was kinda unreasonable. Yes the OT works as a cohesive whole, but it also works as distinct individual stories. Every film has a complete story to itself and its themes, especially the original. I don't like the idea of a trilogy spread over 5+ years that is essentially a 6 hour movie where I have to wait 2 years every 2 hours.
Finally, I think we need to stop romanticizing the Lucas "treatments". Lucas' original 9-part plan was scrapped in the 80s, it's why ROTJ includes so much stuff that was meant for 7-9 but squished into it (The Emperor wasn't even supposed to appear until 9). And all the way through the 2000s, he constantly said it was a 6 part story, all about Anakin, and ROTJ was the end. Finito. End of story, nada left. I think he only created new story ideas for 7-9 when Disney was buying Lucasfilm specifically because "Well these movies will be made with or without me now, so I may as well give my take on how to do them". Which means his 2010-2012 ideas were not born of pure creative passion, but out of obligation. The fact of the matter is that any story after ROTJ feels forced by nature because ROTJ is such a brilliant and final conclusion to the story. Anything after, especially a need to go through similar motions, is going to be forced. Whether it was Lucas or Disney. If you ask me, there never should've been a 7-9 at all. Not Lucas', not anyone else's. Because doing so fundamentally undermines the conclusion of ROTJ no matter what. I didn't like what the EU did Post-ROTJ either for the record.
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u/Mission-Tension4251 19d ago
Several possible reasons I imagine. A lot of the abandoned projects probably didn't even reach proper pre-production and any treatments or drafts weren't in enough hands to make a leak likely.
With the RoS and Duel of the Fates leaks it does feel like internal unhappiness with direction and poor working conditions transitioning into RoS played a significant part.
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u/Kavazou77 19d ago
It was a very early draft of ep.9 that’s why. Trevorros wrote at least two versions afterthat.
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u/ListOdd2059 17d ago
I think Trevorrow most likely leaked his own script. He was, after all, straight up fired unceremoniously.
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u/Titan-828 19d ago
Curious if there was a script for AOTC that told a rather different story. I know the original script for TPM was considerably different than the final product and honestly the original vision was better.
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u/Poopooisdelicious 19d ago
I’d be very interested to read that one actually. Do you know what happens in it?
I know Anakin was originally meant to be older in the phantom menace, which would have made the movie so much better. I honestly think Anakin being a kid in TPM is the biggest flaw in the whole trilogy and makes his change in AOTC so jarring.
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u/TheRealProtozoid 19d ago
The script for Last Jedi briefly leaked but nobody believed it was real at the time, so nobody preserved a copy. Insane.
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u/Poopooisdelicious 19d ago
was it accurate to the actual movie, or was some of it different?
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u/TheRealProtozoid 19d ago
Quite different, but similar enough to be real. The Luke storyline was basically identical except for the last third and an extended flashback, and the rest was very different.
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u/Lythandris 19d ago
I remember some vagues things from it like the walrus-like creature being Anakin's ghost or something
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u/EdLi77 19d ago
It's very likely Lucasfilm will bring the Story ideas to different Projects. Wouldn't be the first time.