The Force Awakens Writer Talks Early Script Directions
The film is out. Many of us have seen it. Many of us loved it. But we love learning about what might have been just as much as what actually appeared on the screen before us.
Via EW, initial screenwriter Michael Arndt discussed early drafts of the script, in which he toyed around with where and how to use Luke Skywalker in the story.
"Early on I tried to write versions of the story where [Rey] is at home, her home is destroyed, and then she goes on the road and meets Luke. And then she goes and kicks the bad guy's ass. It just never worked and I struggled with this. This was back in 2012."
Arndt then went on to discuss where difficulties arose. "It just felt like every time Luke came in and entered the movie, he just took it over. Suddenly you didn't care about your main character anymore because, 'oh f—k, Luke Skywalker's here. I want to see what he's going to do."
In the end, (spoilers abound), Abrams decided to reveal Luke at the very end. Naturally, a lot of questions are raised from the premise of having both sides of a galactic war searching for a map that will lead to Luke. Why is he so immobile? Where did the map even come from.
In any case, the film met a pulpy, adventurous tone that lacked the seriousness of modern films and therefore, I guess, gets it in the clear of such criticism (for some at least, including this writer).
Source: Collider
