Lawrence Kasdan And Simon Kinberg Talk 'Star Wars: Episode VII' And Standalone Films

IGN was lucky to catch screenwriters Lawrence Kasdan (Empire Strikes Back, Raiders of the Lost Ark) and Simon Kinberg (Sherlock Holmes, X-Men: The Last Stand) at last night's Final Draft Big Break screenwriting awards, where Kasdan was honored with the hall of fame award. Jim Vejvoda talked to them about the upcoming seventh installment of the Star Wars Skywalker saga and the standalone spin-off films, which they are currently working on as "consultants". While not much in terms of details were revealed in the chat, we do get a couple bits.

Here is a choice quote from Kasdan:

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.

I was pleased that there would be new ones, that there was a chance to capture some of the spirit of the original trilogy that I'd worked on. I thought there's an audience out there — my grandchildren, lots of original Star Wars people — and there always will be. It's only good that we try to do some more great ones.

Kasdan also revealed that he became involved during conversation with Kathleen Kennedy and George Lucas in Fall 2012.

Here are some choice quotes from Kinberg:

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.

As a fan, I wouldn't want to know too much. I know that's impossible because it's not the '70s or '80s anymore, but part of what was so exciting about A New Hope for me was I was entering into a universe I didn't know. Even in Empire, I was surprised by a twist I never would have seen coming. But it's different nowadays. I understand the excitement, and I'm happy that people are interested, obviously. But I'd rather people have something left to discover when they go in.

As you can see, the two scribes wouldn't confirm they are working as more than just consultants on the projects, or even writing drafts of the stand-alone movies — Nothing confirmed or denied in terms of reported rumors. Read the whole interview on IGN.