Talk of Rey's parentage in The Force Awakens spoiler thread, and the fact that she might very well be a Kenobi, got me thinking about how cool it would be to see an Obi-Wan anthology movie set in the 20-year gap between Episode III and Episode IV. In fact, here's what I posted in that thread just before Christmas...
... and I haven't been able to stop thinking about it since. Ewan McGregor was 33 when he shot Revenge of the Sith. Alec Guinness was 62 when he shot A New Hope. McGregor is now 45, and the perfect age to play right smack in the middle of that 20-year gap (story-wise) between movies, able to go slightly younger or even older with the necessary make-up. Also consider that Joel Edgerton (briefly) played Owen Lars in Revenge of the Sith, and went on to become a huge star. I don't know that he'd have a significant role in this theoretical movie, but my point is, there's a lot of potential, cast-wise.
Also, even if Rey doesn't turn out to be a Kenobi, that thread is just a minor part of what I'm envisioning. It's almost just as interesting if Obi-Wan has a different child / grandchild out there somewhere, who maybe one day a different story can be told about. Or, change it to where Obi-Wan falls in love, but ultimately decides to keep his Jedi oath, and it's all the more heartbreaking. Either way, in A New Hope, Obi-Wan tells Luke he "was once a Jedi Knight." As in - he no longer is one. That, coupled with the fact that he was one of only two or three Jedi left in the entire galaxy, and it's definitely within the realm of possibility that he could have essentially given in to civilian life and fallen in love and conceived a child in his exile.
Point is, kid or no kid, there's definitely a movie here, and a potentially amazing one at that. So why not take matters into my own hands and give it a shot? Yes, the chances of something like this actually being acquired by Lucasfilm are ridiculously, astronomically low. But if it's good, I have the connections to get it in the hands of those who matter at Lucasfilm, Bad Robot, or any number of tangentially connected companies or contacts. I have a manager and countless agency resources, and, not to mention, the legitimacy of an up and coming production company that is starting to gain some traction. This wouldn't be some fanboy attempt from a loner living in his mom's basement in Iowa. Also, with Rogue One hitting theaters this year, and the Han Solo anthology film hitting in 2018, the next anthology film wouldn't hit theaters until 2020, so there's more than enough time to get a script out there. Heck, this could be the fourth anthology movie, out in 2022, for all I care.
All that said, I'm currently writing two other scripts, each with a different co-writer, each with hard deadlines, attempting to producing half a dozen more projects, while also trying to launch a massive new website this summer. So my own personal time is definitely a factor. Still, this really wouldn't feel like work at all, and I could easily develop/outline it in my off time here and there for the next few months, while doing all this other stuff, and then take a stab at actually writing it sometime during the second half of the year.
So, TexAgs... what do you say? Want to help me further develop the plot to Kenobi: A Star Wars Story? I realize I once got some of you stoked to go down a similar path with a potential Batman Beyond movie, and that it never really got off the ground, but the difference here is that I feel there's a much clearer, much more compelling story just waiting to be told from the get-go. This one basically writes itself, it's just about connecting all the dots in a thematically interesting way. That said, I'm not guaranteeing this one will ever get off the ground either - or that I'll even have the time to write it - but as of now, I just can't stop thinking about this idea, and really want to try turning that idea into action...
THE STORY SO FAR...
At the end of Revenge of the Sith and the beginning of A New Hope, the reason Obi-Wan is living on Tatooine is obviously two-fold: A) he's hiding from the Empire, and B) he's watching over Luke from afar, who, in turn, has been hidden away from his father. First and foremost, my gut tells me that both of these things need to be challenged in this movie. So there needs to be someone who learns of either Obi-Wan's identity/location, or Luke's, and comes after one or both of them.
With that basic idea in mind, I thought it would be cool to set the opening scene in space (maybe the only time we're in space for the entire movie), with some kind of villain character pulling off a heist of sorts. Imagine the opening with the Joker from The Dark Knight - something in that vein - but set in space, with this villain (and potentially his small crew) raiding another ship in heist-like fashion, trying to acquire the info they need. I don't yet know why this person is after their whereabouts, but I have this idea that the villain has been tracking down the whereabouts of Obi-Wan or "the son of Skywalker" for years. Again, I haven't yet figured out all the nuts and bolts of it, but I love the notion of there being a whispered about, rumored child of Darth Vader somewhere out there in the galaxy. Something hardly anyone believes. I would liken it to how certain Nazis were after the Ark of the Covenant in Raiders of the Lost Ark. Maybe this villain was secretly hired by Vader, maybe he's a member of the Empire with his own agenda, or maybe he's even more of a loner bounty hunter of sorts. Regardless, for whatever reason, this person needs to find Obi-Wan / the son of Skywalker, no matter how crazy others believe him to be. And this heist we're witnessing is the result of years of hunting, detective work, cold trails and hot ones. His target - this last person - it's their knowledge, or data file, or whatever it is, once acquired, that finally leads our villain (and us) to...
Tatooine.
And it's here where we meet a lonely, weary and bored Obi-Wan, say, five years (if not more) after we last saw him. Someone who is growing more and more restless; someone who, despite all his meditating and communing with the Force, is just plain longing for another adventure. You know that sequence in Forrest Gump, just after his mom dies, where it's those vignettes of him just sitting around the house in silence? Or the opening to There Will Be Blood, where there's not a single line of dialogue while we watch Daniel Plainview drilling for oil alone in the desert? Imagine the loneliness, desolation, and quiet of those two scenes, and that's what we're witnessing Obi-Wan go through.
From this point on, however, is where I only have the very broad strokes of a story. Right now, all I know is that...
A). There should potentially be some kind of local/tribal dispute on Tatooine that finally calls Obi-Wan into action. He knows he should continue hiding, he knows he has to continue keeping a watchful eye on Luke, but whatever this conflict is, he also knows that ignoring it would be even worse than being found. It's the right thing to do. This would be where the Lawrence of Arabia vibe comes into play, where he essentially finds himself in the Peter O'Toole role, where he becomes the key to settling some kind of epic tribal dispute (one that could maybe even potentially have far-reaching implications beyond that of just Tatooine?).
B). The villain we meet in the opening arrives on Tatooine, but with only a vague idea of where Obi-Wan / the son of Skywalker might be, and he too somehow gets caught up in this tribal conflict. Maybe he needs one side's resources or info, or maybe they need him and it's a mutually beneficial arrangement. Either way, this conflict Obi-Wan finds himself in turns out to be much, much more than he ever bargained for. Not only does he risk being exposed by partaking, but the one person he can't be exposed to has potentially aligned himself with the other side.
C) There's obviously a woman caught up in this whole mess, who Obi-Wan falls for. If you liken this to a western, she could be the rough and tumble widow who's managing a small homestead ranch, when the hero stranger comes knocking on her door for help. That kind of vibe. Or maybe she's a daughter in the rival tribe. I just know that she needs to awaken something in Obi-Wan he's never felt before. That, and she probably, eventually dies by the end, but not before giving birth...
As of now, that's about all I've got, in terms of the overall narrative. We would obviously get a glimpse or two of a very young Luke, from afar, likely in the first act (and maybe again at the end, a little older). We'd definitely see Obi-Wan use Anakin's lightsaber, the same one he eventually gives to Luke. He would go by "Ben." We'd for sure have to visit the cantina, if only briefly. We'd learn how Owen comes to dislike Obi-Wan so much (though, we would never visit the Lars farm and we'd never truly meet a young Luke.). And finally, this movie could span a year, or it could span multiple years - whatever the story calls for.
Other than those tidbits, I just know I want it to end with this feeling that Obi-Wan did, in fact, have this one, last, secretive-but-epic adventure before truly becoming the Obi-Wan we know in A New Hope. That "protecting" Luke was much, much harder and more dangerous than Obi-Wan lets on when he first meets him, R2, and C-3PO on that fateful day. That Vader / the Empire came this close to discovering that A) Vader did, in fact, have a son, and that B) he almost learned of his whereabouts. We'll never see Vader, and we'll never see the Empire, but I love this idea that the villain is potentially working for them in some way, and can't relay his message for some reason. Maybe that's even a plot point; the villain loses his ship/crew in the heist, has to escape in a hurry, can't relay what he's learned, crash-lands on Tatooine, and is ultimately trying to get to some kind of communication device out in the middle of no where on Tatooine. There's a ticking clock in that sense.
As for additional questions...
What other parts of Tatooine could we visit? What kind of characters or indigenous races could we meet (or "re-meet")? What is this tribal dispute being fought over? Is the Empire tangentially involved? Who, exactly, is this villain? And what is his personal reason for wanting to find Obi-Wan / the son of Skywalker? Who, exactly, is the love interest? What role does Owen Lars play in all this? Are there any holes that can be poked in anything I've outlined so far? How can any of this be different? How can it all be better?
Ultimately, I'd like to stay away from any Clone Wars characters or characters from the EU making an appearance. For instance, Obi-Wan's love interest doesn't need to be some minor character we've met before. Save for Obi-Wan, Owen, Luke (from afar), and maybe someone like Jabba the Hut, every other character in this should be completely new. This should feel like its own story in that regard; something epic and grand, but more or less self-contained. That said, I've never actually seen The Clone Wars, or read any of the books, so any Obi-Wan info in that regard that might help inform this story would be great to know.
Overall, think westerns. Think Lawrence of Arabia. Think Dances With Wolves. How can the themes, plot-points, and tropes from those movies and those types of movies be repurposed and woven into a Star Wars-ian / Tatooine-set narrative, with Obi-Wan at the center? Let's spitball, let's brainstorm, let's break it down, piece by piece. And then, if there's a story here truly worth telling, I'll try my best to go off and write it...
quote:
More than any other anthology movie, I want to see an Obi-Wan Kenobi spin-off set on Tatooine between Episode III and IV. They'd have 20 years of story to play with. Like Lawrence of Arabia meets a sci-fi western. Obi-Wan watches over a young Luke from afar, gets caught up in some big Tatooine dispute, while also having a "forbidden" love interest, one that ultimately, in the generation after, leads to the birth of Rey. Could be amazing.
quote:
Imagine having to go from planet-hopping, Jedi adventurer, literally being at the heart of the biggest conflict the galaxy has ever known, to the relative solitude of Tatooine, almost overnight. It could be really cool having to watch Obi-Wan struggle to adjust to the monotony of it all. But he then gets pulled into some big dispute. Maybe he's needed to covertly help with some local/nobel cause, or feels compelled to - maybe even on the other side of the planet - but he knows he has to somehow still watch over Luke as well. All the while falling for some beautiful woman, and struggling with whether or not he'll break his Jedi oath. Ultimately, he does, and their child goes on to father/mother Rey (something we obviously wouldn't see, but would be implied, in the wake of Episode VIII). And again, shoot it like a Lawrence of Arabia type epic, with western vibes. Man, I may just start writing this thing myself...
... and I haven't been able to stop thinking about it since. Ewan McGregor was 33 when he shot Revenge of the Sith. Alec Guinness was 62 when he shot A New Hope. McGregor is now 45, and the perfect age to play right smack in the middle of that 20-year gap (story-wise) between movies, able to go slightly younger or even older with the necessary make-up. Also consider that Joel Edgerton (briefly) played Owen Lars in Revenge of the Sith, and went on to become a huge star. I don't know that he'd have a significant role in this theoretical movie, but my point is, there's a lot of potential, cast-wise.
Also, even if Rey doesn't turn out to be a Kenobi, that thread is just a minor part of what I'm envisioning. It's almost just as interesting if Obi-Wan has a different child / grandchild out there somewhere, who maybe one day a different story can be told about. Or, change it to where Obi-Wan falls in love, but ultimately decides to keep his Jedi oath, and it's all the more heartbreaking. Either way, in A New Hope, Obi-Wan tells Luke he "was once a Jedi Knight." As in - he no longer is one. That, coupled with the fact that he was one of only two or three Jedi left in the entire galaxy, and it's definitely within the realm of possibility that he could have essentially given in to civilian life and fallen in love and conceived a child in his exile.
Point is, kid or no kid, there's definitely a movie here, and a potentially amazing one at that. So why not take matters into my own hands and give it a shot? Yes, the chances of something like this actually being acquired by Lucasfilm are ridiculously, astronomically low. But if it's good, I have the connections to get it in the hands of those who matter at Lucasfilm, Bad Robot, or any number of tangentially connected companies or contacts. I have a manager and countless agency resources, and, not to mention, the legitimacy of an up and coming production company that is starting to gain some traction. This wouldn't be some fanboy attempt from a loner living in his mom's basement in Iowa. Also, with Rogue One hitting theaters this year, and the Han Solo anthology film hitting in 2018, the next anthology film wouldn't hit theaters until 2020, so there's more than enough time to get a script out there. Heck, this could be the fourth anthology movie, out in 2022, for all I care.
All that said, I'm currently writing two other scripts, each with a different co-writer, each with hard deadlines, attempting to producing half a dozen more projects, while also trying to launch a massive new website this summer. So my own personal time is definitely a factor. Still, this really wouldn't feel like work at all, and I could easily develop/outline it in my off time here and there for the next few months, while doing all this other stuff, and then take a stab at actually writing it sometime during the second half of the year.
So, TexAgs... what do you say? Want to help me further develop the plot to Kenobi: A Star Wars Story? I realize I once got some of you stoked to go down a similar path with a potential Batman Beyond movie, and that it never really got off the ground, but the difference here is that I feel there's a much clearer, much more compelling story just waiting to be told from the get-go. This one basically writes itself, it's just about connecting all the dots in a thematically interesting way. That said, I'm not guaranteeing this one will ever get off the ground either - or that I'll even have the time to write it - but as of now, I just can't stop thinking about this idea, and really want to try turning that idea into action...
THE STORY SO FAR...
At the end of Revenge of the Sith and the beginning of A New Hope, the reason Obi-Wan is living on Tatooine is obviously two-fold: A) he's hiding from the Empire, and B) he's watching over Luke from afar, who, in turn, has been hidden away from his father. First and foremost, my gut tells me that both of these things need to be challenged in this movie. So there needs to be someone who learns of either Obi-Wan's identity/location, or Luke's, and comes after one or both of them.
With that basic idea in mind, I thought it would be cool to set the opening scene in space (maybe the only time we're in space for the entire movie), with some kind of villain character pulling off a heist of sorts. Imagine the opening with the Joker from The Dark Knight - something in that vein - but set in space, with this villain (and potentially his small crew) raiding another ship in heist-like fashion, trying to acquire the info they need. I don't yet know why this person is after their whereabouts, but I have this idea that the villain has been tracking down the whereabouts of Obi-Wan or "the son of Skywalker" for years. Again, I haven't yet figured out all the nuts and bolts of it, but I love the notion of there being a whispered about, rumored child of Darth Vader somewhere out there in the galaxy. Something hardly anyone believes. I would liken it to how certain Nazis were after the Ark of the Covenant in Raiders of the Lost Ark. Maybe this villain was secretly hired by Vader, maybe he's a member of the Empire with his own agenda, or maybe he's even more of a loner bounty hunter of sorts. Regardless, for whatever reason, this person needs to find Obi-Wan / the son of Skywalker, no matter how crazy others believe him to be. And this heist we're witnessing is the result of years of hunting, detective work, cold trails and hot ones. His target - this last person - it's their knowledge, or data file, or whatever it is, once acquired, that finally leads our villain (and us) to...
Tatooine.
And it's here where we meet a lonely, weary and bored Obi-Wan, say, five years (if not more) after we last saw him. Someone who is growing more and more restless; someone who, despite all his meditating and communing with the Force, is just plain longing for another adventure. You know that sequence in Forrest Gump, just after his mom dies, where it's those vignettes of him just sitting around the house in silence? Or the opening to There Will Be Blood, where there's not a single line of dialogue while we watch Daniel Plainview drilling for oil alone in the desert? Imagine the loneliness, desolation, and quiet of those two scenes, and that's what we're witnessing Obi-Wan go through.
From this point on, however, is where I only have the very broad strokes of a story. Right now, all I know is that...
A). There should potentially be some kind of local/tribal dispute on Tatooine that finally calls Obi-Wan into action. He knows he should continue hiding, he knows he has to continue keeping a watchful eye on Luke, but whatever this conflict is, he also knows that ignoring it would be even worse than being found. It's the right thing to do. This would be where the Lawrence of Arabia vibe comes into play, where he essentially finds himself in the Peter O'Toole role, where he becomes the key to settling some kind of epic tribal dispute (one that could maybe even potentially have far-reaching implications beyond that of just Tatooine?).
B). The villain we meet in the opening arrives on Tatooine, but with only a vague idea of where Obi-Wan / the son of Skywalker might be, and he too somehow gets caught up in this tribal conflict. Maybe he needs one side's resources or info, or maybe they need him and it's a mutually beneficial arrangement. Either way, this conflict Obi-Wan finds himself in turns out to be much, much more than he ever bargained for. Not only does he risk being exposed by partaking, but the one person he can't be exposed to has potentially aligned himself with the other side.
C) There's obviously a woman caught up in this whole mess, who Obi-Wan falls for. If you liken this to a western, she could be the rough and tumble widow who's managing a small homestead ranch, when the hero stranger comes knocking on her door for help. That kind of vibe. Or maybe she's a daughter in the rival tribe. I just know that she needs to awaken something in Obi-Wan he's never felt before. That, and she probably, eventually dies by the end, but not before giving birth...
As of now, that's about all I've got, in terms of the overall narrative. We would obviously get a glimpse or two of a very young Luke, from afar, likely in the first act (and maybe again at the end, a little older). We'd definitely see Obi-Wan use Anakin's lightsaber, the same one he eventually gives to Luke. He would go by "Ben." We'd for sure have to visit the cantina, if only briefly. We'd learn how Owen comes to dislike Obi-Wan so much (though, we would never visit the Lars farm and we'd never truly meet a young Luke.). And finally, this movie could span a year, or it could span multiple years - whatever the story calls for.
Other than those tidbits, I just know I want it to end with this feeling that Obi-Wan did, in fact, have this one, last, secretive-but-epic adventure before truly becoming the Obi-Wan we know in A New Hope. That "protecting" Luke was much, much harder and more dangerous than Obi-Wan lets on when he first meets him, R2, and C-3PO on that fateful day. That Vader / the Empire came this close to discovering that A) Vader did, in fact, have a son, and that B) he almost learned of his whereabouts. We'll never see Vader, and we'll never see the Empire, but I love this idea that the villain is potentially working for them in some way, and can't relay his message for some reason. Maybe that's even a plot point; the villain loses his ship/crew in the heist, has to escape in a hurry, can't relay what he's learned, crash-lands on Tatooine, and is ultimately trying to get to some kind of communication device out in the middle of no where on Tatooine. There's a ticking clock in that sense.
As for additional questions...
What other parts of Tatooine could we visit? What kind of characters or indigenous races could we meet (or "re-meet")? What is this tribal dispute being fought over? Is the Empire tangentially involved? Who, exactly, is this villain? And what is his personal reason for wanting to find Obi-Wan / the son of Skywalker? Who, exactly, is the love interest? What role does Owen Lars play in all this? Are there any holes that can be poked in anything I've outlined so far? How can any of this be different? How can it all be better?
Ultimately, I'd like to stay away from any Clone Wars characters or characters from the EU making an appearance. For instance, Obi-Wan's love interest doesn't need to be some minor character we've met before. Save for Obi-Wan, Owen, Luke (from afar), and maybe someone like Jabba the Hut, every other character in this should be completely new. This should feel like its own story in that regard; something epic and grand, but more or less self-contained. That said, I've never actually seen The Clone Wars, or read any of the books, so any Obi-Wan info in that regard that might help inform this story would be great to know.
Overall, think westerns. Think Lawrence of Arabia. Think Dances With Wolves. How can the themes, plot-points, and tropes from those movies and those types of movies be repurposed and woven into a Star Wars-ian / Tatooine-set narrative, with Obi-Wan at the center? Let's spitball, let's brainstorm, let's break it down, piece by piece. And then, if there's a story here truly worth telling, I'll try my best to go off and write it...
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