Latest / Aggressive Negotiations: A Star Wars Podcast / Star Wars: Rise of Filoni

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Star Wars: Rise of Filoni · Aggressive Negotiations: A Star Wars Podcast

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: The Force will be with you always.
• 0:02
  Speaker 2: Welcome to the note party.
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: Hi, this is Nick and Ostasu, story editor on Star Wars,
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: The Clone Wars and Star Wars bad Batch.
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: And you are.
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: Listening to Aggressive Negotiations.
• 0:19
  Speaker 2: That's right, you're here with Aggressive Negotiations, the Star Wars
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: podcast that takes you on a tour of all of
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: the nifty unknown corners and regions of the Star Wars Galaxy.
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: We are pleased that you are here. We are pleased
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: if you're returning or if it's your first time. I
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: am Jedi Master John Mills. I am pleased as always
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: to be joined by my dear friend, Jedi Master Matthew Rushing,
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: Man of the Galaxy. Matt It's going to be a
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: humdinger of a show tonight, and I'm glad that you're
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: here to go through it with me.
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: I'm excited to be here, John, and I just love
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: doing this show. I love being able to talk Star Wars.
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: I love being able to sit down with my good
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: friend and Jedi Master. And it's just a joy to
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: be able to keep doing this show. And you know,
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: one of the things that makes this such a joy
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: is when we get little gifts from our listeners. And
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: one of the gifts that we just got was a
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: brand new review over on Apple Podcasts, and this is
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: from sci Fi Fan two zero three. It says Star
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: Wars Podcast five stars. This podcast uploads weekly. It discusses
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: various Star Wars topics across books, movies, and TV shows.
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: It's a half hour to or an hour and length,
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: so you can listen to it in the car on
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: the way from work, which is what I do. Matt
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: and John are excellent hosts and they're very knowledgeable about
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  Speaker 1: everything Star Wars. I recommend this podcast to any Star
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: Wars fan, and goodness, sci Fi Fan two zero three,
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: we thank you for your recommendation and for giving us
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: a review and a rating over there on Apple Podcasts.
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: It had been a while, and goodness, I hope John
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: that this will continue. Then A just an absolute flood
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: of reviews that we will have to read out on
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: the show, that that we would have to take twenty
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: to thirty minutes every show just to read out the
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: number of reviews. It really does mean a lot to us,
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: and because we know it takes some time, and so
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: thank you for taking your time out and recommending our
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: show to you know, everyone here.
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  Speaker 2: And on top of that, I love that review. It's great,
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  Speaker 2: and I want to say thank you for calling out
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: the fact that we do try to make a drive
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: time listenable because one of the things that the Jedi
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: Masters have noticed over time is that four hour podcasts
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: are really difficult to keep up with, and so we're
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: tailoring it so that what we're talking about is the
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: right length for the time that you have.
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: If we have for you for us to talk about
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  Speaker 1: Star Wars, John Wow, I mean, what did we or something?
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: Star War? Yes, I know I'm going to win the
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: two billion dollar power ball and then you all can't yep,
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  Speaker 2: that's what's going to happen with it. But we also
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: got a back channel communication. Believe it or not, I
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: can't reveal my source, but this person is a formerly
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: tied to parks at the Disney Empire, and the person
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: passed along this message saying, by the way, there's room
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: for two more rides in Galaxy's Edge. This person asked
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: why they didn't put a third one in, and an
• 3:33
  Speaker 2: imagineer said back to them, we want people to come back.
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: So that's added for our you know, summations about Battu
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: is that they purposely held back with the idea that
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: they would build another one, So hope springs eternal, especially
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: since they don't have that shuttle to the hotel that
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: doesn't exist, I mean the factor, so I think they
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: would be well served to create another ride there. But
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  Speaker 2: I talked about that too, Yeah, in our previous episode.
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  Speaker 2: Thank you for the review, Thank you for all of
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: the communications we get from you guys.
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  Speaker 1: But tonight, well, and first before we say that, John,
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: you know, if you want to give your star rating review,
• 4:13
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  Speaker 1: we're also on We're also on.
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  Speaker 2: Facebook and.
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: We're also on Facebook at Facebook dot com slash the
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: nerd Party. We're over online at the nerd Party dot
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: com where you can see all of the different shows
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  Speaker 1: that we're doing here on the network, and so we
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  Speaker 1: really appreciate it if you would follow us in all
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  Speaker 1: of those places and you know, again share us out
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  Speaker 1: with your friends there on social media. And help people
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: find our show.
• 4:56
  Speaker 2: And if you're one of those many people on TikTok,
• 4:59
  Speaker 2: go ahead and sh on our behalf because we're apparently
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: too old to do it. I know, I am.
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: I mean, nobody wants to see me doing those dances, John.
• 5:07
  Speaker 2: You know what I do. I want to see you
• 5:09
  Speaker 2: doing those dances. But more important, but all right, more
• 5:13
  Speaker 2: more importantly, I want to talk about tonight's topic, okay,
• 5:16
  Speaker 2: or today's topic whenever you're listening to the topic at hand, okay.
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  Speaker 2: So it's really I think both you and I have
• 5:24
  Speaker 2: talked about this recently where it's sort of an inflection
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  Speaker 2: point for Star Wars. There's there's you know, I almost
• 5:31
  Speaker 2: feel like that Snowke line from twenty fifteen. There's been
• 5:35
  Speaker 2: an awakening. Can you feel it right? Yeah, there feels
• 5:39
  Speaker 2: like there's something coming right. It feels weirdly electric with
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: regard to Star Wars. As we are recording this, the
• 5:50
  Speaker 2: teaser for the trailer for Mall Shadow Lord dropped and
• 5:55
  Speaker 2: super excited for that. I mean, like, honestly, you don't
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  Speaker 2: even need to give me a trailer. By the time
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  Speaker 2: this releases, the trailer will have come out, So I'm
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  Speaker 2: sure I'll be even more excited. I've seen the trailer
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  Speaker 2: for Mandalorian and Grogu on the big screen, which was
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  Speaker 2: such a treat, And there are several other projects coming
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  Speaker 2: in twenty twenty six. But more importantly, we have had
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  Speaker 2: this recent announcement that Dave Filoni is going to be
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  Speaker 2: co president of Lucasfilm now sort of like stepping into
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  Speaker 2: that leadership role that we all sort of, you know,
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  Speaker 2: we felt that he deserved. And let me rephrase that
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  Speaker 2: stepping into that leadership role that feels natural for Filoni,
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  Speaker 2: and it's Lynnwin Brennan is the co president with him,
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  Speaker 2: So looking forward to what that holds. But I want
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  Speaker 2: to ask this two part question. First, is we know
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  Speaker 2: that Filoni is somebody who is a tremendous creative. We
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  Speaker 2: know that he is somebody who can steer a ship
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  Speaker 2: and put story together, and the question of is he
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  Speaker 2: ready for the task is now the question that's out
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  Speaker 2: there with everybody. And the second part of the question.
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  Speaker 1: Is is Filoni stepping into the role at just the right time?
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  Speaker 2: Because if twenty twenty six goes right for Star Wars,
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  Speaker 2: this is like I think it's their co president's over
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  Speaker 2: at like Warner Brothers or something that came out of
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  Speaker 2: the gate and there were these projects that hit in
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  Speaker 2: their first year and they proved to be massive successes
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  Speaker 2: and the fans loved them too. Is Felony being set
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  Speaker 2: up for success by hitting the ground running in this year?
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  Speaker 2: So that's the second part of the question.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, I think is it's a good question,
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  Speaker 1: you know, is Felony ready? And I think one of
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  Speaker 1: the things that has really helped is that he has
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  Speaker 1: been with Lucasfilm throughout the tenure the end of the
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  Speaker 1: George Lucas era, and so he has seen how things
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: were done in the Lucas era. He has worked closely
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  Speaker 1: with the Master himself, being willing to humble himself under
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  Speaker 1: the Master of George Lucas to understand what Star Wars
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  Speaker 1: is and how it should be made and if there
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  Speaker 1: are ways in which to bend that series, then how
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  Speaker 1: to do that because of the full understanding of actually
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  Speaker 1: what it is instead of what it isn't And so
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  Speaker 1: I think that is helpful. And you know, now he
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  Speaker 1: has been thirteen years under the Kennedy regime, and I
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  Speaker 1: think one of the things that is actually helpful there
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  Speaker 1: is is that juxtaposition now that he has between the
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  Speaker 1: way in which the studio was run under you know,
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  Speaker 1: two different types of leadership. Now, obviously, the thing about
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  Speaker 1: under Lucas is literally they would do whatever George Lucas
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  Speaker 1: wanted without any question right there. You know, So Dave
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  Speaker 1: still has overlords. You know, he has Disney as the
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  Speaker 1: major parent company. H and so he can't just do
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  Speaker 1: anything that he wants at Lucasfilm and with Star Wars. Uh.
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  Speaker 1: And So I think what's interesting about this, and I
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  Speaker 1: think sets him up is that is Dave's humility, right,
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  Speaker 1: And it's this. You know, Dave didn't come in to
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  Speaker 1: working under George Lucas and immediately think he had something
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  Speaker 1: to teach the master. He realized he had something to learn.
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  Speaker 1: And I think the other thing that Dave has done
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  Speaker 1: under Kathy Kennedy, which is incredibly smart, which is learn
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  Speaker 1: everything I can about the business that I don't know yet.
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  Speaker 2: Right.
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  Speaker 1: I don't think there's anybody who could teach George, and
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  Speaker 1: I don't think there's anybody who could teach anything about
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  Speaker 1: Star Wars at this point except for maybe George himself.
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  Speaker 1: Still right, yes, But when it came to the idea
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  Speaker 1: of the film business, of being a filmmaker in the
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  Speaker 1: sense of live action, what that takes. Again, the business side,
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  Speaker 1: Dave put himself under people like Kathy Kennedy to learn
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  Speaker 1: that side, and then he aligned himself with Jon Favreau,
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  Speaker 1: who's an incredibly talented filmmaker understands the business side but
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  Speaker 1: also understands the creative side. And I think this is
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  Speaker 1: the thing that for that question of is Dave ready,
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  Speaker 1: I think he is ready now because of those things.
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  Speaker 1: And this is the key I think to whether then
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  Speaker 1: he's poised for success because I think he understands still
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  Speaker 1: that to be a creative in this business it takes risk,
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  Speaker 1: and it takes skill, but it also does take an
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  Speaker 1: amount of humility that I think that a lot of
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  Speaker 1: people we've seen who have come in to make Star
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  Speaker 1: Wars and that haven't necessarily done it well have never
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  Speaker 1: had that humility, And that's honestly, I think, would have
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  Speaker 1: made which has made those things not work. I think
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  Speaker 1: the thing that you know across the board that critics
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  Speaker 1: of course loved, and lots of fans loved, but not
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: everybody necessarily loved, but you know, was well received overall,
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  Speaker 1: you know, was and or and there you had somebody
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  Speaker 1: who didn't care about Star Wars itself, you know, they
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: just cared about good storytelling. And so yeah, I think
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  Speaker 1: that for me, that's the thing though, that really sticks
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  Speaker 1: with me, and that really just stands out for me
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  Speaker 1: about Felony in general. And so is he ready and
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  Speaker 1: is he poised then to be able to catapult Star
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: Wars back into the cultural zeitgeist in the way we
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  Speaker 1: all hope and think that it should be. I think
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: in some ways that he is starting now with you
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: know Mandalarin Grogu. Of course mal Shadow look coming out.
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  Speaker 1: We know Ahsoka season two will be coming out as well,
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  Speaker 1: and what I think it's going to be most fascinating.
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  Speaker 1: And this is the question I have for you, John.
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  Speaker 1: One of the major things that plagues the Kennedy regime
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: of Star Wars is the inability to follow through with productions,
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: the inability of things ever to make it to production.
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  Speaker 1: And so I want to ask you, do you think
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  Speaker 1: that Dave then has what it takes to shepherd these
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  Speaker 1: productions actually into production, to go from idea to something
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  Speaker 1: we see on screen.
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  Speaker 2: I think that this is where Felony is hopefully at
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  Speaker 2: least being set up for success by being paired with
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  Speaker 2: lynn Wyn Brennan, who I know nothing really about her
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  Speaker 2: because she hasn't been in the spotlight. It's I know
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  Speaker 2: that she's in the position because she's got the credentials
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  Speaker 2: to do it. And I know that she undoubtedly, you know,
• 13:27
  Speaker 2: understands how everything works and can allow filony to focus
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  Speaker 2: on the creative direction and organizing of things. Well. She
• 13:38
  Speaker 2: can help steer you know, the fund like getting it
• 13:41
  Speaker 2: through the channels and stuff like that. So I think
• 13:44
  Speaker 2: where I'll where I will give a lot of grace
• 13:48
  Speaker 2: here to Kathleen Kennedy is what we may be seeing
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  Speaker 2: here as a signal that they realize and that they
• 13:58
  Speaker 2: hear is the you know, Bob Eiger level at Disney.
• 14:02
  Speaker 2: The corporate board leadership is realizing that running whether it's
• 14:06
  Speaker 2: Marvel or Lucasfilm, is too big for one person because
• 14:10
  Speaker 2: of all of these different considerations. So Kathleen Kennedy is
• 14:13
  Speaker 2: fielding all of this stuff alone. She is, you know,
• 14:18
  Speaker 2: trying to make sure the creative stuff gets out while
• 14:21
  Speaker 2: at the same time juggling the business stuff. The board
• 14:24
  Speaker 2: or somebody gets excited and so oh, you know what
• 14:27
  Speaker 2: those game of Thrones guys, they're really hot. Sign them,
• 14:29
  Speaker 2: work with them. They want to work with us, and
• 14:32
  Speaker 2: you bring them on and the last season of Game
• 14:34
  Speaker 2: of Thrones goes completely wrong, that falls apart, but that's
• 14:38
  Speaker 2: a stain for they allow Kennedy to take the fall
• 14:42
  Speaker 2: sort of thing. So you know, I can see a
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  Speaker 2: little bit of that going on here. I think that
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  Speaker 2: what we'll see in terms of shepherding the projects is
• 14:56
  Speaker 2: by having this co presidency, if the board communicates to down,
• 15:00
  Speaker 2: we want more product, we want more this, we want
• 15:03
  Speaker 2: more that Faloney can have now that he has a
• 15:09
  Speaker 2: lot of this production experience in live action on top
• 15:13
  Speaker 2: of his animation experience and all the story acumen that
• 15:19
  Speaker 2: comes along with, you know, studying, as you said, at
• 15:22
  Speaker 2: the master's knee, when the request comes in, he can
• 15:27
  Speaker 2: filter it in such a way to say, awesome, this
• 15:30
  Speaker 2: is an idea we had. We're not going to let
• 15:34
  Speaker 2: this person go rogue and you know, create this thing
• 15:38
  Speaker 2: without guardrails around it. We have this project here, or
• 15:43
  Speaker 2: this bevy of projects. We have all of these possibilities
• 15:46
  Speaker 2: here in front of you, or you can pitch your own,
• 15:49
  Speaker 2: you know, because obviously they were open to the idea
• 15:51
  Speaker 2: of Soderberg pitching an idea right and going through the channels,
• 15:54
  Speaker 2: and then it was Disney Brass that stops it. At
• 15:57
  Speaker 2: the last second. They're about to go into pre production
• 16:00
  Speaker 2: and they stop it, which honestly gives me flashbacks of
• 16:04
  Speaker 2: the stories of the fact that they basically stopped Lucas's
• 16:09
  Speaker 2: trilogy from going forward and when it was basically ready
• 16:13
  Speaker 2: to go into pre production. But there is that sense
• 16:18
  Speaker 2: of it's a different environment for somebody to come into
• 16:23
  Speaker 2: and for the naysayers that say, because there are those
• 16:26
  Speaker 2: out there that say, oh well, what about somebody that
• 16:28
  Speaker 2: wants to come in and do something completely crazy or
• 16:31
  Speaker 2: new or fresh. Even Gilroy, for the people who love
• 16:35
  Speaker 2: and or he had guardrails put around him and they
• 16:39
  Speaker 2: weren't as brightly visible as they might be in other projects.
• 16:44
  Speaker 2: But he couldn't invent something to replace the ISB. He
• 16:49
  Speaker 2: brought in certain love marks from other series that were
• 16:53
  Speaker 2: recognizable to people so that it could root it and
• 16:57
  Speaker 2: keep it in there. So, okay, great, he creates a
• 16:59
  Speaker 2: show that you love, fantastic. He did it within the sandbox.
• 17:04
  Speaker 2: Somebody comes in and they want to pitch, you know,
• 17:08
  Speaker 2: a rogue squadron movie. Cool, what time period are you
• 17:11
  Speaker 2: going to go into? Because guess what, we have a
• 17:13
  Speaker 2: couple of these story ideas you want to bring them
• 17:15
  Speaker 2: in that'll get you started a little faster, so it's
• 17:17
  Speaker 2: like a starter pack. And then you come to Everybody
• 17:20
  Speaker 2: Loves Empire strikes back, right, Irvin Kirshner didn't create a
• 17:25
  Speaker 2: whole ton of Irvin Kershner had somebody sitting there and
• 17:28
  Speaker 2: executive producer Lucas and you know, and Kasden and Lee
• 17:34
  Speaker 2: Brackett and everybody sitting there saying like, Okay, yes, you're
• 17:37
  Speaker 2: going to have a seat at the table, but remember
• 17:40
  Speaker 2: this is these are the lines you have to color within.
• 17:43
  Speaker 2: And so, you know, I think that is definitely something
• 17:47
  Speaker 2: that can you know, find expression when you have dual
• 17:51
  Speaker 2: leadership like this and somebody like Dave Filoni who has
• 17:54
  Speaker 2: such a clear command of what's going on story.
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: You know, it's interesting because I like that you say
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: that about the idea of why we would do this
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: dual leadership. And it was interesting because I was reading
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: in an article the other day with James Gunn answering
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: some questions about how difficult it is to be leading
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: the creative of DC Studios while at the same time
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: being a filmmaker and making a film, and that for him,
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: he doesn't know right now how much longer he can
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: keep doing that in the sense of be working on
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: a film and doing all this other stuff because it
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: is so much work, which I think makes it complete
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: sense as to why the announcement came out of what
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: was kind of maybe still an active production or still
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: being pursued, and the note came out that Dave's film
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: has been put on the back burner at the moment,
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: which why wouldn't it be. I don't think it's any
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: reflection of story or anything else. I think it's the
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: reflection of Dave is about to take on a bunch
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: of new responsibilities that if that are going to keep
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: him incredibly busy, and he needs time to be able
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: to figure that out before he can then do that
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: film right. And and so I think you know, when
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: you look at like you know, DC Studios, they immediately
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: jump in. Gun is running the studios with Saffron and
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: the creative side, but at the same time he's also
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: trying to shepherd the very first film that's going to
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: get all this kicked off the ground, and the animated
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: series creature commandos that's going to get this kicked off
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: the ground.
• 19:31
  Speaker 2: Uh.
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: And that's a lot of work. And of course he's
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: doing He did Peacemaker season two, so it's like there
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: were three things in active production that he was making
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: sure and shepherding as well as all the other stuff.
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: And I think in some ways it seems as though
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: Star Wars has kind of looked at that and said, Okay,
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: we don't want our main creative guy, the guy that
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: is the president and of our company co president but
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: also the head of creator, to be saddled with so
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: much that he can't do any job well. And so
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: let's allow him to learn how to do this job
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: well before we give him other responsibility or just it.
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: I think probably Dave is probably thinking this, and I
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: don't mean to speak for Dave. Dave, you can correct me.
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: Please reach out at any time at Matt Rushing Show
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: two over the next Twitter but or.
• 20:24
  Speaker 2: The NERD Party, come slash contact and lookup aggressive negotiations
• 20:27
  Speaker 2: actually both places.
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: But I would think that his thought process is I
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: want to do this as well as I possibly can,
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: and you know you would think about this. Look, this
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: goes all the way back. I think to Dave learning
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: from George, right, Dave saw and understood from knowing George
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: Lucas for so long, how tough it was for George
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: to be running an entire company and making films at
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: the same time, and how exhausting I mean, cost Georgia marriage,
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: It hurt his family life, I mean everything about what
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: he was doing hurt. And so again I think Dave
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: has taken when we talked about is Dave ready, I
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: think we can see that he's taking steps to make
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: sure that he can do the job that he's been given,
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: which is shepherding Lucasfilm now, especially creatively, into hopefully a
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: new golden era. And this is what I want to
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: ask you, is Dave's understanding of Star Wars then, and
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: the way that he understands it a benefit beyond what
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: we've seen previously here at Lucasfilm without George Lucas, because
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: he understands what's going to fit in this storyline saga.
• 21:59
  Speaker 2: I get. That's such an easy answer, Yes, because he
• 22:05
  Speaker 2: can he can let the outlandish, wild story that's never
• 22:12
  Speaker 2: been done before in the Star Wars franchise. It can
• 22:16
  Speaker 2: get pitched and he can say that's awesome. I love that.
• 22:20
  Speaker 2: Just remember this and this have to be part of
• 22:22
  Speaker 2: it too, And then you've got a Star Wars story
• 22:26
  Speaker 2: and you can bend. Look at what the bad Batch
• 22:29
  Speaker 2: did that was all about the Clones. We took the
• 22:32
  Speaker 2: focus completely off the Jedi. That's quote unquote not a
• 22:36
  Speaker 2: Star Wars story in the traditional sense. It's much more personal.
• 22:41
  Speaker 2: It's less fate of nations and all of those sorts
• 22:45
  Speaker 2: of things. But it's just as impactful. It's just as
• 22:47
  Speaker 2: important because it still has the earmarks of what makes
• 22:51
  Speaker 2: a Star Wars story about it. And it's not stretching
• 22:57
  Speaker 2: a Star Wars skin over a non Star Wars thing.
• 23:02
  Speaker 2: It's inherently it's part of its DNA. If you want
• 23:06
  Speaker 2: to tell a different story, then go to a different
• 23:09
  Speaker 2: outlet to tell that story. Otherwise you're going to have
• 23:14
  Speaker 2: something that feels weird, that doesn't feel like it belongs.
• 23:17
  Speaker 2: It's going to feel like it's something else that you retrofitted.
• 23:20
  Speaker 2: And how many movies have we seen over time? You know,
• 23:24
  Speaker 2: a Diehard three. I love Diehard three, but it's very
• 23:28
  Speaker 2: obvious that it was and this is the true story.
• 23:30
  Speaker 2: It was written as a different movie. And then they
• 23:33
  Speaker 2: said Okay, well rewrite this so it's a John McClain thing,
• 23:37
  Speaker 2: and you look at it and it's different. It's completely
• 23:39
  Speaker 2: different from the two diehards that happened before, and it
• 23:41
  Speaker 2: works and it's great. But when they rewrote it to
• 23:44
  Speaker 2: make it a John McLain thing, they still made it
• 23:46
  Speaker 2: a John McClain thing. And that's why it works as
• 23:49
  Speaker 2: a film, you know, whereas you know, there's it's one
• 23:53
  Speaker 2: of the it's either the fourth or the fifth. One
• 23:56
  Speaker 2: was an instance where they took a different story and
• 23:59
  Speaker 2: they retrofitted it to John McClain movie, and it was
• 24:01
  Speaker 2: like and it didn't feel right, and it was like,
• 24:04
  Speaker 2: I think that would be a fascinating thing to sit down.
• 24:05
  Speaker 2: That's the sort of thing that they're going to be
• 24:07
  Speaker 2: able to guard against and protect. You know, how many
• 24:13
  Speaker 2: times have we said, I go to McDonald's for McDonald's,
• 24:17
  Speaker 2: and I go to Ruth's Chris Steakhouse for steak and
• 24:23
  Speaker 2: I go to you know, you know, insert your favorite
• 24:27
  Speaker 2: restaurant of choice for this and if I got a
• 24:29
  Speaker 2: McDonald's burger at the steakhouse, feel weird. And I'm not
• 24:33
  Speaker 2: going to expect that hamburger to be as good as
• 24:36
  Speaker 2: you know, you know an eight ounce ribbi or you
• 24:40
  Speaker 2: know that's cooked medium well at a real steakhouse sort
• 24:44
  Speaker 2: of thing. Like I go to these places for the
• 24:46
  Speaker 2: things that they are.
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: Huh.
• 24:47
  Speaker 2: Well, I'm just you know what, I'm I'm a living
• 24:52
  Speaker 2: ll M right now. I'm just words are just flowing
• 24:55
  Speaker 2: out right now.
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I know, I know exactly what you're saying, and
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: I completely agree you. Look, you know, I think if
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: there's anything about Star Wars that's really important, it's that.
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: And again we've said this many many, many, many many
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: times on this podcast. The Clone Wars and the animated
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: shows have shown us that you can create Star Wars
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: through any genre, and you can do it really well
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: and still have it feel like a Star Wars story.
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: You can do that, and so and you can do
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: stories where there are no Jedi in them solo. A
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: Star Wars story is a big part of this. So
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: much of the bad Batch is a part of that.
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: Rogue one and and Or are proof positive of this, right,
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: So you can do all of these things. We've seen
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: the Mandalorian take the idea of the Western of Star
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: Wars and really dig into it, right, you know, Book
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: of Boba fet We were just talking about that before
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: we started recording a little bit. You know, that's a
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: show that's done that as well, you know, and whether
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: it did it perfectly or not, you know, it's still
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: it was still tying into a big genre that kind
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: of helped kindles you know, Lucas's imagination with you know,
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: john Ford film was back in the day, and those
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: you know, Western serials. It wasn't just sci fi serials,
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: it was Western serials too that were happening. So like,
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: I think that that then having Dave understand what's important
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: for Star Wars stories, and I think this is the
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: other thing. Star Wars is a continuous story. It's it's
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: a continuous line of history in a universe.
• 27:01
  Speaker 2: Right.
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: It's one of the things I think that made fans
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: not only love Star Wars, but many fans love Star
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: Trek for the same reason, right, because it was this
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: idea of this kind of continuous span of history, this
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: long line where things connected and made sense to one another,
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: and where there's some things here and there that didn't
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: quite connect. Yeah, sure, whatever, that's what happens when you
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: tell stories after the fact, right, So it almost makes
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: it feel more like real history in that sense, you know,
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: but Star Wars is very much in that same vein
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: it is a continuous story, and so figuring out then
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: how all of these things fit together is really important
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: and to do that well. I think it's also helpful
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: to have somebody who understands what will fit in what
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: will not fit. And I think that's where, you know,
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: when we talk about Dave Filoni, I think that's his
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: greatest strength coming into this now. I do want to
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: ask you one question, just so we're not sitting here
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: kind of praising, you know, Dave's name. Is there anything
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: that you feel like leaves you wondering at all about
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: Dave with taking on this role. Is there anything at
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: all that that you, as a you, as a fan,
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: longtime fan, think to yourself, I wonder how he'll be
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: able to handle insert here.
• 28:37
  Speaker 2: There's there's there's nothing in specific, because I think that
• 28:40
  Speaker 2: if anything, the fact that he has been a part
• 28:48
  Speaker 2: of the company. He never left in a huff, he
• 28:50
  Speaker 2: never said I deserved that promotion and walked off like that.
• 28:53
  Speaker 2: That's a person of character to me, and that's somebody
• 28:55
  Speaker 2: I feel can handle pretty much anything that comes their way.
• 28:58
  Speaker 2: I've seen people quit in a huff. There was a
• 29:00
  Speaker 2: job in the past that I quit in huff because
• 29:02
  Speaker 2: I felt or I I and in retrospect, like, you know,
• 29:06
  Speaker 2: a couple of years later, I was like, man, I
• 29:07
  Speaker 2: was a prima donna about that. I should have written
• 29:09
  Speaker 2: that out. I would have been happier, right. So obviously
• 29:15
  Speaker 2: Dave Filoni has a longer view, a more mature view.
• 29:18
  Speaker 2: I think, you know, the one thing that I hope
• 29:22
  Speaker 2: for him, that I pray for him. You mentioned star trek.
• 29:26
  Speaker 2: The other time I've been in this boat too, is
• 29:30
  Speaker 2: I call it the Captain Kirk syndrome? Were you happier
• 29:35
  Speaker 2: in the captain's chair, because getting the admiral's chair isn't
• 29:39
  Speaker 2: always all that it's cracked up to be. Sometimes you're
• 29:43
  Speaker 2: happier being in the captain's chair, And I do not
• 29:48
  Speaker 2: think that that is the case. I think that if
• 29:51
  Speaker 2: he didn't want this, he wouldn't have accepted it. Because
• 29:56
  Speaker 2: everything that we've been talking about indicates to me a
• 29:59
  Speaker 2: person who has the wisdom to know what he's getting
• 30:05
  Speaker 2: into and whether he wants to get into it. So
• 30:07
  Speaker 2: I don't really have those concerns because of all the
• 30:12
  Speaker 2: all of the markers that he has shown through his
• 30:15
  Speaker 2: career up to and including never playing the Prima Donna.
• 30:22
  Speaker 2: It would have been so easy, especially with all of
• 30:24
  Speaker 2: the fan love for him, especially for all the praise
• 30:27
  Speaker 2: that constantly comes his way from you know, from the
• 30:29
  Speaker 2: majority of the fan base, It would be very easy
• 30:33
  Speaker 2: for that to go to somebody's head. And that's not
• 30:38
  Speaker 2: just people sitting on your shoulder telling you to play
• 30:42
  Speaker 2: it cool. That comes from within. And so no, I'm
• 30:45
  Speaker 2: not overly concerned about anything, because I feel that everything
• 30:49
  Speaker 2: we've seen shows that he wants this and understands what
• 30:53
  Speaker 2: it means and is ready for it. What I mean,
• 30:56
  Speaker 2: do you share that view or do you've differed all.
• 31:02
  Speaker 1: I think that I share that view with you, and
• 31:07
  Speaker 1: I think that the thing that will be most interesting
• 31:10
  Speaker 1: to see. And I wonder if the experience that Dave
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: has had on the Mandalorian and with the directors that
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: they've been able to bring in the relationships they've been
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: able to start will actually kind of, in some ways,
• 31:23
  Speaker 1: kind of give them a stable of people that they
• 31:25
  Speaker 1: might turn to to say, Hey, we have this story
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: that we want to tell. We think you're the right
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: person to shepherd this. And because you know, working with
• 31:37
  Speaker 1: creatives in the industry, I can't imagine is easy, right,
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: especially if somebody has made it right, and a lot
• 31:44
  Speaker 1: of those people don't like being told what to do
• 31:47
  Speaker 1: or that what they think is not quite correct, you know.
• 31:51
  Speaker 1: And so I think in a lot of ways, again
• 31:54
  Speaker 1: kind of harkening back to that original question, is Dave Ready.
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: I think the experience that he's had with not only
• 32:01
  Speaker 1: working with Favre, but also working with all of these
• 32:05
  Speaker 1: other directors who have helped him understand what it means
• 32:10
  Speaker 1: to be a director of live action, but have also
• 32:14
  Speaker 1: trusted him when it came to the idea of you know,
• 32:18
  Speaker 1: story and those kind of things. I think that he's
• 32:20
  Speaker 1: somebody who understands how to hopefully create the right relationship
• 32:25
  Speaker 1: you need with the creative you bring in so that
• 32:29
  Speaker 1: you can again foster a community that creates the best
• 32:33
  Speaker 1: version of things. Because I think in some ways that's
• 32:38
  Speaker 1: the kind of thing that Dave experienced with George. It
• 32:42
  Speaker 1: seems to be the type of thing that him and
• 32:45
  Speaker 1: Favreau have really been able to cultivate between themselves and
• 32:50
  Speaker 1: all of those directors who have been working on the Mandalorian,
• 32:54
  Speaker 1: every single one of them not only seeing Favre's praise,
• 32:58
  Speaker 1: but they see Dave's praise, right, And so I think
• 33:01
  Speaker 1: that shows that the one thing that might be slightly
• 33:05
  Speaker 1: more difficult for him as you get into this seems
• 33:08
  Speaker 1: to be something that he's also got a good leg
• 33:12
  Speaker 1: up on how to make it work. And so I
• 33:15
  Speaker 1: don't think there's anything necessarily that I'm really worried about
• 33:18
  Speaker 1: at all for him specifically, I think more than anything
• 33:23
  Speaker 1: like all Star Wars fans, I want just this to
• 33:27
  Speaker 1: be the thing that you kind of talked about at
• 33:29
  Speaker 1: the beginning. Is this an awakening again for Star Wars?
• 33:34
  Speaker 1: Can we get back to Star Wars being a premiere
• 33:37
  Speaker 1: entertainment franchise? You originally Disney wanted one film a year
• 33:44
  Speaker 1: from Star Wars, maybe one every other year, and obviously
• 33:47
  Speaker 1: that never happened. And I don't need that to happen now.
• 33:52
  Speaker 1: What I need, though, is just for the things that
• 33:54
  Speaker 1: come out to be of immense quality, because every other year,
• 34:01
  Speaker 1: every year kind of sometimes makes things, you know, especially
• 34:06
  Speaker 1: actual films on the big screen. Man, people get tired
• 34:10
  Speaker 1: of things real fast. Look at Marvel, right, They've they've
• 34:13
  Speaker 1: warned people.
• 34:14
  Speaker 2: I was done with Marvel by the end. By the
• 34:16
  Speaker 2: time endgame came around, I was I was done. I
• 34:19
  Speaker 2: was like ready to walk before that. And then when
• 34:22
  Speaker 2: in game ended on that note, I was like, Okay, cool,
• 34:26
  Speaker 2: but like I don't want to be at the point
• 34:28
  Speaker 2: where I'm like, I don't want to watch any more
• 34:29
  Speaker 2: Star Wars. And so I think you're you're you're spot on.
• 34:33
  Speaker 1: And so, you know, I think that the biggest thing
• 34:36
  Speaker 1: really comes down to this idea of it just you know,
• 34:40
  Speaker 1: it needs to be good. That's really all that matters.
• 34:43
  Speaker 1: The things that come out need to be good. And
• 34:45
  Speaker 1: if that's what happens, I'm going to be excited for that.
• 34:51
  Speaker 1: You know, I'm I'm going to be there with everybody
• 34:55
  Speaker 1: else just just jumping in the in the seats of
• 34:59
  Speaker 1: the movie theater. You know, I'm gonna be the most
• 35:03
  Speaker 1: excited fan there's ever been.
• 35:04
  Speaker 2: Right, although it will always be important for all of
• 35:08
  Speaker 2: us not to catastrophize things if there's a thing we
• 35:12
  Speaker 2: don't like, you know, like, that's the one thing that
• 35:15
  Speaker 2: I think that that what the fans need to do
• 35:17
  Speaker 2: to give Dave Filoni and lynn Wyn and Brennan the
• 35:22
  Speaker 2: best chance for success is not to catastrophize. If there's
• 35:26
  Speaker 2: one thing you don't like. Now, if there's something that
• 35:30
  Speaker 2: doesn't mean say, you love everything, that's the wrong extreme
• 35:34
  Speaker 2: to take it with. But it's one of those things
• 35:36
  Speaker 2: where it's like, oh I didn't like that, Okay, well
• 35:39
  Speaker 2: I'll let them try again. You know, it's like the
• 35:41
  Speaker 2: Star Wars Holiday Special. Like, let's go all the way
• 35:43
  Speaker 2: back the Star Wars Holiday Special happened in today's environment,
• 35:48
  Speaker 2: how many people would have had YouTube videos. Star Wars
• 35:51
  Speaker 2: is dead. This is the end of Star Wars. They've
• 35:53
  Speaker 2: lost the plot. I can't believe it. I refuse to
• 35:56
  Speaker 2: see that next movie because this is you know what, guys,
• 35:58
  Speaker 2: let let's keep it everything in context here. Let's go
• 36:01
  Speaker 2: for the batting average. We're not going to win every game,
• 36:05
  Speaker 2: but as long as you have a winning percentage. You know,
• 36:08
  Speaker 2: eleven and five is a winning record. You don't have
• 36:11
  Speaker 2: to like the five games that you lost. But you know,
• 36:14
  Speaker 2: doesn't need to be a perfect season. For those listening
• 36:17
  Speaker 2: in the international audience. That is a reference to American football.
• 36:20
  Speaker 2: American football has sixteen games per season, not the requisite
• 36:25
  Speaker 2: four hundred and sixty thousand that baseball does, or however
• 36:29
  Speaker 2: many games kick your friends in the Shins Has Soccer.
• 36:33
  Speaker 2: That's the one I'm thinking of. So anyway, you know what, Matt,
• 36:36
  Speaker 2: this has been a lot of fun. I'm excited about
• 36:39
  Speaker 2: twenty twenty six. I know you are too. But if
• 36:42
  Speaker 2: people want to, you know, share some thoughts with you
• 36:44
  Speaker 2: about you know, Filonian Brennan's upcoming rain of Star Wars,
• 36:51
  Speaker 2: where can they reach out to you.
• 36:52
  Speaker 1: Well, make it ring guys. But you can find me
• 36:54
  Speaker 1: all over social media under the name Matt Rushing zero two.
• 36:57
  Speaker 1: Of course you're on the network. I've got a completed
• 36:58
  Speaker 1: show called I'll post about every single chapter of the
• 37:01
  Speaker 1: Harry Potter series, one chapter of time. Perfect time to
• 37:04
  Speaker 1: celebrate that, you know, with the new audio books coming out,
• 37:08
  Speaker 1: with the full cast editions, twenty five years of The
• 37:12
  Speaker 1: Philosopher's Stone being on screen, and a new series coming
• 37:16
  Speaker 1: on HBO, so all reasons to check out OWL posts.
• 37:21
  Speaker 1: So of course you could also find me over on
• 37:22
  Speaker 1: the TFM network doing a bunch of shows ones called
• 37:24
  Speaker 1: the six h two Club. We talk about all of
• 37:26
  Speaker 1: the franchises that we love outside of Star Trek and
• 37:29
  Speaker 1: then have a lot of great Star Trek talk I
• 37:31
  Speaker 1: do with my good friend Chris Jones, and a lot
• 37:33
  Speaker 1: of shows, so check all out. But John, if people
• 37:36
  Speaker 1: wanted to talk to you just about their love of
• 37:38
  Speaker 1: Star Wars or maybe they're just raving about the new
• 37:41
  Speaker 1: Mall shadow Lord series, where could people find you?
• 37:45
  Speaker 2: Well, guys, you can find me online as Kessel Junkie
• 37:47
  Speaker 2: ks s E l j u n Kie on ex
• 37:50
  Speaker 2: Twitter on you know what, honestly, Letterbox is where I
• 37:54
  Speaker 2: have the most fun, and I think you would have
• 37:56
  Speaker 2: the most fun with me too. It's because I'm also
• 37:59
  Speaker 2: on a show here on the network called house Lights,
• 38:01
  Speaker 2: and you can see what I'm watching, and you know,
• 38:04
  Speaker 2: watch along with me over there on Letterbox and house
• 38:07
  Speaker 2: Lights is a delightful show that I co host with
• 38:10
  Speaker 2: Tristan Riddell and Darren Moser. We have so much fun
• 38:14
  Speaker 2: looking at the works of directors. I know, groundbreaking to
• 38:17
  Speaker 2: have a movie podcast, but we do it a little
• 38:19
  Speaker 2: bit differently, and we do it with a lot of fun.
• 38:22
  Speaker 2: And if you think I make fun of Matt, you
• 38:25
  Speaker 2: should really hear me make fun of Tristan and Darren.
• 38:28
  Speaker 2: I'm kind of relentless. It's really it's really a comedy
• 38:31
  Speaker 2: hour for me more than anything else. So you know,
• 38:33
  Speaker 2: if you like you know, yeah, is that true?
• 38:36
  Speaker 1: Men, I was just gonna say, as one of our
• 38:38
  Speaker 1: favorite characters has said, all too easy, that is.
• 38:43
  Speaker 2: You know, that's that's a great note to end on.
• 38:46
  Speaker 2: And so I'm going to go and I'm going to
• 38:48
  Speaker 2: prepare my hollownett. I'm going to put it on do
• 38:50
  Speaker 2: not disturb before Tristan and Darren start, you know, be
• 38:53
  Speaker 2: rating me for saying the truth about that back in
• 38:56
  Speaker 2: my chamber. So, Master Rushing, I think it's time to
• 38:59
  Speaker 2: close these negotiations.
• 39:02
  Speaker 1: John, negotiations are closed. Join the Revolution, Join the Nerd Party.