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Friday, May 1, 2015

My Pitch for a Yoda Origin Story Movie


Back in 2012, when Disney bought Lucasfilm and announced new "Star Wars" movies - not just a new trilogy of episodes but spinoff (now known as anthology) movies - fans immediately started clamoring for the "stand-alone" movies to focus on their favorite characters, like Boba Fett, Han Solo, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Yoda. The latter character is the one fans are most hesitant about, but two-and-a-half years ago I came up with a perfect concept for a Yoda origins movie. In finally making my private ideas public, I am authorizing Lucasfilm to use this concept. All I ask in return is a "story-by" credit and we can negotiate compensation.

The movie will be a comedy focusing on Yoda's early life. He will be a young (whatever creature Yoda is), in his early 100s. He will be over six feet tall, portrayed by John Lithgow - who was the voice of Yoda in the NPR "Empire Strikes Back" and "Return of the Jedi" radio dramas. (This way, Yoda will not need to be Muppet or CGI; he will be an actor in makeup and costume).

We only know of Yoda as a wise, backward speaking Jedi master. As a young "man" Yoda is immature and speaks normally. He is known around the Jedi Temple as a prankster, always orchestrating practical jokes. After one of his pranks goes terribly wrong, Yoda ends up in a coma with some brain damage. When he awakes, he has lost his sense of humor and speaks backwards. He takes his training much more seriously, becoming the greatest Jedi that ever lived. Since the comedic movie ends on a serious note, there will be a mid-credits montage of CGI Yoda in exile on Dagobah starting to go crazy and becoming the eccentric version of himself we first meet in "Empire".

It's just an idea that would need to be worked on by a great scriptwriter, but I feel it would make a great movie that would have a completely different tone from other "Star Wars" movies.

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