Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes Of Grindelwald - Has J.K. Rowling Become George Lucas?

2. Fine, I'll Do It Myself

While Lucas is responsible for making the first Star Wars film, an idea he'd been developing for some time and was a true passion project, he famously handed off control for its sequel, The Empire Strikes Back. Ivan Kershner was brought in to direct, with Lawrence Kasdan penning the script. It resulted in a darker, more complex tale than what Lucas had delivered, and despite how revered it is, there were disagreements over some of the directions taken.

Ross Marquand came in to direct the final instalment, with Lucas taking a screenplay credit alongside Kasdan, while he also had a much firmer hand in direction too, being an almost constant presence on set. That sort of attitude, and losing the people who were there to rein in his desires to craft happier, more merchandisable tales - like producer Gary Kurtz - then ran rampant into the Special Editions and the Prequels. He was essentially free to do whatever he wanted, with no one to tell him no.

Rowling has adopted a similar approach. While she obviously wrote all of the books, she merely consulted on the original Harry Potter movies, but she regained her control over the world with Pottermore, where she could go back to changing anything she wanted. She then farmed out some more control for Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, a play the reads like fan-fiction and was criticised for such, and is now back with a renewed iron grip on her creation. She's written both Fantastic Beasts movies so far, and is going to deliver the other THREE as well, ensuring it's her vision that makes it to the screen.

The issue with this is similar to the issue with Lucas writing and directing the prequels. Lucas crafted one hell of a world back in 1977, but he isn't a great writer of dialogue, nor is he a particularly great director either, although he does (or did) have an eye for visuals. He's more of a big picture guy, and an excellent world-builder, but to work best he needs people he can collaborate with. He needs a Lawrence Kasdan who can take his ideas and make them work on paper, and a director who knows how to get the best out of his performers and recognise when something isn't working.

Rowling doesn't direct, although David Yates might as well be an extension of her at this point given how many Wizarding World films he's directed (and his often dull style begs the question of why he's been given so many). She is, however, writing the scripts, and therein lies the problem. Rowling is a novelist, not a screenwriter, and even within that she's truly great at one particular facet: she isn't the strongest writer as such, but she's one hell of a storyteller. But there are key differences between a story for a book and one for film - Rowling should have been charged with creating the story, but then handing it off to a screenwriter to iron out its flaws, because she has essentially written The Crimes of Grindelwald as though it's a novel. It's all tell and no show, which doesn't work for a two-hour movie.

Final Page: Ruining A Good Story