With the recent departure of Michael Arndt, the Star Wars: Episode VII creative team has been scrambling as Disney CEO Robert Iger refuses to change the release date.
As previously reported, writer Arndt left the film on Oct. 24. This meant that J.J. Abrams and Empire Strikes Back writer Lawrence Kasdan would step into screenwriting duties for the Episode VII.
This was initially not especially huge news, and fans took it well considering Kasdan wrote what is usually agreed upon as the strongest of the original trilogy.
However, with a 2015 release date, the production on the movie would need to get moving, The Hollywood Reporter notes. Sources are saying that the problem is that the script is not anything close to resembling done.
So producer Kathleen Kennedy and some of the movie's creative team asked for a delay, but CEO Iger is not willing to budge. Sources suggest that Abrams is more on the side of Iger and meeting the 2015 release date, which could mean a slight problem between Kennedy and Abrams, as it's rumored Abrams has been somewhat controlling for the Star Wars movie.
Iger is loathe to alter the release date to 2016 as Kennedy wanted since the CEO has set up a plan, starting with Episode VII being released in the summer of 2015, followed by two sequels and spinoffs.
When Arndt left, an insider said that it wasn't a big deal, noting, "It's nothing out of the ordinary. Almost every big movie changes writers at some point. There's no drama here."
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