A long time ago, in a galaxy, far, far away — well, to be more precise, it was 2012 on Earth — "Little Miss Sunshine" and "Toy Story 3" scribe Michael Arndt was announced as the screenwriter for the then untitled, "Star Wars: The Force Awakens." However, the writer was replaced soon thereafter by J.J. Abrams and franchise veteran Lawrence Kasdan. “It became clear that given the time frame and given the process and the way the thing was going that working with Larry in this way was going to get us where we need to be and when we needed to be,” Abrams said in 2013. “Working with Larry Kasdan, especially on a 'Star Wars' movie is kind of unbeatable.” Between the lines, Abrams may have been addressing the crush to meet a 2015 release date (he and producer Kathleen Kennedy had asked Disney for a May 2016 bow, but were denied) but it's clear the process required someone who has going to be following the production every step of...
