Your comment about the Ewoks sent me to Google because I can't believe that Ewoks were Kasdan's idea

I found this interesting story about Kasdan petitioning for an "evil Ewok": http://www.kinnemaniac.com/2012/04/01/no-evil-ewoks-the-stra...

Edit: and I just noticed the date of the story. Blah, why did Google have it as the first result for Kasdan and Ewoks?

I really hope you're right about them not being his idea.

> Kasdan has written or cowritten some of my favorite films of all time

Usually what people did in the past is a very poor indication of what they'll do in the future. Numerous examples in the art industry of people being very good at one point of their lives and then doing shit forever after.

Sorry, but where do you come up with "usually"? Is that based on some kind of statistic? What people did in the past seems to be a pretty decent indicator of what they might do in the future...whereas when it isn't -- for example, Samuel Jackson in Pulp Fiction versus Samuel Jackson in Star Wars -- we naturally remember those instances, because failed expectations are quite memorable. But just because we remember all the times that airplanes crash into the ground doesn't mean that airplanes "usually" do so

Well, I don't know what you will take for a valid measure or observation, but for most film directors, their best movies are often considered to be their first few. The few last movies from Ridley Scott are pure crap compared to his first one. Same for Spielberg, Milos Forman, and so many others. They did their best work when they were hungry, starving to make a place for themselves. And let's not mention George Lucas, no, let's not.

It's certainly very close to be a "rule". Have you ever heard of the concept "Art from Adversity" ? This idea says that people give their best when they are challenged by others and their environment. They day they "get there" and make it big, they become lazy and stop fighting and end up having their way no matter what crap they produce.

PS: As for Samuel Jackson, I don't really like the guy because he's just too much into money and wants to put his face on every movie possible out there, but he can play very well some types of characters, just like the one you mentioned in Pulp Fiction. He's great when shouting and swearing. It was just very poor casting to put S. Jackson as a Jedi Master because he certainly lacks all the composure to pass as a calm, wise Jedi.

> Well, I don't know what you will take for a valid measure or observation

I think it's clear he wants numbers from someone who's actually studied this rather than going off intuition and anecdotes. That's because we have numerous cases where study has shown intuition is wrong, and going by what is memorable can give vastly different results than going by what is common.