I like the very idea of hiring Brackett as much as anything else about it. It reflects a particular aspiration for quality or old-Hollywood "authenticity" Lucas had for the project at one point in its development.
I'm not sure or I forget who was specifically responsible for the "nerf herder" line, but LeHah is correct in that little of Brackett's draft made it to the screen, and her writing credit is more meant to honor her than to acknowledge substantive contributions to the final script.
It was indeed a nice point that she'd been hired, though, in that she was both an accomplished scriptwriter who'd written some honest-to-goodness cinematic classics, and was also a respected science fiction author with numerous genre works in her bibliography, though she actually hadn't worked much in the fantasy/SF genres in the motion picture medium. Her working on a Star Wars movie at the end of her career (and life, sadly) kind of helped tie these two aspects of her writing career together.
The biggest mistake for ID 2 would be to bring back Will Smith.
I have seen more than enough of his self satisfied mugging and haw-haw-haw smiley guy routine since the first ID, he has done pretty much the same thing in all his roles. Except for After Earth, and we know how that went.
For goodness sake Roland, cast some every day guy, not a celebrity.
I thought she was good, definitely better (and more alluring, IMO) than Rebecca Romijn. As for the lack of deadliness, it's not until the end of the film that she sides with Magneto and the others. Until then, she's a good guy, so it makes since to portray her differently. I'm sure we'll see that side of her in Days of Future Past. Which I really hope is a worthy follow-up, because I thought First Class was excellent (easily blowing the other X-movies out of the water), and I hope Bryan Singer's not just using the sequel as an excuse to make "his" X-Men 3.
My sentiment exactly. She didn't act that way because it wasn't required of her by the script. She's a fantastic actress. We'll be seeing some kickass material from her in the next one. Guaranteed.
