Summary
Shawn Levy’s Star Wars film is still in the works, and the director now shares why he’s particularly excited about the project. News of Levy partnering with Lucasfilm first emerged in late 2022, but updates on his project set in a galaxy far, far away have since been hard to come by. The upcoming Star Wars movie, along with several other long-gestating projects, has faced a lengthy development process that was further hampered by the WGA strike, which recently came to an end after 148 days.
Now, in a recent interview with Variety, Levy provides a new update on his Star Wars movie, painting a promising picture for the flick’s future. While it still sounds like the movie has a long road ahead of it, the filmmaker teases his excitement regarding the amount of creative freedom he’s been given. Check out Levy’s full comment below:
“When Kathy Kennedy brought me on board to make a Star Wars movie, her central mandate to me was ‘I want a Shawn Levy movie. I want a story and a tone that reflects you and your taste and what you bring to your movies — with a “Star Wars” story.’ So I have felt extremely empowered. We are in early days, unfortunately, because the development process was abruptly paused [due to the WGA strike], but I feel very empowered to trust my instincts in the development of this story and movie.”
Lucasfilm Need To Learn Major Lessons From Previous Star Wars Projects
Although Levy’s Star Wars movie won’t be hitting movie theater screens anytime soon, his update could be a good sign for the franchise’s future under Lucasfilm. The studio, after all, has been mired with creative clashes behind the scenes on projects in the past, with reports indicating that there may be a reluctance to give filmmakers true creative freedom.
Two notable examples of this include 2016’s Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, and 2018’s Solo: A Star Wars Story. A great deal of mystery surrounds just what went down behind the scenes of the former, with director Gareth Edwards’ A New Hope prequel said to have been in a dire state before screenwriter Tony Gilroy came in to spearhead extensive reshoots. On Solo, original directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller were fired after months of filming, with Ron Howard then brought in to replace them, also necessitating extensive reshoots.
Something similar also happened with Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker’s script, when original director Colin Trevorrow left the project after Disney brought on Jack Thorne to rewrite it. While there are certainly examples of Lucasfilm finding creative synergy with filmmakers, such as has been the case with J.J. Abrams, Jon Favreau, and Dave Filoni, the behind-the-scenes clashes suggest a reluctance to hand over creative control. It remains to be seen what will become of Levy’s Star Wars movie as its development continues, but the director’s latest update is a promising sign.
Source: Variety
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