Shawn Levy has given us some tantalizingly broad thoughts about his upcoming Star Wars film. It might have Adam Driver in it. It also might not. More below:
It can be a little hard to keep track of who’s got a Star Wars movie in the works at the moment. Since the Skywalker saga came to an end in 2019, it seems like everyone in Hollywood has been offered their take on the galaxy far far away.
We’ve had promised flicks from Taika Waititi, Patty Jenkins, James Mangold and Dave Filoni. Rian Johnson was even supposed to be working on his own trilogy – though apparently development on that one has stalled.
Even still, despite the flood of Star Wars TV shows piling onto Disney Plus, it’s actually been 4 years since the last Star Wars movie. That’s already the longest gap since the end of the prequel trilogy (not that it feels like it).
Not to be left out, in an interview with Variety this month, Shawn Levy’s been giving a couple of updates on his own project:
“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.”
When asked about his friendship with Adam Driver, though, he remained tellingly schtum on the possibility of his film being a Kylo Ren movie:
“As you know Adam is a buddy, and I’ve always been a huge fan of Kylo Ren. But no comment.”
Hmm. Informative!
Speaking on the process as a whole though, Levy seemed just as positive about his experience with Star Wars as he is with working with the Marvel lot down the Disney corridor (before the SAG-AFTRA strike kicked off, Levy was in the middle of shooting the upcoming Deadpool 3).
“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.””
Since Disney’s first swing at the franchise with 2015’s The Force Awakens, the company – and a small number of fans – haven’t always been too receptive to this sort of ‘director first’ approach. Before starting on the mythical beast that is his maybe-not-upcoming trilogy, Rian Johnson’s The Last Jedi attracted its fair share of controversy for its willingness to experiment with the set Star Wars formula. 2018’s Solo, meanwhile, had a production beset with problems, leading to Into The Spider-Verse duo Phil Lord and Christopher Miller being removed from the project mid-shoot.
Still, it’s always possible that the somewhat lukewarm reception received by The Rise Of Skywalker (it still made $1 billion) has given Disney pause for thought. We’ll stay optimistic.
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