Keeping one of the galactic sagas afloat after its creator departed from it has been no easy task for Disney, and it is often criticised that the galaxy far, far away is long gone (at least, in its mainline theatrical run) and has failed to attract new audiences. This is objectively true, at least in part, but it has also been shown that more “auteur” projects, less constrained by alienated executives or scriptwriters, can produce surprising results, as were the first seasons of The Mandalorian, Rogue One, or the more recent Andor. Perhaps because the galaxy now needs to find new routes is why Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy brought director Shawn Levy to Star Wars.
Levy is currently shooting the next film in the franchise, Star Wars: Starfighter, a project that is being kept top secret and for which only some of the casting has been revealed, headed by Ryan Gosling. He will be joined by Matt Smith, Mia Goth, Aaron Pierre, and Amy Adams. Levy is a well-known face in current film and television, specialising in science fiction, who has worked as a producer on Stranger Things and Arrival, and now recognises that when he received the call from Kennedy to work on the saga, he did so with “carte blanche”, as he acknowledges in an interview with Vanity Fair.
“So getting that call from Kathleen Kennedy in August 2022, I literally remember where I was. She said, ‘I want you to make a Star Wars movie’. I asked the obvious question: ‘Which one? What’s a prequel? What’s a sequel?’ And the immediate response was: ‘Whatever you want. Make it feel the way your movies feel.” It was an incredibly powerful opportunity.”
While Kennedy has in the past established a reputation as a difficult person to work with (she’s fired several directors over “creative differences” and cancelled several projects, such as Rian Johnson’s trilogy or Taika Waititi’s film), he now seems more willing to rely on other, less “traditional” blockbuster talent to freshen up the future of Star Wars. And Shawn Levy is admittedly thrilled with the job.
“Directing and producing Star Wars requires a unique concentration unlike anything I’ve ever done before,” he says. “I’m in this galaxy full-time, all the time – when I’m awake, when I’m asleep – and I’m quite happy living there.”
Do you think Levy will succeed in restoring the general public’s enthusiasm for Star Wars films with ‘Starfighter’?
