Doing the rounds to promote Thor: Love and Thunder, director Taika Waititi has made it clear that his widely discussed Star Wars movie may not actually become a reality.
Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy suggested it would be released as soon as next year at Star Wars Celebration, but the filmmaker is clearly looking to temper expectations. During a recent interview, he also talked about wanting to bring some new ideas to the table, suggesting he wouldn't be interested in focusing on a legacy character like "Chewbacca's grandmother."
Waititi was clearly joking, but Rolling Stone still asked the director for clarification on what he meant by that. "I saw on Twitter, someone’s like: I’d actually really love to see a movie about Chewbacca’s grandmother. And I was like, I shouldn’t have said that because this is awesome!" he explains. "But I just feel like for me, I’m never gonna please the fans."
"You know, I don’t want to mess with something that’s so treasured. Also, you feel like you’ve got to do a lot of research...and I don’t have any time. [Laughs] I mean, there’s thousands of books that have been written, these volumes of books about Star Wars with all those characters," Waititi continues. "I just don’t have time to get through them. So I can’t say like, you know, confidently, I’d be able to do something that’s like very close to what everyone knows."
"I’m not promising that I’m not going to do anything like that. I’m just saying: It’d be easier for me to not do that. Would you like to see a Jar Jar Binks movie?"
Heading down the legacy character route must be a daunting prospect, though when the site pointed out that he could just make a fresh science fiction movie rather than a Star Wars one could potentially veer too much away from what makes it Star Wars, Waititi replied: "Yeah, if you take away all of the Star Wars stuff, it’s not Star Wars. So I retract my thing that I said a couple of weeks ago!"
It's no secret that the many Star Wars projects promised by Kennedy have failed to materialise over the past few years, and the executive clearly doesn't hesitate on pulling the plug on ideas she doesn't think will work. If that's the case with Waititi's clearly very unique ideas for this franchise, is he worried that the work he's putting into it will all be for nought?
"[It] might happen to me! And I think Taika [of] 10 years ago would be so panicked and nervous at the prospect of that. But if it’s not right, it’s not right," he admits. "If it’s not ready, it’s not ready. [With] Star Wars, I don’t want to rush. It’s something I wouldn’t want to just leap into and not feel that it’s unique, it’s my film, and it makes sense. Because that would be a disaster. I’m writing at the moment. So I’m gonna do my best to come up with an idea that everyone loves."
It's clear the filmmaker is taking this seriously, and this particular Star Wars movie seeing the light of day is far from guaranteed. Ultimately, Waititi seems to have the right attitude on all fronts, and if his work both behind and in front of the camera with The Mandalorian is any indication, he would be a great fit for this Galaxy Far, Far Away.
For now, though, it appears we'll just have to wait and see what happens.