A new rumor from Schmoes Know suggests that the Star Wars Anthology film that Josh Trank exited is indeed a film that would focus on Boba Fett and a young Han Solo. The Wrap and many other sites have been saying a Fett and Solo film is on the way from Lucasfilm. There was even talk from Latino Review that the two could be appearing in Star Wars: Rogue One, considering the timeline of these films that could work. Even Kathleen Kennedy confirmed that Boba Fett was a high priority at the studio and fans should be patient.
What’s actually new about this rumor is that they claim that Matthew Vaughn is one of two possible directors the studio is circling to replace Trank. As we’d like to point out with all unconfirmed rumors, take with a grain a salt. However, they seemed to have been pulling from all sorts of existing sources to come-up this new rumor. Considering the two “candidates” were previously in the mix to direct The Force Awakens, feeling like this rumor is more like an educated guess than anything else.
So, how likely is it that Vaughn is interested and could actually make this movie?
Yes, there was a report that Matthew had met with Lucasfilm and made a pitch for his own Star Wars film, apparently with Chloe Moretz as his lead. There is some speculation that this pitch helped push Kennedy and the studio into the direction of looking at strong female roles in future films, including Rogue One as well. This might shock you to know that the pitch was turned down (so was one by Zack Snyder) and Matthew went on to make X-Men: Days of Future Past instead only to rebuff the project to make Kingsman: The Secret Service. Vaughn still seems open to the idea of making a Star Wars film as he recently mentioned a desire to be apart of the new cinematic universe. Although, he alluded in the same statement that the world of Kingsman was a priority, something that has been echoed by both Fox and it’s creator Mark Millar.
“[Kingsman: The Secret Service writer Mark Millar] and I fell in love with movies at the same time. We’re the same age so we both saw Star Wars, Superman, Indiana Jones, you know? Raider of the Lost Ark. And then in the 80s we were watching the same videos three or four times a day. We grew up in that style of filmmaking and what we’re doing is recreating that in a modern manner. If someone offered me Star Wars or Indiana Jones I would be very interested. When you’re the director, you just don’t know. Something clicks and you go, ‘Yup, I wanna go make that story,’ so never say, ‘never,’ to anything but right now I’m in the world of Kingsman so it’s really hard to think about anything else.”
This wouldn’t be the only time one of his leads was linked for a Star Wars role, as Kingsman‘s Taron Egerton was linked as a possible contender for the Han Solo role in Star Wars: Rogue One. We’ve been hearing rumblings for months that both Boba Fett and Solo would somehow factor into Rogue One, and possibly have a role to play within that story. This remains to be seen, but having the Anthology films tie-into each other for the first wave isn’t such a terrible idea, since it’s been said Lucasfilm is using the Marvel blueprint for it’s own cinematic universe.
I’ve been the first to point out how much Taron looks like a young Harrison Ford, so that rumor is not without merit in my eyes. It’s actually spooky how much the two look like each other, I wouldn’t be shocked if it Ford turned out to be his actual father.
Now comes the tricky part, can Matthew Vaughn make the time to commit three years to making this film which is said to be delayed until sometime around 2019?
I mean, he wouldn’t be writing the film’s script which would allow him the extra time to prep, but that’s the thing that strikes me odd, he rarely doesn’t add his own touches to scripts himself or without the help of Jane Goldman. If this is the film that Josh Trank was pulled-off from they would have a script already locked-in, Lucasfilm are likely looking for someone to jump-in and direct. Vaughn did this plenty of times before when he replaced Bryan Singer on X-Men: The Last Stand but clashed with the studio exiting, also when he climbed on board for First Class, only to ditch the franchise once again for a meatier project.
There’s also the issue of his commitments to 20th Century Fox on a reboot of Flash Gordon and a sequel to Kingsman, the latter is tied to his actual tailoring suit business based on the film. A smart merchandising tie-in that likely needs the films too keep grinding-out to keep it in the consumer’s mind. Mark Millar has suggested the sequel is a high priority for Vaughn who is already working out a new story with Jane and Mark, while Fox announced the sequel is a go. Vaughn will be likely heavily involved with scripting both Gordon and Kingsman 2, but we have no idea how far he’s already gotten with those two projects, making this a bit unknown if he’d even agree to this gun-for-hire gig over his new babies.
ThePlaylist in a friendly exchange on Twitter, is seemingly under the impression he’d drop both projects if offered the project, but I also think he has way too many spinning plates besides the two directorial commitments already stated, as director, writer and producer he has an overwhelming large stable of projects he has to focus on.
He’s also has many other films he’s either developing for himself or producing including Superior, which there’s been some heat to get made before WB’s Shazam!, as it has very similar beats to it. Being the producer on the Bloodshot movie which the directors of John Wick have signed-on to make. Not to mention possibly producing the sequel to Fantastic Four and other Millar movies, that might include Nemesis, Starlight, Chrononauts, and possibly Hit-Girl. These are enough reasons to believe that Matthew might be just way too busy at this point in his career to make a three year commitment when he has his own franchises, and new ones in the works to be concerned about.
I think there’s a lot of style when it comes to a Matthew Vaughn film, like it oozes, but there’s rarely any real substance or heart with his films. Most of the time it’s a false sense of heart or emotion to push forward to the next action sequence, and to some effect it works for an entertainment value, but on a re-watching level doesn’t often work on the second or third viewing. I think the Star Wars movies at their base are more than explosions, cool costumes and sets, there is something a bit more going-on with the mythology and character development that I feel would be majorly lacking in a Matthew Vaughn Star Wars film. That said, I’m a big fan of the Kingsman and really hope he sticks with that for a while and makes it his own, without having to be tethered to the semi-talented but sometimes unlikable Mark Millar.
There is another option according to the rumor, and it’s a second candidate which is Iron Man‘s Jon Favreau, who has been loyal as hell to Disney over the last little while, someone that might be perfect post-Trank, a director they can depend on. Jon gracefully stepped down as director for Iron Man 3, moving-on to developing a film based on the Magic Kingdom (I assume will be ditched or retooled since Tomorrowland bombed), and is currently making a live-action Jungle Book movie for the studio which going to be one of their larger star-studded releases.
Favreau had been many of the directors eyed to helm The Force Awakens (like Vaughn) and even gave this quote to Hollywood Life while in the running. Deadline revealed he was being considering for the gig, the same report named Vaughn but this was way back in 2012, way before Matthew had this empire of projects to oversee. We know Jon is a bit of a nut concerning this material, and almost directed John Carter at one point, so I’m sure he still has the science fiction itch. Not to mention likely a bit jealous that Abrams got to make Awakens over him, I’m sure that works to his advantage and might want this even more than Vaughn.
“I think both J.J. and I come from a generation of people who formed our whole creative persona around what we experienced as kids from watching those films, and I have had the good fortune of working with George [Lucas] and around George, and whether it is doing a voice on Clone Wars, or being at the Skywalker Ranch mixing Iron Man – so I have been very happy and lucky to just experience the culture that Lucas has created, both in my own life growing up as a kid and professional – whether it was interviewing him at film festivals on stage, he is just a really wonderful, talented gifted guy who has changed the business so much, so I am just giddy, first and foremost as a fan, to see what happens with it. I think there is a lot of question marks of how they are going to do it, and who they are going to do it with, and what the story is going to be about; but to say that I am not excited about it is definitely an understatement. We’ll see.”
I get the impression that Favreau is the stronger of the two rumored candidates, mainly because Jon doesn’t have like eight other projects in the works and producing another four. This lends to the thought that he’s the better choice and the more logical one if you really put your mind to it. I also think given the two options, Favreau seems to have more of a Star Wars sensibility to him and could really world-build like he did with Iron Man. Let’s be honest here, Favreau shaped the MCU, and if Lucasfilm wants a Star Wars cinematic universe to follow that blueprint that Favreau helped create, then having Jon on board as a director is excellent first step towards that. Having an established working relationship with both ILM, Lucasfilm and Disney, along with being a huge part of Marvel’s current success is hard to ignore or overlook Favreau being the best of out the two options for Lucasfilm.
Don’t forget he voiced a Mandalorian (not unlike Fett) character on Star Wars: The Clone Wars, so his connections to Star Wars does run slightly deeper than Matthew.
This image has been Jon’s Twitter avatar for ages now.
What you do think about this new Star Wars rumor, who should direct this next Anthology film?
SOURCE: SCHMOES KNOW