Taika Waititi\u2019s \u201cStar Wars\u201d movie has been in development since 2020, when Disney and Lucasfilm announced the \u201cJojo Rabbit\u201d Oscar winner would helm a new film in the franchise written by \u201c1917\u201d scribe Krysty Wilson-Cairns. There\u2019s been no big updates in the six years since, but interest in the project was recently revived after exiting Lucasfilm boss Kathleen Kennedy said Waititi\u2019s \u201cStar Wars\u201d was \u201cstill somewhat alive.\u201d<\/p>\n
So what does Waititi have in store for \u201cStar Wars\u201d fans? \u201cI\u2019m just trying to go back and harness a little bit more of the fun from the original films, which is what I remember [from] them,\u201d he told Variety at Sundance at the premiere of \u201cFing!\u201d<\/p>\n
More from Variety<\/p>\n
\u201cThe stakes are very high, and there\u2019s serious things going on, but there\u2019s also a lot of fun to be had in those films. That\u2019s what I was trying to bring back,\u201d Waititi continued. \u201cI was trying to work in a world that was a little bit separate to that because they\u2019ve got so many things going on within that space. For me to do something there, it would need to be a little different and a little bit more its own thing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kennedy confirmed to Deadline<\/a> after announcing her exit from Lucasfilm that Waititi has \u201cturned in a script that I think is hilarious and great. It\u2019s not just my decision, especially when I\u2019ve got a foot out the door.\u201d<\/p>\n Waititi is at Sundance with the family adventure \u201cFing!,\u201d which is based on the children\u2019s book of the same name. Directed by Jeffrey Walker and co-starring Iona Bell, Mia Wasikowska and Blake Harrison, the film centers on a young girl and her parents as they contend with a viscount who is trying to get his hands on their wondrous pet creature. Waititi assumes the role of the movie\u2019s villain.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was all on the page, so it was pretty easy for me to tap into that,\u201d Waititi said at the Variety Studio presented by Audible when asked about playing the bad guy. \u201cI\u2019ve always liked those kinds of characters.\u201d<\/p>\n When asked to name his favorite movie villain, Waititi returned the conversation back to the \u201cStar Wars\u201d franchise by naming Darth Vader \u201cone of the greatest villains I\u2019ve ever seen.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHe taps into a child\u2019s biggest nightmare or fear, which that your parent will turn on you and you won\u2019t be able to bring them back,\u201d he added. \u201c\u2018Body Snatchers\u2019 is like that as well. Zombies, too, they\u2019re great villains as a collective because it\u2019s the idea of people you love who won\u2019t recognize you and will want to eat your brains.\u201d<\/p>\n Waititi also expressed his interest in seeing the upcoming \u201cAvengers: Doomsday,\u201d which will feature the return of Thor. The director helmed two \u201cThor\u201d movies with Chris Hemsworth and said it\u2019s not uncomfortable to be sitting out the God of Thunder\u2019s next movie adventure as the Russo Brothers direct Hemsworth this go around.<\/p>\n \u201cThor was around before me,\u201d Waititi said. \u201cThe stuff that Chris and I did and how we shaped him into that new version\u2026 that was for the greater good of the franchise as a whole. I can\u2019t wait to see these \u2018Avengers\u2019 movies. I was just watching \u2018Infinity War\u2019 and \u2018Endgame\u2019 two weeks ago. They\u2019re so good. I\u2019m good friends with the Russos and will love to see what they\u2019re doing.\u201d<\/p>\n Best of Variety<\/p>\n Sign up for Variety’s Newsletter<\/a>. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook<\/a>, Twitter<\/a>, and Instagram<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Taika Waititi\u2019s \u201cStar Wars\u201d movie has been in development since 2020, when Disney and Lucasfilm announced the \u201cJojo…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":432133,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[49,48,35655,75,176357,29756,337,21883,4802],"class_list":["post-432132","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-chris-hemsworth","tag-entertainment","tag-kathleen-kennedy","tag-lucasfilm","tag-movies","tag-star-wars","tag-taika-waititi"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/432132","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=432132"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/432132\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/432133"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=432132"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=432132"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=432132"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}