Matthew Vaughn is weighing in on the direction of the “Star Wars” film franchise.
The “X-Men: First Class” director said during the “Happy Sad Confused” podcast that he would only be interested in helming a “Star Wars” film if he could recast the core original characters Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, and Darth Vader for a new generation.
“For me, doing a ‘Star Wars’ movie is to play with the characters I love. If they said to me they’d reboot ‘Star Wars’ and actually have Luke Skywalker, Solo, and Vader and do your version of it…Everyone would say you’re an idiot to try, but that would excite me,” Vaughn said. “Why are the [‘Star Wars’] characters so hallowed that from 1977 you can’t re-do it for a new audience?”
He added, “That’s what I would do. Everyone is going to go batshit crazy but let’s bring it on. If you want a new generation, make the movie for them. The old generation, hopefully you make it well enough that they enjoy it.”
Vaughn added that Lucasfilm and Walt Disney Co. have strayed from the signature storyline of “Star Wars” about the Skywalker family. According to Vaughn, the Disney+ series have done a far better job propelling the franchise forward than the films.
“‘Star Wars’ is the Skywalker family and that’s where I think they’ve gone wrong. They’ve forgot,” Vaughn said. “They’ve done brilliantly in TV but it needs an epic new film.”
Vaughn spoke to the need for franchise content overall, saying, “The studios, it’s like any artistic form. The music business, movies, fashion… the financing and the commerce has taken over the creative. That always means eventually for short-term gains you do well, but long term you kill everything. That’s what’s happening now… film, music, art. Commerce took over and now the pendulum is starting to swing back. Creativity should always be the driving force of any decision and then you think about how to make money out of it afterwards. If you try to make money upfront, you’ll kill some great franchises.”
Meanwhile, Taika Waititi, who is set to direct an upcoming “Star Wars” film, revealed his installment will step away from preexisting characters.
“Look, I think for the ‘Star Wars’ universe to expand, it has to expand,” Waititi told Total Film about his yet-to-be-titled movie. “I don’t think that I’m any use in the ‘Star Wars’ universe making a film where everyone’s like, ‘Oh great, well that’s the blueprints to the Millennium Falcon, ah that’s Chewbacca’s grandmother.’”
He continued, “That all stands alone, that’s great, though I would like to take something new and create some new characters and just expand the world, otherwise it feels like it’s a very small story.”
