Wes Anderson Wanted To Make A Star Wars Movie, And He Still Should
Back in 2012, when LucasFilm was sold to Disney and Star Wars got a whole new burst of galactic energy around the franchise, there was all kinds of speculation about who could step in to write stories and direct movies. All kinds of folks threw their creative hats into the ring, and for good reason. One of those guys was Wes Anderson, of all people, who had some ideas of his own about what he would do with a Star Wars movie.
At the time, there was no official word about who would direct the then-mysterious Star Wars: Episode VII for Disney, there were an insane number of rumors and rampant speculation around who would get the gig.
During a Q&A with Deadline at the time, director Wes Anderson spoke about his admiration for the original Star Wars trilogy and how those films played a valuable part of his childhood. Although Anderson is one of the more acclaimed directors of his generation, the auteur felt he was at a certain disadvantage when it came to getting a Star Wars film because of his signature style.
Wes Anderson admitted in the interview, “Well I have a feeling I would probably ultimately get replaced on the film because I don’t know if I have all the right action chops,” he said. “But at least I know the characters from the old films.”
He didn’t rule out the possibility, but he at least realized where his strengths lie as a writer and a director. Wes Anderson did jokingly speculate about what he could do with the Star Wars universe saying, “I don’t think I would do a terrible job at a Han Solo backstory…I could do that pretty well. But maybe that would be better as a short.”
Now that would have been interesting. With Wes Anderson behind the lends, we could have possibly had Jason Schwartzman playing a young Han Solo in Wes Anderson’s “A Life Galactic With Han Solo”. Sign us up. Granted, Star Wars already took care of that signature story so, of course, it’s off the table. But I’m sure Wes Anderson could find a Star Wars pivot.
In all seriousness, while the time has maybe passed for Wes Anderson to make a Star Wars movie, it’s clear the franchise has taken a direction that allows for a wider range of styles and voices to enter the mix. Sure, Wes Anderson is probably still correct that his particular version of Star Wars would be for a smaller crowd, no doubt it would make for at least an interesting watch.
And a bit ago, thanks to the glory of artificial intelligence, we got a “glimpse” of what a Wes Anderson Star movie could have looked like. It was in the form of AI-driven images of Anderson-y vibes with the Star Wars theme. Let me tell you, they worked pretty well.
If Star Wars series like Andor have set the stage for non-Jedi, down-to-Earth kinds of stories in this universe, then why Wes Anderson in the director’s chair? The franchise is ready for it.
