James Mangold hasn’t yet shared much information yet about the plot of his upcoming Star Wars film. However, he has revealed that it will take place 25,000 years before the events of A New Hope. In a recent interview with MovieWeb, the Logan director divulged how the setting motivated him to agree to helm the project.
Mangold stated during the interview that being given the opportunity to explore something new is extremely important for him as a filmmaker. So making a Star Wars movie that doesn’t require overarching lore helped him decide to make the feature.
The writer-helmer of A Complete Unknown shared the full reason why he wanted to make Star Wars: The Dawn of the Jedi. “The Star Wars movie would be taking place 25,000 years before any known Star Wars movie takes place. It’s an area and a playground that I’ve always [wanted to explore] and that I was inspired by as a teenager,” the Oscar-nominated filmmaker said. “I’m not that interested in being handcuffed by so much lore at this point that it’s almost immovable, and you can’t please anybody.”
In a previous interview with MovieWeb, Mangold shared his ideology behind selecting which projects he wants to direct. “To me, the really important aspects are the freedom to make something new,” he stated.
Mangold then divulged some news on the progress of his Star Wars movie. “Beau [Willimon] and I, in relation to Star Wars, have been working on a script, and we’ll see what happens […] Do we find a way on the page to say something original?,” he shared.
Star Wars: Dawn of the Jedi began as a comic series that encapsulates the initial days of the Jedi Order. Written by John Ostrander, the first edition was published in February 2012.
Mangold teamed up with Willimon, an Emmy-nominated showrunner who has worked on such series as Severance and House of Cards, to bring the Jedi-origin story to the big screen. However, the film does not yet have a release date or an official filming schedule lined up.
Mangold is known for crafting memorable movies by connecting with the audience on an emotional level. While talking to Collider about A Complete Unknown, which stars Timothée Chalamet as Bob Dylan in a Golden Globe-nominated performance, the filmmaker reflected on the importance of eliciting genuine emotions.
“Success is never guaranteed, but the reality is that the way to get most people to agree is to move them; to somehow find the humanity in a situation. Whether it’s a mega-franchise or a smaller dramatic movie, whatever they are, usually the movies you remember are the ones that move you,” Mangold said.
The filmmaker also stated: “My entire career, I have really enjoyed changing what I’m doing. I don’t think I change myself, and I don’t think Bob reinvents his core soul, but I like to throw myself into things that people don’t expect or that I don’t expect, more importantly, in terms of surprising myself or challenging myself.”
Mangold will infuse that emotional ideal into his Star Wars movie. He elaborated: “The ones that leave you cold, even if they’re clever, even if they’re spectacular, even if they’re dazzling, somehow just become replaced by the next dazzling object a year later. It’s the feelings, it’s ‘the feels,’ right? That truly defines how we feel about these movies and whether we care to visit them again.”
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