Even in its current state, Star Wars is still such an important touchstone in many filmmakers’ lives that they want to work on it. If only there were some real creative vision at the studio, you could have tremendous fun seeing what some of the world’s most interesting creatives could do in a galaxy far, far away… as long as they aren’t being left to play unsupervised in the middle of a main trilogy… right?
The desire is clearly there. Lucasfilm approached David Fincher in a panic after Colin Trevorrow walked away from his third instalment over “creative differences”. The director of Se7en and The Game said no, not for the sequel, but he did pitch another Star Wars film to the studio.
A report from Jeff Sneider’s The InSneider page claims that Fincher had an idea for a sequel movie to The Rise of Skywalker, but they couldn’t reach a deal as Fincher demands final cut.
In other “what could have been” news, the chatter over Adam Driver and Steven Soderbergh pitching The Hunt For Ben Solo isn’t dying down online. Collider reports that a group of Star Wars fans has paid for a plane to fly a banner reading “Save The Hunt for Ben Solo” over Walt Disney Studios in Burbank.
Eventually, it was Disney chiefs Bob Iger and Alan Bergman who killed off the project, and Soderbergh himself has confirmed, via Bluesky, that everything was finished and ready for a green light when Disney brought the hammer down:
“In the aftermath of the [Hunt for Ben Solo] situation, I asked Kathy Kennedy if Lucasfilm had ever turned in a finished movie script for greenlight to Disney and had it rejected. She said no, this was a first.”
The Playlist has added more detail, claiming that The Hunt For Ben Solo was already in early preparation and was lining up staff before it was stopped. It had a working title/code name of Quiet Leaves, a final script, a budget, and a proposed start date when it was delivered to Disney, who were confused by how Ben Solo could be alive after Rise of Skywalker.
Several people close to the production have claimed the halt was “politically motivated, coinciding with Iger’s efforts to position Bergman as his successor” at Disney.
