The iconic opening toGeorge Lucas’Star Warsback in 1977 introduced moviegoers toJohn Williams' powerful score and established an expositional intro through a title crawl. Those facets have become such an integral part of theStar Warsfilm universe that they’ve been included in all seven feature films released to date and will almost certainly continue withStar Wars: Episode VIIIandStar Wars: Episode IX.Gareth Edwards' standalone anthology filmRogue One: A Star Wars Story, however, looks to shake things up a bit.
In a new write-up fromVariety, Lucasfilm headKathleen Kennedyteased thatRogue One, described as a World War II-style adventure film, will open in a manner that’s more in keeping with that genre’s tradition rather thanStar Wars' own spin on things. Kennedy also talked about the tone of their upcomingHan Solo spin-offthat starsAlden Ehrenreich,Donald Glover, andEmilia Clarke.
Here’s her exact quote regarding the opening ofRogue One:
“We felt that’s so indicative of what those saga films are. Initially, we probably will begin the film in a way that is traditional, with just the title.”
It seems like it’s important to the creative folks behind the scenes ofRogue Oneto establish right off the bat that this film exists within theStar Warsuniverse but stands apart from the Skywalker family saga. There’s no better way to start off than by switching up the narrative crawl. We’ll find out for sure if that’s the case onceRogue Oneopens on December 16th.
As for the untitled Han Solo film, here’s how Kennedy described its tone:
“This moves closer to a heist or Western type feel. We’ve talked about [Frederic] Remington and those primary colors that are used in his paintings defining the look and feel of the film.”
While that film will be directed by the super team ofPhilLordandChris Miller, Kennedy also commented on the possibility of a female director heading up aStar Warsfilm at some point:
“We want to make sure that when we bring a female director in to do “Star Wars,” they’re set up for success. They’re gigantic films, and you can’t come into them with essentially no experience.”
So, for reference,Colin Trevorrowwent from “essentially no experience” to directing the $1.67billion-earningJurassic Worldand was then tapped forStar Wars: Episode IX, so they want a female director to follow suit. That being said, Kennedy mentioned that the Lucasfilm team is trying to identify talented female directors at the early stages of their careers:
“We want to really start to focus in on people we would love to work with and see what kinds of things they’re doing to progress up that ladder now, and then pull them in when the time is right.”
I’m not sure exactly when the time will be right considering their existing film slate is already pretty much set as far as directors go. The good news is that theStar Warsmachine shows no signs of slowing down, so there should be plenty of opportunities for all sorts of filmmakers in the years to come.
