Taika Waititi Has a Great Idea for His ‘Star Wars’ Film, Admits He Is Struggling With the Script
It was three years ago that Lucasfilm officially announced that Taika Waititi was developing a Star Wars film, and we still have no concrete information about it. Kathleen Kennedy said earlier this year that the script was missing a solid third act, and that Waititi is a slow writer because of his busy schedule. Now, in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, the filmmaker himself gave his own input on that status.
Said Waititi when asked about his Star Wars film:
“I’ve got a really good idea for it. It’s just as with all films, it’s this middle part. You’re like, ‘What’s going to happen?’ And then you look at all of those films that are so great, you’re like, ‘Well, I guess they can’t meet some smuggler with an alien sidekick.’ “
The “middle part” portion of the quote is really a case of semantics here and does not necessarily contradict what Kennedy said. It’s not necessarily that he is struggling with the second act, but rather that he has a great idea of where to start and where to end; he’s just having a hard time figuring out the specifics of the character arcs. Even if the first two acts are mostly done, as Kennedy indicated, it’s possible that Waititi either is not super confident and is revisiting them. Or if Kennedy’s comments were accurate, maybe he can’t quite figure out how to bring it all to the conclusion he has in mind. This is not exactly a new problem for storytellers, and it’s certainly something that an Academy Award-winning writer will be able to solve once he puts in the time (which has been the main issue with Waititi).
Despite the fact that it’s been three years, it seems that all parties involved remain interested — well, except for co-writer Krysty Wilson-Cairns, who silently departed the project at some point last year, as Waititi apparently wants to work alone. Waititi is also in talks to play a role in the film, as was probably expected; he will also direct and produce. Putting aside the industry-wide writing stoppage caused by the WGA strike, Deadline reported earlier this year that Waititi intends to start principal photography in 2024.
No release date has been set yet. All indications point to the next Star Wars film to debut in theaters to be the Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy-directed, New Jedi Order-set project starring Daisy Ridley and written by Steven Knight. Disney has a December 19, 2025, release date saved for Star Wars, though it’s unknown if the company will be able to meet it, especially considering the ongoing strike.
Miguel Fernández is a Spanish student that has movies as his second passion in life. His favorite movie of all time is The Lord of the Rings, but he is also a huge Star Wars fan. However, fantasy movies are not his only cup of tea, as movies from Scorsese, Fincher, Kubrick or Hitchcock have been an obsession for him since he started to understand the language of filmmaking. He is that guy who will watch a black and white movie, just because it is in black and white.
