UPDATED: Taika Waititi Directing ‘Klara and the Sun’ Next, Confirms He’s Still Writing His ‘Star Wars’ Movie
As the long-awaited day of the release of Next Goal Wins approaches (a film he wrapped production on before Thor: Love and Thunder), Taika Waititi is making the rounds and, as one would expect, he’s being asked about his Star Wars movie. (Note: Scroll down for the update.)
Speaking to Entertainment Tonight‘s Ash Crossan, Waititi confirmed he’s still working on Star Wars, but added that everybody is very busy on both sides of the table, so his long-in-development film may not come that soon. He said:
“At the moment, I’m still developing something with them. Like me, they have a lot of projects going on. I think they’re gonna push it until I finish these other projects. I’ve got about four other scripts that I’m trying to finish. My thing is I want to take my time with that and get it right. I don’t want to rush this movie.”
Waititi is not wrong at all. His name was left out of the announcements at Celebration this past April, where Lucasfilm confirmed new projects from director Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, James Mangold, and Dave Filoni. The first one would be the one in the most advanced stage as of now. Waititi himself has committed to writing an adaptation of The Incal, a new version of Flash Gordon, and a remake of Akira that Warner Bros. expected to have already in pre-production, in addition to Star Wars and directing Klara and the Sun (which he’s not scripting).
Despite that, he’d signed on to Star Wars before most of those projects, so as Lucasfilm tries to return to theaters, he seemed like a prime candidate to do so with. After all, other directors they’ve signed like James Mangold, Shawn Levy, and Dave Filoni have more pressing commitments. Waititi wrapped filming Our Flag Means Death season 2 earlier this year, and his FX show Reservation Dogs, which he co-created, has also ended its three-season run.
Besides that, Deadline had reported earlier this year (pre-strikes) that Waititi wanted to shoot his Star Wars film in 2024, and reporter Jeff Sneider also said that he’d already submitted multiple drafts to Lucasfilm and he was due another one once the WGA strike was over (similar to Steven Knight for Obaid-Chinoy’s project). Waititi himself has a history of underplaying this movie, from joking he’ll never finish it to saying he’s struggling with the third act. Is this another one of those times? Remember, Sneider also said that he’s brought on additional writers, though we don’t know who they are yet. (Krysty Wilson-Cairns was once attached to co-write it, but was thought to have left the project at some point last year.)
It does seem odd to say that Lucasfilm will push it until he finishes “those other projects”. First of all, shooting films like The Incal and Klara and the Sun may easily take him three years combined, if he only commits to those two. Akira alone is another three years, and that’s assuming he will not sign up for another three projects in the meantime. (Flash Gordon sounds like a pipe dream at this point.) Is he just stalling until Lucasfilm moves on? That doesn’t really align with reports that he’s been working on it recently. Or is he just in “leave me alone” mode?
Next up for Lucasfilm, just like for the rest of the industry, is getting everyone back to work. Should things go the right way, they will be filming at least one feature film in 2024: the Daisy Ridley-led New Jedi Order-era project from Obaid-Chinoy.
UPDATE:
In a separate interview with Business Insider, Waititi reiterated he’s been writing the movie (“It’s still marinating. I’ve been writing it,” he said), but confirmed it will not be his next project. Instead, his next effort will be directing Klara and the Sun, the adaptation of Kazuo Ishiguro’s New York Times best-selling novel. Dahvi Waller was originally attached to write the script, though it’s unknown if Waititi may also partake in that.
In addition to Star Wars, he also mentioned he’s writing The Incal, the adaptation of Alejandro Jodorowsky’s graphic novel. There was no mention of Akira. Combined, he estimated those three titles would take up “six, seven years” of his life, though wouldn’t confirm the order in which he’ll make them.
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.
