Two Directors, One 'Star Wars'
Dear Moviegoers,
Oh, the places you'll go, Disney.
Oh, the things we'll all be forced to see.
Imagining Star Wars movies being helmed by great contemporary filmmakers like the resourceful and genre-diverse Steven Soderbergh and the edgy perfectionist David Fincher feels like a dream of creative capital. This isn't to suggest that their flicks would be incredible, but the productions would, at least, be daring.
Potentially.
I recall the great black filmmaker and artist Terence Nance getting a deal to write and direct the Space Jam sequel, only to be dropped due to "creative differences" with the studio. Nance is an independent maker of magic who had previously conjured up the film An Oversimplification of Her Beauty and has gone on to produce a few music albums. He once set up a website that was a running stream of movie scenes, set to a chorus singing "white people won't save you." In my opinion, he would've crushed a Space Jam sequel, and brought down the theatrical house with him.
Unfortunately, the eventual film left critics underwhelmed. A desperately silly and flat mashup, I heard.
It was a new verse, but the same as the first type of situation. Something that just happens too often in Hollywood with young filmmakers, especially ones of color.
Sodergerh and Fincher actually went to Disney with Star Wars pitches, each willing to make something fresh. Two filmmakers with clout and experience.
Only to be turned down by a monstrous machine. By the "white slavers" as George Lucas once called them. In George's case, he sold Lucasfilm and thus Star Wars over to Disney for an ungodly sum of cash. Was it out of exhaustion and probably frustration? Maybe he thought Disney would hand over projects to beave souls with vision?
They tried this with Rian Johnson.
I loved his effort, The Last Jedi, but certain executives, I guess, got terrified by uber fan backlashes, and went backward, forward, and stuck all at once.
Since The Rise of Skywalker's release, there have been creative and bold stories made out of Disney's new mold, all on their streaming service. Two new theatrical movies are on the way, and with good but safe directors like Jon Favreau and Shawn Levy taking charge of those, I'm left with worry for what could come if their projects were to flounder.
Paul Schrader. George Miller. James Cameron. Artificial Intelligence and the future of cinema. Cheap productions for cheaper "films." No need for artistic conversations or compromises - just prompts upon prompts.
What's to stop any of them from going with...that? They own it all.
I say keep up the pitches, and keep the words coming. I say get rough and ready. I say express yourself against the machines, in whatever forms they may take.
Otherwise, the dream of creative heaven will be a nightmare worthy of butts on screen.