Star Wars: Shawn Levy Explains His Approach to His Upcoming Movie
The filmmaker claims he feels empowered to trust his cinematic instincts.
The Adam Project and Deadpool 3 director Shawn Levy is expected to head to the galaxy far, far away at some point in the future, with the filmmaker recently expressing that he is being encouraged by Lucasfilm to pursue whatever type of story he would like and that he's not feeling any pressure from the studio to deliver something within their expectations. Unfortunately, this year's writers' strike saw development on the project stagnate, so there's currently no promising update on when the film could be moving forward. Additionally, the actors' strike means production on Deadpool 3 has paused for months, with Levy being committed to that project before being able to fully commit to Star Wars.
"When [Lucasfilm president] Kathy Kennedy brought me on board to make a Star Wars movie, her central mandate to me was, 'I want a Shawn Levy movie. I want a story and a tone that reflects you and your taste and what you bring to your movies -- with a Star Wars story,'" Levy recently shared with Variety. "So I have felt extremely empowered. We are in early days, unfortunately, because the development process was abruptly paused [due to the WGA strike], but I feel very empowered to trust my instincts in the development of this story and movie."
Given the scope of Deadpool 3 and its built-in following, as well as being a partnership with Disney, Levy also addressed how the Ryan Reynolds sequel is factoring into his time with Star Wars.
"The experience that I'm currently having with Marvel on Deadpool is showing me firsthand that it is indeed really possible to feel empowered and personal about making a movie within a universe that is bigger than any one film," the filmmaker expressed. "My Deadpool movie is turning out to be exactly what Ryan [Reynolds] and I had hoped when we started off. So I'm going into the development of my Star Wars movie with a similar optimism, and faith that my instincts will be allowed to lead the way."
On the topic of Levy's friendship with Adam Driver, as far as whether this could result in a Kylo Ren prequel, Levy joked, "Your words, not mine! As you know Adam is a buddy, and I've always been a huge fan of Kylo Ren. But no comment."
Stay tuned for updates on Levy's Star Wars movie.
Are you looking forward to the project? Let us know in the comments or contact Patrick Cavanaugh directly on Twitter to talk all things Star Wars and horror!