Writer-director Matthew Vaughn is well known for turning giving franchises a good kick in the ass. He did that with a movie literally called Kick-Ass, but also by rebooting the X-Men franchise with First Class, and updating the spy franchise with Kingsman. In between, Vaughn has been attached to, or at least contemplated, working on just about every other major franchise out there but his idea for one in particular would cause wild fan outrage. Or, at least, one would assume.
Way back in around 2012, Vaughn was one of the more realistic names rumored to possibly direct Star Wars Episode 7, a film that was going to bring Star Wars back to the big screen for the first time in decades. That didn’t happen of course but, in a new interview, Vaughn discussed his thoughts on Star Wars and they don’t include casting the same actors from the 1970s and creating new villains who mirror the old ones.
“For me, doing a Star Wars movie is to play with the characters I love,” Vaughn said on the Happy Sad Confused podcast. “If they said to me they’d reboot Star Wars and actually have Luke Skywalker, Solo and Vader and do your version of it. Everyone would say you’re an idiot to try, but that would excite me.”
Don’t worry. He doesn’t just leave it there. “Why are the [Star Wars] characters so hallowed that from 1977 you can’t re-do it for a new audience?” the director asked, referencing other franchises like James Bond, Batman or Spider-Man that just recast characters over and over.
“Star Wars is the Skywalker family and that’s where I think they’ve gone wrong,” he continued. “They’ve forgot. They’ve done brilliantly in TV but it needs an epic new film. That [rebooting with the original characters] is what I would do. Everyone is going to go batshit crazy but let’s bring it on. If you want a new generation, make the movie for them. The old generation, hopefully you make it well enough that they enjoy it.”
Vaughn’s idea isn’t a bad one but, as he surely seems to understand, it’s just too late. When Episode 7 was still on the table, that was basically the one chance in history someone could have rebooted Star Wars. New Luke, new Han, new Leia, etc. The same classic origin story, but with a new twist. It would’ve been controversial even then but, that was the time. Now, almost 10 years later, Lucasfilm and Disney are way too far down the rabbit hole.
It’s a fun idea to think about though. Not just the recasting which would, of course, be key. But ways to spin that story in a new direction. Think about how many times we’ve seen Batman or Spider-Man’s origin on screen. What about Luke Skywalkers? What about Darth Vaders? It’s kind of enticing.
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