Matthew Vaughn Thinks Star Wars Needs a Reboot
If Matthew Vaughn had his way, Lucasfilm would reboot Star Wars.
The Kingsman director appeared on the Happy Sad Confused podcast to discuss the state of Hollywood, from the DC Universe to a galaxy, far, far away.
Photo: The Independent
“The studios, it’s like any artistic form. The music business, movies, fashion… the financing and the commerce has taken over the creative,” Vaughn said.
Photo: Wikipedia
“That always means eventually for short-term gains you do well, but long term you kill everything. That’s what’s happening now… film, music, art. Commerce took over and now the pendulum is starting to swing back. Creativity should always be the driving force of any decision and then you think about how to make money out of it afterwards. If you try to make money upfront, you’ll kill some great franchises.”
Reboot Star Wars?
When asked specifically what franchise had been “killed,” Vaught pointed to Star Wars. When asked if he thought it would be tough to turn down an offer to direct a Star Wars film, he insisted it would not.
Photo: Disney
“Now, not so much. For me, doing a ‘Star Wars’ movie is to play with the characters I love. 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.”
Recasting Luke Skywalker
Vaughn then compared the Star Wars characters to James Bond or other superheroes.
Image: Lucasfilm
““Now, not so much. For me, doing a ‘Star Wars’ movie is to play with the characters I love. 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.”
(Photo by Terry O’Neill/Getty Images)
“‘Star Wars’ is the Skywalker family and that’s where I think they’ve gone wrong. They’ve forgot. They’ve done brilliantly in TV but it needs an epic new film. That’s what I would do [i.e. reboot Luke]. 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.”
Could It Work?
Vaughn is correct about one thing, the Star Wars fanbase, who is not exactly known for their level-headness, would implode if Lucasfilm tried to reboot the original trilogy.
With that being said, the X-Men: First Class director has a point. Star Wars clearly wants to tell more stories featuring Luke Skywalker and other original trilogy heroes. As opposed to the use of CGI to de-age the original actors, a reboot would give Lucasfilm more creative freedom.
Image: Lucasfilm
While a Star Wars reboot is unlikely, the possibilities would be endless.
