Deadpool & Wolverine and Stranger Things director Shawn Levy is currently staying busy with the development of arguably his most important project to date. In 2027, Levy will release a new Star Wars film – one that will try to reignite the passion for the beloved space opera franchise after the sequel trilogy and recent Disney+ shows ended up being incredibly divisive. Like every other fan, Levy grew up watching Star Wars movies, back when the space sequences had an analog background and digital was a thing of the future. When asked about the one film that influenced him when making Star Wars: Starfighter, Levy shares a very curious answer. A pick that could give you a hint about his direction in Starfighter, and the most unexpected selection in the Star Wars universe.
While promoting Stranger Things Season 5, Levy appeared on the podcast On Film…With Kevin McCarthy, and the director offered plenty of details about his upcoming venture into the Star Wars series. Though he has been commissioned to do anything but a standalone entry in the franchise, Levy can’t deny the inspiration from the previous films in the Lucasfilm franchise. He says the 1983 sequel Return of the Jedi is his biggest influence:
“If I’m being honest, I know the cool answer would be Empire, and sort of the inarguable answer would be A New Hope, but it’s kind of Jedi. It’s Jedi because of the combination of theme, levity, adventure, heart, and spectacle. Somehow, that movie just got it right for me.
“I saw that movie so many times in a theater, more times in a theater than New Hope and Empire, and it stuck with me. There’s moments where I’m on set, and I feel like that kid is with me in the director’s chair. I’m there making his dream come true.”
Shawn Levy on Making a ‘Star Wars’ Film That Isn’t a Sequel, or a Prequel, or Anything Else You Can Think Of
As the director has said before, Star Wars: Starfighter doesn’t have much to do with the films we’ve seen before, as it’s not a sequel or a prequel that takes place in the same timeline. Nevertheless, Levy is entering a mythological territory where some rules are meant to remain untouched. “Sequels are hard. They’re daunting,” the director says of his experience making sequels. “You don’t want to repeat yourself, but you want to give them some of what they love. Having seen how the sausage of sequels is made, I find the whole subject a little stressful because you want to get it right.” Levy then explained what he’s aiming for with Star Wars: Starfighter:
“Especially with Starfighter, it’s not a sequel. It’s not a prequel. It is not legacy characters, and it’s not in a period of time in the galaxy that’s ever been explored. It’s five years after IX, after Rise of Skywalker.
“But what this means is that we are inventing everything in this movie. And the desire to make design choices, character choices, planet choices, costume choices, droid choices, alien choices, all of it needs to feel Star Wars-y. But I am freaking determined to not let any of it feel derivative, or lazily copycat.”