In providing further proof to the theory that Disney’s cinematic production efforts are in complete shambles across the board, Wonder Woman duology director Patty Jenkins has revealed that her previously-cancelled Star Wars: Rogue Squadron film is officially back in development.
Jenkins, who previously grounded her aerial space adventure in favor of working on a third Woman Woman film which never panned out, confirmed her return to Disney’s galaxy far, far away while making a guest appearance on the ninth episode of Max’s Talking Pictures Podcast.
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Eventually broaching the topic of her future career plans, Jenkins was asked by host Ben Mankiewicz, “Do you see yourself making these, you know, grown-up serious movies like Monster [her 2003 biographical film about serial killer Aileen Wuornos], or – and I don’t know where you are on the Star Wars thing either, that’s hard to follow too – do you have a franchise in your future, ” the director affirmed, “I don’t know the answer to that question.”
“I am always, like I say, I’m always sort of outside of myself, watching myself at the same time, where I’m like ‘Wow, I guess you’re gonna do this,'” she explained. “I never thought I would find a home in tentpole [films], like that’s not a thing I thought I would do.”
However, despite her feigned ignorance to her future projects, Jenkins then recalled, “When I left Star Wars to do Wonder Woman 3, and I went and I started working on that, we talked about, “Okay, well, maybe I’ll come back to Star Wars after Wonder Woman 3.”
It was then that Jenkins revealed that, thanks to her schedule freeing up courtesy of James Gunn and Peter Safran canning Wonder Woman 3, she now found herself back in the pilot’s seat for Rogue Squadron.
“So, we did a deal for that to happen, we started a deal, but I thought I was doing Wonder Woman 3,” she recalled. “So when Wonder Woman 3 then went away, Lucasfilm and I were like, “Oh, well, we’ve got to finish this deal’. We finished the deal right as the strike was beginning, so now I owe a draft of Star Wars, and so we will see what happens there.”
“They have a hard job in from of them of ‘what’s the first movie they’re going to do’,” Jenkins added. “They have other directors who have been working, but I am now, I’m back on doing Rogue Squadron.”
To this end, pressed further by Mankiewciz, “”Let’s take all the contract stuff and all the other stuff – you would be happy to do a Star Wars movie? That would be exciting if it worked out?”, Jenkins declared, “Absolutely. Absolutely. Star Wars is a beautiful – the emotion of Star Wars and what it stands for is something so beautiful in this world.”
“Star Wars was born out of World War 2 right? It’s born out of, ‘How do you make a metaphor and talk in metaphor?'” she continued. “And so, in that way I’ve always wanted to make a fighter pilot movie. It’s been a dream of mine. I had a hard time with it because I’m in love with the jets of the 70s and 80s and that’s not where the great dogfight stories are. And so, you know, Star Wars becomes a great playground for that.”
“I think Star Wars is so beautiful,” Jenkins ultimately concluded. “So, yes, if I can do something beautiful and do something that servers that audience and is great, I would love to do it.”
As of writing, Jenkins’ Rogue Squadron film has yet to receive any official production confirmation or release date from Disney or Lucasfilm proper.
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