REBEL MOON Team Was Happy Zack Snyder's Project Didn't End Up a STAR WARS Film Saying "F**k Star Wars"
Rebel Moon producers Deborah Snyder and Eric Newman recently appeared at a press junket for the film to discuss the project, and one of the things they talked about was the project’s journey from a Star Wars pitch to its own franchise.
The whole idea was initially inspired by Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai, and it’s something that Zack Snyder pitched to his professor when he was in college as a film student at the Art Center College of Design back in 1989. He wanted it to be a ‘Dirty Dozen in space? Or an ensemble movie like Seven Samurai in space?”
Snyder pitched the project to Disney shortly after Disney acquired Lucasfilm in 2012. The director wanted to create original characters, and he pushed hard for the film to have R-rated content. They passed and that ultimately led to Snyder repurposing the story and turning it into Rebel Moon. Producer Deborah Snyder said:
“Once, it was a ‘Star Wars’ film, and I never wanted it to be. I remember, I said to Zack, ‘I just feel like your hands are going to be tied so much in what that IP is,’ even though it kind of lived outside of it. So I was kind of happy when that fell apart, because I always felt like it was better. We learned so much with all our years working with the superheroes and creating those worlds, and to do something now that’s wholly original… we say it’s a science fantasy more than science fiction, and to take all those skills that Zack has been honing, and to do something in this space, just seemed really exciting.”
Newman went on to talk about his excitement about doing the project separate from Star Wars, and it was initially envisioned as a series. He was pretty much like “F**k Star Wars”, he said:
“I remember [Zack] calling me at some point, and this has got to be 15 years ago, saying, ‘I’m thinking of doing Seven Jedi, in the ‘Star Wars’ universe.’ And I was like, ‘Oh, that’s a cool idea.’ […] Then, a few years later, he calls me and goes, ‘You know, I think it could be a television show.’ I’m like, ‘Yes, let’s do this! Fuck ‘Star Wars!’ Let’s do this as a TV show.'”
Rebel Moon ended up being a two-part movie that has the potential to spin off into other films and TV shows. In the story, a group of ragtag rebels rise up to fight against a giant, evil Empire. It’s set in a “peaceful colony on the edge of the galaxy that finds itself threatened by the armies of the tyrannical Regent Balisarius. They dispatch a young woman with a mysterious past to seek out warriors from neighboring planets to help them take a stand against the Tyrant.”
Each part of the film will come with an R-rated edition that fans can watch as well. The first one will feature a whole extra hour of footage. The movie stars Charlie Hunnam, Ed Skrein, Bae Doona, Djimon Hounsou. Ray Fisher, Jena Malone, Ed Skrein, Stuart Martin, Cary Elwes, Corey Stoll, Michiel Huisman, Anthony Hopkins, and Alfonso Herrera.
The first Rebel Moon movie, titled A Child of Fire, will stream on Netflix starting December 22. The second part is titled The Scargiver, and it will arrive on April 19, 2024.
via /Film