Shawn Levy Explains the Origins of the Two STAR WARS: STARFIGHTER Photos That Have Been Released
The rollout for Star Wars: Starfighter has been slow and mysterious, but fans did get two striking production images that instantly kicked off plenty of conversations across the fandom.
Now director Shawn Levy is clarifying exactly where those photos came from and how surprisingly unplanned they were.
During a recent appearance on On Film… with Kevin McCarthy, Levy opened up about the candid nature of those first looks and shed some light on the moments that sparked them.
Levy confirmed that the photos featuring Ryan Gosling and young co star Flynn Gray weren’t part of any formal shoot. They weren’t staged, they weren’t chosen by a marketing team and they weren’t part of a planned reveal. Instead, they came about during completely natural moments on set.
He explained that one image came during filming on the Mediterranean Sea, while the other was taken beside a speeder inside a garage set.
Levy recalled the entire thing starting from something he noticed out of the corner of his eye during a routine test. He said, “But the weird thing about those photos, someone asked me like, ‘Is Lucasfilm and Disney extra controlling with Star Wars?’ What’s weird is neither photo was planned.”
He went on to describe spotting a perfect visual during a camera test and reacting instinctively. According to him, “Both were literally one was at the camera test, and the other was we’re shooting at sea, and it was just two spontaneous moments where I looked up, and I was like, ‘Wait, wait, that is an awesome image. Can I take a picture, you guys?’”
What makes this even more fun is how informal the process actually was. Levy didn’t call in a photographer or coordinate anything with a publicity team. He just took out his phone.
He explained, “And I took a picture on my phone, and then I sent it to Disney, and Kathleen Kennedy was there with me. She’s on location with me, and I’m like, ‘Can I share this with the world?’”
Levy added that these moments weren’t chosen because they represented some early marketing strategy but simply because they struck him emotionally in the moment. As he put it, the images were “motivated and inspired by just looking up and seeing something that felt magic to me.”
Gosling is rumored to play the uncle of Gray’s Force-sensitive teen, who becomes his protector as they’re hunted across the galaxy by a pair of ruthless villains, reportedly played by Mia Goth and possibly Matt Smith. Amy Adams is said to be portraying the teen’s mother.
Levy expressed his passion for the project when filming kicked off earlier this year, saying: “I feel a profound sense of excitement and honor as we begin production on Star Wars: Starfighter.
“From the day Kathy Kennedy called me up, inviting me to develop an original adventure in this incredible Star Wars galaxy, this experience has been a dream come true, creatively and personally.”
He added: “Star Wars shaped my sense of what story can do, how characters and cinematic moments can live with us forever. To join this storytelling galaxy with such brilliant collaborators onscreen and off, is the thrill of a lifetime.”
Fans seem pretty excited about this and it will be cool to see how this all turns out.