The Russo Bros. Were in Talks To Direct Kevin Feige's Canceled STAR WARS Movie
Remember that Star Wars project that Kevin Feige was developing for Lucasfilm that Kathleen Kennedy said was never discussed? Well, on top of the fact that the movie was being written by Loki writer Michael Waldron, it turns out that Joe and Anthony Russo were in early talks to direct the movie! As you know, the Russo Bros. previously worked with Feige on several Marvel movies including Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers Endgame.
Joe Russo revealed this bit of information himself while a guest on the Smartless podcast. He said:
"We love Star Wars. There were early conversations, there were some early conversations with us. Kevin Feige is a huge Star Wars fan, and there were some early conversations about maybe teaming up with Kevin to do Star Wars."
I have no doubt that Feige, Waldron, and the Russo’s would have made an awesome Star Wars movie. There are no story details, but it would’ve explored new people and places in that universe. Feige previously said: “I love that world and I love the notion of exploring new people and new places in that universe. But that’s sort of all that can be said for now.”
When addressing Kevin Feige's project, Kennedy said during Star Wars Celebration that it “was something announced in the press, or I suppose, fandom.” But the news about Feige came from Disney CEO Bob Iger, and studio co-chairmen Alan Horn, so it wasn’t announced by the “press” of “fandom” like Kennedy claims.
Horn explained that Kennedy "is pursuing a new era in Star Wars storytelling, and knowing what a die-hard fan Kevin is, it made sense for these two extraordinary producers to work on a Star Wars film together.”
Kennedy went on to say, “But, nothing ever got developed. We never discussed an idea. Everyone knows Kevin is a huge Star Wars fan. If he did come up with something, I would be all ears. But, that's never really happened, so it's not an abandoned project. It just never really happened."
However, it was also reported at the time that Feige did pitch his idea to Kennedy, Iger, and Horn. So, I don’t know why Kennedy is saying this project was never really happening because there’s so much proof that it was actually being developed and moving forward.
Regardless, the project was squashed. Maybe one day we’ll learn what kind of story they were looking to tell. There were a few Star Wars film projects recently announced, though, including a new film with Daisy Ridley’s Rey, Dave Filoni’s “big event” movie that is connected to The Mandalorian universe, James Mangold’s film about the discovery of The Force, and Taika Waititi is still developing his movie.