What You Need To Know About Kevin Feige's Star Wars Movie
We hope he knows how to operate a Corellian light freighter.
In news that defines the word "unexpected," Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige is officially headed to the galaxy far, far away to develop a new Star Wars movie.
The Hollywood Reporter had the inside scoop on Feige's fateful flip to the world of Star Wars.
As the end of the Skywalker saga approaches with the December 20 launch of The Rise of Skywalker, Kathleen Kennedy — the president of Lucasfilm, another subsidiary of Disney, which also owns Marvel Studios where Feige serves as head honcho — has been mapping out plans for what the space-faring franchise will look like in years to come. We know that Kennedy has tapped The Last Jedi writer-director Rian Johnson to craft his own trilogy, described by the man himself as capturing the spirit of the original films and "getting back to the very fundamental questions" of what makes Star Wars so special. We also know Kennedy hired Game of Thrones showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss to devise three Star Wars films of their own, the first of which will be the next franchise installment after The Rise of Skywalker.
Apparently, there are even more tales to be told beyond those six films, and Kennedy hired Feige to be the storyteller. It makes sense considering that both are presidents of two Disney subsidiaries, so they know the ins and outs of the company's creative process better than any third-party candidate would, and given how immensely successful Feige's Marvel Cinematic Universe has been in regards to financial gain, critical response, presence in pop culture, and legacy amongst fans and in the current film canon. (Who wouldn't want Feige's magic hands on their franchise, right?)
Feige stepping into the Star Wars franchise has been at least a few months in the making, as THR reports that he sat down in late summer 2019 for a meeting with Kennedy and Walt Disney Studios co-chairmen Alan Bergman and Alan Horn, who also serves as chief content officer. The talk apparently led to action, with Horn revealing in a statement that both Feige's love of the Star Wars franchise and his producing prowess were the two biggest reasons why Kennedy brought him into Lucasfilm: "With the close of the Skywalker saga, Kathy 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."
Feige already knows who he wants to cast in his Star Wars movie
One thing we know for certain about Feige's Star Wars movie is that he's already thinking up his dream cast. According to sources with knowledge of the project and Feige's new deal with Lucasfilm, the creative has spoken with a "major actor" and told them there's a "specific role he would like that person to play."
Who might this mystery person be that Feige is eyeing for his Star Wars flick? There are millions of possibilities, but our money is on Keanu Reeves.
Marvel Studios has been courting Reeves for years, hoping to get him into the Marvel Cinematic Universe basically since the franchise's inception in 2008. Feige himself has admitted, "We talk to him for almost every film we make. We talk to Keanu Reeves [often]. I don't know when, if, or ever he'll join the MCU, but we very much want to figure out the right way to do it."
We may be stretching here, but it seems there's a chance that if Feige and his fellow Marvel brass haven't been able to get Reeves in the MCU thus far, perhaps Feige changed his courting approach and contacted Reeves about joining a different film series he now works with — the Star Wars franchise. Whether or not that's actually the case, we haven't a clue, but it's definitely fun to consider.
Is Feige writing and/or directing the film?
A big mystery that arises from the news of Feige working on a Star Wars movie — and getting in touch with an actor to potentially join the cast roster — is what that actually means in terms of his creative input. Is he directing the film? Writing the script? Both, or neither?
While THR did note that Feige is "developing" a Star Wars movie, that could mean any number of things. There's been no definitive word on Feige's exact input in the upcoming Star Wars movie as of the time of this publication, but using what we know about Feige's past creative endeavors, we can surmise that his role will be entirely producing in nature, and that someone else will write and direct the film. After all, Feige did build an empire on producing movies — starting with 2000's X-Men and moving all the way through to 2019's Spider-Man: Far From Home and 2020's Black Widow and The Eternals, with many more to come. It wouldn't be all that wise to thrust onto Feige creative responsibilities he hasn't had before.
As for who might write and direct Feige's Star Wars movie, it's a toss-up. Kennedy and Feige could keep on the current trend and select an established filmmaker (á la Johnson) or go with someone who has been deeply immersed in world-building and what it means to contribute to a sprawling universe (like Benioff and Weiss). Or they could flip the script and hire a totally fresh face. The options really are endless at this point.
Will Feige's Star Wars movie affect the MCU?
As Spider-Man so famously said, with great power comes great responsibility. Feige is flush with both — overseeing the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the many Marvel TV series in the works for Disney+, taking ownership of the X-Men franchise that Marvel Studios inherited when Disney bought Fox in a multi-billion-dollar deal earlier this year, and now tackling a Star Wars movie for Lucasfilm. Clearly, the guy's plate is fuller than yours is during Thanksgiving dinner, and that could be cause for concern.
According to Sony Pictures CEO and chairman Tony Vinciquerra, Feige's jam-packed scheduled led to a dire consequence: Sony and Marvel being unable to reach an agreement to continue working together on the Spider-Man franchise, which resulted in the two studios parting ways and Tom Holland's Spider-Man leaving the MCU. Vinciquerra specifically stated that Feige had been "stretched incredibly thin" with his commitments to the MCU and all the characters Marvel got from Fox, and consequently wasn't able to dedicate the proper time and energy to fight to keep Spider-Man in Marvel's movie world.
With Feige adding yet another major creative feat to his docket, it's understandable that fans might fear he's doing too much at once and that his new commitment to Lucasfilm will negatively impact the MCU. Will that actually end up happening? There's no way to tell — and while Vinciquerra did point to Feige's workload as a reason for the Sony-Marvel split, there were likely a bunch of other factors that went into the studios' divorce. From our vantage point, Feige seems to have done an expert job keeping all his plates spinning without many breaking. Let's just hope that he doesn't experience burn out before he travels to the Star Wars galaxy.