Guillermo Del Toro Has Discussed 'Star Wars' Ideas With Kathleen Kennedy And John Knoll
Director Guillermo del Toro is known for having dozens of projects in development while only a few ever come to fruition. Because of that, he's become a little cautious about discussing any ideas that he has for movies because, as he says, "My IMDB page is made of headlines of a lot of stuff that I'll never do." At the risk of adding one more possible project that will never come to fruition (sorry, Guillermo), we bring you this latest tidbit of information from the director himself.
In a recent interview, the director of Pan's Labyrinth, Hellboy, Pacific Rim, and Crimson Peak revealed that he has met with Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy and Industrial Light and Magic's Chief Creative Officer John Knoll (who we interviewed recently) to discuss ideas for future Star Wars movies.
Perri Namiroff at Collider was lucky enough to sit down with del Toro to talk about a myriad of subjects, and one of the final questions she asked was whether the director would consider directing his own Star Wars movie and what he might do if he was given the opportunity. He began by amusingly prefacing the caution he takes in discussing potential projects:
"In 2006, Mike Fleming at Deadline wrote an article that said 'Guillermo del Toro is busy until 2012' and he published 20 things I was maybe doing. Since then I haven't been able to live down that. Every time I say 'good morning' somebody says 'Guillermo is doing Good Morning!', so I will not comment on this...I look like a kook. Neil Gaiman once said, 'I would like to write Doctor Strange with Guillermo' then all of a sudden in IMDb I had Doctor Strange [listed]."
Even though del Toro wants to be cautious, he still went on to reveal at least the chance of a Star Wars movie being directed by him, though there aren't any deals or active negotiations in place. The director added:
"Saying all that caveat, I will say there's some characters that are great, and I have talked to Kathleen Kennedy and John Knoll about ideas."
What those ideas are, Guillermo del Toro wouldn't specifically say, but let's not forget that in the summer of 2015, the director revealed one idea that he had involving the gangster Jabba the Hutt. Here's what del Toro said back then:
"I would do the sort of 'Godfather' saga the Jabba the Hutt had to go through to gain control. One, because it's the character that looks the most like me, and I like him. I love the idea of a Hutt type of mafia, a very complex coup, you know? ... I just love the character."
Even back then, he cautioned that this Guillermo del Toro Star Wars movie wasn't a concrete project he was developing and that his dance card was plenty full already. Plus, even though del Toro has met with Lucasfilm, it sounds like he's more keen on making his own original ideas before anything else (which is part of the reason he turned down Star Wars: Episode VII). He continued:
"You know, I wanna do my shit. I want to do it first. I'm veering a lot towards animation. I love animation. The pace is better. You have three years to fuck up, so you fuck up a lot less."
Maybe there's a way Guillermo del Toro can work in animation and still make his Jabba the Hutt movie? We haven't gotten any word on Lucasfilm developing any new feature length animated movies set in the Star Wars universe, but perhaps del Toro could be a trailblazer and make it happen.
If you'd like to hear more from Guillermo del Toro, I recommend watching the whole interview right here. In the meantime, someone should get del Toro and Diego Luna in the same room to discuss their Jabba love: