James Mangold wouldn't have let Grogu tag along in his scrapped, 'borderline rated-R' Boba Fett movie
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James Mangold is revealing the initial plan for his scrapped Star Wars movie — and everybody's favorite character would not have been in it.
Back in 2018, it was announced that the Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny director would be writing and directing a Boba Fett film. While the project later took on a new life and creative team as the Disney+ series The Book of Boba Fett, Mangold previewed his original, much darker pitch during a recent Happy Sad Confused interview.
"At the point I was doing it, I was probably scaring the s--- out of everyone, but I was probably making much more of a borderline rated-R, single-planet, spaghetti western," he said. "The world would never be able to embrace Baby Yoda if I had made that, because he didn't really belong in the world I was kind of envisioning."
While Mangold may have omitted Grogu from the project to protect the character's big, adorable eyeballs from its more adult-appropriate content, he explained that any forward movement on the film soon came to a halt "in a moment of corporate realignment after whatever happened with the Han Solo movie," a reference to 2018's Solo: A Star Wars Story. He added, "They just suddenly decided they weren't making pictures like that, and I think the opportunities in streaming presented themselves."
Instead, Grogu wound up playing a large role in The Book of Boba Fett. The little Force user spent time alongside Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) before ultimately reuniting with his dad, Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal), at the end of the series.
Still, Mangold recalled his time penning the Star Wars script as a "beautiful period" in his life. "I was just listening to Ennio Moricone all day, all night and typing away," he said. "But I'm not sure it ever would've happened. I'm not sure it was in anyone's plans what I was thinking about."
Neil Mockford/FilmMagic; Lucasfilm James Mangold; Baby Yoda
Although his Boba Fett spaghetti western dreams didn't come true, Mangold is set to return to the galaxy far, far away in the future. Earlier this year, news broke that he will direct an upcoming Star Wars film about the first Jedi to ever wield the Force.
And yes, that requires going even farther back in time than the previous trilogies. "When I talk[ed] to some of the Star Wars clerics who keep track of all these timelines, I was like, 'So when would this have happened?' And they were like, 'Twenty-five thousand years before episode 1,'" Mangold said. "And I was like, 'Oh! I was looking for some distance, but that's distance.' But I'll do it!"
He went on to note that it was "really important" to him that the movie have a "feeling of space" and separation from past installments. "Not to get away from, again, fan service or the intricacies of what George [Lucas] had set up or dreamed of," he explained, "but to just have the space to tell a story and not be instantly encumbered with the bases you have to hit."
Watch Mangold discuss his nixed Boba Fett film — and his plans for DC's Swamp Thing — in the interview above.
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