Zack Snyder’s rejected ‘Star Wars’ pitch: ‘It should be rated R!’

Christopher Rosen
·3 min read
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This is a boom time for blockbuster auteurs to talk about their failed attempts to make R-rated “Star Wars” movies. Just days after “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” director James Mangold revealed his plans for an edgy version of Boba Fett, “Man of Steel” filmmaker Zack Snyder has again discussed his attempt to fly into a galaxy far, far away.

Speaking to Empire, Snyder explained how his upcoming Netflix feature “Rebel Moon” started as a concept he had for a “Star Wars” project. “It was ‘Seven Samurai’ in space,” Snyder said, noting how original “Star Wars” creator George Lucas was inspired by Akira Kurosawa. 

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“The sale [of Lucasfilm to Disney] had just happened,” Snyder continued. “There was that window where, you know, who knows what’s possible? I was like, ‘I don’t want any of your characters. I don’t want to do anything with any known characters, I just want to do my own thing on the side.’ And originally I was like, ‘It should be rated R!’ That was almost a non-starter.”

Snyder has discussed “Rebel Moon” and its origins before. He told Vanity Fair a similar story about pitching the concept during post-production on “Man of Steel.” As Deborah Snyder, the director’s wife and producing partner, explained to the legacy outlet, “Rebel Moon” “has a bit of ‘Star Wars.’ It has a bit of everything. It’s a little bit like ‘Lord of the Rings,’ a little bit ‘Game of Thrones’ with the palace intrigue. And it’s really just a lot of what’s in Zack’s head.”

Snyder is but one of many filmmakers who could have made a “Star Wars” movie in another life. As mentioned, Mangold has recently begun to discuss his attempts to make a movie about Boba Fett – this before “The Mandalorian” and “The Book of Boba Fett” put the cult character back into the “Star Wars” mainstream.

“At the point, I was doing it, I was probably scaring the shit out of everyone, but I was probably making much more of a borderline rated-R, single-planet, spaghetti western,” Mangold told the Happy Sad Confused podcast. “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.”

Mangold was recently hired to direct another kind of “Star Wars” film, this one about the origins of The Force. The director has likened the idea to “The Ten Commandments” but if it were “Star Wars.”

“Rebel Moon” hits Netflix in December.

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