Rebel Moon is meant to be Zack Snyder’s Star Wars — and an ultimate vindication
From the moment Zack Snyder’s ambitious Netflix space opera Rebel Moon was first announced, one aspect of its backstory has earned more attention than anything else: The film began as a Star Wars pitch.
“I remember calling Zack at some point 15 years ago,” producer Eric Newman said at a splashy Hollywood Hills preview event for the film. Newman previously worked with Snyder on Dawn of the Dead. “He was talking about a ‘Seven Jedi’ movie in the Star Wars universe.”
The idea of making a Star Wars movie based on Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai almost seems circular: That movie, which has been remade and reimagined dozens of times over, as everything from the 1960 Western The Magnificent Seven to Pixar’s A Bug’s Life, was a major influence on George Lucas. But the pitch, which eventually made its way to Lucasfilm, was never developed for many reasons, one being Disney’s acquisition of Lucasfilm in 2012 and that brass’ approach to the franchise.
The theatrical Star Wars movies have largely revolved around legacy characters, but Snyder’s plan involved an entirely fresh cast, with no relationships to past Star Wars protagonists. When Lucasfilm’s plan for the sequel trilogy fell into place, Snyder’s movie disappeared from any future planning boards. But that may be for the better.
“I never wanted it to be [a Star Wars movie], because your hands are tied to the IP,” Deborah Snyder said at the event. She’s a longtime producer of her husband’s movies. “I was happy it fell apart.”
“Debbie said, ‘Thank God, you would’ve been so sad,’” Zack recalled. Snyder continued to stew on his story, which he says he actually thought up in a film school pitch class back in the 1980s. After Snyder’s fruitful collaboration with Netflix on the
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