Taika Waititi’s Star Wars film is on hold, with the director and screenwriter Tony McNamara turning their attention to a different project together.
Speaking to Inverse while promoting Klara and the Sun, Waititi said the pair had stepped away from the long-running project. McNamara, whose films include The Favourite and Poor Things, had been working on its screenplay.
“It’s very iced. I’ve got about four other movies I’m trying to do,” Waititi said.
He did leave room for a return: “Ice ages do come to an end,” he added. Details of his other collaboration with McNamara remain undisclosed.
Lucasfilm first announced Waititi’s film on 4 May 2020, appointing him to direct and co-write a new feature for cinemas. At that stage, his writing partner was Krysty Wilson-Cairns, whose credits include 1917 and Last Night in Soho. The announcement did not include a release date.
Waititi had already directed the first-season finale of The Mandalorian for Disney+, and had recently won the adapted screenplay Oscar for Jojo Rabbit. The feature announcement would have taken his work in the franchise from its live-action television series to the big screen.
His next film to reach Australian cinemas is Klara and the Sun, opening on 22 October. Adapted from Kazuo Ishiguro’s novel, it stars Jenna Ortega as an Artificial Friend who finds a home with a teenager named Josie, played by Mia Tharia.
The story follows Klara’s relationship with Josie and her mother as the family deals with loss. Amy Adams plays the mother, with Aran Murphy, Steve Buscemi and Natasha Lyonne also in the cast. Sony Pictures Australia’s trailer introduces Klara’s attempt to understand the people she has been brought into the household to help.
ACMI is also presenting a members’ preview with Sony Pictures Releasing Australia on Wednesday 21 October at 6.30pm. The screening is listed as sold out on ACMI’s website. The film is rated M.
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