Across the Star Wars saga, all kinds of legendary filmmakers have come out to play – from George Lucas kicking it all off (alongside Irvin Kershner and Richard Marquand), to Rian Johnson and JJ Abrams in the sequel era, and the likes of Jon Favreau, Bryce Dallas Howard, Carl Weathers, Robert Rodriguez, and Kogonada helming episodes of the streaming series. But even by Star Wars standards, upcoming series Skeleton Crew – a galactic pirate adventure, in which four suburban kids get lost in the vastness of space and have to find their way home – boasts a particularly stellar roster of filmmakers.
Jon Watts – of the Spider-Man MCU trilogy – devised the show along with his longtime collaborator and friend Christopher Ford, and together the pair assembled an who’s-who of directing talent: Bryce Dallas Howard and Twisters' Lee Isaac Chung return after their Mandalorian episodes; longtime Star Wars devotee David Lowery (The Green Knight) takes his first step into the galaxy he's always loved; Thunderbolts*’ Jake Schreier enters cinema's other massive genre playground; and the Oscar-winning Daniels bring their unique flavour. All that, plus Watts helmed two episodes himself.
In a major new group interview, Empire assembled the Skeleton Crew directors – sans the Daniels, lost somewhere in the multiverse – for an epic Star Wars chat, talking their love of the saga, their experiences making the show, their favourite Star Wars aliens, and much more. You can read the epic full conversation in the Mickey 17 issue of Empire, but first here’s an exclusive extract:
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EMPIRE: How did you pick your directing team?
Jon Watts: Ford and I sat down like, “Who are our favourite directors, who would be good at this?” We went out to all you guys, and you all said yes. No-one turned it down! “Hey, do you want to do Star Wars? Play around in the Volume? Do pre-vis? Meet some pirates, some puppets, hang out with Jude Law?” “Yeah, sounds great!”
David Lowery: Jon pitched it as, “Kids lost in the Star Wars universe. And there’s a bunch of pirates.” I was like, “Cool. I just finished a Peter Pan movie, I’m in the pirate world.” You were like, “There’s a robot named SM-33.” I said, “Oh, ‘Smee’, that’s very Peter Pan.” And then: “Jude Law is going to star.” I was like, “Oh! I think I just made this?” (Law played Lowery’s Captain Hook.) To do it again in Star Wars was a dream come true.
Bryce Dallas Howard: I’ve known these guys — and Ford — for literally over 20 years. Watts has a playbill from something that I directed in college! My first time encountering ‘Grammar Rodeo’ was with the [Lucasfilm] pre-vis team. I was working on [The Mandalorian] Season 3 at the time. I was like, “How is it?” And they’re like, “It’s so good.”
Jake Schreier: Jon and Ford were my roommates in college, so they probably were like, “I guess we know Jake. He can do one also.” In freshman year at NYU, you had to do a semester of sound work. Jon and Ford’s sound project was a pirate radio drama. They’ve been working at this for a very, very long time.
Lee Isaac Chung: Jon had talked to [Jon] Favreau about the work I did on Mando. On Mandalorian, everything’s so secretive. After I say, “I’d love to do it,” then [Favreau] reveals what we’re doing. But the first conversation with Jon [Watts], he was immediately showing me concept art — I felt like I was looking at stuff I wasn’t supposed to be seeing yet.
Watts: I was probably breaking some NDA. Minari [Chung’s 2020 drama] is so good, and shows such an ability to work with young actors. We were so happy to have you, because we’ve got four ten-year-olds leading our show. We wanted directors who would be able to show Star Wars from a new perspective, while bringing their own unique storytelling POV. [With Daniels], we all know each other because their longtime DP, Larkin Seiple, shot a lot of things with me and Jake. Everything Everywhere hadn’t come out yet when we got them — I was just a fan of Swiss Army Man, and their crazy commercials and music videos.
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Read the full Star Wars: Skeleton Crew directors roundtable interview in the Mickey 17 issue, on sale Thursday 24 October. Pre-order a copy online here. Star Wars: Skeleton Crew streams on Disney+ from 4 December.