Josh Trank on Why He Left Star Wars Anthology Film

By Kyle Warnke | Jun 4, 2015

Of all the surprising revelations that have rocked the fictional Star Wars universe lately, none has been more shocking than a piece of news from real life. When Josh Trank left the director’s chair for the second Star Wars Anthology spinoff film, it set off a wave of rumors and speculation about what may have led to his departure.

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Now, in an interview with the Los Angeles Times, the Chronicle director has set out to offer his perspective on the whole affair and how he thinks it’s been misconstrued.

The frenzy started when Trank was a no-show at Star Wars Celebration in April at a panel that also featured Gareth Edwards, the director of the other spinoff film, Rogue One. Fans got plenty of details about that movie, but Disney was mum on the status of Trank’s film, and not much later, Lucasfilm confirmed Trank was no longer directing the movie.

Soon, reports started emerging that Trank had been fired from the film for his strange, isolated behavior on the set of the Fantastic Four reboot. He also was accused of having a rocky relationship with the co-writer, Simon Kinberg, who’s also writing the Star Wars spinoff.

Trank vigorously protests the allegations but doesn’t fully deny them:

"“None of those facts were true – and any of the facts that were true were spun in a maliciously wrong way.”"

Another bizarre story soon surfaced saying studio executives were angry at Trank for leaving his dogs at a New Orleans house during shooting and letting them cause thousands of dollars in damage. Trank also denies that report.

Now, Trank says he left Star Wars because he didn’t feel like he could handle the scrutiny and pressure that comes with such a beloved property. He says that Star Wars was “one of my biggest influences,” and his decision to leave the franchise was “the hardest decision I’ve ever had to make in my life.”

"“I want to do something original after this because I’ve been living under public scrutiny, as you’ve seen, for the last four years of my life. And it’s not healthy for me right now in my life. I want to do something that’s below the radar.”"

It’s interesting to note that neither Trank nor Kinberg outright denies the rumors of their friction, but both of them are clearly not taking any joy in the drama surrounding their relationship on the outside.

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The whole interview makes you feel some sympathy for Trank, who clearly is ready to move on and put this behind him so he can get started on a new project.

It’s incredibly easy to understand his reasoning for leaving since an entire hurricane of speculation and accusations have dominated the air ever since he left. One can only wonder what the atmosphere would be like had he stayed on and did something with the movie that fans disliked.

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