Guillermo del Toro details about his scrapped Jabba the Hutt movie
Fans recently learned that legendary filmmaker Guillermo del Toro had previously been attached to direct a Star Wars movie about Jabba the Hutt and that David S. Goyer had completed the screenplay. Disney ultimately decided not to move ahead with the project, which came as a major disappointment. Although the film will never be released, we now know a little more about what it would have entailed.
Delivering a talk after a tenth anniversary screening of Pacific Rim which was hosted by Collider, del Toro offered some fascinating new details about his scrapped Jabba the Hutt movie. The plot would have focused on Jabba’s rise to power before his death at the hands of Princess Leia, and it sounds like the project certainly had the potential to become something truly incredible. You can watch the video containing del Toro’s remarks about the abandoned film here, or you can read his full comments below:
"“We had the rise and fall of Jabba the Hutt, so I was super happy. We were doing a lot of stuff, and then it’s not my property, it’s not my money, and then it’s one of those 30 screenplays that goes away. Sometimes I’m bitter, sometimes I’m not. I always turn to my team and say, “Good practice, guys. Good practice. We designed a great world. We designed great stuff. We learned.” You can never be ungrateful with life. Whatever life sends you, there’s something to be learned from it. So, you know, I trust the universe, I do. When something doesn’t happen, I go, “Why?” I try to have a dialogue with myself. “Why didn’t it happen?” And the more you swim upstream with the universe, the less you’re gonna realize where you’re going.”"
As readers will no doubt be aware, Jabba the Hutt is a popular character adored by Star Wars fans, while del Toro is an Oscar-winning director whose movies are always loved by critics. Therefore, the idea of del Toro directing a film about Jabba the Hutt certainly seemed phenomenal. But plenty of other Star Wars movies will still arrive over the next few years, which should all help ease the pain.
On the other hand, some of del Toro’s previous films include Cronos, Hellboy, Pan’s Labyrinth, and The Shape of Water. His next project will be an adaptation of Frankenstein, which Collider revealed will begin filming next February. Although his planned Jabba the Hutt movie never came to fruition, del Toro certainly will not be slowing down anytime soon.