The Star Wars franchise may be set in a galaxy far, far away, but it’s lately never felt closer to Colorado.
We’ve flown in formation with the sci-fi saga for decades. The late Colin Cantwell of Colorado Springs designed most of the prototype ships for 1977’s “Star Wars,” and lately, Colorado born-director Rian Johnson (“Episode VIII: The Last Jedi”) and voice actor Dee Bradley Baker (“The Clone Wars,” “The Bad Batch”) have left their deep marks on the canon.
But with the Monday, Dec. 2, premiere of “Star Wars: Skeleton Crew” on Disney+, our latest Star Wars tales will be even stronger with the Colorado force.
“I initially pitched the idea to Lucasfilm in 2017, right as I finished promoting ‘Spider-Man: Homecoming,’ ” said Fountain native Jon Watts, who directed the last three “Spider-Man” movies for Marvel Studios. “I flew into L.A. from the Tokyo premiere and went straight from the airport to (Lucasfilm president) Kathy Kennedy’s office. I was so jetlagged I’m surprised I made any sense at all, but it started as a really simple pitch: a group of kids that don’t know very much about the Star Wars galaxy get lost in the galaxy and have to find their way home.”
From left: Kyrianna Kratter, Ryan Kiera Armstrong and Fountain-born director Jon Watts on the set of Lucasfilm’s “Star Wars: Skeleton Crew.” (Photo by Justin Lubin, provided by Lucasfilm Ltd.)
At that point, all they knew was that they wanted it to be about kids lost in space. And that was the codename for a long time — “Kids in Space,” Watts said. As it is made clear in the first three episodes of the season, which The Denver Post screened, “Skeleton Crew” takes the franchise in a fun, thoroughly invigorating but still very Star Wars-y direction.
The limited series traces the “Goonies”-style adventure of a quartet of kids who stumble upon a lost spaceship and are thrust into a mission to survive and find their way home. While the child actors are all relative unknowns, the show also stars Jude Law, who’s no stranger to Disney sci-fi projects as a veteran of “Captain Marvel” (and dozens of other movies, including the upcoming “The Order,” adapted from Denver City Council member Kevin Flynn’s book).
“There would be shots that we designed that required him to do something very specific with his body or his face or in the lighting,” said Lee Isaac Chung, the Denver-born director of “Twisters” and “Minari,” who helmed a pivotal episode of “Skeleton Crew.” “The way that he so precisely hits things and then performs in a new way is really next level.”
Chung, who grew up in Atlanta, is an Oscar-nominated, Golden Globe-winning filmmaker but also a box-office hero with this year’s “Twisters.” Watts is a Hollywood champ who’s proven himself indispensable to the Marvel Cinematic Universe with a trio of box office-smashing, well-reviewed “Spider-Man” movies starring A-listers Tom Holland and Zendaya.
“Skeleton Crew” carries their confidence and spark, zooming past recent Disney+ Star Wars series like the so-so “The Acolyte” and “Obi-Wan Kenobi,” and arriving up there with franchise-best entries such as “Andor” (albeit with a much different tone). “Skeleton Crew” is lighter and faster-paced, emphasizing discovery, joy and panicky trepidation over elaborate plot points or marginal relationships to the Skywalker family.
The first two episodes of the limited series premiere on Disney+ on Dec. 2, with subsequent episodes premiering at 7 p.m. each Tuesday. Watts and Christopher Ford are both head writers and executive producers, along with Lucasfilm heavies Jon Favreau, Dave Filoni, Kathleen Kennedy and Colin Wilson, producers said in a statement.
From left-right: Wim (Ravi Cabot-Conyers), Jod Na Nawood (Jude Law), KB (Kyriana Kratter), Neel (Robert Timothy Smith), and Fern (Ryan Kiera Armstrong) in Lucasfilm’s “Star Wars: Skeleton Crew.” (Photo by Matt Kennedy, provided by Lucasfilm Ltd.)
That talent pool made staying in a Star Wars mood easier, but it was still a challenge to carry the feeling of creator George Lucas’ movies all day long while working on the series, Watts said.
“The best advice Ford and I got about this was from our producer, Dave Filoni,” Watts said. “He worked with George Lucas very closely for many years, (including creating ‘The Clone Wars’ and ‘Rebels’), and encouraged us to try and emulate the creative process that George used when originally creating the Star Wars galaxy instead of trying to just copy the aesthetic. That was a really helpful tip.”
“What’s nice when you work on these shows is that Filoni is kind of the high priest of Lucas, and he gives a primer at the beginning on ways to keep the language still within the Star Wars universe,” Chung said. “And that (extends) to the way that things should look, the way shots might play out, the types of camera movements that might be done.”
The point, Chung added, is to continue to add to the world that was already built, and not just to express himself as a filmmaker within that world. That’s part of why he was hired, of course, but he takes his duty seriously, whether it was getting his Star Wars feet wet by directing an episode of “The Mandalorian” or balancing fan expectations and project-specific concerns.
“Skeleton Crew” injects more substance to back up the creative whimsy and bedrock commerce of the franchise. Despite its corporate backing and strictures, it still comes from a fundamentally earnest place, Chung said.
“When you see George Lucas films outside of ‘Star Wars’ — ‘American Graffiti’ especially — there’s so much heart and character to that story and to the way that he tells it,” Chung said. “That’s kind of the way I approached ‘Skeleton Crew’ and ‘The Mandalorian.’ It’s really got to be character-first and all the fantasy and action will fall into place because it’s Star Wars. But I drew a lot of inspiration in the way (Lucas) looked at people and aliens as a humanist.”
Colorado, of course, played a role in the series, as it has with other Colorado-born Star Wars directors, actors and writers.
“I grew up in Fountain and would spend my time wandering in the fields, hoping I would stumble across some kind of exciting, Amblin-style adventure,” Watts said, referring to Steven Speilberg’s production company. “It never happened, but I tried to capture that same feeling in ‘Skeleton Crew.’ ”
Chung moved away from Colorado at a young age, but with his family based in Colorado Springs, he visits often and gets outdoors as much as he can, he said. Lately, he discovered a love of fishing on the Gunnison River.
“I’ve always felt like the mountains are a big part of who I am,” he said. “I don’t remember Colorado, because I left when I was a baby, but I’m there quite often. My sister has a place where you can see Pikes Peak and it’s just gorgeous. I feel like that seeps into us, and I do feel a (connection) with Jon Watts in that regard.”
Neel (Robert Timothy Smith left) and Wim (Ravi Cabot-Conyers) ride hoverbikes in Lucasfilm’s “Star Wars: Skeleton Crew.” (Photo by Matt Kennedy, provided by Lucasfilm Ltd.)
Chung half-joked that he also stole some able Lucasfilm crew members for his project that followed “Skeleton Crew,” the “Twister” reboot “Twisters,” which was a surprise, summer box-office sensation. His work on Star Wars, including the outdoor filming and special effects-heavy production, helped set him up for “Twisters” in a way that other projects likely wouldn’t have, he said.
“I work really well with filmmakers who draw from life experiences in whatever way they’re doing it,” Chung said. “Even if it’s completely different from that context of where they actually grew up. Jon is making this a Star Wars show set on a different planet but there are still so many things I feel are very personal to him. It’s a show about young people, and we’re all trying to remember what that felt like.”