Move over Spidey, Kevin Feige is making space in his heart for the Galaxy Far, Far Away. As reported on October 25, Feige has been invited by Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy to have a hand producing a future Star Wars film. Among the fan community the reaction has been mixed. Some, quite fairly, groaned at the aspect of creative control of a Star Wars property in the hands of one more white man. To recap, here’s the list of previous Star Wars films that have not had a white man in the captain’s chair so to speak: .
Right, only with the advent of The Mandalorian has a live action property had a director that did not meet the aforementioned demographic. Hence, the disappointment that followed the news. Diversity behind the camera, in the production side, is important because different people bring with them different experiences, perspectives on the world around them, and channeling just one demographic narrows this creative conduit. However, some fans greeted Feige’s stepping over from Marvel Studios as a possibility for advancement in representation.
After all, once Feige was able to operate without the interference of Ike Perlmutter, the Marvel Cinematic Universe was enriched with the additions of Black Panther and Captain Marvel. Indeed, Feige has already announced sequels to these highly successful films, the former being the first MCU film to receive a Best Picture Oscar nomination. Feige’s Phase 4 promises to be the most inclusive round of superhero films ever produced, but what does that mean for his role in producing a Star Wars film? This is where the crystal ball becomes cloudy. Feige has shown he will tap people of color and women to direct films, but will he do it here? It is, unfortunately, a wait and see that is bereft of the potentially more exciting prospects for storytelling had a different candidate, a person of color, for example, been offered the same level of opportunity.
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