Guillermo del Toro talks the ‘Jabba the Hutt’ film that could have been and his forthcoming ‘Frankenstein’
Guillermo del Toro’s almost realized “The Rise and Fall of Jabba the Hutt†was scrapped, but the filmmaker is saying c’est la vie.
The Oscar-winning “Pinocchio†filmmaker dished on the film that could have been during a recent interview with Collider. Four years ago, Del Toro had a “Star Wars†film in the works that followed one of the galaxy’s most notorious gangsters, Jabba the Hutt. The greedy and lustful slug-like alien reigned on the planet Tatooine — he put a bounty on everyone’s favorite smuggler, Han Solo, and enslaved Princess Leia, who ultimately strangled him to death with her own chains.
The acclaimed filmmaker was working with “Man of Steel†screenwriter David S. Goyer, who spoke of the project two weeks ago on the “Happy Sad Confused†podcast. “I wrote an unproduced ‘Star Wars’ movie that Guillermo del Toro was going to direct.†Goyer alluded to the film being nixed due to “behind-the-scenes stuff†going on at Lucasfilm at the time, although he didn’t further elaborate.
The idiosyncratic visual storyteller Guillermo del Toro was talked into co-writing the song “Ciao Papa†for his “Pinocchio†by collaborators Alexandre Desplat and Roeban Katz.
“But it’s a cool script,†he added.
Del Toro told Collider that he doesn’t believe a film is going to come out until he sees the Blu-ray. “Always in the last moment, things go away,†Del Toro said. “I’ve had it happen many, many, many times. We had ‘The Rise and Fall of Jabba the Hutt,’ I was super happy. We were doing a lot of stuff, and then you know, it’s not my property, it’s not my money. It’s one of those 30 screenplays that goes away.
“Sometimes I’m bitter. Sometimes I’m not,†he continued. “I always turn to my team and say, ‘Good practice, guys. Good practice.’ We designed a great world, we designed great stuff, we learned. So you can never be ungrateful with life. Whatever life sends you, there’s something to learn from it. I trust the universe.â€
After Goyer’s interview went live, Del Toro posted to X in response, writing, “True. Can’t say much. Maybe two letters ‘J’ and ‘BB’ is that three letters?â€
All is not lost though, Del Toro’s forthcoming “Frankenstein†is expected to begin filming in early 2024. Christoph Waltz will be joining the cast of the monster flick alongside Andrew Garfield, Mia Goth and Oscar Isaac. The Oscar-winning monster fanatic has long planned to bring a “Frankenstein†project to screen and, for years, has spoken about his vision for doing the story justice.
At the 2012 Academy screening series “A Monstrous Centennial: Universal’s Legacy of Horror,†Del Toro referred to the classic “Frankenstein†films as “truly emotional biographies and partially prophecies of who we are and who we can be.â€
“If the first one was about the essential loneliness of men ... being thrust into a world you didn’t create and didn’t understand, then the second one is the absolute compulsion for company, the need not to be alone.â€
In 2016, he told IGN that he might do “Frankenstein†in a longer format, which could actually stretch across several movies. “I always thought two movies would be a great way, but I think maybe it would have to be three pieces to really do the novel justice. ... What I want is to try to get everything that is in the book, and it doesn’t fit in two hours or three hours.â€
The filmmaker told Collider last week that he’d wanted to do “Frankenstein†for 50 years, but now he’s “brave or crazy enough†to tackle the endeavor.
The biggest entertainment stories
Get our big stories about Hollywood, film, television, music, arts, culture and more right in your inbox as soon as they publish.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
