Shortly after James Gunn and Peter Safran announced their initial slate of DC film and TV projects earlier this year, Logan helmer James Mangold signed on to direct the studio’s new Swamp Thing reboot. However, it turns out he’s far more involved with the creative process than the original announcement let on. During today’s Star Wars Celebration festivities, Mangold confirmed that he’s also writing the script for the film.
Mangold was appearing at Star Wars Celebration to plug his directorial work on Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (which bows in June) and to announce that he’s also writing and directing his own Star Wars movie set 25,000 years in the franchise’s past. Afterwards, Collider caught up with him to ask about his current schedule, which will presumably be split between Star Wars and Swamp Thing over the next several months. But it turns out that not even Mangold knows which one will hit the big screen first.
“The truth is, I’m writing both right now,” confirmed Mangold. “And who knows what’s going to happen and what’s gonna blossom first or second? So there’s your thing, I’m doing Swamp Thing, there’s your scoop. It’s not a rumor, it’s happening. I put it online.”
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The news that Mangold is writing Swamp Thing himself should make a lot of fans happy. Especially since the last time he penned the script for a comic book movie, he and his Logan co-scribes Scott Frank and Michael Green shared an Oscar nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay. He will likely handle the story of Alec Holland with the same level of gravitas.
Meanwhile, Mangold’s Star Wars film will tell the story of how the Force was discovered and led to the formation of the Jedi Knights, which is similar to the premise that Game of Thrones creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss were reportedly developing when they were still attached to direct their own trilogy of movies for Lucasfilm. Given the outsized nature of the concept, the film has the potential to be the most ambitious Star Wars project to date. However, time will tell if Mangold can actually make good on his promise to deliver a “Biblical epic” set in a galaxy far, far away.
Are you happy to hear that Mangold is writing DC’s Swamp Thing reboot? Let us know in the comment section below!
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