Star Wars has a rich history of borrowing from Japanese movies and TV shows. After all, A New Hope was heavily inspired by Akira Kurosawa's The Hidden fortress. Now, the Star Wars universe is being remade in anime form by a collection of Japanese filmmakers. The circle, as one black-clad villain may say, is complete.
"These creators in the Star Wars: Visions can pay homage back to George Lucas and Kurosawa," the show's executive producer James Waugh tells Total Film in the new issue of the magazine, which features Eternals on the cover.
"That is a story about friends and family," explains Waugh. "It’s a story about a band that sticks together through thick and thin and is willing to sacrifice for each other. And that’s an incredibly Star Wars story that’s rich and has heart."
With promised appearances from bounty hunter Boba Fett and gangster-slug Jabba the Hutt, it’s also the only one of the nine cartoons with characters that casual fans will know. Waugh claims that there were no rules against using original characters. "We didn’t stop people. We didn’t say, ‘Don’t use that character.’ But if you’re going to use the character, it would have to be earned. It has to not be that character for the character’s sake. It would have to organically fit into the storytelling."
And if you’re a fan of Total Film, why not subscribe so that you never miss an issue? You’ll also get it before it’s in shops, and you’ll get exclusive subscriber-only covers like the Eternals one you can see below. With our current subscription offer at MagazinesDirect, you’ll get the magazine half price too, so what are you waiting for?
