Right near the tip top of last year’s Black List (the producers list of the year’s best unproduced screenplays), there was a film that might have caught your eye not just because it had only two films with more votes ahead of it, but because it was called Chewie and was described as, “..a satirical behind the scenes look at the making of Star Wars through the eyes of Peter Mayhew who played Chewbacca.”
Lo and behold, of all the small, unlikely films to get made from that list, looks like Chewie is going to come together, as it caught the interest of Star Wars coattail-rider Kyle Newman (Fanboys), who is now developing it as his next feature with writers Evan Susser and Van Robichaux. Newman has also involved Peter Mayhew by actually acquiring his life rights, and is now working to further develop the script with Mayhew’s help.
It’s not clear exactly what kind of drama on the Star Wars set Mayhew was privy to, and how much of the script will focus on the Lucas production and how much will be about Mayhew’s crazy time trying to balance that production with his slightly more normal life as a 7’3″ hospital worker.
Mayhew may perhaps be the most frequent repriser of his Star Wars role of any actor in the franchise, as he’s appeared in 4 of the films, starred in the Xmas Special, and has made dozens of special appearances on TV and at events. He remains an enthusiastic part of Star Wars culture, so this will certainly be an exciting project for him to be a part of. It would be great if it developed into something special and interesting.
Source | THR (via /Film)