‘INSANE’

Oscar-Winning Director Blasts Disney for Wasting His Time

The director gave the company two and a half years of “free work” before they unceremoniously killed his film.

Steven Soderbergh has had it with the Mickey Mouse corporation.

The Oscar-winning director, who is known for the Oceans Eleven trilogy and Erin Brokovich, spent years writing a script for an Adam Driver-led Star Wars film before it was abruptly scrapped by Disney executives.

“I’d kind of made the movie in my head, and just felt bad that nobody else was going to get to see it,” Soderbergh said in a new interview with BK Mag.

Soderbergh, 63, lamented the “insane” flip-flopping by Disney executives and commiserated with former Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy, who expressed her frustration with the project’s axing in an exit interview.

“No, it was no surprise that she was frustrated. We were all frustrated,” Soderbergh said. “You know, that was two and a half years of free work for me and Adam and Rebecca Blunt,”

The director had previously submitted a script for the film, The Hunt for Ben Solo, about Driver’s character Kylo Ren, who—spoiler alert!—was revealed to be Han Solo’s son, and died at the end of 2019’s The Rise of Skywalker. The project reached Disney CEO Bob Iger, who abruptly scrapped the film with little explanation.

“When Adam and I discussed him talking about it publicly, I said, ‘Look, do not editorialize or speculate about the why. Just say what happened, because all we know is what happened,’” Soderbergh said.

The project was first discussed publicly by Driver, 42, in an October 2025 interview with the Associated Press.

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“We presented the script to Lucasfilm. They loved the idea. They totally understood our angle and why we were doing it,” Driver said at the time. “We took it to Bob Iger and Alan Bergman and they said no. They didn’t see how Ben Solo was alive. And that was that.”

Soderbergh expressed his frustration with the lack of back-and-forth with Disney executives after such a long preproduction process.

“The stated reason was, ‘We don’t think Ben Solo could be alive.’ And that was all we were told. And so there’s nothing to do about it, you know, except move on,” Soderbergh said.

Soderbergh said he thought the conversation would involve answering questions about production timelines, budgets, and story beats, but “it never even got to that point.”

“It’s insane. We’re all very disappointed,” the three-time Oscar nominee added.

Driver became a fan-favorite staple of the third Star Wars trilogy, and the film had Lucasfilm’s support, but it was all for naught.

Instead, Soderbergh said he has returned to writing.

“In the immediate aftermath of that, my response was, ‘You better start getting some s--t generated so you can go back to work,’” he concluded.

His latest dark comedy film, The Christophers, was recently purchased by Neon and is expected to premiere in theaters later this year.

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Owen Mason-HillEditorial intern, Obsessed

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