A hot, un-produced screenplay dubbed “Chewy” is making waves in Hollywood. The script depicts the filming of Star Wars from the uber-tall perspective of Chewbacca, everyone’s favorite Wookie.
Entertainment Weekly informs us that the writers of the script, Evan Susser and Van Robichaux are both 27, and belong to a comedy troupe known as The Upright Citizens Brigade Theater.
The duo told writer Jeff Labrecque they were fascinated to learn that Peter Mayhew, who played Chewbacca, worked in a hospital before and after starring in Star Wars.
Susser said, “In Peter’s case, the day job was a hospital, which is life and death; and it’s the most iconic film of all time. So we really had a handle on the story from there.”
Not to mention the duo “fell in love with the character and the real person of Peter Mayhew, who’s this gentle giant,” said Robichaux. “This year at Comic-Con, we drove down to meet him.”
The script also features the other cast of characters from Star Wars, and Susser joked that Mark Wahlberg should play Han Solo. What also appeals to the screenwriting duo, and writer Labrecque is that this story of course occurs before Star Wars takes over the known universe.
”There’s sort of this feeling that it’s this big secret that the world doesn’t know yet,” says Robichaux.
For Chewie to go forward, they’re obviously going have to obtain approval from Lucas, but as Robichaux explains, “We hope that it’s a loving enough portrayal of him and the making of the movie that they’ll get onboard. We think it’s a very loving portrayal of a guy we really look up to.”
Of course, having a hot script in Hollywood is just the first step. Can Chewy go the distance and make it to the big screen?
As both screenwriters point out, Star Wars had a very tough journey to get to the big screen, and “We had been talking to each other about stories we’d heard for years about how the making of [the film] had been a nightmare and had almost fallen apart at every step along the way.”
Here’s wishing Chewy much better luck at making it to the big screen.
