In late 2025, Adam Driver revealed that he had been working with director Steven Soderbergh on a “Star Wars” film that was titled “The Hunt for Ben Solo.” The film would have featured his character, Ben Solo, who was introduced because the son of Han Solo and Princess Leia in 2015’s “The Force Awakens.” Nevertheless, he passed away at the top of 2019’s “The Rise of Skywalker.” Even so, Driver felt he had unfinished business with the character and spent just a few years developing a script with Soderbergh, who was set to direct. Unfortunately, Driver says Disney execs didn’t understand how Ben Solo could still be alive and shut down the project. Although he was disenchanted that his film didn’t come to fruition, Soderbergh has since revealed that the canceled project enabled him to pursue his own passion project.
On June 20, Soderbergh released his app “Production 02074” on the Apple Store and is currently working on an Android version. The app is a compilation of Steven Spielberg’s 1975 blockbuster hit “Jaws” and all of the work that went into making the movie.
While talking to Deadline about his recent app, Soderbergh revealed that he saw “Jaws” over 30 times in theaters, and the app is a love letter to one of the crucial groundbreaking movies of all time. The app includes images as Spielberg shot them, together with observations and anecdotes provided by Spielberg himself. The app costs $24.99, with all proceeds going to an animal charity.
Soderbergh Was Able To Finish The Project Because ‘The Hunt for Ben Solo’ Got Axed
In the course of the conversation, Soderbergh admitted, “If Star Wars had gone forward, this wouldn’t have gotten finished.”
He revealed that his plan to transition from a coffee table book to an app began directly after then-Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy called him to inform him that they weren’t moving forward with Driver’s “Star Wars” film.
“This was within the immediate aftermath of that not happening. I began in on multiple writing projects, to each see if I could generate material to go and make as movies but in addition just to maintain myself occupied,” he said. “And literally, as soon as we got the decision, ‘This shouldn’t be happening,’ I believed, ‘OK, it’s time to actually sit down and get serious about ending this thing.’ Had I gone off and made that movie, this thing wouldn’t have gotten done.”
Soderbergh Says That Everyone Has Since ‘Moved On’ From The Project
Earlier this yr, Adam Driver got rave reviews for his work on James Gray’s “Paper Tiger” on the Cannes Film Festival. It’s only considered one of many projects that the actor has lined up within the near future.
Soderbergh admitted that although the choice to cancel the film was “baffling,” he confessed, “Everybody just immediately moved on.”
“I don’t burn a whole lot of calories on sh-t I can’t control,” he explained. “There’s no upside to that. And in order soon as Kathy [Kennedy] called and said, ‘It’s not happening,’ I used to be like, ‘OK, moving on. I got to go to work.’”
Did Steven Soderbergh Throw Some Shade At Disney?
Elsewhere within the interview, they talked concerning the difficulty of reconciling studio and financial expectations with a director’s vision. Soderbergh noted, “My response is, ‘Well, what do you expect? Why would you expect them to have the vision that you’ve? In the event that they did, they’d be doing what you’re doing.’”
“I don’t expect enlightened visionary responses from the people who pay for movies. It’s a pleasant surprise if you end up coping with a studio or an executive that gets it and totally sees what you’re attempting to do, and is completely supportive and backs you in whatever request you make. But I don’t expect that because the default,” Soderbergh said.
He didn’t mention any studio or executive specifically, but some fans can’t help but wonder if Soderbergh’s comment was directed at Disney for shutting down his “Star Wars” film, or on the industry typically.
Soderbergh Emphasizes Not ‘Mulling Over Stuff You Can’t Control’
Elsewhere within the interview, Soderbergh made one other possible pass at Disney when he said that he “would relatively encourage a filmmaker to be prepared for people to not understand at times what you’re attempting to do, and never see it until they see it.”
“That doesn’t mean you possibly can’t trust people. It just means, don’t expect everybody to feel about it the way in which you are feeling about it. Otherwise you’re going to be disenchanted lots,” he continued.
Nevertheless, he went on to say that “disappointment shouldn’t be an lively state,” adding, “It’s essential to keep yourself in an lively state and be doing things, not only type of mulling over stuff that you could’t control, or that is just too late to vary. You might have to know that you’ve a finite amount of real estate in your brain to present to whatever you’re making. It’s essential to be ruthless about excluding noise that doesn’t ultimately aid you make a greater version of the thing.”
‘Megalopolis’ Also Starred Adam Driver
In the course of the interview, Deadline brought up Francis Ford Coppola’s self-financed “Megalopolis” for example of somebody who didn’t need to have any regrets about making their accomplished project true to their vision. Satirically, the 2024 film also starred Adam Driver within the most important role.
Soderbergh used the instance to encourage aspiring filmmakers to “be someone who finishes things” because “ending something that’s okay but not great is best than not ending something that would have been great.”
“I’m an actual stickler about that, and that is an example, 19 years essentially from starting to finish on this project. If I resolve to start out, it’s going to get done,” he continued. “It might not be perfect, but I can’t consider a single project that I actually have assigned to myself or that someone has assigned to me that I actually have not accomplished.”
“Production 02074” is currently available on the Apple Store, with an Android version expected in the approaching weeks.