Colin Trevorrow revealed that The Book of Henry was a carbon copy of Star Wars: A New Hope. Trevorrow directed The Book of Henry, that generally received negative reviews by critics alike. The Book of Henry also massively bombed in the box office.
Trevorrow’s claim that The Book of Henry is a carbon copy of Star Wars: A New Hope is interesting, to say the least. Replying to a tweet, Trevorrow made this revelation.
Someday we’ll get drunk and I’ll lay out how that movie is a carbon copy of A New Hope. My favorite bar trick for fellow story nerds.
— Colin Trevorrow (@colintrevorrow) April 24, 2018
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Trevorrow was interviewed by Slashfilm, where he explained his claim.
I will. I mean, it is, it’s a foundational myth. It’s a noble ghost story. Where a character lives on after death in order to guide a hero to find their strength and defeat ultimate evil. And structurally, I can’t…but you’re gonna print this, unfortunately. I’m saying this now. But the way that I look at movies, I do see Avatar and Titanic and Jurassic World[as] very similar movies.
Henry was Obi-Wan Kenobi. And he died in the middle. And he left a set of instructions on how to take out the Death Star where Darth Vader was holding a Princess captive. And at the very end, when he had the target in his sights, he had to remember his training. Guided by this ghostly voice. And then Han Solo comes in with the Rube Goldberg machine and gives him the moment. And ultimately the Princess saves herself.
Trevorrow’s explanation does make sense. Both the movies have rather similar arcs, where a character that dies continues to live on as a ghost.
Trevorrow made a name for himself with the low budget indie film Safety Not Guaranteed. This caught the attention of Steven Spielberg, who hired him to direct Jurassic World. That film broke box office records, becoming, at the time, the largest grossing non-James Cameron film ever released. Trevorrow was in line to direct Star Wars: Episode IX before leaving that sequel over creative differences.
Source: Slashfilm
