James Mangold, who just picked up a Directors Guild of America nomination for “A Complete Unknown,” recently told MovieWeb that his upcoming “Star Wars” movie is deliberately set thousands of years before any other movie in the long-running franchise so that he doesn’t have to deal with the canon and can thus avoid angering fans.

From Japanese samurai flicks to gritty war movies, the visual language and tonal atmosphere of Star Wars is rooted in decades upon decades of film history. Here are 32 movies that inspired Star Wars creator George Lucas, as well as his many successors.

Previous comments on how James Mangold’s Star Wars movie happened have painted a picture of mutual excitement between the co-writer/director and Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy. So hearing that Dawn of the Jedi is not only still cooking, but it’s being given the time to do so, is exciting.

While not much is known about the plot of James Mangold‘s upcoming Star Wars movie, it has been confirmed that it will take place 25,000 years before the events of A New Hope. In a recent discussion,

James Woods has lost his Pacific Palisades home in the Southern California fires that continue to devastate parts of Los Angeles. Speaking on CNN, the 77-year-old “Vampires” and “Once Upon a Time in America” actor broke down in tears discussing the harrowing situation in his neighborhood. “One day you’re swimming in the pool and the …

James Mangold is taking the phrase, “A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away,” quite literally. Mangold’s Star Wars: Dawn of the Jedi will be a prequel movie set thousands of years before the Skywalker Saga.

The thing James Mangold finds most appealing about his Dawn of the Jedi movie may also allow the film to chart a bold new future for Star Wars.