The "A Complete Unknown" director said he's excited to make a movie set in this period so he's not "handcuffed" to "Star Wars" lore.

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. Mangold, who will direct Dawn of the Jedi, is excited to tell a new story with his co-writer, Beau Willimon.

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.

James Mangold remains hard at work on a Star Wars movie set 25,000 years in the past and, in a new interview, the filmmaker explains how that's freed him from lore and fan expectations. Check it

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.