- 5 minutes ago
The brilliant directors who either turned down or rejected the idea of directing Star Wars projects.
Category
📺
TVTranscript
00:00For a whole host of different reasons, some of the most talented and respected filmmakers in
00:06our own galaxy, many of them being huge Star Wars fans themselves, have either rejected the
00:12opportunity to jump to hyperspace or taken themselves out of the running before a film
00:18was even offered to them. Whatever the reason, when the idea of directing a Star Wars movie came up,
00:23this lot all responded with a no. So I'm Gareth, you're watching What Culture Star Wars,
00:28and here are 10 directors who said no to Star Wars.
00:3210. Quentin Tarantino
00:34Quentin Tarantino movies are known for many things. Graphic violence, brilliant dialogue,
00:41a lot of feed. But they're not what you class as family-friendly pictures? Yeah, not quite.
00:45Still, if the legendary filmmaker fancied having a go at making a new episode or spin-off story for
00:51the ever-growing galaxy far, far away, there's a good chance it would be one of the most compelling,
00:56jaw-dropping, and singular Star Wars projects to date. I'd watch it.
01:01However, based on how Quentin Tarantino reacted when asked about the idea of directing a future
01:06story within the franchise a decade or so ago, it'd be wise not to get one's hopes up about a
01:12cutie Star Wars adventure. When asked by Entertainment Weekly about taking over from
01:16George Lucas for the then-upcoming sequel movies, the Pulp Fiction director responded with a blunt,
01:22I could so care less, before following those words with, nope, sorry, especially if Disney's
01:28going to do it. I'm not interested in the Simon West version of Star Wars. Tell us how you really
01:32feel, Quentin. Tarantino also infamously ranted about Disney forcing the Cinerama drone to play
01:38Star Wars Episode VII The Force Awakens instead of The Hateful Eight, with the mega company apparently
01:43threatening to not let that theatre or any other arc-like cinemas show the film if they insisted on
01:49honouring their contract to play Tarantino's movie. So this no to Star Wars probably won't
01:54be changing any time soon, in other words.
01:56Number 9, Ridley Scott
01:58The great Ridley Scott revealed recently that he decided to make his legendary Alien movie
02:05instead of Tristan and Isolde after watching the first Star Wars at the cinema. I hope that's
02:10how you say Isolde, if it's not, Ridley's gonna kill me. But just because George Lucas' epic
02:15tale made him want to create that horrifying Xenomorph story doesn't mean that the icon
02:20wants to dive into the galaxy far, far away himself. As you tell Vulture back in 2017,
02:26Scott actually feels he's too dangerous to be handed the reins of a Star Wars project.
02:31You see, Scott likes to be fully in control of his movies, and he felt that Disney and Lucasfilm
02:36also wanted to be in control of their incoming films too. Yeah, you can see the problem.
02:42Now, the director of Gladiator and Blade Runner would no doubt craft something bold,
02:46or at the very least interesting if he ever was trusted to do whatever he wanted to with the
02:51worlds of Jedi, Stormtroopers, and the Force. Whether Disney and Lucasfilm would be willing
02:56to let Scott have more freedom today or not isn't fully clear at present. Though it is worth noting
03:01that after the success of the first season, Tony Gilroy recently explained to Empire how he didn't
03:06receive any creative notes for the second season of Andor from the people above. Yeah,
03:11they were just letting him do his thing. If they insisted on interfering and having complete control
03:16over whatever idea he had in mind though, you can bet it would still be a firm no from this legend.
03:22Number 8, David Cronenberg.
03:24While the previous two directors mentioned on this list simply said no to the idea of directing a Star
03:30this next person told Lucasfilm directly that he was not interested. Known today for his stellar work
03:36in the body horror genre, before making the likes of The Fly and Videodrome, David Cronenberg was
03:42actually given the chance to direct the third original trilogy film, Episode 6, Return of the
03:48Jedi. Speaking to Entertainment Weekly about his decision to turn down that movie, he recalled
03:53speaking to Lucasfilm on the phone about what was at that point called Revenge of the Jedi.
03:58His response when asked if he'd be up for meeting everyone and sitting in the director's chair?
04:03Well, I'm not used to doing other people's material. Oh boy. Those words were met with a
04:07silence on the other end of the line before he was eventually hung up on, and that was that.
04:12Cronenberg didn't really want to work on something where so many creative elements are already fixed,
04:17feeling that directing one of these movies was similar to directing an episode on a TV show.
04:22He said it'd all be quite frustrating, so he just didn't do it.
04:25Number 7, David Lynch.
04:27Another director who was asked whether he fancied bringing the original trilogy to an
04:31end, the late, great David Lynch had a similar response to David Cronenberg.
04:37Around that time, the masterful director had brought the likes of Eraserhead and The Elephant
04:41Man to the screen, and George Lucas clearly saw those critical hits, and felt that Lynch
04:46had what it took to be trusted with his galaxy far, far away. However, the mind who would eventually
04:51give the world twin peaks said no to the opportunity after meeting with Lucas. In the Lynch on Lynch
04:58book, it's mentioned that the director just didn't really like sci-fi all that much if it wasn't
05:02combined with other genres. That, combined with the fact that Star Wars was totally George's thing
05:08in his mind, resulted in him passing on the movie. He's also explained in the past about how the whole
05:13meeting gave him a headache, with Lynch clearly not being all that excited about working with
05:18Wookiees in George's world. Yeah, this was before they were changed to Ewoks, of course.
05:23Oh, to be a fly on the wall in that meeting. Lynch felt that Lucas should have just directed it,
05:27but he'd ultimately land on Richard Marquand to steer the ship in the end. Lynch would make his
05:31Dune movie instead of Episode 6 Return of the Jedi, a project based on Frank Herbert's classic
05:37sci-fi tales. And those books actually heavily influenced Lucas when he began creating his own
05:43popular series. I just want to take a moment to salute the legend that was David Lynch. Throw
05:48all your love into that comment section down below, and while you're at it, let me know what your
05:52favourite Lynch project or just moment was and why. Rest in peace, good sir. Oh, and speaking of Dune...
05:58Number 6, Denis Villeneuve. Fast forward a few decades and it was Denis Villeneuve who was now sprinkling
06:04some spice into theatres with his take on Frank Herbert's Dune series. While David Lynch's movie may not
06:11have been the biggest critical or commercial success, Villeneuve's films have been celebrated
06:16as some of the greatest sci-fi pictures ever made. They've also earned a ton of money at the box
06:21office, which always helps. It won't come as too much of a surprise to hear that the mind behind
06:25these incredible movies was quite the fan of George Lucas' space stories too. However, after absolutely
06:32adoring the first two Star Wars films, Villeneuve's love of the series was derailed. When Episode 6 Return of
06:40the Jedi made its way onto the big screen, a disappointed and angry 15-year-old Denis felt
06:46that the movie was just a comedy for kids. He'd further explain on the Town podcast that he thought
06:51Star Wars became crystallised in its own mythology. Very dogmatic. It became like a recipe and there
06:57was no more surprises. Those were his words. According to Villeneuve, the code feels very
07:02codified. So despite once being a gigantic fan of all things galaxy far, far away, this world-class
07:10filmmaker is now not dreaming to make a Star Wars honestly. Again, they were his words.
07:15If you're enjoying this WhatCultureStarWars video, then tap that subscribe button and you
07:19will get even more of these wonderful videos in your life.
07:225. Irving Kirshner
07:24The late, great Irving Kirshner obviously did find himself guiding a Star Wars movie into the
07:29world, famously directing Episode 5 The Empire Strikes Back, a movie many consider to be the
07:35greatest in the franchise's history. But did you know that he actually rejected the chance
07:39to do it again? Back when he was in the middle of shooting that aforementioned second original
07:44trilogy movie, Kirshner was asked if he was interested in returning for the movie that would
07:48become Episode 6 Return of the Jedi. At that moment in time though, the eventual Never Say Never
07:54again and RoboCop 2 director felt that doing so meant he was risking being classified. Kirshner
08:01wanted to direct other things and making a Star Wars movie wasn't exactly the easiest job in the
08:06world, so he turned it down. But he would reveal in Star Wars Insider number 49 that he ultimately
08:13regretted saying no. Kirshner thought he could have done something wonderful with the final film of the
08:18trilogy if he'd said yes. But at the time he was asked, he just didn't feel it was the right move,
08:23so his name joined the rest of the stacked list of filmmakers who decided against directing that
08:29sixth episode. 4. Brad Bird
08:32After directing the acclaimed animated adventures that were The Iron Giant, The Incredibles,
08:38and Ratatouille, Brad Bird turned his attention to live-action filmmaking with Mission Impossible
08:43Rogue Nation. And when that turned out to be a huge success too, it was not long before The Galaxy
08:49Far Far Away came calling. Like so many directors doing their thing in the industry, Bird was quite
08:55the fan of Star Wars. Rather than jumping at the chance to be the guy to direct the first Star Wars
09:00movie in a decade, Episode 7, though, Bird's other commitments at the time meant he simply couldn't
09:06say yes to Disney and Lucasfilm. He was already well into production on Tomorrowland, another Disney
09:11picture. And though he initially thought there could be a way to go right from that movie into Episode 7,
09:17he soon realised that would mean he couldn't give Tomorrowland the attention he felt it deserved.
09:23So Bird opted to stick with the picture and dream he'd already started to make happen,
09:27a move which set the stage for J.J. Abrams to become the director of what became The Force Awakens.
09:33Sadly, Tomorrowland didn't do anywhere near as well as Bird would have hoped,
09:36but he at least bounced back with 2018's $1.2 billion hit Incredibles 2,
09:42and is currently developing the third film in the series. In other words,
09:45the Force is still strong with this one. Number 3, Ron Howard
09:48Just like Irving Kirshner, Ron Howard would actually add a Star Wars movie to his CV during
09:54his career, but there was also a point there when he didn't want to get involved with the galaxy far,
09:58far away. Back before George Lucas decided to direct all three of his prequels, he actually had
10:04a conversation with the Willow and Apollo 13 director about him helming Episode 1, The Phantom Menace.
10:10Said casual chat went down in a car park, according to Howard, who clarified that he didn't read a
10:16script or really think about whether it was something he wanted to do. After being asked,
10:20he just immediately felt like it was something that Lucas himself should direct. Howard would
10:25also reveal on the Happy Sad Confused podcast that nobody wanted to follow that act, I don't think,
10:30at that point. That was an honour, but it would have been just too daunting. As the years rolled by,
10:36and different creators stepped in to do their own thing within the Star Wars universe, though,
10:41Howard became less intimidated by the whole idea, and was happy to step in to replace Phil Lord and
10:46Christopher Miller after they left Solo A Star Wars Story. Howard wasn't the only person that
10:51Lucas approached about being his Phantom director, though. Number 2, Steven Spielberg
10:55In that aforementioned Happy Sad Confused conversation, Ron Howard also noted that both
11:00Robert Zemeckis and Steven Spielberg were asked to direct the first prequel movie.
11:05Similarly to him, though, these top-class filmmakers thought that the person asking them was the best
11:10man for the job. However, the latter director did actually seem to be up for making a Star Wars movie
11:16at one point. Spielberg would claim back in 2002 that he did want to make a Star Wars movie about
11:2115 years earlier, but Lucas wouldn't let him. Rather than being upset, Spielberg admitted that he
11:27understood why. Star Wars is George's baby, in his words. Though it was said that Lucas did actually
11:33want Spielberg to direct Episode 6 Return of the Jedi, but wasn't able to get his man after leaving
11:38the Director's Guild of America over where he placed the Director's credit in Episode 5 The Empire
11:43Strikes Back. With Spielberg still being a member of that guild, he wasn't able to make the picture.
11:48A decade after his 2002 comments, though, it seemed that Spielberg was no longer interested in getting
11:53his hands on his Best Friends franchise. When asked by Access Hollywood in 2012 whether he
11:58wanted to direct Episode 7 after Lucas had stepped away from the series following Disney's purchase
12:04of Lucasfilm, the Oscar-winning director said, no, no, it's not my genre. It's my best friend
12:09George's genre. It looks like the closest things fans will ever get to a Spielberg trip to the
12:14galaxy far, far away, then, is a few Star Wars Easter eggs in the likes of E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
12:19and Ready Player One. Number 1, Guillermo del Toro. The mighty Guillermo del Toro has come so
12:25very close to directing a Star Wars project on a number of occasions. Back in 2023, it was revealed
12:31by David S. Goya on the Happy Sad Confused podcast that he wrote an unproduced Star Wars movie that
12:37Guillermo del Toro was going to direct. The latter would later confirm this to be true, adding that
12:42it was about six years earlier that the project was being looked at, and posting can't say much,
12:47maybe two letters, J, and BB, is that three letters, on X. There was apparently a lot of
12:53behind-the-scenes stuff going on at Lucasfilm at the time, according to Goya, but Goya felt it was
12:57a cool script, albeit one we'll probably never get to see. As you've likely already guessed, that project
13:03was one focusing on Jabba the Hutt, with del Toro later confirming this to Collider's Stephen
13:08Weintrauber. Before that unproduced film fell through, though, del Toro had already turned down the
13:13chance to direct his own Star Wars movie, becoming yet another person who said no to Episode 7.
13:19Similarly to Brad Bird, del Toro's schedule was too full to get in the director's chair for that
13:24massive movie. The Shape of Water creator told IndieWire that his agent received a phone call
13:30about him possibly directing that film, but he felt he was already busy enough. The Oscar winner clearly
13:35has an interest in bringing his unique filmmaking style to the galaxy far, far away, but as of this
13:42moment, Lucasfilm, Disney, and del Toro haven't been able to get a project in front of cameras.
13:47Yet. I'm keeping those fingers crossed.
Comments