Star Wars has been round for 5 many years, and several other main administrators have had the possibility to direct a franchise film, however did not. In 1977, George Lucas wrote and directed the primary Star Wars film, however then he stepped apart to let different administrators work on his franchise, with Irvin Kershner and Richard Marquand following him.
Nevertheless, it wasn’t initially Marquand who was going to direct Return of the Jedi. Not solely that, however George Lucas wasn’t planning on returning to direct the prequels at first. Lastly, the sequel trilogy and spinoff films additionally had lots of turnover, with big-name administrators coming and going from the franchise with out making a film.
David Lynch – Return Of The Jedi
After George Lucas directed Star Wars and Irvin Kershner helmed The Empire Strikes Again, Lucas was in search of somebody to direct the third film, Return of the Jedi. One of many first individuals he appeared to was David Lynch, who was coming off a profitable historic drama, The Elephant Man.
Nevertheless, David Lynch ultimately let Lucas know that he had “subsequent to zero curiosity” in directing a Star Wars film. Lynch wasn’t insulting the franchise; he mentioned George Lucas ought to direct the movie himself so it displays his imaginative and prescient, not Lynch’s. Lucas did not direct it and moved on to search for another person.
Apparently, David Lynch made a special sci-fi film, the difference of Dune, launched the 12 months after Return of the Jedi, which was a industrial failure for Lynch. In the meantime, Return of the Jedi stays a beloved sci-fi traditional.
David Cronenberg – Return Of The Jedi
After David Lynch turned down the possibility to direct Return of the Jedi, George Lucas did not take Lynch’s recommendation to direct the film himself. As an alternative, he appeared to a different massive title in David Cronenberg. It was a bizarre selection, as Cronenberg was coming off The Brood and Scanners, very completely different from Lucas’s family-friendly tales.
Nevertheless, like David Lynch, Cronenberg additionally turned down Lucas’s provide to make the Star Wars film. This additionally wasn’t as a result of he wasn’t a fan, as he mentioned that DP Peter Suschitzky’s work on The Empire Strikes Again ensured it was “the one a type of films that really appeared good and it appeared actually good.“
Cronenberg mentioned he did not wish to work on movies written by others and went on to direct Videodrome, The Useless Zone, and The Fly after rejecting Return of the Jedi, displaying he made the precise determination. For the Star Wars film, Lucas lastly selected Richard Marquand, and that movie turned out to be his solely main hit.
Steven Spielberg – The Prequel Trilogy
After Return of the Jedi, George Lucas waited 16 years earlier than he returned to the franchise. By this time, he had an concept for a prequel sequence that might present how Anakin Skywalker fell to the Darkish Facet and the way the Jedi Order fell within the course of. Nevertheless, he needed another person to direct it.
Lucas went to his closest director buddy, Steven Spielberg, and requested him if he needed to return over and direct the prequel sequence. Spielberg had beforehand labored with Lucas, as they created the Indiana Jones film franchise collectively. Based on Ron Howard, Lucas additionally approached him and Robert Zemeckis, too.
Howard mentioned all three administrators turned it down as a result of it was “too daunting.” Spielberg took it one step additional when he instructed his buddy that the one one who ought to direct the prequels was the person who beloved the franchise above every other. George Lucas lastly returned to the director’s chair and took on all three films.
David Fincher – The Power Awakens
When it was time to start out the sequel trilogy, one of many first administrators the studio went to was David Fincher. He was already profitable with Combat Membership, Seven, and Zodiac. Nevertheless, he additionally directed an Alien film that he considers one of many worst experiences of his profession. He selected to not do it once more with Star Wars.
Fincher defined why he turned down the chance to direct The Power Awakens. “That’s an entire different stage. One is that it’s a must to endure the withering abuse of Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher, and the opposite is it’s a must to dwell as much as a billion or a billion-five, and that turns into its personal type of strain.”
Fincher additionally mentioned that it will have been 14 hours a day, seven days every week, for 2 years of his life, and he wasn’t keen to dedicate that a lot of his consideration to the movie.
Matthew Vaughn – The Power Awakens
A second title Lucasfilm spoke with about Star Wars: The Power Awakens was Matthew Vaughn. Nevertheless, in contrast to Fincher, Vaughn deliberate to just accept the provide. Vaughn, who had directed X-Males: First Class, even dropped out of X-Males: Days of Future Previous to make the Star Wars film.
Nevertheless, Lucasfilm as an alternative introduced in J.J. Abrams to direct the primary film within the sequel trilogy. Based on Vaugn, Luacasfilm thought of him a “maverick,” and that’s the reason he wasn’t employed. As an alternative, Vaughn moved on to the Kingsman franchise, and each movie he has directed since then has been a part of that universe.
Vaughn has since mentioned he would nonetheless like to direct a Star Wars film, however he additionally claimed in a 2021 interview that the franchise was “decimated.” If he did settle for the chance, he mentioned, “I might be meticulous on making an attempt to guard the legacy of one thing that I fell in love with films for.“
Colin Trevorrow – Episode IX
The Star Wars sequels nearly appeared loads completely different when Colin Trevorrow was employed to direct the final film within the franchise. Trevorrow was employed to interchange Rian Johnson after The Final Jedi, due to the polarizing response to Johnson’s movie. Nevertheless, issues did not work out very properly for Trevorrow.
Trevorrow was on a excessive after directing the extremely profitable Jurassic World and Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. The film, on the time tentatively titled Star Wars: Duel of the Fates, noticed the director work on the script, however when he turned it in, Lucasfilm was unhappy with the story and fired him.
As an alternative, J.J. Abrams returned to direct his second Star Wars installment, and it ended up as one of many worst-reviewed films within the sequel trilogy.
Phil Lord & Chris Miller – Solo: A Star Wars Story
Lucasfilm was engaged on standalone movies within the Star Wars franchise, and after the immense success of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, they got down to make Solo: A Star Wars Story. For the latter film, the studio employed Phil Lord and Chris Miller to direct the Han Solo origin story.
Lord and Miller had develop into extraordinarily sought-after administrators after the comedy reboot of 21 Bounce Road and the shockingly profitable LEGO Film. The administrators started engaged on the movie, however after 5 months of capturing, Lucasfilm fired Lord and Miller as a consequence of inventive variations, and so they introduced in Ron Howard as an alternative.
Regardless of Ron Howard being a spectacular director, Solo acquired lukewarm evaluations, underperformed on the field workplace, and ended the slate of standalone films. In the meantime, Lord and Miller went on to make Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, which was a serious success for Sony.
Zack Snyder – Untitled Movie
After the sequel sequence ended, Lucasfilm started to deal with Disney+ streaming reveals and put the films on maintain. Nevertheless, the corporate by no means stopped trying to the long run and spoke with some big-name administrators on potential film concepts. One in all these administrators was Zack Snyder, who was coming off his run within the DCEU.
Based on Zack Snyder, he instructed Lucasfilm that he deliberate to “repair” the Star Wars franchise with the film he was pitching to them. Nevertheless, his pitch proved an excessive amount of for Lucasfilm. “They’re down for an R-rated film for one, and it’s gonna be like some Jedi going nuts,” Snyder mentioned about his pitch.
Lucasfilm needed nothing to do with an R-rated Star Wars movie, and Snyder took his concept and rewrote it earlier than releasing it as Insurgent Moon, a Netflix authentic sci-fi film. That movie was a important disappointment, so it may be higher that it wasn’t the course he would lead the Star Wars franchise.
Guillermo Del Toro – Jabba The Hutt Spinoff
One of the surprising bits of reports about rejected Star Wars films by big-name administrators concerned Guillermo del Toro. The director of Pan’s Labyrinth, Pacific Rim, Hellboy, and 2025’s Frankenstein had a giant concept for a standalone film. He needed to inform the story of Jabba the Hutt.
Based on Del Toro, his concept would have been to make an nearly gangster film with Jabba the Hutt as the first character. “I might like to do a Jabba the Hutt Scarface, his ascension within the crime household,” Del Toro defined. Del Toro additionally mentioned he beloved the character and that the film would present his rise and fall.
Sadly, this undertaking was canceled, and Del Toro misplaced his probability when Lucasfilm ended its anthology tasks. That makes it sound prefer it was a part of the deal that ended after Solo’s box-office struggles.
Steven Soderbergh – Ben Solo Film
The newest information on big-name administrators who did not get the possibility to make a Star Wars film got here from Adam Driver’s latest interviews. Whereas the sequel sequence was polarizing and Rise of Skywalker was a disappointment, Adam Driver mentioned he beloved his character, Kylo Ren, and would return with an excellent director.
It gave the impression of he discovered the director in Steven Soderbergh, and so they got here up with an concept referred to as The Hunt for Ben Solo. After breaking issues down, they took the script concept to Lucasfilm, and reportedly, the studio beloved it as properly. They then went to Disney, which instantly rejected it.
Based on Driver, the studio did not perceive how Kylo Ren may have survived in Rise of Skywalker and did not wish to take a danger on the film. It appears absurd that Lucasfilm greenlit the script with a director of Soderbergh’s expertise concerned, and Disney rejected it outright, however on the earth of Star Wars, something is feasible.