It is a well known bit of Star Wars lore that George Lucas had at one point approached idiosyncratic director David Lynch about directing the film that would ultimately become Return Of The Jedi. But another equally individualistic director named David almost became the director to bring the franchise back.
In a conversation with Total Film, Gone Girl director David Fincher revealed that he had been approached about directing Star Wars: Episode VII but that it may have been his interpretation of the original trilogy that might not have set too well with Lucasfilm and Disney execs.
I talked to [Lucasfilm head and Star Wars producer] Kathy Kennedy about it, but I think that it’s a different thing from… I don’t know what Disney-Lucasfilm will be like.
It’s tricky. My favourite is The Empire Strikes Back. If I said, ‘I want to do something more like that,’ then I’m sure the people paying for it would be like, ‘No! You can’t do that! We want it like the other one with all the creatures!’
I always thought of Star Wars as the story of two slaves [C-3PO and R2-D2] who go from owner to owner, witnessing their masters’ folly, the ultimate folly of man… I thought it was an interesting idea in the first two, but it’s kind of gone by Return Of The Jedi.
A rather interesting take on the original trilogy and, given that Disney is committed to having a new Star Wars film out every year, there certainly is room for him to explore that idea further down the road. That is, if Disney has the guts to explore some of the darker corners of the Star Wars universe.
