10 Directors Who Turned Down Star Wars Movies

10. Guillermo Del Toro

Mexican director Guillermo del Toro began his career creating short films in his native tongue and would go on to make some of his most critically acclaimed features in the Spanish language, though in the past decade or so he's become a proper Hollywood name.

His patented use of practical effects (he spent 10 years as a special-effects make-up designer) was one of the reasons he was approached to direct Episode VII back in 2013, though he turned down the chance to get involved with Star Wars because of commitments to upcoming projects:

"We got one phone call to my agent saying, 'Is Guillermo interested?' And basically I have so much stuff already of my own, and I'm pursuing stuff that I'm generating already. It was just a phone call, it didn't go past that, it was very nice to be asked, but believe it or not, I'm busy enough."

The director's decision to take a pass on Star Wars was likely influenced by the time he wasted working on The Hobbit adaptation, a project that he ultimately left because of ongoing delays and red tape. The Mexican still remains a big Star Wars fan, however, and has since revealed that he would love to work on a Godfather-style anthology movie detailing the rise of Jabba the Hutt.