10 Directors Who Said NO To Star Wars

8. David Cronenberg

Directors Who Said No To Star Wars
New Line Cinema

While the previous two directors mentioned on this list simply said "no" to the idea of directing a Star Wars movie, this next person told Lucasfilm directly that he wasn't interested.

Known today for his stellar work in the body horror genre with the likes of The Fly and Videodrome, David Cronenberg was actually given the chance to direct the third original trilogy film, Episode VI - Return of the Jedi.

Speaking to Entertainment Weekly about his decision to turn down that movie, he recalled speaking to Lucasfilm on the phone about what was at that point called Revenge of the Jedi.

His response when asked if he'd be up for meeting everyone and sitting in the director's chair? "Well, I’m not used to doing other people’s material."

Those words were met with a silence on the other end of the line before he was eventually hung up on.

And that was that.

Cronenberg didn't really want to work on something where so many creative elements were already fixed, feeling that directing one of these movies was similar to directing an episode on a TV show. He said it'd all be quite frustrating, so he didn't.

 
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