10 Directors Who Said NO To Star Wars
2. Steven Spielberg
In that aforementioned Happy Sad Confused conversation, Ron Howard also noted that both Robert Zemeckis and Steven Spielberg were asked to direct the first prequel movie.
Similarly to him, though, those top class filmmakers thought the person asking them was the best man for the job. However, the latter director did actually seem to be up for making a Star Wars movie at one point.
Spielberg would claim back in 2002 (via Empire/BBC) that he did want to make a Star Wars movie about 15 years earlier, but Lucas wouldn't let him. Rather than being upset, Spielberg admitted that he understood why. "Star Wars is George's baby," in his words.
Though it was said that Lucas did actually want Spielberg to direct Episode VI - Return of the Jedi, but wasn't able to get his man after leaving the Director's Guild of America over where he placed the director's credit in Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back. With Spielberg still being a member of that guild, he wasn't able to make the picture.
A decade later, though, it seemed that Spielberg was no longer interested in getting his hands on his best friend's franchise.
When asked by Access Hollywood (via The Guardian) in 2012 whether he wanted to direct Episode VII after Lucas had stepped away from the series following Disney's purchase of Lucasfilm, the Oscar-winning director said, "No! No! It's not my genre. It's my best friend George's genre."
It looks like the closest thing fans will ever get to a Spielberg trip to the galaxy far, far away, then, is a few Star Wars Easter eggs in the likes of E.T.: The Extra Terrestrial and Ready Player One.