1. David Cronenberg & David Lynch Almost Directed Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi
Our second "David Cronenberg Almost Directed..." on the list - 'cause David Cronenberg likes to "almost" direct a whole bunch of stuff - the director was once offered a chance to direct the third
Star Wars movie:
Return of the Jedi. And he wasn't the only David to be offered the job: David Lynch, prior to his
Dune gig, was also considered to be in the running as somebody who might handle the third and (at the time) final chapter in the Luke Skywalker-based adventure series. We know... freaky, huh? Why did Cronenberg eventually say no to
Star Wars? Here's what he had to say:
"I was approached by Lucasfilm about that and it didn't take them long to realize that maybe that wasn't a good idea.You're really restricted by the format that's been established. So for a really inventive or innovative director, that's being put in a straitjacket. And the visual style has been established and the characters have been cast - I mean, you're not involved in casting the leads, which is of course, for a director, a hugely important thing."
Lynch, on the other hand, has never had much to say about it, and has (in true Lynch style) kept relatively quiet about the whole deal.
Would It Have Been Any Good? Well, uh, we're not sure, exactly. Though one could definitely argue that
Return of the Jedi is the weakest of the original
Star Wars flicks, it did a good job of finishing the story and giving its characters an ending we could root for (I'm not mentioning Ewoks this time around). Likely Lynch would of had his characters giving birth to unwanted alien parasites and discovering that "the Force was just a figment of their imaginations," whilst Cronenberg's take on the movie would have probably involved Luke getting into an X-Wing accident and losing a limb. And then becoming sexually aroused by said lost limb. Probably.
Which almost-directors have we missed? Let us know in the comments section below.