David Fincher Met with Lucasfilm about Directing STAR WARS
Director David Fincher (Se7en, Fight Club) revealed in an interview with Total Film that he had met with Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy about directing a Star Wars movie for them. Fincher got his start in the business working on Return of the Jedi, so it would have been completely appropriate for him to come back around and direct a movie. That's obviously not how it has played out, and the reason is because the director was unsure about Disney's involvement. He said,
"I talked to Kathy 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."
I can see why Fincher would think that, especially after the bad experience he had with the studio on trying to bring 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea to the big screen. But from what we've seen and heard about J.J. Abrams' Star Wars: Episode VII, it seems like all of the worries Fincher had weren't anything to worry about. Maybe after he sees a couple of the new Star Wars films, he'll reconsider and direct one of the standalone films. I'd love to see a Star Wars movie directed by Fincher!