David Cronenberg Almost Directed The Best Star Wars Movie
Over the last many years, Star Wars has been treated to all sorts of new writer voices and director visions in the franchise. It’s been a mixed bag, for sure, with some executing the different storylines and some, well, not so much. But going all the way back to the original Star Wars trilogy, we almost got another director in the main chair for the final film. David Cronenberg was in the mix.
When Return of the Jedi was getting set to start pre-production, questions surrounded who would direct the third installment in the Star Wars trilogy. The job ultimately went to the late director Richard Marquand, but at one point it was offered to cult director David Cronenberg.
David Cronenberg turned down the chance to direct Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi
Return of the Jedi was released in 1983, by which point Cronenberg was already making a name for himself with odd, unforgettable films such as Scanners and Videodrome.
While it could be argued that those films and Star Wars all fit within the science fiction genre, we can’t imagine why anybody would come up with the idea to let David Cronenberg direct what is essentially a big, family-friendly popcorn movie.
Then again, they also approached David Lynch, so George Lucas and the franchise was looking for all different kinds of folks to bring that third movie to life.
At the time, David Cronenberg said, “A long time ago I was approached for one second to do a Star Wars movie, which at that time was called Revenge of the Jedi, and then it became Return of the Jedi. I was approached by Lucasfilm about that and it didn’t take them long to realize that maybe that wasn’t a good idea.
David Cronenberg also elaborated on his feelings about not getting into the Star Wars biz, namely that he wasn’t too enthused about adapting someone else’s work. And apparently, it could the Star Wars studio folks a bit off guard, thinking that anyone actually asked to make Return of the Jedi would snap call a yes and get to work. But David Cronenberg didn’t see it that way.
Could you imagine what David Cronenberg’s Return of the Jedi would have been like? Fans of the series want to watch a Star Wars movie, not a very stylized director’s vision of a Star Wars movie. Although Cronenberg mentions Alfonso Cuarón’s work in the Harry Potter series, that series was already in need of a major overhaul after the first two films directed by Chris Columbus.
David Cronenberg didn’t direct Return of the Jedi, arguably giving him the time and space to give us The Fly which came out in 1986.
And in recent years, he’s joined another sci-fi franchise by playing Kovich in Star Trek: Discovery.
No one can argue that David Cronenberg has had a massive career in Hollywood and it’s likely made better that he resisted the chance to make Return of the Jedi when it first came out. Undoubtedly, his career would have turned out much differently.
Source: Digital Spy
