See The Deer Hunter Director’s Pitch For The Star Wars Sequel
These days, Star Wars is so ubiquitous and mainstream that big names are becoming part of the franchise, which is just commonplace. It took a long time, and George Lucas stepping away to make this happen of course.
But back in the day, namely the late-1970s, Star Wars was still relatively new and there were different ways for things to go. The future wasn’t completely clear.
The first Star Wars film was a big hit in 1977. It was so big that everyone wanted a piece of the sequel, and many Hollywood directors were vying for the opportunity to pitch George Lucas on the direction the series should go.
One of the directors who pitched George Lucas was Michael Cimino, whose Deer Hunter won Best Picture and Best Director the following year, in 1978.
Cimino started a Twitter account (@Cimino139), and he soon unveiled this little bit of Star Wars history:
Everyone was pitching ideas for STAR WARS / Mine was simple: / A straight Western / but with lasers. / All the sets already built of course.
— Michael Cimino (@Cimino1939) December 7, 2012
In addition to The Deer Hunter, Cimino is best known for directing the 1980 film Heaven’s Gate, one of the biggest box office bombs in cinematic history. Luckily, George Lucas eventually hired Irving Kushner to direct the Star Wars sequel and he delivered The Empire Strikes Back.
Was Michael Cimino’s pitch a little too simple? Of course. Was there any chance this idea would actually get made? Probably not. But you never know in Hollywood. And these days it seems like literally any idea in this franchise gets made anyway.
That’s the way things go sometimes. There are seemingly infinite sliding doors moments in Hollywood where writers, directors, actors, and more are concerned. Some are close calls on what could have (or even should have) happened. Star Wars is no different in this respect.
Lots of folks could have been involved with Star Wars who didn’t actually come on board. Some ideas could have worked. Others? Not so much.
