By “Dune” director Denis Villeneuve says he doesn’t want to direct a “Star Wars” film and has good reason for it – the franchise peaked with “The Empire Strikes Back” and it has been downhill ever since.
Appearing on The Town podcast (via THR), Villeneuve says that the franchise blew it for him when “Return of the Jedi” came out – a film considered a step down from the two prior movies.
Villeneuve was born in 1967, making him the perfect age at 10 when the first film came out. He had major love for the movie and became obsessed with it. The sequel three years later only heightened that passion:
“I was the target audience. I was 10 years old. It went to my brain like a silver bullet. I became obsessed with Star Wars. I mean, The Empire Strikes Back is the movie that I anticipated the most in my life. I saw the movie a billion times onscreen. I was traumatized by The Empire Strikes Back. I adore Star Wars.”
Then, it all fell apart with the release of “Return of the Jedi” in 1983:
“It’s a long story. I was 15 years old, and my best friend and I wanted to take a cab and go to L.A. and talk to George Lucas – we were so angry! Still today, the Ewoks. It turned out to be a comedy for kids… Star Wars became crystallized in its own mythology, very dogmatic, it seemed like a recipe, no more surprises. So I’m not dreaming to do a Star Wars because it feels like code is very codified.”
Villeneuve never found solace in the franchise’s main rival, saying: “I’m not a Trekkie.” The Oscar-nominated director says he’s still hoping to do a third “Dune” but plans to go back to individual standalone films rather than another franchise once he’s done.
He also has no plans to work for a streaming service like Netflix.
The post Villeneuve: “Star Wars” Derailed After ‘Empire’ appeared first on Dark Horizons.
