The Most Epic Fantasy and Sci-Fi Website

These 3 Oscar Winning Directors Turned Down The Phantom Menace


Star Wars creator George Lucas directed Episode I – The Phantom Menace, though this was only because his top choices declined the offer. Oscar Winners Steven Spielberg, Ron Howard, and Robert Zemeckis were all offered the job, and for various reasons, turned it down. On the latest episode in the Happy Sad Confused podcast, Ron Howard revealed that Lucas "didn't necessarily want to direct" the prequel movies, but none of the directors he approached were comfortable with helming those films.

"He had talked to [Robert] Zemeckis, he talked to me, he talked to Steven Spielberg. I was the third one he spoke to. They all said the same thing: 'George, you should just do it. This is your baby.' Nobody wanted to follow that act I don't think at that point. That was an honor, but it would've been just too daunting."

There are a lot of fans of the original Star Wars trilogy that have issues with the prequels and George Lucas as a director. However, after these statements from Ron Howard, maybe we should cut Lucas some slack. After all, he didn't even want to direct the prequel trilogy. It's a good thing though that J.J. Abrams was up for the challenge of directing The Force Awakens, because Lucas has essentially cut his ties with the franchise. Even though other directors didn't want the pressure of directing the Star Wars film The Phantom Menace, I think Abrams is well-equipped to deliver a great Star Wars film. We won't have to wait long to find out for sure though, because Star Wars: The Force Awakens hits theaters on December 18.

For more articles like this, take a look at our Fandoms page.