David Fincher Explains Why He Passed On Directing A Star Wars Film

While out promoting his new Netflix series Mindhunter, acclaimed filmmaker David Fincher has revealed why he turned down Star Wars.

Fincher, who serves as Executive Producer and directs four of the ten episodes of Mindhunter, has confirmed to Empire (via Collider) that he was approached to direct a Star Wars sequel at one point and explained how he didn't want the pressure of having to follow up the next two films.

"No, I talked to [producer Kathleen Kennedy] about that and look, it's a plum assignment. I don't know what's worse: being George Lucas on the set of the first one where everyone's going, "Alderaan? What the hell is this?" Where everyone's making fun, but I can't imagine the kind of intestinal fortitude one has to have following up the success of these last two. That's a whole other level. One is that you have to endure the withering abuse of Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher, and the other is you have to live up to a billion or a billion-five, and that becomes its own kind of pressure.

I think [The Empire Strikes Back director Irvin Kershner] had the best job. He had a pretty great script and he had the middle story. He didn't have to worry about where it started and he didn't have to worry about where it ended. And he had the great reveal.

You'd have to really clear your head, I think. You'd have to really be sure this is what you wanted to do because either way it's two years of your life, 14 hours a day, seven days a week."

While Fincher passed on directing a Star Wars sequel, he's not adverse to directing a franchise sequel in general. After all, he directed Alien 3 (1992), and he's currently working on a sequel to World War Z. The director has been working hard on getting the details grounded for the sequel. He told Empire:

"I worked on a show for HBO that didn't see the light of day and at the same time was doing [Mindhunter], and then did [Mindhunter], and I've been working for about a year now with Dennis Kelly on World War Z… We're hoping to get a piece of material that's a reason to make a movie not an excuse to make a movie."

It sounds like the film is still in its early development stages, and who knows how long that would take? There's still no official release date for the film so Fincher probably has a lot of time to develop it.

Would you like to see Fincher direct a Star Wars sequel?

Star Wars: The Last Jedi is set to release in theaters on December 15, 2017

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