Newsroom News Breaking Comics Tags RSS
News movies & tv series 19 September 2024, 02:50

„I Don't Think He Feels Inclined to Share Any of It with Me”. George Lucas Refused to Let Steven Spielberg Direct a Star Wars Movie

Steven Spielberg, before George Lucas reportedly offered him to direct The Phantom Menace, wanted to make another Star Wars film, but the series creator wouldn't let him.

Source: Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi, Richard Marquand, Lucasfilm Ltd., 1983
i

As is well known, Steven Spielberg and George Lucas are friends and worked together on the famous Indiana Jones series. Despite the fact that their cooperation on this project was going great, Lucas did not agree to Spielberg taking on his other series – Star Wars. A friend expressed a desire to direct a film in this cosmic universe, but the space opera creator was against it.

Spielberg told the story in 2002 during an interview with Empire Magazine, when he was asked why he had not fulfilled his dream of making a Star Wars movie.

I've asked him! He won't let me do one. I wanted to do one 15 years ago and he didn't want me to do it. I understand why – Star Wars is George's baby. George is my best friend and I believe I am his, but we are all competitive. I believe that this is George's franchise. It's his cottage industry and it's his fingerprints. He knows I've got Jurassic Park and [Indiana Jones]. But George has Star Wars and I don't think he feels inclined to share any of it with me!

Lucas years later reportedly changed his mind and offered Spielberg the position of director of The Phantom Menace, however the Jurassic Park director declined, suggesting to a friend that he should do it himself. Nevertheless, although he never fulfilled his dream of making his own film in the series, Spielberg had a hand in its creation. He helped Lucas during his work on Revenge of the Sith. He was involved in the creation of the scenes from Order 66.

Thus, Spielberg helped create some of the universe's most unforgettable scenes, making it impossible to deny that he made a significant contribution to Star Wars.

Edyta Jastrzebska

Edyta Jastrzebska

A graduate of journalism and social communication as well as cultural studies. She started at Gamepressure.com as one of the newspeople in the films department. Currently she oversees the Gamepressure movie&TV newsroom. She excels in the field of film and television, both in reality-based and fantasy themes. Keeps up with industry trends, but in her free time she prefers to watch less known titles. Has a complicated relationship with popular ones, which is why she only gets convinced about many of them when the hype around them subsides. Loves to spend her evenings not only watching movies, series, reading books and playing video games, but also playing text RPGs, which she has been into for several years.

more