Before Kathleen Kennedy and co. hired J.J. Abrams to direct “Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” the movie was one of the hottest gigs in town. Many names circled and were rumored for the job, and David Fincher was among those tossed into the mix. Going to a galaxy far, far away wasn’t a stretch for the filmmaker, who in 1983, was hired by Industrial Light & Magic as an assistant cameraman and matte photographer, and worked on a little movie called “Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi.” Obviously, Fincher didn’t direct ‘The Force Awakens,’ but he’s got a fascinating perspective on what it means for a filmmaker to step into that world.
Dropping by the Empire podcast, Fincher made it clear he does not envy what George Lucas had to do to get the “Star Wars” franchise rolling. And now that it’s a blockbuster monolith where each movie has billions of dollars on the line, it’s not exactly a situation he relishes getting into:
….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.
Indeed, directing a “Star Wars” movie is a massive job and the expectations extend to meeting high bar raised by fans, and also negotiating the behind-the-scenes conflicts that might arise — something that Gareth Edwards and Phil Lord & Chris Miller learned the hard way on their spinoff movies.
Frankly, we’d rather Fincher put his talents to more original fare, but still, we can’t help but dream of the director bringing his precise eye to the “Star Wars” universe. [via Collider]