Back in the fall of 2012, it seemed you couldn’t go a day without one director or another being mentioned as a contender to helm "Star Wars: Episode VII," and David Fincher was one such name that surfaced. He had worked with ‘Star Wars’ producer Kathleen Kennedy previously on "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," and at the time he had "20,000 Leagues Under The Sea" set up at Disney. Obviously, he didn’t end up taking the job, but out on the circuit for "Gone Girl," Fincher confirms he met with Kennedy and reveals why he passed on the gig.
"It’s tricky," he told Total Film. "My favourite is ‘The Empire Strikes Back.’ If I said, ‘I want to do something more like that,’ then I’m sure the people paying for it would be like, ‘No! You can’t do that! We want it like the other one with all the creatures!’
"I always thought of ‘Star Wars’ as the story of two slaves [C-3PO and R2-D2] who go from owner to owner, witnessing their masters’ folly, the ultimate folly of man… I thought it was an interesting idea in the first two, but it’s kind of gone by ‘Return Of The Jedi,’ " Fincher added.
Indeed, the original trilogy is precious to fans for different reasons, whether thematically or just for the thrill of the spectacle. And when it comes to the latter, ‘Episode 7’ actor Oscar Isaac remains nostalgic, like many fans, for the trilogy as it was, before George Lucas started altering the films digitally in the 1990s and 2000s.
"…there’s two things. As an artist, like, he made the shit, so why can’t he do whatever the heck he wants with it? There’s a part of me that appreciates that he doesn’t really care if people are upset about it. He decided to share it and he wants to go back and do stuff, whatever," the actor told Huffington Post. "But as a fan, I’d much rather go back and watch the old thing, because it’s a product of the time. It’s what did you do at the time with the things that you had. And that’s what made that movie so amazing. At that time with that technology, he made this thing and it was fucking awesome. So, you know, to go back and kind of tweak it with new stuff, it doesn’t make it more interesting for me as a watcher. It makes it less interesting, but I can’t fault him for doing that."
That’s a pretty level-headed assessment of an issue that continues to rile up the "Star Wars" faithful.
"Star Wars: Episode 7" will arrive on December 18, 2015 with J.J. Abrams behind the camera. But what do you think? Could Fincher have made a "Star Wars" movie the way he wanted to?