Denis Villeneuve doesn't want to direct a 'Star Wars' film after the franchise "derailed in 1983'.
Denis Villeneuve doesn't want to make his own Star Wars film
The 'Dune' filmmaker was "the target audience" for the iconic sci-fi saga when it first launched in 1977 with 'A New Hope', and while he loved 1980's 'The Empire Strikes Back', he felt let down by 'Return of the Jedi' as a conclusion to the trilogy.
He told 'The Town' podcast: "I was the target audience. I was 10 years old. It went to my brain like a silver bullet. I became obsessed with 'Star Wars'.
“I mean, 'The Empire Strikes Back' is the movie that I anticipated the most in my life. I saw the movie a billion times onscreen. I was traumatised by 'The Empire Strikes Back'. I adore 'Star Wars'.
"The problem is that it all derailed in 1983 with 'Return of the Jedi'.' "
Villeneuve recalled being "so angry" that he and his friend wanted to find 'Star Wars' creator George Lucas to complain about the final instalment in the trilogy.
He said: "I was 15 years old, and my best friend and I wanted to take a cab and go to L.A. and talk to George Lucas — we were so angry!
"Still today, the Ewoks. It turned out to be a comedy for kids."
Despite growing up such a fan of 'Star Wars', Villeneuve has no ambition of making his own film in the franchise after seeing how things have progressed over the years.
He explained: "'Star Wars' became crystallized in its own mythology, very dogmatic, it seemed like a recipe, no more surprises.
"So I’m not dreaming to do a 'Star Wars' because it feels like code is very codified.”
He's also not looking to make anything for a streaming service, insisting that the "communal emotional experience of cinema" is such a key part of the art form, and something he believes "will prevail".
He added: "The big screen is part of the language, to share a story together, to receive the communal emotional experience of cinema in a theater.
“We’re not meant to be alone, we’re meant to share together."
Last month, the 'Dune' director revealed he is currently immersed “deep” into novelist Frank Herbert’s space fantasy universe as he continues to work on the third instalment, even though he initially thought he would be stepping back from the series for a time to focus on other projects.
He told Deadline: “Let’s say that I thought that after ‘Part Two’ that I will take a break, that I will go back in the woods and stay in the woods for a while to recover.
"But the woods weren’t really suiting me, and I would go back behind the camera faster than I think. But that’s all I can say.”
Villeneuve revealed he was “in the writing zone right now”, though made an effort not to call the film ‘Dune: Part Three’.
He explained the first two movies felt like “one entity” to him, and added: “It’s a movie made in two parts. It’s finished, it’s done.”
The third instalment will be based on Herbert’s second novel in the franchise ‘Dune: Messiah’, and will follow Paul Atreides (Timothee Chalamet) 12 years into his reign as emperor of the known universe as the religious sect he created around himself begins to spiral out of his control.
Tagged in George Lucas Denis Villeneuve