Ron Howard on Why He Refused To Direct Star Wars and Superhero Movies
It is not everyday that you are offered to direct a Star Wars movie. Recently though, on MTV's Happy Sad Confused podcast, Ron Howard revealed that he was asked by George Lucas to direct Star Wars: The Phantom Menace. And he wasn't the only one.
“He [Lucas] didn’t necessarily want to direct them,” said Howard. “He told me that he had talked to [Robert] Zemeckis, he talked to me, he talked to Steven Spielberg. I was the third one he spoke to. They all said the same thing: ‘George, you should just do it.’ This is your baby. Nobody wanted to follow that act I don’t think at that point. That was an honor, but it would’ve been just too daunting"
Howard had worked with Lucas before on 'Willow' (1988) and 'American Grafitti' (1973) and considers Lucas his 'directorial mentor'.
And so George Lucas eventually directed all three of the Star Wars prequels: The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith. Regardless of how you feel about the three movies, it would have been very interesting to see how Ron Howard (or Robert Zemeckis, or Steven Spielberg) would have handled them.
Ron Howard also mentioned that he was asked to direct a blockbuster superhero film and again, he declined.
“I’ve had opportunities over the years…I was never a comic book guy. I like the movies when I see them for the most part, especially the origin stories. I never felt like I could be on the set, at 3 o’clock in the morning, tired, with 10 important decisions to make, and that I would intuitively on a gut level know what the story needs. It’s a little bit different tone. For me, I’d be copycatting and not inventing, so I’ve just never said yes to one"
Howard is currently promoting his latest movie 'In the Heart of the Sea' and working on 'Inferno', his third movie that is based on Dan Brown's books.
Meanwhile, there are more Star Wars and Superheroes movies in the works just in case Ron Howard changes his mind.
src; thehollywoodreporter.com
