George Lucas Wouldn't Let Steven Spielberg Direct 'Star Wars'
George Lucas and Steven Spielberg are two of the most successful directors of all time. Spielberg has directed some of the most financial successful movies of all time such as Jurassic Park and the Indiana Jones series, not to mention essentially creating the summer blockbuster with some film that you might have heard of called Jaws. On top of that, he's struck Oscar gold winning Best Picture and Best Director for one of the greatest films of all time, Schindler's List, as well as picking up another Best Director win for another World War II film, Saving Private Ryan (whose Best Picture Oscar loss to the trainwreck that was Shakespeare in Love is one of the biggest mistakes in the history of the Oscars) and garnering more nominations for films like The Color Purple. Lucas doesn't have the awards that Spielberg does, but his fingerprints will be forever imprinted on the movie industry thanks to a little film called Star Wars, which broke box office records and won seven Oscars from eleven nominations on its way to being arguably the most influential and profitable film series of all time.
So basically, these two guys have influenced a lot.
The two are lifelong friends and Spielberg was one of the few people who thought that Star Wars would have any success at all. He has been a part of the filmmaking process for the Lucas Star Wars films from working a bit on Revenge of the Sith, gaining an unofficial guest director credit, to just being on set and having Lucas bounce ideas off of. Spielberg has been there from the beginning.
But he has never directed one of the films.
Said Spielberg during an interview with Comic Book Movie, "I've asked [Lucas]. He won't let me do one. I wanted to do one 15 years ago, and he didn't want me to do it."
It could be because Lucas didn't want Spielberg to overshadow him with his series. Star Wars, whatever else it became, is Lucas' baby. No matter what missteps he might have made in the process, there would be no Star Wars without Lucas. Despite Lucas' successes with Star Wars and American Graffiti, the fact remains that Spielberg is the more respected director with more hits under his belt. He's far and away the more respected director, and it can be argued that Star Wars might not have been as big of a hit without Spielberg breaking the summer blockbuster ground with Jaws. Combine that with the fact that Spielberg tends to be a lot... better when it comes to things like story, characters, dialogue, directing, and it wouldn't be a huge stretch to see a Spielberg Star Wars film being regarded as the masterpiece of the series.
Granted, Lucas didn't direct the actual masterpiece of the series, The Empire Strikes Back, but the point stands.
That's not to say that Spielberg still hasn't had a huge influence on the series even today. He was the one who suggested that J.J. Abrams be handed the reins when it came time to make The Force Awakens, which was a critical and commercial smash.
Would we see a Spielberg Star Wars film as the best ever? Who knows? We'll never know. The film he was most rumored to be attached to direct was Return of the Jedi. (Though David Lynch was also discussed. Imagine Star Wars from the director who brought you Eraserhead, Mulholland Drive, and Blue Velvet.) But he didn't get it, and it's largely viewed as the most uneven film in the original trilogy. He might not have managed to keep the Star Wars-y feel that the original had. He's an auteur with his own distinct style. Someone watching the series wouldn't have a hard time determining which one had him behind the camera.
Ultimately, we can only speculate.
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Source(s): Express