Denis Villeneuve explains why he doesn’t want to make a Star Wars film

The famous science fiction filmmaker Denis Villeneuve, creator of Dune films, revealed why he would never write Star Wars; in his opinion, everything has gotten worse since 1983. Denis Villeneuve is a talented French-Canadian director and writer, with so many classic films to his credit – and that was before his last Dune films, some of the best science fiction films in decades. He’s particularly good at turning complex knowledge into a compelling narrative – which naturally leads many to wonder how he would do with it. Star Wars.

Speaking with Matthew Belloni at The city podcast, Villeneuve revealed that he grew up loving Star Wars – but that, in his opinion, the franchise has taken a wrong turn since 1983.

“”I was the target audience, I was ten years old, it hit my brain like a silver bullet, I became obsessed with Star Wars. What I mean to say, The Empire Strikes Back is the film I’ve been most looking forward to in my life. I saw the film a billion times on screen, I was traumatized by The Empire Strikes Back.

I love Star Wars, the problem is everything derailed in 1983 with Return of the Jedi…I was 15 years old, my best friend and I wanted to take a taxi, go to Los Angeles and talk to George Lucas. We were so angry. Even today, Ewoks… ended up being a comedy for children…

I thought that Star Wars crystallized into its own mythologyvery dogmatic, it seemed like a recipe, without any more surprises. So I’m not dreaming of doing Star Wars, the code is very coded.”

Denis Villeneuve identified a big problem with Star Wars

He was no longer the target audience… but besides that, he’s right

It’s very easy to Star Wars fans switch to a defensive position, but let’s be fair – Villeneuve is right. He was the target audience Star Wars by the time the first film was released in 1977, but he had already grown up by 1983 Return of the Jedi. Some franchises grow with their viewers – think about the Harry Potter films, which get darker as their stars (and audiences) grow older. George Lucas didn’t want this to be true Star Wars; he believed this was really for kids, which is why he created Ewoks and Jar Jar Binks.

This has always led to some conflict in the fandom, as viewers become angry when they realize they are no longer the target audience. Ironically, it is also the reason Star Wars endures; there is always another generation that falls in love with the franchise. THE Star Wars The prequel trilogy’s reputation has recovered greatly as the prequel generation has come of age, and the same will certainly happen with the sequels.

The most worrying comment, however, is that – from an outsider’s perspective – Villeneuve feels that mythology has crystallized and become too restrictive. Disney effectively rebooted the canon in 2014, making the old Star Wars Non-canon Expanded Universe in an attempt to correct this; a decade later, it seems that history has repeated itself. Once again, Villeneuve is right, and this one is much more worrying.

Our opinion on Denis Villeneuve’s criticism of Star Wars

It’s always fascinating to hear a Hollywood insider’s opinion.

Villeneuve knows franchises with deep traditions, and it’s impressive that he feels Star Wars is much more restrictive than Dune. I think the key is a certain attitude; Star Wars fans will jump on any detail, turning even the most absurd change into a point of controversy. This was proven with The Acolytewhich adjusted the age of Jedi Master Ki-Adi-Mundi, breaking a (non-canonical) detail established on a CD-ROM in 1999 that Lucas himself ignored. In contrast, Villeneuve clearly feels the Dune the fandom is more receptive – and he may well be right.