It is no secret that it is a very good time to be aStar Warsfan. Not only are we getting a lot of newStar Warsmovies, which started off last year withStar Wars: The Force Awakens, but Disney is putting a lot of money, resources and talent into these new movies. As it turns out, with a couple of degrees of speculation,Ben Affleckmay have been a talent that they were trying to recruit to direct aStar Warsmovie.
Affleckwas recently a guest onBill Simon’snew HBO show Any Given Wednesday, and thanks to a very profane rant about Deflategate, a few things from the interview were sort of buried. One of those things being thatAffleckpassed on an opportunity to take on aniconic property, which he ultimately passed on in favor of taking on Batman. When asked point blank bySimonsif he almost directed aStar Warsmovie, this is whatAffleckhad to say.
“Well, it wouldn’t be polite to talk about the jobs you turn down, but I had a lot of offers. It’s like, forks in the road that are, like, legitimate different paths. Boy, my life’s going to be really different if I go this way, or doBatman, or I do this other… iconic thing.”
Affleckhas become one of the most sought after talents behind the camera in Hollywood these days, after his first three efforts were increasingly massive successes. So, when Disney was looking to fill the director’s chair forStar Wars Episode VII, it would make total sense thatAffleck’s name would at least come up in those conversations, and there were rumors that he was in the running for the job. Based on his statements, it look like he may have very well straight up passed on the opportunity to directThe Force Awakens.
The prospect ofAffleckdirecting aStar Warsmovie is at the very least, super interesting and quite possibly very tantalizing, but being that Warner Bros. and DC are in direct competition with Disney and Marvel right now, that seems like it probably won’t ever happen. The job, of course, ultimately went toJ.J. Abrams, and by most accounts, that turned out to be a very great decision. We recently learned via an interview with the Hollywood Reporter thatSteven Spielbergactually had to convinceAbramsto take the job.
“I brought J.J.’s name up. I thought J.J. would be the best person to direct Episode 7 and I called J.J. and said ‘Would you do it if it was offered to you?’ He said, ‘I would but my wife won’t let me ‘cause she doesn’t want me to restart any more franchises.’ But I went to Kathy and asked if I could get J.J. to say yes to this would you consider it? Kathy said ‘Are you kidding? Of course I would. But why would J.J. do Star Wars; he’s already done Mission Impossible and Star Trek.'”
Affleckis currently busy playing Batman again inJustice Leagueand after that, he will be moving on to directThe Batmanfor Warner Bros., which is ultimately what he decided to do instead of whatever “iconic” franchise he passed up. Given the timeline, it is very likely thatStar Warswas that franchise. The real question is, givenAffleck’s history with movies he directs, what part would he have played inThe Force Awakens? That may be an alternate universe we would like to visit sometime. You can watch the entire interview withBen AffleckonAny Given Wednesdayin the video below.
