What if David Lynch, director of progressive films such as Eraserhead, Blue Velvet, Twin Peaks, Inland Empire and others had actually directed Return of the Jedi back in 1983? Would Ewoks dance around to jazzy riffs in their red-draped tree houses? Would Vader wrap his victims in plastic? Would the Endor battle all be a bad dream? Probably not, but it’s fun to think how the avant-garde director would have played around in the Star Wars universe, had he accepted the offer to direct the third film in the saga.
MTV.com recently interviewed Lynch about his films and being approached by Lucas to direct Jedi back in the early ‘80s (and I’ll shamelessly plug the upcoming Twin Peaks Definitive Box Set here, the coolest TV series of all time) – here’s a short excerpt from the interview:
MTV: Is it true you almost directed “Return of the Jedi”? How close did you come?
Lynch: Not close at all. I had a meeting with George [Lucas]. I like George. It was his thing. I said, “You should direct this. It’s your thing! It’s not my thing.”
MTV: Did he flat-out offer it to you at the time?
Lynch: Yeah!
MTV: But you immediately declined.
Lynch: I called him the next day.
The interview also reveals that, like Lucas, Lynch is a huge proponent of digitial filmmaking. Check out the full story over at MTV.com.
I KNEW you posted this one!
I always wonder what kind of movie that would have been if Lynch had said yes. Would the Ewoks have talked backward to a jazzy beat?
Oh wow, that would have been interesting.
Yeah, they would have found Laura Palmer frozen in Carbonite…
A David Lynch Star Wars would have been awesome! It would feature such great lines like,
Luke: “Now THAT’S some damn, fine Blue Milk!”
Yoda: “Eriuqer uoy od gniniart erom on.”
Darth Vader would totally be Blue Velvet’s Dennis Hopper.
Good one Mark — wish I’d thought of that one!
The cantina would of been a funky jazz club and have like han as a smuggler who steals saxaphones.
I really wish this had happened. Richard Marquand is an interesting guy but not being American I don’t think he really understood Star Wars. David Lynch understands America perectly. The movie probably wouldn’t have been “weird” but it probably would have been more interesting than the way it had been made.
If you want to see an example of Lynch’s attempt at space fantast watch Dune which has is a movie with strenghts and weaknesses.
Wonder what Lynch’s Jedi would have been like? Wonder no more:
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[...] and just for good measure–Jedi could have been directed by David Lynch, but the fiendishly avante gard director turned Lucas down. Now, given that Lynch didn’t [...]
Sorry, here is a functioning link to the David Lynch directed Return of the Jedi:
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