DUNE Director Denis Villeneuve Feels RETURN OF THE JEDI "Derailed" STAR WARS: "[It's] A Comedy For Kids"

DUNE Director Denis Villeneuve Feels RETURN OF THE JEDI "Derailed" STAR WARS: "[It's] A Comedy For Kids"

Denis Villeneuve may be a big Star Wars fan, but the Dune director has now explained why he has no desire to helm a movie set in the galaxy far, far away...

By MarkCassidy - Nov 28, 2024 10:11 AM EST
Filed Under: Star Wars

Dune and Dune: Part Two director Denis Villeneuve has often mentioned that he is (or was) a huge Star Wars fan, and has even suggested that George Lucas' original trilogy was an early influence on his decision to pursue a career as a filmmaker.

Despite his love for the franchise, Villeneuve has now explained why he has no interest in directing a movie set in the galaxy far, far away.

While chatting to The Town Podcast, Villeneuve said directing a Star Wars movie simply isn't "a dream of his" because "Star Wars became crystallized in its own mythology, very dogmatic, it seemed like a recipe, no more surprises."

He also feels that Return of the Jedi derailed the franchise back in 1983.

“I was the target audience. I was 10 years old. It went to my brain like a silver bullet. I became obsessed with Star Wars. I mean, The Empire Strikes Back is the movie that I anticipated the most in my life. I saw the movie a billion times onscreen. I was traumatized by The Empire Strikes Back. I adore Star Wars.”

“The problem is that it all derailed in 1983 with Return of the Jedi,” he continued. “It’s a long story. I was 15 years old, and my best friend and I wanted to take a cab and go to L.A. and talk to George Lucas — we were so angry! Still today, the Ewoks. It turned out to be a comedy for kids.”  

While a lot of Star Wars fans would likely agree with Villeneuve about ROTJ being the weakest of the trilogy, most would probably consider the final film in the recent sequel trilogy, The Rise of Skywalker, to be the lowest point of the franchise. 

At any rate, even if the celebrated filmmaker won't be stepping into the Star Wars franchise anytime soon, sci-fi fans can look forward to him returning to helm an adaptation of Dune: Messiah at some point.

What do you make of Villeneuve's comments? Let us know in the usual place.

The saga continues as award-winning filmmaker Denis Villeneuve embarks on Dune: Part Two, the next chapter of Frank Herbert’s celebrated novel Dune, with an expanded all-star international ensemble cast. The film, from Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures, is the highly anticipated follow-up to 2021’s six-time Academy Award-winning Dune. 

The big-screen epic continues the adaptation of Frank Herbert’s acclaimed bestseller Dune with returning and new stars, including Oscar nominee Timothée Chalamet (Wonka, Call Me by Your Name), Zendaya (Spider-Man: No Way Home, Malcolm & Marie, Euphoria), Rebecca Ferguson (Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning), Oscar nominee Josh Brolin (Avengers: Endgame, Milk), Oscar nominee Austin Butler (Elvis, Once Upon A Time…In Hollywood), Oscar nominee Florence Pugh (Black Widow, Little Women), Dave Bautista (Guardians of the Galaxy, Thor: Love and Thunder), Oscar winner Christopher Walken (The Deer Hunter,), Stephen McKinley Henderson (Fences), Léa Seydoux (James Bond, Crimes of the Future), with Stellan Skarsgård (Avengers: Age of Ultron), Oscar nominee Charlotte Rampling (45 Years, Assassin’s Creed), and Oscar winner Javier Bardem (No Country for Old Men, Being the Ricardos).

Dune: Part Two will explore the mythic journey of Paul Atreides as he unites with Chani and the Fremen while on a warpath of revenge against the conspirators who destroyed his family. Facing a choice between the love of his life and the fate of the known universe, he endeavors to prevent a terrible future only he can foresee.

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TheyDont
TheyDont - 11/28/2024, 10:02 AM
Well, it kinda is
AwesomePromoz
AwesomePromoz - 11/28/2024, 10:20 AM
DV: (ignores the little green guy riding on Luke’s back, the little pig-faced guy that fixes C-3P0, the Assassin droid with an asparagus cooker for a head, the jive talkin’ space hustler that runs a space mine) THE EWOKS RUINED STAR WARS
TheyDont
TheyDont - 11/28/2024, 10:37 AM
@AwesomePromoz - Anal teddy bears defeating the Empire? No thanks
Songoty
Songoty - 11/28/2024, 11:14 AM
@AwesomePromoz - Funny how he's nearing 60 and he still hasn't realized that, when ROTJ came out, the problem was just that he wasn't 10 anymore
Baf
Baf - 11/28/2024, 11:30 AM
@AwesomePromoz - Ewoks were savages! Bloodthirsty, human sacrificing beings with a strong sense of galactic political morality and a penchant for gold robots!
McMurdo
McMurdo - 11/29/2024, 8:48 PM
@Songoty - no I think he's bright enough to understand his age isnt the difference. He's on record with Nolan talking specifically about Empire Strikes Back and how it holds up as a film and sequel to this day. Sounds like you're just inferring he's an idiot. Irony is fickle! But fun.
JobinJ
JobinJ - 11/28/2024, 10:03 AM
He right.
RichardGrayson
RichardGrayson - 11/28/2024, 10:07 AM
ROTJ is one of the greatest sci-fi films of all time- warts and all
Lisa89
Lisa89 - 11/28/2024, 10:08 AM
Even though I was a tween myself at the time, I felt that way too. My position has mellowed (a little) over the years.
manofsteel96
manofsteel96 - 11/28/2024, 10:08 AM
Denis is right, It's a comedy for kids, and it's was a movie to sell a lot of toys and "action figures"
TDKRnry88
TDKRnry88 - 11/28/2024, 10:09 AM
Eh, Return of the Jedi's still dope. Yeah, it lost the edge of Empire Strikes Back, but it still has great sequences, a mature & likable Luke, some good serious scenes & Palpatine. I think he's a little up his own @$* about ROTJ.
Thing94
Thing94 - 11/28/2024, 10:11 AM
ROTJ is great
GiverOfInfo
GiverOfInfo - 11/28/2024, 10:12 AM
The weakest of the original 3 but still a masterpiece, it has some of the darkest moments in the series with the Emperor, Yoda, and even Jabba, but also some of the silliest with the ewoks. The way the ewoks won was just with sheer numbers... they also attempt human sacrifice. Remember that.

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Still is better than anything that came since, the Disney trilogy makes the prequels look as good as the originals.
GiverOfInfo
GiverOfInfo - 11/28/2024, 10:32 AM
Leia retconned as Luke's sister is the biggest problem with that movie.
DarthOmega
DarthOmega - 11/28/2024, 10:17 AM
I mean, he's right but...

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jk I know what he means. Han was probably the biggest disappointment in that film
Batmangina
Batmangina - 11/28/2024, 10:17 AM
At least they fixed all of that with the Sequel Trilogy...

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KennKathleen
KennKathleen - 11/28/2024, 10:18 AM
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nibs
nibs - 11/28/2024, 10:19 AM
yes unlike the intellectual powerhouses that the first 2 films are... lol what a moron
MisterBones
MisterBones - 11/28/2024, 10:20 AM
He's not entirely wrong
FrankenDad
FrankenDad - 11/28/2024, 10:24 AM
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HagridsHole1
HagridsHole1 - 11/28/2024, 10:28 AM
Return of the Jedi has and will always be my favourite Star Wars film. First one I ever remember seeing at a young age and it had everything I love in it

So while he's entitled to his opinion, he's completely wrong 😏
mrbaconsock
mrbaconsock - 11/28/2024, 10:29 AM
He’s right.

Don’t get me wrong, I love ROTJ, but everyone agrees it is the weakest of the original trilogy, and for good reason:

Obviously, the best parts of ROTJ have everything to do with Luke, Vader, and the development of their relationship. However, they didn’t really know what to do with Han and Leia’s development as individual characters or their development as a relationship. Yes, Leia’s infiltration and rescue attempt at the beginning was fire and badass (even if it failed), but that’s about as interesting as they get. Both of those characters are pretty much stagnant in that film.

And while I personally have a guilty pleasure for Ewoks (and the animated spinoff series), I understand and recognize that they’re ultimately frivolous and there to sell teddy bears.
MarkCassidy
MarkCassidy - 11/28/2024, 10:31 AM
@mrbaconsock - ^^^ this, basically.
MarkCassidy
MarkCassidy - 11/28/2024, 10:30 AM
ROTJ was my favorite of the trilogy... When I was a kid. Having seen those movies more times than I can count, it's by far the weakest. It has some amazing moments - everything in Jabbas palace, the final fight between Luke and Vader - but it's clear that the script was weak, the cast were phoning it in, and it just failed to serve as a satisfying conclusion after Empire.

Still love it, obviously 😂
mrbaconsock
mrbaconsock - 11/28/2024, 10:39 AM
@MarkCassidy - I literally agree.

ROTJ is probably the VHS that I wore down the most growing. It has some INCREDIBLE highs - namely the escape from Jaba’s palace and the final battle — but the script and direction are clearly unbalanced.

Love it though, because R2D2 shot Luke’s lightsaber into the air and Luke did a super front flip, caught it, and then proceeded to slice and dice with his newly revealed green sabre.
GiverOfInfo
GiverOfInfo - 11/28/2024, 10:32 AM
The biggest problem with ROTJ is making Leia into Luke's sister.
ProfessorWhy
ProfessorWhy - 11/28/2024, 10:33 AM
Ewoks are the original star wars crime
Slotherin
Slotherin - 11/28/2024, 10:37 AM
I feel like a lot of Star Wars fans issue with Star Wars stuff boils down to the fact that they went through puberty after the first film.
Itwasme
Itwasme - 11/28/2024, 11:03 AM
@Slotherin - i think you're right, it's just that they went through puberty after whatever films they saw first. People who saw the prequels as kids loved them and the same will be true for the sequels. As kids we accept a lot more. And then when the new stuff comes out they complain about it because they aren't kids anymore.
TheVisionary25
TheVisionary25 - 11/28/2024, 11:06 AM
@Itwasme - exactly

It’s not the Star Wars mythology that has become rigid or dogmatic but the fans thinking of how the franchise should be in their minds
GiverOfInfo
GiverOfInfo - 11/28/2024, 11:43 AM
@Itwasme - what about people who saw them all as adults and said the same thing tho?
Itwasme
Itwasme - 11/28/2024, 2:05 PM
@GiverOfInfo - what do you mean? They saw all movies as kids movies? Can you elaborate a little?
GiverOfInfo
GiverOfInfo - 11/28/2024, 2:44 PM
@Itwasme - no, adult critics commented on the decline too, so not all of the haters were people who had just "out grown" the series.
Itwasme
Itwasme - 11/28/2024, 3:39 PM
@GiverOfInfo - maybe to clarify my point, as an adult we are more likely to see the faults than when we were kids. It wasn't about outgrowing the series moreso that the younger generation is way more likely to accept it how it is and like it.

I was in the middle of that transition to adulthood when the Original trilogy came out, so i saw the criticism first hand. People actually didn't like Empire more (ROTJ had better reviews and a much higher BO than Empire), but now that's considered the best. The prequels were fun in that they were more Star Wars, but honestly the first wasn't that great and undercut a lot of the key themes in the originals, the second was better and the 3rd was pretty good. People who grew up with them and are adults now loved those films much more. Many even praise them up with the originals which is baffling to me, but just my opinion. And the you ger generation is likely to do the same with the sequels, even that God awful 3rd movie that to me was barely a movie.

So that was my point. Does that fit with what you're saying?
GiverOfInfo
GiverOfInfo - 11/28/2024, 4:23 PM
@Itwasme - Empire had great reviews when it came out, just as high as the first or better. Watch the Siskel & Ebert review. Ebert was a grown man for all of them.
Itwasme
Itwasme - 11/28/2024, 4:41 PM
@GiverOfInfo - they did, but many did not. Here's Star Wars itself talking about it.

https://www.starwars.com/news/critical-opinion-the-empire-strikes-back-original-reviews

There's plenty more out there. Just look up.

Fan reaction wasn't nearly as strong as it is today either. I lived it, but that's also been published as well, though you can also look at it's very diminished BO compared to the other 2.

https://www.acriticalhit.com/fans-react-empire-strikes-back-1980/

But of course the reaction to Empire doesn't really have anything to do with what we are talking about.
Drace24
Drace24 - 11/29/2024, 6:20 AM
@GiverOfInfo - What about the people who don't?
GiverOfInfo
GiverOfInfo - 11/29/2024, 8:20 AM
@Drace24 - an irrelevant minority
Drace24
Drace24 - 11/29/2024, 11:35 AM
@GiverOfInfo - You wish, pal. In reality, people who don't feel strongly about a given subject one way or another are ALWAYS the majority. I guarantee there are FAR more people who just don't care enough to have an opinion in the first place, then people who hate Ewoks. Add the stans and the haters are utterly dwarfed. Sorry.
GiverOfInfo
GiverOfInfo - 11/29/2024, 11:36 AM
@Drace24 - I think you misunderstand; most people are fine with the ewoks and most people liked ESB when it came out.
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