Star Wars fans are pretty confident in J.J. Abrams’ ability to make The Force Awakens amazing. But what if Brad Bird had taken the gig?
While promoting Tomorrowland, Brad Bird revealed just how close he came to directing Star Wars Episode VII, The Force Awakens.
Bird revealed to Yahoo! that he was actually offered the movie, but chose to turn it down.
“It absolutely was [a tough decision],” he acknowledged. “But there was no way to do that film without junking [Tomorrowland], and we had already gotten George Clooney involved and I was excited about this film.”
And since Disney wanted to push ahead with Episode VII, there was no option to delay it in order to keep Bird on board.
Related: Brad Bird is now writing The Incredibles sequel
Can you believe Bird chose to pass on a Star Wars movie to direct Tomorrowland?! We’re glad he did though, because it looks like an absolutely incredible piece of original cinema. But still. Star Wars!
After Tomorrowland, Brad Bird will begin working on The Incredibles 2, the long-awaited sequel to Pixar’s 2004 smash hit.
He has previously discussed the possibility of directing a future Star Wars installment, but considering his packed schedule, we wouldn’t hold out hope.
Related: Star Wars Anthology film #2 will be all about Boba Fett
Although we’re sure Bird’s version would have been incredible, J.J. Abrams sounds like the perfect director for The Force Awakens.
Vanity Fair recently spoke to The Force Awakens co-writer Lawrence Kasdan (who also penned Episodes V and VII in the original trilogy), who revealed that Abrams is working very hard to keep the movie short and exciting, wanting to avoid the “Marvel bloat” so often seen in contemporary blockbusters.