In the early 80s, George Lucas was looking for someone to entrust with the third part of his “Star Wars” trilogy. The choice also fell on David Lynch, who made a cult film with “Eraserhead”. It caused a sensation, especially in the film world (the list of admirers is still very long today). But at the same time, the director subsequently managed to achieve a surprising box office success with “The Elephant Man” – garnished with eight Oscar nominations.
A few years ago, David Lynch talked about how he got the offer from Lucas. “I could hardly imagine anything I could have been less interested in at the time,” he explained. “But I admired George [Lucas] also, because he always did what he loved. It’s the same for me, except his love generates hundreds of billions of dollars in sales.”
David Lynch was afraid
Still, Lynch decided to talk to Lucas. “I received a letter sent home, my own key and cards,” said the director about the preparation for the meeting. “He told me a few things in his office and I started to get a headache. Then he showed me these things called Wookies, and my headache just got worse.”
Afterwards, they both drove to a restaurant in Lucas’s Ferrari to have lunch together (“It’s not that I don’t like salad, but they didn’t have anything else”). Lynch continued: “Then I really got a migraine-like headache. I just wanted to get home quickly. Afterwards I called my agent and told him, ‘It’s impossible for me to do this’.”
The next day, Lynch called Lucas, officially declined the offer and asked him what was wrong with directing Return of the Jedi himself. Lucas then replied that he just didn’t enjoy directing.
“Then I called my lawyer,” Lynch added with a laugh. “He just made it clear to me that I had just wasted millions of dollars.”
While another director, Richard Marquand, was found for the third part of the Star Warrior series, Lynch still decided to focus on a sci-fi story. With “Dune – The Desert Planet” he filmed a novel by Frank Herbert. He experienced exactly what he wanted to protect himself from with “Star Wars”: studio decisions, tough filming, lousy reviews and little success at the box office. Despite the headache it probably gave him, the material suited Lynch much better.