Between the two of them, bearded best friends Steven Spielberg and George Lucas have been responsible for some of the greatest sci-fi movies ever made, as well as teaming up to create the Indiana Jones franchise and bestowing fans with one of cinema’s all-time best trilogies, and Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.
Of course, Lucas is synonymous with science fiction having been the brains behind Star Wars, which would then go on to dominate his entire career for the next four decades until he sold up to Disney, but Spielberg is hardly a slouch when it comes to the genre. Close Encounters of the Third Kind, E.T. The Extra Terrestrial, Jurassic Park, Minority Report, War of the Worlds and Ready Player One all did big business at the box office and received strong reviews from critics, so he certainly knows his way around a high concept.
In fact, insider Daniel Richtman is now offering that Lucasfilm want Spielberg to helm a Star Wars movie, and while the tipster doesn’t mention anything further to support his claim, every major studio in Hollywood would no doubt love one of the greatest, and the single most commercially successful director in the history of the business to tackle one of their projects, but that doesn’t mean it’ll happen.
After all, Spielberg already knocked back the chance to helm both Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens, although he did some uncredited second unit work on the Prequel Trilogy as a favor to Lucas, while he also suggested J.J. Abrams to Lucasfilm when Episode VII was looking for a director.
The legend’s fingerprints have already been all over the franchise dating back to a bet he made with Lucas in 1977 over whether Close Encounters or A New Hope would make more money, but it would be a major surprise if he took the reins on a standalone Star Wars blockbuster without his buddy’s involvement.
