'Dune' director explains why he didn't make a 'Star Wars' movie: He was dead in 1983

Star Wars has managed to attract some big-name directors to direct its movies and TV projects these days, but it doesn't look like Dune director Denis Villeneuve will be one of them.

In a recent episode of the Small Town podcast, Denis Villeneuve talked about this topic and revealed some of his personal experiences with Star Wars. He recalled that he was 10 years old when Star Wars: A New Hope (1977) was released, and called himself the "target audience" of Star Wars: "This movie was like a silver bullet shot into my brain, and I fell in love with Star Wars from then on."

He also said he had seen The Empire Strikes Back on screen "a billion times", but the finale of the trilogy had dampened his taste for the series.

“The thing is, everything got derailed in 1983 with Return of the Jedi. It’s a long story. I was 15, and my best friend and I wanted to take a cab to LA to talk to George Lucas—we were so pissed! It’s the same thing today, with Ewoks . It turns out this is a comedy for children .”

It's not just the Ewoks, though. "Star Wars is crystallized in its own mythology, it's very dogmatic, and it seems to be a recipe, there are no more surprises," he continued. "It seems like there's a recipe for it, and it doesn't surprise us anymore. So I don't dream of making a Star Wars movie because there's a sense that the code is already codified."

OK, OK, but what about a Star Trek movie? That’s not going to happen either, Villeneuve told the podcast. “I’m not a Star Trek fan.”