Star Wars Episode IX Director Colin Trevorrow Weighs In On Petition To Bring Back George Lucas
. 'When George Lucas made Star Wars, a lot of people thought it was crazy,' he said. 'When you try [...]
Jurassic World director Colin Trevorrow, the man tapped to helm Star Wars Episode IX and end the third trilogy in the spacefaring Skywalker saga, is well aware of the petition to remove him and replace him with Star Wars creator George Lucas.
The petition started out slow but has picked up somewhat, and is just shy of 20,000 signatures following a mountain of press coverage.
"It's funny, I saw that, and it was on a day where I was at Lucasfilm giving this big speech to everyone about how we want to channel the invention and just the raw creativity and the boldness that George brought to these films and not being afraid that we're going to embarrass ourselves by doing something that might be crazy," Trevorrow said at the BAFTA Awards Season Tea Party on Saturday (via ET Online). "When George Lucas made Star Wars, a lot of people thought it was crazy," he said. "When you try to pitch what that movie's about -- if you've never heard ofStar Wars before, you say, 'Here's a character. His father's part robot, but he can also do magic. And there's a guy who can fly in a spaceship. He's got a dog for a friend!' -- it sounds insane. But it's the greatest story ever told. I just want to embrace that kind of invention and creativity that he brought to it."
George Lucas directed the original Star Wars, Episode IV: A New Hope, back in 1977 and returned to the franchise's director's chair for the less-acclaimed prequels from 1999-2005. He has since sold all rights to the Star Wars movies to Disney, who assumed complete creative control beginning with 2015's Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
Lucas hasn't yet responded to the petition, but has said in the past that he's done with not only Star Wars but with big-budget, corporate-owned blockbusters in general, and focus on smaller, more personal films like his 2013 effort Red Tails, which stalled out at the box office but won a handful of awards.
To check out the campaign, head over to Yuri Luiz's Change.org effort.
Star Wars: The Force Awakens is now playing in theaters. Episode IX is set for release in 2019.