Star Wars: Jon Favreau Would Have Taken The Job If It Was Offered

Speaking to MTV at SXSW this past weekend, Iron Man director Jon Favreau said that he was never offered the director's chair for Star Wars Episode VII, but he would he would have taken the job if asked. "I didn't go after it," Favreau said, "but it's one of those things that, as people would say they weren't going to do it, and as there were questions coming my way as to my availability... I was really scared of the idea that nobody was gonna [do it], and so if they had come to me, I don't know how you say no to that thing." Back in 2012, when new Star Wars films were first announced, Favreau was rumored to be a frontrunner to direct, as was Star Trek director J.J. Abrams, who did take the job. Favreau was actually never offered the job at all, but he expressed support for Disney's decision to put Abrams at the helm. "He's great because he works with the old generation, and he works with the new generation," Favreau continued. "You see what he did with 'Star Trek.' He kept the fans satisfied, because he kept true to the spirit of it, and yet he made it something. That's a hard thing that I don't think anyone can accomplish except for him. He's uniquely qualified for it." Star Wars Episode VII comes to theaters December 18, 2015.