RETURN OF THE JEDI is the least of the original trilogy of STAR WARS movies, but that is still heads and tails better than a lot of movies out there. I have fond memories of JEDI, including the Ewoks. But that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t be open to what other filmmakers would have done with it. Of course, hindsight is always 20/20, but it is fun to play revisionist.
Brad Bird got to know comedian Patton Oswalt when the two worked on Pixar’s RATATOUILLE and being the nerds they are, the topic got to STAR WARS. Oswalt shared this anecdote about how Bird told him he would have changed the opening of RETURN OF THE JEDI in a recent interview with Esquire.
I was talking with [director] Brad Bird one time, and he said it’s like the beginning of Return of the Jedi. Luke shows up and he’s a badass. He said they should’ve opened it with Luke in the swamp saying to Yoda, “You said ‘Don’t go.’ I said ‘F#@& you, I’m gonna go help my friends.’ I went and got my hand cut off and my friends are in even worse trouble because of what I did. I f#$@ed up everything.” And then Yoda should have gone, “Now you’re a Jedi. Now you’re beyond the fear of failure. Now you’re ready.” That would have made it even cooler.
This news makes me want even more for Brad Bird to helm a future STAR WARS movie, but for now we will have to wait patiently for TOMORROWLAND and see if J.J. Abrams messes up EPISODE VII.