Ben Affleck confirms he turned down directing The Force Awakens

“I just think someone else who has more passion for this is going to do a better job,” Affleck recalled thinking. “And that’s not like some great self-sacrificing thing, because I thought I don’t know that I can make a great version of Star Wars or reinvent this.” The actor said reinventing the wheel is challenging, and the franchise has had its fair share of hits and misses. Affleck acknowledged that the fanbase has its own “very strong opinions” that add to the pressure—which is putting things lightly. The fanbase is known to be plagued by toxic fans. Despite unwarranted, racist vitriol directed at franchise newcomer John Boyega, plenty of people showed up to watch The Force Awakens in theaters, pushing the movie past $1 billion worldwide in 12 days. More than a decade later, Affleck has no regrets about turning down the gig. “It just was one that, like plenty of scripts that I’ve gotten as a director—I’ve certainly got better scripts as a director than as an actor that I’ve turned down—but I just thought like, ‘You know what? This would be—I don’t think I can do it as well as somebody else, and I don’t want to direct something that I don’t feel like I have a chance to be really, really proud of,'” he said.