David Fincher has revealed that he was considering directing Star Wars: Episode VII, the mega-hyped revival of the long-running space opera saga.

Fincher told Total Film he met with LucasFilm president Kathleen Kennedy to discuss the project, and suggested his take might have been very different to the one currently being prepared by JJ Abrams.

“It’s tricky … My favourite is The Empire Strikes Back,” said Fincher. “If I said, ‘I want to do something more like that,’ then I’m sure the people paying for it would be like, ‘No! You can’t do that! We want it like the other one with all the creatures!’”

Fincher said he saw the original trilogy as “the story of two slaves [C-3PO and R2-D2] who go from owner to owner, witnessing their masters’ folly, the ultimate folly of man…” He added: “I thought it was an interesting idea in the first two, but it’s kind of gone by Return Of The Jedi.”

Fincher, who worked as an assistant cameraman on Return of the Jedi, is currently promoting dark mystery thriller Gone Girl, starring Ben Affleck and Rosamund Pike. He did not make it clear in the interview whether discussions with Kennedy had left open the possibility of involvement in future Star Wars instalments. Directors Rian Johnson and Gareth Edwards are set to take charge of Episodes VIII and IX and the first ever Star Wars spin-off movie, but Disney plans to release a new movie each year from 2016 onwards – so, in theory, Fincher might yet get his chance to take the saga in a new direction.