Director Guillermo Del Toro has revealed that he recently turned down an approach from Disney to be considered for directing Star Wars Episode VII the first film in the studios newly acquired franchise.

“We got one phone call to my agent saying, ‘Is Guillermo interested?’ And basically I have so much stuff already of my own, and I’m pursuing stuff that I’m generating already… It was very flattering. It was just a phone call, it didn’t go past that, it was very nice to be asked, but believe it or not, I’m busy enough.”

Del Toro is much in demand as always and has a seemingly endless list of projects in various stages of development or production. Recent reports and announcements have him directing a remake of The Haunted Mansion, a stop-motion animated Pinocchio, a new Incredible Hulk TV series, a possible third Hellboy film and an expensive adaptation of H.P. Lovecraft classic At The Mountains of Madness.  His much anticipated giant monster film Pacific Rim will be released  later this summer, with a sequel already being planned.

While fans may be disappointed to see him out of the running for Star Wars Del Toro has his own views on who should take over responsibility for the iconic George Lucas space saga:

 “I think the fans deserve somebody that is just going to immerse themselves completely. As a geek, I would have loved to see Brad Bird take it.”