Every director has his dream job, and Jon Favreau's dream job would have been to direct the newest installment of Star Wars. Of course, as we all know by now, he didn't get the gig... but he said that he would have jumped at the chance to direct it if the producers approached him in the first place about it!

Ace Showbiz is reporting that, initially, when the talk for Episode 7 began, three names were thrown in the ring for the director's chair. Matthew Vaughn, JJ Abrams (who ultimately got the job), and Favreau. Favreau -- who is currently enjoying a bit of indie success with the premiere of his star-studded film Chef at South by Southwest this year -- says that he was never approached for the chair, and even though he'd have liked the job, he has no hard feelings about the situation.

"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," he told the outlet.

In a separate interview with MTV.com, the Iron Man director said that he thinks Star Trek's JJ Abrams is a good fit for the director's chair, and he doesn't understand why so many "Star Wars" fans have animosity towards the notoriously private director (although, to be fair, ANY director who sat in the chair for Episode 7 was going to be subject to scrutiny -- Favreau himself wouldn't have been immune to the criticism if it were him, and not Abrams, in the chair).

"He's great because he works with the old generation, and he works with the new generation," he said. "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."