Sci-Fi George Lucas -- Done with Star Wars

Kevin

Code Monkey
Staff member
After Disney bought the Star Wars franchise from George Lucas, along with the rest of the LucasFilm catalog, one of the things that was never really settled was how much involvement, if any, would Lucas continue to have? In a recent interview Lucas seems to make it pretty clear that not only is he not involved with the Star Wars franchise anymore but that he is not exactly happy with the direction that Disney is taking it.

What's interesting is that now he describes it as a "soap opera" but when the backlash started over the direction he took the prequel movies his argument then was that it was meant for kids. That was his justification for stuff like having Greedo shoot first revisionist history and the silly stuff like the two-headed sports announcer in SW: The Phantom Menace that seemed more like something out of a Saturday afternoon kids show then the SW universe. And, well, let's not even mention Jar Jar Binks.

But now with Star Wars under the Disney umbrella, and with JJ Abrams taking inspiration from the original trilogy, fans are excited over SW: The Force Awakens that opens in just a few weeks... and Lucas seems to be not that happy about it all.

From CNN:

A long time ago in a movie industry far, far away, George Lucas was an experimental filmmaker.

And then came "Star Wars," and it took over the Hollywood galaxy -- and Lucas' life.

No more, says the filmmaker. He's done.

"You go to make a movie and all you do is get criticized," Lucas told Vanity Fair. "People try to make decisions about what you're going to do before you do it. It's not much fun. You can't experiment. You have to do it a certain way."

He expanded on his remarks to CBS News.

"The issue was ultimately, they looked at the stories, and they said, 'We want to make something for the fans,' " Lucas said, presumably referring to Disney, which purchased Lucasfilm -- including the "Star Wars" franchise -- in 2012. "People don't actually realize it's actually a soap opera, and it's all about family problems; it's not about spaceships. So they decided they didn't want to use those stories. They decided they were going to do their own thing, so I decided, 'fine. ... I'll go my way, and I let them go their way.' "

Lucas had little involvement in the forthcoming film, "Star Wars: The Force Awakens."

It's not the first time Lucas has bristled at the way his creation has become fan property. When the original trilogy was issued on DVD several years ago, he tweaked the special effects. More shockingly -- at least to many fans who love the bad-boy edge of Han Solo -- when "Star Wars" was released in a 1997 re-release, he changed the film to show that Greedo, not Han, shot first in the cantina scene.

Certainly, Lucas is comfortable enough to do what he wants. The director who started out idolizing Akira Kurosawa, wrote an early treatment of Francis Ford Coppola's "Apocalypse Now" and made his first film, "THX 1138," about dehumanization can go back to his experimental side. The catch, he told Vanity Fair, is that nobody wants to see experimental films these days.

He says he plans to direct movies, "but not movies that will be shown anywhere."

And "Star Wars"? Well, perhaps his response to one Vanity Fair question sums everything up.

Asked whether he could be any character in "Star Wars," he first noted that he liked all the characters and then didn't hesitate.

"Jar Jar Binks," he said -- the character most widely reviled by "Star Wars" fans.

 
"You go to make a movie and all you do is get criticized," Lucas told Vanity Fair. "People try to make decisions about what you're going to do before you do it. It's not much fun. You can't experiment. You have to do it a certain way."

saw the thread,,,and thought I would say a few words from my p.o.v.

Man..Mr. Lucas I feel your pain there.. yessirree.
Same thing happens to every game developer and modeler/artist/texturer also.

Well, as a player of the Swtor MMO by Bioware/LucasArts/EA/Disney
I see an earful on the subject of Lucas,SW"s and all constantly.
People are so critical,and usually don't have an inkling of a clue of what it takes to make a film,
write a story.etc. And when it becomes a massive sellout...more so.
Besides that...I really do not understand why Mr. Lucas is such a target.I guess it is the essence of the modern human.

---Kind of like ...why I do not understand why the half the world hates Jews--I suppose I was never taught to hate Jews and why.--They don't bother me,hurt me,affect me or have done anything to me or my family ever to my knowledge.
But Obama has! And Hillary intends too! << Political Humour


Part of the problem is..everyone else is second guessing something after it has been made.
Without ever considering what it took to make it, create,write,film,edit,score.
Sure , we can all imagine. We all do not apply that though or make an attempt.
Some do and have , and hit mass appeal like a Nuclear Detonation....then are forever reamed
on what others think it should have been or should be.


With Star Wars..I am lost. Been so many games and series and cartoons I see in Gen. Chat. in game..
My history of SW's is the first three films..then Dark Forces series games and Rebellion...
all pre Prequels. (Star Wars I see and Play is nothing of the Star Wars I saw in 1977-1980-1983 Appx)
And the story content I missed leading up to most of what is perceived as star wars.

In some ways, I feel some pity for the guy. Place yourself as making something that goes viral.
Everyone wants a hand in it, wants to change/alter to their tastes etc.
Takes it over. Runs it amok.Constant second guessing and redo.

As much as I would love to have that happen to me/myself..I think it would actually destroy me.
Regards,
Randal R.
 
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