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George Lucas without Star Wars.

post #1 of 8
7/18/07 at 5:37pm
Thread Starter 
I sometimes feel bad for George Lucas. I'm sick of Star Wars and I don't even immerse myself in the EU that much,and I haven't watched the films since ROTS in 2005, Lucas on the other hand has spent a good chunk of his life with Star Wars and I don't know but it doesn't seem too exciting to spend that much time with a story you created. I always wonder if George Lucas would have become a director with a large and diverse filmography like his filmmaking friends (Speilberg, Coppolla, etc), had he not done Star Wars. Yet we all know George Lucas is behind pretty much every technological innovation in Hollywood. So I really can't complain, I just wonder sometimes... and wasn't he supposed to become the filmmaker he always wanted to be after ROTS?
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post #2 of 8
7/18/07 at 5:44pm
People seem to forget that George Lucas spent 16 years without Star Wars.

The thing is, I think he's still not enjoying directing. And more esoteric, small films he produced (Mishima, Tucker, Twice Upon the Time) didn't exactly light up the box office.

I believe Lucas is afraid of turning out like Francis Coppola, who was pretty much his mentor and went from the Godfather to Jack. The difference being that while Zoetrope went bust, Lucasfilm has made so much money that this scenario seems highly unlikely.
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post #3 of 8
7/18/07 at 6:14pm
From what I understand about George Lucas, after he did Star Wars (or A New Hope or whatever) he said that he was never going to direct again. Anyone know why he decided to give it another bash for the prequals?
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post #4 of 8
7/18/07 at 6:33pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jona
From what I understand about George Lucas, after he did Star Wars (or A New Hope or whatever) he said that he was never going to direct again. Anyone know why he decided to give it another bash for the prequals?
I just figured he wanted absolute, total control. Technology had advanced to the point where he could point and shoot quickly, move to post-production, and then it was much more appealing to him to direct ILM geeks rather than actors.
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post #5 of 8
7/18/07 at 6:59pm
Coppola and Spielberg told him to direct the prequels. Kinda like how a parent tells a kid to play with his toys by himself instead of playing with him.
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post #6 of 8
7/18/07 at 7:09pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by mastronikolas
I believe Lucas is afraid of turning out like Francis Coppola, who was pretty much his mentor and went from the Godfather to Jack. The difference being that while Zoetrope went bust, Lucasfilm has made so much money that this scenario seems highly unlikely.
I don't know that its well known--maybe it is--but Coppola, in the wake of the Apocalypse Now debacle, started taking lithium for bi-polarity and this, apparently, lead to a rapid decrease in the quality of his work (altho it probably saved his marriage/sanity/life).


I don't think Lucas every really wanted to direct, I think he's more of a producer/designer guy. Even on American Graffiti he was, evidentally, incapable of working with actors.

Jim Cameron--who's definitely a much better director, but just as geeky/techie as Lucas--bounces back and forth between the documentaries/technical developments and films...I think Lucas should take a lesson.

That being said--this new Star Wars animated series, all CGI and no actors--could be great for Lucas. I don't see why he did the prequels with live action, anyways...you remove the terrible acting from 'em and what yr left with ain't 1/2 as bad.
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post #7 of 8
7/19/07 at 4:46am
I remember watching the doc on the two-disc THX-1138 dvd and hearing a story about how Lucas won an internship at Warner Brothers and was hoping to work at the animation department only to show up on the very day it was closed down by the studio.

Yes it's a shame he didn't find 3 modern day equivalents of people like Kershner and Marquand to direct the 3 prequels and that the original didn't remain the only George Lucas directed Star Wars film, but the way I look at it is that it kind of keeps the story of the original trilogy elevated above the back story of the prequels, and in a way that's how it should be.
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post #8 of 8
7/19/07 at 5:23am
Mike, that's probably the nicest non-gushing way of looking at the franchise I've heard, so far.
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