In an interview with Vanity Fair, director George Lucas opens up about why he walked away from the beloved franchise he created, Star Wars.
“You go to make a movie and all you do is get criticized,” Lucas explains. “People try to make decisions for you before you do it. It’s not much fun, and you can’t experiment. You can’t do anything. You have to do it a certain way.”
He’s light-hearted in the interview, but there’s something quite sad about what he says. I won’t lie about not liking the prequels (except for Ewan McGregor as Obi-Wan Kenobi), but the endless criticism has to be exhausting, especially for someone as close to the franchise as Lucas is.
Perhaps it’s time to move on from the criticism. After all, we may not like the prequels, but he did still create Star Wars and that accomplishment is far greater than the disappointment of the prequels.
He goes on to say he likes experimental films (check out THX 1138 if you haven’t!) and that’s the type of film he wants to get back to directing, although he predicts they’ll never be shown.
While Lucas doesn’t have a lot of directing under his belt outside of Star Wars, he proved he had more talent beyond his sci-fi/fantasy take on Jospeh Campbell’s Hero’s Journey with American Graffiti and it’s a shame we probably won’t see it again or at least any time soon.
The rest of the interview is fun, with Lucas saying he’d be Jar Jar Binks if he could be any Star Wars character and wondering if The Force Awakens director J.J. Abrams will explore Darth Vader’s grandchildren.
Lucas had all three trilogies planned out but when his third trilogy was scrapped and he walked away, Abrams worked on a new script with Lawrence Kasdan.
What do you think of the interview? How do you feel about George Lucas?
George Lucas Vanity Fair Interview
Source: Vanity Fair
