George Lucas sat down with Charlie Rose for a wide-ranging interview following the massive success of Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Lucas had very little (to nothing) to do with the success of SWTFA, considering he sold the property lock, stock and barrel to Disney for a relative bargain years ago. But Lucas still has thoughts, feelings and many, many words about it. In the midst of a long-winded answer about why he didn’t have a say in the characters these days, Lucas revealed:
“I sold them to the white slavers that takes these things, and…” Lucas says before laughing and cutting himself short. Lucas says he decided to go his own way and let J.J. Abrams create his own vision. “They wanted to do a retro movie. I don’t like that. Every movie, I work very hard to make them completely different, with different planets, with different spaceships, make it new.”
With massive pop culture footprints and billions of dollars earned, Star Wars and Indiana Jones make for an enviable legacy. But Lucas doesn’t want to be remembered for that; parenthood reigns supreme. “I gave up directing in order to become a dad for 15 years,” he says. “I just ran a company and was an innovator, but it was not doing what I really like to do, which is make movies.” Lucas made the decision after creating Return of the Jedi, and didn’t look back for a decade and a half. “It was one of those things where you don’t expect it to happen, but once I was a dad, it was like a bolt of lightning struck me.”
Though his name is inextricable from that galaxy far, far away, Lucas’ cinematic ambition lay outside of popcorn films. “I fell into popular movies by accident. I always disliked Hollywood theatrical movies. I didn’t want anything to do with them,” he tells Rose. Instead, Lucas says he wanted to make films like the Michigan documentarian Michael Moore. “My ambition then was to … cause trouble, because — again, I grew up in the ’60s, I’m a ’60s kind of guy, I always have been. I grew up in San Francisco Bay Area. That was my environment that I grew up in, and I was perfectly happy to do it.” He and longtime friend Francis Ford Coppola moved to San Francisco to create their own film company before both jumped into the Hollywood machine.
White slavers = Disney? Don’t get me wrong, I have issues with Disney too, but that argument coming from Lucas is… problematic. Especially considering Disney paid Lucas $4 billion… to NOT work, to not put his thoughts on screen one more time. And if you watch even a clip of the interview, you’ll see the real problem with Lucas – he talks the way he writes, in convoluted, half-assed, barely executed thoughts, meandering here and there.
Update: Lucas issued an apology for the “white slavers” comment in particular – you can read his long-winded apology here.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
I don’t understand this, was George Lucas or a family member sick that forced him to sell the company? Couldn’t have George and Disney worked out an agreement where he retained some creative input in any future movies? He could have easily walked away from the deal, no one was forcing him to sell to Disney. He certainly has a few BILLION dollars to help with any hurt feelings
Lucas didn’t have a problem cashing the white slavers check, did he? He sounds bitter his movies never hit the numbers that The Force Awakens did.
He probably wants a cut of the film profits too. That BIllion dollar plus cheque from Disney will not go far in today’s economy. Cost of living and stuff “eye roll”
@NewWester: George gave every cent of the $4 billion to charity.
And I doubt George will be invited to any more Star Wars movie premieres. Talk about burning bridges.
You’re kidding right? SW:ANH adjusted for inflation is the second highest grossing movie of all time just behind Gone with the wind. SW: ANH grossed 400 million in 1977. That isn’t chicken feed.
@Iheartjacksparrow: In 2012 Lucas CLAIMED he would give ‘most’ of the $4 billion to charity. However, after way too long searching the internet I have found NO evidence that he’s actually followed thru. The best I could find is he’s given $175 million to University of Southern California (a drop in the bucket when you think about it, and USC is not exactly a charity) & $25 million to University of Chicago Laboratory schools. So, yeah…I call shenanigans on your claim he’s donated it all.
iheartjacksparrow
No he didn’t. He made a claim in passing. Not that he hasn’t donated a lot of money, but hardly what he’s stated he would. And has yet to pledge too.
I love Star Wars but I think George Lucas is a mega asshat.
He’s just mad because everyone is saying,”Thank god Disney bought Star Wars!” They redeemed the franchise and most Star Wars fans wish the last three never got made.
I tend to agree. Sounds like sour grapes.
I agree wholeheartedly. There was actually a documentary made years ago called The People vs. George Lucas about how disappointed his fans were with the prequel trilogy.
Not sure it is all just sour grapes, as I think people forget what a unique mind George Lucas has. Most movies wouldn’t exist today without Lucas as he transformed how movies were made with Industrial Light and Magic. First I agree he does have a tendency to speak off the top of his head, and the white slave comment is just bad, especially when you got billions for it -hardly slavery. Part of Lucas’ problem was that he did always try to do something new and revolutionary in each of his movies, and he may have forgotten the story a bit.
Even though I loved the new movie, I understand Lucas’ point though this really is the first Star Wars movie, and I think a lot of fans could have written it. Every dramatic moment was very predictable based on knowledge of the first pictures. Also the look was very similar to the first ones, just a bit updated and also with a true female lead updated the times a bit. I think Lucas probably wishes they did something different, and if I wrote and envisioned the first characters I probably would have felt the same way. Now if you paid me over 4 billion dollars I hope I would have had enough common sense to be quiet, but I am not George Lucas.
I do love how now people bash the prequels, when they did make a ton of money and really weren’t panned by critics either at the time, look at rotten tomatoes if you don’t believe me, hardly failures by any one’s account. Only Episode 1 got some bad reviews and that was mixed, and Episode III actually did pretty well both critically and money wise. Granted they weren’t as good as first ones, but they did have some interesting and ground breaking effects and the third one actually was a pretty good story. I just think by Episode III people had given up on Lucas’ vision as he had gotten too much in the technical part of film making in the others. Obviously, they weren’t what a lot of the die hard Star Wars fans wanted, they did want a retro nostalgic pic and they got that with Abrams.
This.
Episode 1 was more hyped. After that people didn’t bother with Clone Wars.
Episode 3 was for some closure. It was still bad.
And Lucas cashed in on special effects and very basic story lines. Rebel saving distressed princess. Love story. Farm boy dreaming of more and saving lives on a grand scale. Grand speculation on spirituality.
I’m a fan of SW. Massive and more so in my youth. The books are great. The galaxy is vast. The prequels are junk.
And most of those positive reviews come from critics that post to not well known websites.
I read an article the other day about his ex-wife. She’s all but been erased from the history of Star Wars, but she was an editor on the first three and had massive input on them. Sounds like quite a talented woman and I think the prequels bombed because he didn’t have her injecting heart and story into them.
My sister loved the prequels, until a few years later reviews told her she shouldn’t (I enjoy them, though not as much as the originals).
I guess to imagine a world of wookies and Jaba-The-Huts you have to be a little out there, but…. whet? It seems like this man is made of drivel. I can’t understand most of what he says.
Don’t forget his greatest creation… Jar Jar Binks!
The “white slavers” didn’t create Jar Jar Binks, George. Also, Star Wars fans clearly wanted a retro movie and that’s why the latest one has been more popular than any of the prequels.
@Brincalhona, who wrote: “Also, Star Wars fans clearly wanted a retro movie and that’s why the latest one has been more popular than any of the prequels.”
That’s a fairly bold statement, considering movie ticket prices and number of theaters were substantially lower for the original films. The widest theater release for “The Force Awakens” was 4,134 screens with adult ticket prices at $10.70 (regular 2-D), $14.41 (3-D), and $16.53 (IMAX 3-D). Whereas, for:
“Star Wars” (1977), overall box office $775.3 million Worldwide, movie ticket prices were one-third of regular ticket prices today (matinee adult prices were $2.25 and regular adult prices were probably $3.25 – $4.00) without 3-D or IMAX, widest release–1,750 theaters.
“The Empire Strikes Back” (1980), overall box office $538.2 million Worldwide, movie ticket prices were one-third of regular ticket prices today (matinee adult ticket prices were $2.69 and regular adult prices were probably $3.50 – $4.50) without 3-D or IMAX, widest release–1,278 theaters.
“Return of the Jedi” (1983), overall box office $475.1 million Worldwide, movie ticket prices were one-third of ticket prices today (matinee adult ticket prices were $3.15 and regular adult prices were probably $4.25 – $5.50) without 3-D or IMAX, widest release–1,764 theaters.
Here is the source I used for retro ticket prices, although I can tell you that these are ‘matinee’ prices because the regular adult ticket price at AMC in 2015 was $10.75 and the adult matinee ticket price was $8.50. I attended an evening show of “Star Wars” in 1977 at Showcase Cinemas, and although I can’t recall the actual ticket price I can tell you that it was more than $2.25 and less than $5.00.
Here is the “Adjusting for Movie Ticket Price Inflation” Box Office Mojo webpage link:
http://www.boxofficemojo.com/about/adjuster.htm
@Emma – The JP Lover : She’s talking about the prequels with Ewan McGregor in them, not the original trilogy.
Yeah, but Star Wars made 400 million after being released three or four times in the theater over several years between its initial release in 77 and the release of empire in 80. It also had little to no competition, and stayed in theaters the first time for twelve months.
In today’s market, there’s far more competition and a far shorter shelf life for films in theaters. A movie is pushed out after 4 to six weeks. There’s little profit to be made in the box office after that.
He never bad-mouthed the movie, though and he did say that the film would be exactly what the fans would want – retro. He deserbes his own opinion and he would have done it differently.
Disney HAS done silly things before as much as we may love them. They went a safe route and he wouldn’t have but he spoke about it for the first time AFTER it came out. Seems fair.
So I finally was forced to see the movie and I do think that Lucas would have made a different movie focussing more on the character interactions and the family story. There were a few inconsistencies that were a bit too Disney for me, too: Luke trained all his life to be a Jedi, yet the new girl learnt everything within a few days? Some of the fights seemed illogical.
I think they played it safe for this one, they had a lot banking on it and if it failed…. Hopefully the other 2 push the boat out.
I haven’t seen it but this is JJ Abrams were talking about – he’s not known for his consistent storytelling. Just look at all the MI and ST movies to see that.
As for Rey learning the force v quickly – i gather from hardcore fans that her force abilities will be explained in the next movies. Its strongly believed she’s a Skywalker, possibly Luke’s daughter, who may have prodigal force abilities. Its also been suggested that she received Jedi training at some point in her early life. Her back story/real identity is JJ’s big secrety secret reveal (which is as obvious as BC being Kahn in the last ST movie).
@Betti, who wrote: “Its strongly believed she’s a Skywalker, possibly Luke’s daughter, who may have prodigal force abilities. Its also been suggested that she received Jedi training at some point in her early life.”
Luke was Darth Vader’s son and even ‘he’ had to train (for two films, in fact) before being fully connected to the Force, at least connected enough to face his Father. SPOILER … SPOILER … SPOILER
SPOILER
SPOILER
SPOILER
Rey didn’t even know what a light saber was, even when she finally came upon one late in the film.
Memories could have been suppressed. Like how she was dreaming of being on an island like the 1 Luke is on.
Now that could be the Force reaching out to her or because she was there and the memory was resurfacing
Like did not train all his life. He basically trained about a day or two in the first movie. (Yes, there was more training later). Her level of proficiency after a couple of hours is silly.
Luke didn’t start to train until he met Obi-wan when he was 19. The one thing he had trained at all his life was flying, which comes into play at the Death Star.
My take on Rey is two fold. She says in the movie she has flown ships (so that’s not out of the blue) and she’s clearly had hand to hand combat experience (see the staff fight early on). She’s sloppy in the light sabre fight, and against an injured opponent.
Part two: I’m in the Luke’s daughter camp but either way I think she had early training (if she’s Luke’s daughter, probably since birth). So nothing she did was out of the blue. The question is what were her early experiences and why can’t she remember.
I think you nailed it.
Rey’s lack of memories is a piece of the story they will expand upon.
She’s Kylo Ren’s twin.
Technically Jedi can’t fall in love or have sex because it clouds their judgement and is against their vows and what they believe in. Also I think it would be way too obvious if Rey was Luke’s daughter.
I am more prone to believe she is Kylo Ren’s twin sister. Maybe that’s why she had such a strong connection with Han solo.
I don’t think Leia could have hidden her feelings if her long lost daughter had come home. That’s why I don’t believe she’s Kylo’s sister. She would have recognized her because she was wearing her hair the same way she was the day she was left at the planet as a child.
I believe she’s Luke’s daughter and maybe her mother was one of the Jedis Luke was training. That way she would get the Force from both parents and could be stronger than Kylo who is emotionally very unstable/immature and torn between the light and dark side.
A long long time ago, I read some of the novels. Leia and Han had twins in the books, if memory serves. Boy and girl.
By the time Luke got his training, there were no more Jedi rules about social codes in terms of relationships, imo. Did Ben or Yoda ever tell him that? Not on screen.
Anyhoo, maybe Rey is Luke’s female version of a clone, but with added midi-chlorians, like a GM-Jedi (genetically-modified Jedi).
I’m on board with the theory that Rey is Obi-Wan’s granddaughter.
“Technically” being the word. And all the Old Jedi are dead. I doubt that code held and even if it did? Luke breaking it is good drama and good story.
The Kylo and Rey as siblings has “some” possibility but it is beyond slim. Plus a waste not to deal with it while you had Ford.
The twin theory is dumb, the actors are more than a decade apart, and they look it.
The Obi wan granddaughter thing makes even less sense. He lived under the code and broke it is more likely than Luke, a Jedi who never lived under the code?
@ iheartjacksparrow
Who would Ben have had a kid with? Aunt Beru? I doubt it.
Ac tally Jedi could fall in love and have sex– and did. What they couldn’t do was marry or raise families. When Luke resurrected the jedi order, he abolished this rule because he felt it led to problems. In the ecpanded universe, he married and had a son. This is well covered in the star wars ‘verse.
SPOILERS!!!
Another theory is that Rey is both the granddaughter of Obi Wan and the daughter of Luke. The official canon includes The Clone Wars computer animated series, and there is a story line about Obi Wan developing a close emotional attachment to another woman. If he has a daughter with this woman, the girl could then be force sensitive. It’s understood Luke sought out other force sensitive people to re-establish the Jedi order, and it’s not too much of a leap to believe they could hit it off and have a child of their own. Also, I need to rewatch the scene where Rey is left behind as a child. I hear she is mouthing the word “Mom” as she is being pulled away.
As for the novels where Han and Leia had twins, those have been discounted as canon and considered “Expanded Universe” – a parallel universe/story line to the official, gospel canon in the movies, cartoons, and upcoming tv shows. Episode 7 pretty much turned the Expanded Universe on its ear and is resetting everything the author Timothy Zahn took decades to develop.
I think Jedi can fall in love but shouldn’t, as it is bound to be a distraction to their purpose (akin to priests). But my son, who knows way more about Obi Wan than I do, said he did fall in love but gave her up. I’m of the mind that Rey is a descendant of Obi Wan.
Lucas has said that Jedi’s can have sex & get married (Edit: I read some of the above comments, I swore he said they could also get married). One of the working theories I have seen is that Rey is Luke’s daughter & she was at the Jedi camp when Kylo went after everyone. The theory goes is that Luke either thought she was dead & took off or she had her memory swiped and Luke dropped her off at Jarku (spelling?) to be safe. And other websites are reporting that the novels are no longer cannon, go by the movies & the cartoons for the cannon. And I guess in one the novels Luke was married to a fellow Jedi woman & they had a kid.
When I first saw Rey I was thinking an Obi-Wan relation as well. I like the Obi granddaughter and Skywalker daughter theory.
Canon or not, I think it’s just too convenient and lazy story-telling to make Rey Ben’s granddaughter. It’s just too inside the box. Even more so if Luke married Ben’s daughter. Just way too narrow in terms of all the possibilities that could exist.
Also, I don’t know why there haven’t been genetically-modified humans chock full of midi-chlorians if that’s all it takes to become powerful with the force. Even if the Jedi Council thought this was against the will of nature, you’d think the Siths would have come up with this idea long ago and built up an army of Siths. They have enough money, power, and scientifically-advanced capabilities to do it.
They had clone troopers based on Jango Fett, so why not Clone Jedis/Siths?
Or was this issue already explained in one of the prequel movies?
Btw, I think Lucas made a mistake in assigning the force to midi-chlorians. It should have been something left mysterious instead of something that can be pinpointed by technology and possibly recreated artificially. Again, maybe this was already addressed in the prequels? I don’t know.
He’s been bitter about the failure of his 3 precious prequels for years, that and that the fans turned on him after he kept re-releasing the original trilogy with minor alterations every fews years to squeeze as much money out of them as he could. JJ and Disney has revitalised the franchise and this has got to be a bitter pill for him to swallow.
He’s also a douche and am sure thats one of the reasons the original members never wanted anything to do with the trilogy again. He’s known as not being easy to work with – the cast for all 6 of his SW movies has said so.
I wonder how he felt when he saw the new script?!?!
Lest we forget he wanted the “Inter-dimensional Beings” (aliens) in Indiana 4…according to Spielberg.
I can’t believe that BS about wanting to direct counter-culture films. Um, you’ve been a gazillionare for decades, why didn’t you?
In fact, not only was George interested in lucrative movies, he was also interested in tacky, endless merchandising, which earned him 10 times what the movies did. He pursued it relentlessly, even re: the prequels, when he really didn’t need the money. Junior Anakin and Jar Jar Binks were even shoehorned in to supposedly (major misfire, of course) make the movies appealing to the kindergarten set.
And of course the disaster that was the forth Indiana Jones movie also proves how out of touch he has become with what a successful bit of movie storytelling involves.
When he was more honest years ago, Lucas admitted that he found it painful to work with actors (i.e. people). It shows. When left to his own devices and with all the money in the world, it became all technical, with very little humanity or even credible conversations onscreen.
I remember him saying that while he was filming the prequels (about not like working with actors). I think people tend to forget that he didn’t direct The Empire Strikes Back or Return of the Jedi or any of the Indiana Jones films.
I agree that they made a retro film. A guide to the high points of the original trilogy instead of making a new film, BUT George Lucas is a tosser who hasn’t had anyone challenge him or tell him no since he created the original trilogy. And it shows.
He can be lauded and blamed for creating the event film in equal measure, BUT seriously George, as my american friends say SU!!!
Lol, you tell him, LAK!
This.
Wherever they are,your accountants are probably pleased. This man is acting as if he didn’t rake in billions from this sale. Ugh.
I’m still eyerolling his multiple bitching about Hollywood refusing to finance his TUSKERGEE film when he was sitting on a billion dollars and could have financed several films.
You know which multi-billionaires are using their money to fund films instead of bitching about Hollywood not financing said films? The Ellison Siblings – Megan and David. She tends towards Indie, quirky fare whilst her brother sticks with blockbuster, Summer season fare.
Yep, Skydance Films could teach a thing or two to this. These kids could’ve swanned around doing bugger all like the Manners girls. Instead, they made a company that’s more than just a rich-kid-vanity-project. Anyways, thoughts on Prince Henrik’s retirement?
Don’t know much about Prince Henrik except for his questionable, though brave, dress sense, and his similarity to Philip as far as foot in the mouth disease and that he’s never come to terms with being Prince Consort ie he would have preferred to be on equal footing with his Queen Regnant.
Denmark will be less colourful for his retirement from the world stage. I hope he finds contentment in retirement.
Ps: I only read the headline, but didn’t read any of the reasons given for his retirement. I’m going to go read and probably come back and give a more considered answer.
If that’s how he felt why apologize…..
But , really….shut the F up with all your whining and bitc,hing. People didn’t like all your movies, and all your characters and you’re a billionaire. Boo Fn Hoo. He despises the opinions of the people that made him rich. Oh well. You made your choices. Grow up already.
Yes, George, they went completely retro and made a movie that was FUN! So sorry that you don’t like fun.
Why do you hate fun, George?
And what was that about how he did what he didn’t like to do for 15 years so he could be a father? What fresh b.s. is that?
The only good thing about the prequels were the costumes and the CGI.
The only actor who gave the impression of Giving af was Ewan McGregor while Natalie Portman and Hayden Christensen were embarassing. They’re dull actors in my opinion but they were incredibly disappointing maybe also due to a poor script and direction.
George Lucas gave life to the character I hate the most in Star Wars aka Jar Jar Binks. So not funny and stupid.
Disney brought back the original magic of the franchise. The Force Awakens is the best out of the 7 and George Lucas needs to STFU.
He got 4 billions to not be involved and now he wants to make statements.
NO one cares of what he has to say. He willingly sold it and he should be grateful he got that amount of money. He whines a lot. Just like Anikin Skywalker. Geez get a grip.
Yes – its hard to believe Portman went on to win an Oscar. I have never rated her as an actress, she’s passable with a good script and good director. Christensen, bless he was a bit inexperienced at the time and I agree about Mcgregor, his work ethic and talent shown through the crap he had to work with.
Did anyone ever see her in Closer? Poor Clive Owen and Jude Law were saddled with Portman and Julia Roberts in the female roles. IIRC Portman played a stripper–just awful.
Closer was bad. And Portmans performance was nothing good.
Natalie Portman is an AWFUL actress. How she ever won an Oscar is mystifying. George Lucas nearly ruined Star Wars with those ridiculous prequels and he needs to STFU about Disney.
You and I are friends.
I’d rather pluck out my pubes one by one than have to watch Hayden Christensen in a film.
He’s a good actor. SW was just a terrible story and he couldn’t outrun that single role he played.
Lucas changed his story on whether there even was an “episode 7-9” so….whatever? I’d like to say I regret not seeing his “true” version, but after the prequels I’m pretty positive I would not have liked it.
So George, did they become white slavers before or after they declined to use your newest “artistic vision” for the new movies???
Quit being a bitter bitch about the fact that almost no one liked your prequels not because we aren’t all creative geniuses, but because they were poorly written and constructed CGI messes that ignored script history that was already on record and instead relied almost wholly special effects. The reason you have the empire you do is because 40 years ago, someone was able to step in and rein in your worst instincts and instead hone them so the effects worked with the story instead of independently from it. And frankly, the fans MADE you the mogul you are today and that happened in part due to the devotion to the original trilogy, so just maybe you want to stop behaving as if we’re all a bunch of clueless idiots.
Say what you will about Disney, but a 4 BILLION dollar payout sounds pretty far from white slavery.
@grabbyhands ^^^^^^
BEST COMMENT!
I always wondered what unsung hereos are the ones who really ‘made’ Star Wars and reigned Lucas in.
I was ready for the world to start embracing the genius that is George Lucas again and then he says absolute shit like this 🙁
I’ll take “who’s bitter now” for three billion, Alex.
Nice. But did everyone here know that George Lucas founded Pixar (and then Steve Jobs bought into it)? The man knows a thing or two about things and deserves respect on many levels, even if he went out of his way to ruin his own creation.
During eps 4-6, Lucas retained the merchandise rights when making a deal with 20th Century Fox, iirc. That was his money-maker. So ep.s 5, 6, 1, 2, 3 became increasingly more like 1.5 hour-long commercials to sell the products.
Of course, George, you had new stuff in each subsequent movies. That meant more toys based on new characters.
Ugh, nobody likes a whiny billionaire.
What does “white slaver” mean?
One meaning is a woman forced into prostitution.
You want to cause trouble like Michael Moore? Then donate twenty million dollars to the Sanders campaign. That’ll do it.
He sold Star Wars for four BILLION dollars. FOUR BILLION DOLLARS. I am sure he can fill his day with plenty of things to do and complaining should NOT be one of them. I heard he’s big on charity, which is GREAT.
This dude is reminding me of Kanye. Anyone hear his new song where he says Nike is nothing more than a slave company? Funny, he loved Nike when he was working for them though ! Nike wouldn’t give in to Kanye’s demands so he jumped on over to Adidas. Don’t bite the hand that fed you first !
George why did you sell the “Star Wars and Indiana Jones”? Those people that are criticizing are trolls for you to sell them because I enjoyed the 3 prequels more than the sequels. I watched the prequel #2 four times in the theaters. I was surprised you sold them. Why did you let those people get into your nerves. Some of them are paid and some are sheep.
Waaaaah!
When billionaire’s cry, are their tears made of diamonds?
This man must be really intolerable to work with. Imagine everyone who tried to make suggestions to him, for him to be ‘it’s my way or the highway’. I can imagine people nudging him, in a diplomatic way, to say that his creation of Jar Jar Binks was sh!t, but did he listen? Of course not, because he is ‘George Lucas’. Yeah, the same George Lucas who pens crappy scripts and is a control freak – because how else can one explain the release of the crappy prequels the way they were?
Then he sells the franchise, gets billions and then complains – because once again, his ego has been bruised by the fact that someone else has come along and made something that’s watchable, using new actors for the main roles that take up a lot of screen time (including a new robot) – which is a feat – because the previous prequels featured known actors and were crap, with the last one being so damned unwatchable.
He looked kinda grumpy on the Kennedy Center Awards telecast also. He has a legacy – THX1138, American Grafitti, the real first three Star Wars, Indiana Jones – that he is tarnishing with his sour grapes. Best to retire to the ranch and make no more comments.
lucas is a joke. big fat joke…
1. He’s set to give the billions to charity, apparently.
2. He said *he* sold them to white slavers so that sounds like he accepts himself as culpable.
3. As an American making the reference, and America as a continent with a history of white slavers (and not really that long ago), what’s the problem with the reference? He didn’t say all white people were slavers. The history exists, the term isn’t a racial epithet, so why are so many people outside of Disney upset about it?
4. There are subtler narratives that Disney is likely to completely omit thus kind of regressing the story overall. So it’s not like they’re incapable of making a more acceptable trilogy that nontheless makes very little sense.
5. He should never have directed the prequels (or relied so heavily on green screen but I digress). Handing over the director reigns is why EMPIRE and JEDI ended up being good. ANH only got a pass for exemplary world-building, some of it was pretty bad. He’s not an actors’ director, imo.
(Couldn’t edit to add:)
6. The failure of the prequels don’t negate his other achievements in that universe, i.e. with creating the first series and making it viable but the overreaction has made it seem that way. So I can see why he might be butthurt about that.
7. He’d be better off creating something new rather than dwelling on what’s already done, tbh. People will probs wait until he’s dead to appreciate his contribution. Or at the very least only if a ‘better’ trilogy exists to palette cleanse the public opinion on his prequels.
What’s the problem? He admitted he sold out. Next.
Ha, This from the guy that created the Gungans, Nemoidians, and Watto.
I think he’s just bitter that The Force Awakens was a success whereas the prequels are generally regarded as the worst.