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George Lucas Struggles to Reinvent Himself
GuyMannDude writes "Wired has a lengthy article about what lies ahead for George Lucas. Originally a member of a maverick group of young filmmakers who were at odds with the thinking and methods of the major studios, he has now become the most financially successful director in history by marketing the ultimate popcorn fodder. With the Star Wars saga ending, Lucas now struggles with how to reinvent himself." I imagine it will be hard to get away from Star Wars, given that he's producing television shows set in the fictional universe.
Must ... Reinvent ... Self ... ;-)
Tedious Bloggy Stuff - hooray?
Lucas should have stuck to what he was good at: having a fertile imagination, having the knack of transferring the detailed worlds he created to the big screen and being a very successfull business man in terms of negotiating with the big studios merchandising rights and so on.
Unfortunately he made the huge mistake of trying to be director again, instead of just a producer. IMHO, the best Star Wars movies where episodes V and VI, both of which he didn't direct.
Maybe he could come up with something totally new and awe inspiring with SOME story this time. Gone are the days where eye candy was enough to make a great hit.
He isn't a great filmmaker. He isn't even a passable mass-market filmmaker. He's a guy who made a cult hit that happened to be a global hit.
And then he made a series with Spielberg.
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For starters, he could make the fourth Indiana Jones movie that the fans have been waiting for years. And he doesn't have much time left, given Harrison Ford's age...
> Trust me George... you can only go up from here if you follow
> these simple instructions.
This is getting annoying.
George Lucas doesn't read Slashdot, and he probably never will.
We're all sorry he did not use your saliva-encrusted fan fiction as the basis for his script for Episodes I-III, but millions of people enjoyed the movies anyway.
Comments such as yours and of the two dozen other minority ranters on Slashdot are getting irritating to no end. If you don't like the movies, fine -- click on Preferences, then click on Homepage, and de-select Star Wars. There! wasn't that easy?
I hope George Lucas makes Jar-Jar a freakin' Jedi Master in Episode III just to piss off the "George Lucas killed my childhood" crowd.
Insert simplistic political, ideological, or personal proselytization here.
Everyone's so quick to bash Lucas, but seriously, have you people been paying any attention to his media campaign lately? He's really coming off like he's sorry for ep 1 & 2, and the whole special edition thing... I mean, ep is gonna be PG-13?!? He's said it'll be "Star Wars goes to Hell," for chissakes. That doesn't sound like the words of a man milking some cash-cow for all its worth... If it were, he'd be coming with more furry little ewaks.
Say what you want, but Lucas has always stuck to his guns over the years, creating HIS vision on the screen, not kowtowing what to a bunch of acned sci-fi dorks want to see. That takes integrity. Only time will tell if he can withstand the onslaught of attacks from lesser "fans" who probably never even filmed so much as a school play!
You mean, like a DV camcorder and a PC?! Or custom flash animations? Or Machinima? Or an Intel 'Play' ($100 or less at toy stores everywhere)?
Seriously, someone emailed me a 1-minute, 20-frame animated gif that made me laugh myself silly (google 'lord-of-the-rings really-really'). Napoleon Dynamite (a so-so flick) cost $60,000. 401-the-movie (or whatever that homebrew flick was called) was done by two guys in a garage. Whether you go gonzo and buy old gear (early video toasters are STUPID cheap on ebay, for the capability they have) or buy new consumer/hobbyist gear (toys or personal gear), you can create stuff easily nowadays. And once done, between burnable discs, torrents and viral marketing and websites, good material can be distributed more easily than ever, too.
The difference between a damn-funny personal movie and commercial cinema isn't in the creativity (the writing, editing, acting, etc). It's all the details. I judged a regional film fest last year, and the judges instinctively 'cut slack' to beginner projects. If the content is good, everyone tolerates cut corners. But, once there's money to be made, you have to go back and reshoot, paying attention to the details.
Until the goal is truly going commercial, people can do amazing stuff just using COTS gadgetry and a PC. The capability is there sixteen different ways to sundown. Hell, people can do cool stuff in freakin' Powerpoint, as David Byrne demonstrated last year.
I'm sure there are technical hardware improvements possible. But they're not the barrier. Competitions or websites giving these airtime/attention, busted copyright laws (it should be legal/cheap (via compulsory licensing?) to co-opt content like LOTR RRSE does) and desire and experience are about the only impediments.
Well, he's been doing mostly Star Wars for the last decade or so. But before that he helped write Indiana Jones, and a lot of people thought that was pretty good. He also did the story for Willow, which a lot of people liked.
And as another poster mentioned American Graffiti was quite good, with the very, very young Harrison Ford. Maybe what he needs to do is rewatch American Graffiti, which is a very different movie from everything else he's done. That's a whole non-scifi/fantasy career track he abanandoned 30+ years ago he could revisit. Perhaps he should stop trying to tell big stories and tell little ones instead.
You know, before I answer any more questions there's something I wanted to say. Having read all your posts over the years, and... I've spoken to many of you, and some of you have traveled... y'know... hundreds of miles to be here, I'd just like to say... GET A LIFE, will you people? I mean, for crying out loud, it's just a movie!
I mean, look at you, look at the way you're dressed! You've turned an enjoyable little job, that Lucas did as a lark for a few years, into a COLOSSAL WASTE OF TIME! I mean, how old are you people? What have you done with yourselves?
You, you must be almost 30... have you ever kissed a girl? I didn't think so! There's a whole world out there! When I was your age, I didn't watch movies! I LIVED! So... move out of your parent's basements! And get your own apartments and GROW THE HELL UP! I mean, it's just a movie dammit, IT'S JUST A MOVIE!
I think that sums it up.
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I disagree. I know the standard Slashdot claim is that Lucas is only in it for the money. Squeezing the last dollars out of your childhood memories, etc.
But I don't believe it.
Look at the way he lives. Watch any of the biographies on him. He has never been someone in it for the money. See Donald Trump for an example of how someone in it for the money lives. George could afford a wildly lavish lifestyle. But he doesn't live it.
All the money goes back into the process. ILM. THX. Skywalker Sound. LucasArts. Etc. He likes the job. He likes creating stuff. He likes being a part of new filmmaking technology. That's what he is in it for.
I'll readily agree that he isn't necessarily very good at making movies. At least, not at making good movies. But he hit it big with Star Wars (ANH), and has leveraged it to continute doing what he likes. Fox studios would do anything to get 7-9 made, but it isn't their decision. They gave that right to Lucas back in the 70s.