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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.
and He estimates that he gave two decades of solid work to Star Wars, not including a hiatus to raise three adopted kids as a single father.
Obviously the time has come for payback from his fans.
How many young Star Wars couples would be willing to raise their very own George Lucas Love Clone?
Come on, George. Donate some nuclei. Leave the midichlorian, er, mitochondrian DNA to the egg donor.
Face it -- its the right thing to do.
Bit serially, this guy has done a lot for digital cinema and his accumulated capital seems most appropriately put to use cultivating young talent. The academic cinema schools where he and his contemporaries got their start just aren't what they used to be but he could certainly help advance the state of the art in home "home schooled" digital movie production.
This would get kids in the hinterlands producing movies from their own myths, starting from the same age Spielberg was when he first got a hold of a movie camera.
Probably the best way to do it would be to get together with someone like John Carmack and define a series of prize awards for technologies that are critical to bringing the cost of movie production down.
Seastead this.
He should start his own space-flight company.
Have you read my blog lately?
Since when has the star wars saga come to an end? He's working on two new series for television, based on Star Wars. The third film isn't even out yet - and there's still the possibility of episodes seven, eigh and nine. Not to mention the various release versions that will come out over the next decade to make money off of the morons who buy everything with the words "star wars" on them.
If Lucas is stuck in a rut, it's his own doing. He's put out so much crap based on his original three pieces of crap almost three decades ago and he wonders why he's pigeon-holed and might have a hard time moving into something else? Well, fucking duh.
I couldn't really care less. I can't remember the last thing Lucas made that I enjoyed. The original Star Wars was okay - I can take it or leave it. The First of the new ones sucked (and I haven't seen any since) and I can't think of anything besides THX1138 that I've liked.
Hopefully he'll just vanish and make room for some new talent.
I want a knights of the old republic movie,
and timothy zahn's ones with admiral thrawn..
but made by the people who did pitch black or soldier
No, Lucas was a film-school hack who's never made a really imaginative movie. His one claim to serious filmmaking was American Grafitti, which has some technical highpoints, but made no real attempt to tell a story. Then Joseph Campbell taught him how mine the mythological tradition -- which in practice came down to finding cool movies and ripping off their better scenes. The result was Star Wars, which I've always seen as the cinematic equivalent of a theme park ride. Which a lot of people seem to like -- but it's not an achievement that qualifies you as a "Maverik Filmmaker".
IMHO, the animation of Jar Jar does not suck. The proof is that everyone hates him so much. He is realistically annoying.
In several interviews, although strangely not really mentioned by the Wired reporter, he says he has several ideas for small independant films. Not in the Woody Allen sense indy, but REALLY indy, like a guy with a camera and a couple actors go out and do stuff on budgets of under $1M.
These would unlikely be sci-fci (his words not mine) and likely be dramas and, again in his own words, have exactly zero mass appeal. So, really niche films that are very unpopular or have radical thoughts or ideas wrapped into the narrative.
I don't know why he's chosen to do this. Unlike Speilberg and Schindler's List, he has no political or epic historical story to tell. I would say Schnidler's List is not exactly a mass market movie either.
If small indy film is where he wants to go back to, I think he should do it. He should become a professor at USC's film school. That is really what I think would give him the most happiness. Imagine the wait list for that course.
One really interesting part of the article in Wired was the mention of another release of the 6 movies - this time in 3-D. Someone want to guess what he will add/subtract from the movies this time?
He's going to make episodes 7, 8 and 9. Yeah yeah, he said he wouldn't, but when has anyone in Hollywood ever left a franchise to rot on the vine when there's a dollar left to be squeezed out of it?
-1 Uncomfortable Truth
"I've earned the right to fail, which means making what I think are really great movies that no one wants to see."
Does this bother anyone else? If _no one_ wants to watch the movie, how can it be said to be great? Who cares if he thinks it's great?
I've seen people with really bad ideas who insist that they're great. It doesn't make them right.
Well then this seems to be a good starting point.
I don't expect you to answer this here but the question becomes, "What are the common characteristics of these 'details' that suck up the most time and energy?"
Computers are good at being indefatigable -- so where can they help with detail work? It seems they could help a lot if you could better characterize it.
Seastead this.
Theres enough fanbase on Starwars to make as many sequels as you possibly can before you die. It doesn't matter that its the same Universe, theres enough aliens, weaponry, unseen jedi abilities, and intrigue to milk it til you die. Its like telling Gene Roddenberry to reinvent himself. If he was alive, most trekkies would want him to be churning out more Star Trek.
God spoke to me.
What does that leave? Producing. You give the cash and some ideas, let others do the work.
Actually, you've missed what he's really good at and what the article hints at - editing the film into something that is very watchable.
Lucas has an amazing ability as a visual and audible story teller. He has the ability to place the viewer in the middle of the scene and make them feel as if they are a part of it. It is important to note that he worries about the sound just as much as the picture and they do merge seamlessly together.
He's the anti-Kevin Smith. Lucas has saddled himself with a story that everybody knows how it is going to play itself out, but he has managed to create some visually entertaining pieces of film along the way. Smith is the opposite, when he's at the top of his game you don't know what to expect at the end, but you know you'll be entertained by the dialog and bored by static cameras four to six feet from the talent.
The idea of Lucas being the anti-Kevin Smith got me to wondering what you would get if they were to collaborate. Smith would provide the story, dialog and characters while Lucas would make the movie visually and aurally interesting.
Hmmm... Kevin, if you're reading this, have your people talk to my people and we'll talk.
myke
Mimetics Inc. Twitter
Do you know what "Maverick" means? Hint: It has nothing to do with how good his films are.
Lucas is a maverick because he snubbed the studio system *and* the various Hollywood unions, including the Actor's and Director's Guild and made big-budget blockbuster *independent* films. (Lucas paid for The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi from his profits from Star Wars; no studio backed him.)
The closest modern director would probably be Robert Rodriguez, especially considering his recent fight with the Director's Guild over Sin City's credits.
Comment of the year
I thought the saga had 9 chapters. We saw 4,5,6,1,2 and soon we'll see 3. What about 7, 8, and 9?
- LotR
- Conan the Barbarian (not the Destroyer)
- Highlander
- Ladyhawke
- Excalibur
- Henry V (Branagh's version)
- The 7th Voyage Of Sinbad
- Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon
- The Princess Bride
- Robin Hood (Patrick Bergin version)
Realizing of course that a lot of this comes down to personal taste. It probably also depends on how you define "sword & sorcery".