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George Lucas: "I'm Done With Star Wars"

HughPickens.com writes: Entertainment Weekly reports that George Lucas has compared his retirement from Star Wars to a break-up – a mutual one, maybe, but one that nonetheless comes with hard feelings and although Lucas came up with story treatments for a new trilogy, those materials, to put it bluntly, were discarded. "They decided they didn't want to use those stories, they decided they were gonna go do their own thing," says Lucas. "They weren't that keen to have me involved anyway. But at the same time, I said if I get in there I'm just going to cause trouble. Because they're not going to do what I want them to do. And I don't have the control to do that anymore. All I would do is muck everything up. So I said, 'Okay, I will go my way, and I'll let them go their way.'" Lucas says he was going to tell a story about the grandchildren of figures from the original trilogy. "The issue was, ultimately, they looked at the stories and they said, 'We want to make something for the fans,'" says Lucas. "So, I said, all I want to do is tell a story of what happened – it started here and went there. It's all about generations, and issues of fathers and sons and grandfathers. It's a family soap opera."

Although the team behind The Force Awakens acknowledges they're taking the story in a different direction from what Lucas intended, they maintain affection for his original creations and the man himself. "Before I showed up, it was already something that Disney had decided they wanted to go a different way with," says J. J. Abrams. "But the spirit of what he wrote, both in those pages and prior, is everything that this movie is built upon." Some fans question why there was no "Based on" credit for Lucas in the poster for The Force Awakens. "I don't know why it isn't on the poster, but it's a valid point. I'm sure that that will be a credit in the film," says Abrams. "We are standing on the shoulders of Episodes I through VI."

7 of 424 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Jar Jar Binks by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    If only this were true...

    https://www.reddit.com/comments/3qvj6w
    https://www.reddit.com/r/DarthJarJar/comments/3rntpj/theory_support_megathread/

    That would have been the best twist ever. Alas we just have a meandering annoying character.

  2. Re:Surprised? by hairyfeet · · Score: 5, Interesting

    No he didn't, the problem was after Empire he began to lose people who would tell him no which is the kiss of death to a guy like Lucas.

    If you watch the behind the scenes on SW and ESB there were people there that would actually tell Lucas no, tell him what they REALLY thought, be totally honest with the guy...Watch the video on the making of TPM, there are literally dozens of times where you can see Lucas talking and the eyes and expressions of those he is talking to are fucking CRINGING because they know this is a dumb idea...do they say a word? Nope they bite their tongues and say "sure thing George, great" because they are afraid of losing a check.

    So if you want to know what killed the prequels it was Lucas not having anybody around him with the guts to say "this just isn't working George" and to let him know whats what.

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    ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
  3. Re:Lucas not having control to do what he wanted by Billly+Gates · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Because you can't have your $4 Billion dollar cake, and eat it too?

    Dude do you have any idea how rich Lucas is?

    I had a friend from college who was a VP when a quote from Walt Disney came up in business management class "After a certain point. You come to work to do your passions. I have all the money in the world as it is .." Basically he told me the folks he knows work to piss on their other business owners to show who is top dog. They have all soo much money that a few million here or there won't make a difference.

    Yes for you or I would jump and trip over anyone offering me freaking $4 billion dollars!! But, I have bills to pay. Jobs I go to that are not all that great but needed so I do not have to move in with my parents. I have a car with 130,000 miles on it and student loans and a retirement to worry about. So yeah, Mr. Lucas does not have these problems.

    If he wanted he could go live like Mr. McAffee on a tropical beach with hookers, parties, and drugs, with his own jet to go and do whatever he wants when he wants before this deal with Disney. Money is not something on his mind unless his goal was to have another pissing ego contest on someone else so he can grin on how rich and successful he is.

    Just a perspective us peasants never really consider. Perhaps we too can make something of ourselves with a startup someday? But anyway he already has cashed out as wealthy back in the late 1970s. ... of course the flipside is poverty. I type this and am middle class. Imagine working 3 jobs and wondering how you are going to eat or keep the lights on? That too is not a concern for Lucas. Perhaps he should not have sold it? I wonder what his intentions were or did a divorce made him do this?

  4. Re:Jar Jar Binks by captjc · · Score: 5, Interesting

    There is still a belief that Kylo Ren may be Jar-Jar. Just look at the mask. Only time will tell.

    "No one cared who me-sa was until me-sa put on da bombad mask"

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  5. George Lucas did not create Star Wars by Dega704 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Contentious thing to say, but it's technically true. The only thing he deserves credit for are the initial story ideas. In the end, the original trilogy was the result of a lot of creative input from a lot of people; to his great displeasure. Some of its most iconic moments happened in spite of him rather then because of him. (Actual quote to him from Harrison Ford during filming: "You can type this shit but you can't say it.") He has made it excruciatingly clear that he hates the original trilogy and has always hated it because he didn't have total control over it; and thinks that the only thing that made everyone love it was HIS creative input. All of the praise and fame he earned as a result of it's success, which he literally bet against with Spielberg, led him to think "Wow, if everyone loved movies that only slightly showcased my vision, imagine how much they will love them when I DO have control over every aspect!" At this point he was rich, powerful, and surrounded by yes men who dared not question him. We all know what the results looked like. The only thing he as proven beyond a shadow of a doubt is that if Star Wars had turned out how he wanted, it would have been terrible. There would have been no sequels, no merchandising empire, no worldwide generation-defining cultural impact. Just another sub-par sci-fi flick from the 70s. The "creator" of Star Wars was also its biggest liability.

  6. Re:Jar Jar Binks by Jack+Griffin · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I'm still waiting for a remake of Corvette Summer with Christensen as lead...

  7. Re:What a coincidence! by Fire_Wraith · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Ironically, merchandise was the one thing that Lucas told Mel Brooks was off-limits, because the toys would be too similar.