Lucas Disappears Entirely

Once upon a time, there was a promising young filmmaker named George Lucas. He had deep thoughts about religion, drug-use, socialism, dreams, and the power of aspirations. He built powerful and entertaining films around these big ideas, films that redefined technology and sound so thoroughly that one of his films – THX-1138 – is the name of the industry’s leading sound system.

But something happened to Lucas with the blinding financial windfall of Star Wars that slowly destroyed the promising filmmaker, replacing him with a corporate money vacuum plagued by self-delusion. Watch this interesting interview with Lucas on the Daily Show, and marvel at how far Lucas has fallen:

It’s disturbing to hear Lucas talk about Star Wars as if he must create these films. This is the most troubling quote of all:

“I love doing Star Wars. In the beginning, I thought it was going to be one little movie, and then move on. It’s not at all what I expected my life to be … But you take what you get.”

Huh? This is the sound of a man who seems to have no control over what he’s been doing in his life, which is ludicrous. Lucas made countless millions of dollars in ‘77/78 with the success of Star Wars. At that point Lucas could have walked away from that film and accomplished anything he wanted. He didn’t do that, of course. He went on and finished the trilogy, making him even richer and more powerful. Following that, Lucas could have easily walked away from the films and made whatever popped into his head. And while he produced a few films – Willow and Howard The Duck spring to mind – he did almost nothing for twenty years before coming back to make more Star Wars films! This idea that Lucas is some sort of Christ-like figure sacrificing his life and career for the good of Star Wars smacks of monumental delusion.

What is actually true is that Lucas was possibly the most talented of the young directors that came out of the early seventies film school generation, but he pissed it all away chasing money. This continued talk about Red Tails is simply more PR nonsense designed to make it seem as if Lucas is actually still a viable creative entity. He’s not. As the prequel DVD extras reveal, he’s simply an Emperor in the center of a massive industry, cherry-picking the creativity of others to make himself richer.

What a waste.

Thanks, SlashFilm!