Lucas satisfied with 'Star Wars' finish
By BRUCE KIRKLAND -- Toronto Sun
Lucas eyes 'Star Wars' TV shows
A 34-year odyssey is almost over: George Lucas has finished his sixth feature film based on the Star Wars mythology he first created in 1971.
"I'm not sad, I'm happy, I'm relieved," the often reclusive and usually defensive Lucas said in an upbeat interview this week. Lucas, who turns 61 tomorrow, was sitting with groups of reporters invited to the gated and guarded Skywalker Ranch, his personal headquarters on 5,000 acres tucked away in the rolling ranchland hills of Marin County, north of San Francisco.
"I enjoyed doing it," a grinning Lucas said of wrapping up Star Wars: Episode III: Revenge Of The Sith, the darkest of the six films and the least kid friendly. It is set for release May 19. "I look forward to doing a lot of other things."
While some of those other things include proposals for two Star Wars TV series -- one animated and one a live action spin-off involving minor characters -- Lucas said he is satisfied with finishing it off for the big screen.
"The important part for me is that I finally got all the pieces together," he said in response to a Toronto Sun question, "so that everything that was ever written about Star Wars -- in terms of what I had originally worked on -- is now on the screen. So you can sort of see the whole story."
He began writing the story in 1971, and the first movie appeared in 1977. Lucas didn't write a draft of the vague story that would follow Episode VI, even though hardcore fans have clung to the idea that the series would eventually become nine films.
Actually, Lucas said that it is a miracle that he did Episodes I, II and III. "I never really intended to do the back story," he said of the three prequels which wrap up with the new film. Even the sequels to the original Star Wars: Episode IV: A New Hope were a bonus, due to its phenomenon success.
"I was supposed to end up with one movie -- Episode IV -- and that two-hour movie turned into a six-hour movie and later I decided to go back and tell the back story. But the story wasn't really a story. It was a series of character studies and a lot of exposition about how everybody got to be where they are and how the Republic became the Empire."
Lucas said he is most satisfied with completing the Darth Vader story because viewers finally get to see troubled hero Anakin Skywalker's tragic and fiery transformation.
"I thought, gee, if you really did know what his story was, it would change the whole way you looked at those first three movies. Not that it changes anything (in terms of content) but it makes it much more intense. And that fascinated me to the point where it drove me to do these."
When he decided to do it, Lucas realized it was a 10-year commitment in terms of writing, preparation, directing, editing and mounting the massive special effects that are the foundation for all three recent films.
"I'm relieved that I made it through and I actually crossed the finish line," Lucas said. "I'm happy with the way it turned out. And now people can see it (Star Wars) as a whole saga of 12 hours, rather than as a bunch of pieces. The films are not sequels (nor prequels), they are part of a whole."
The irony of his incredible success, much of it predicated on Star Wars, is that he didn't ever intend to become a feature film director. Instead, Lucas said, he fancied a career as a cinema verite documentary cameraman who would do abstract art films on the side. But Star Wars set a new life pattern.
"You never know where that life is going to lead you because it's one opportunity after another," Lucas said. "After I did the first Star Wars, I realized you could actually take control."
That control created his financial fortune and gave Lucas the power to finance his own movies.
Without that control, and the hundreds of millions it took to create Episodes I through III, these films would have never been made, Lucas said. III cost a reported $113 million.
"Those people who were concerned about the franchise, and concerned about making money, they were completely upset saying: 'You're going to destroy the franchise!'" he said of Hollywood executives who did not want him to continue the Star Wars saga with The Phantom Menace because the story focused on the 10-year-old version of Anakin Skywalker.
"I'm sure, if I had been at a studio, if I hadn't been financing it myself, they would have said: 'Forget it, you're doing this, we're not going to back a film about a 10-year-old boy. It's a Disney movie!' So I was able to make the movie I wanted, it didn't lose money and I was able to go on and make the Star Wars love story (Attack Of The Clones)."
In turn, that led to Revenge Of The Sith -- which is now George Lucas' revenge on corporate Hollywood and the completion of his own sense of mission.
By BRUCE KIRKLAND -- Toronto Sun
Lucas eyes 'Star Wars' TV shows
A 34-year odyssey is almost over: George Lucas has finished his sixth feature film based on the Star Wars mythology he first created in 1971.
"I'm not sad, I'm happy, I'm relieved," the often reclusive and usually defensive Lucas said in an upbeat interview this week. Lucas, who turns 61 tomorrow, was sitting with groups of reporters invited to the gated and guarded Skywalker Ranch, his personal headquarters on 5,000 acres tucked away in the rolling ranchland hills of Marin County, north of San Francisco.
"I enjoyed doing it," a grinning Lucas said of wrapping up Star Wars: Episode III: Revenge Of The Sith, the darkest of the six films and the least kid friendly. It is set for release May 19. "I look forward to doing a lot of other things."
While some of those other things include proposals for two Star Wars TV series -- one animated and one a live action spin-off involving minor characters -- Lucas said he is satisfied with finishing it off for the big screen.
"The important part for me is that I finally got all the pieces together," he said in response to a Toronto Sun question, "so that everything that was ever written about Star Wars -- in terms of what I had originally worked on -- is now on the screen. So you can sort of see the whole story."
He began writing the story in 1971, and the first movie appeared in 1977. Lucas didn't write a draft of the vague story that would follow Episode VI, even though hardcore fans have clung to the idea that the series would eventually become nine films.
Actually, Lucas said that it is a miracle that he did Episodes I, II and III. "I never really intended to do the back story," he said of the three prequels which wrap up with the new film. Even the sequels to the original Star Wars: Episode IV: A New Hope were a bonus, due to its phenomenon success.
"I was supposed to end up with one movie -- Episode IV -- and that two-hour movie turned into a six-hour movie and later I decided to go back and tell the back story. But the story wasn't really a story. It was a series of character studies and a lot of exposition about how everybody got to be where they are and how the Republic became the Empire."
Lucas said he is most satisfied with completing the Darth Vader story because viewers finally get to see troubled hero Anakin Skywalker's tragic and fiery transformation.
"I thought, gee, if you really did know what his story was, it would change the whole way you looked at those first three movies. Not that it changes anything (in terms of content) but it makes it much more intense. And that fascinated me to the point where it drove me to do these."
When he decided to do it, Lucas realized it was a 10-year commitment in terms of writing, preparation, directing, editing and mounting the massive special effects that are the foundation for all three recent films.
"I'm relieved that I made it through and I actually crossed the finish line," Lucas said. "I'm happy with the way it turned out. And now people can see it (Star Wars) as a whole saga of 12 hours, rather than as a bunch of pieces. The films are not sequels (nor prequels), they are part of a whole."
The irony of his incredible success, much of it predicated on Star Wars, is that he didn't ever intend to become a feature film director. Instead, Lucas said, he fancied a career as a cinema verite documentary cameraman who would do abstract art films on the side. But Star Wars set a new life pattern.
"You never know where that life is going to lead you because it's one opportunity after another," Lucas said. "After I did the first Star Wars, I realized you could actually take control."
That control created his financial fortune and gave Lucas the power to finance his own movies.
Without that control, and the hundreds of millions it took to create Episodes I through III, these films would have never been made, Lucas said. III cost a reported $113 million.
"Those people who were concerned about the franchise, and concerned about making money, they were completely upset saying: 'You're going to destroy the franchise!'" he said of Hollywood executives who did not want him to continue the Star Wars saga with The Phantom Menace because the story focused on the 10-year-old version of Anakin Skywalker.
"I'm sure, if I had been at a studio, if I hadn't been financing it myself, they would have said: 'Forget it, you're doing this, we're not going to back a film about a 10-year-old boy. It's a Disney movie!' So I was able to make the movie I wanted, it didn't lose money and I was able to go on and make the Star Wars love story (Attack Of The Clones)."
In turn, that led to Revenge Of The Sith -- which is now George Lucas' revenge on corporate Hollywood and the completion of his own sense of mission.
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