George Lucas On His Decision To Break Up With Star Wars

ZodaEX said:
WRONG, Jar Jar was added to Return of the Jedi in the 2011 Special Edition, not the 2005 Special Edition as you say. You googled it wrong........
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Damn my poor googling skills! Thanks for the correction.
 
"People don't actually realize it's actually a soap opera and it's all about family problems - it's not about spaceships."

No, George. You don't realize that if you had been allowed to make the original movies this way, they would have been jokes. You can thank your ex-wife, Kasdan, and Kershner for changing that.
 
Methadras said:
Hayden Christensen was a complete miscast. I'm still on the fence about Portman as Padme, but i can live with that. I could just never wrap my head around the idea that this whiny, bitch ass grown up Skywalker was going to become Vader. I actually like the SW 1-3, the way the politics was set up, the intrigue, how Palpatine comes to power and used people the way he did, how Skywalker and Padme came to the relationship they had, how he turned, etc. It really solidified the story even more for me. Even looking back on it now, the way the Gungans on Naboo and how they were used made sense. I realize the Jar Jar hate is very strong, but in the context of how the movie was presented, it made sense.

Interesting backstory on R2D2 for the win. :D

http://scifi.about.com/od/starwarscharacters/a/SWAR_profle-R2-D2.htm
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Portman is a fine actress, and a fine fit for Padme as far as I'm concerned. It's the horrible writing that killed her performance.

Both Anakins it could be a combination of horrible actors and horrible writing, or it could just be horrible writing. I don't know, and don't really care, because the end result is shit either way.
 
Frankie said:
Portman is a fine actress, and a fine fit for Padme as far as I'm concerned. It's the horrible writing that killed her performance.

Both Anakins it could be a combination of horrible actors and horrible writing, or it could just be horrible writing. I don't know, and don't really care, because the end result is shit either way.
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I think she was a good fit for the role as well. The problem isn't even so much the writing, but the horrible casting of Hayden Christiansen along side her. Natalie Portman's scenes with Ewan McGregor are fine, while her scenes with Hayden Christiansen are atrocious. Hayden Christiansen's scenes with Ewan McGregor are much better than the ones he shares with Natalie Portman. Basically, the casting of those two as lovers was a huge mistake.
 
ZodaEX said:
WRONG, Jar Jar was added to Return of the Jedi in the 2011 Special Edition, not the 2005 Special Edition as you say. You googled it wrong........
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Nope, this is wrong. I just watched my DVD, and Jar Jar does say, "Weesa free!" in it at the end. The date on the back of the case is 2004, so maybe they weren't released until 2005. It got me curious when I read your post about 2011, and I knew my DVD ending was different than the original and I knew I hadn't bought any Star Wars movies in the last 4 years.
 
htpc_user said:
Nope, this is wrong. I just watched my DVD, and Jar Jar does say, "Weesa free!" in it at the end. The date on the back of the case is 2004, so maybe they weren't released until 2005. It got me curious when I read your post about 2011, and I knew my DVD ending was different than the original and I knew I hadn't bought any Star Wars movies in the last 4 years.
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This was really a 04 change? Dammit i'm wrong then, this first I had ever seen of this was the Blu-Rays.
 
Finally saw the new SW flick, at ILM studios too! Got some pictures in the lobby with Darth Vader, Boba Fett, and a storm trooper, as well as pictures of all the fancy light sabers and things like Han's blaster :D

Good movie, Lucas ragging on it for any reason kind of shows how much of a nostalgia loving curmudgeon he is. Your vision was sold, you don't get to bitch and moan, especially after you decided to constantly update your original movies.
 
Frankie said:
Portman is a fine actress, and a fine fit for Padme as far as I'm concerned. It's the horrible writing that killed her performance.

Both Anakins it could be a combination of horrible actors and horrible writing, or it could just be horrible writing. I don't know, and don't really care, because the end result is shit either way.
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I would say she is fine if you can get a role that fits her limited character skills. Like Keenu Reeves. He's not exactly a dynamic character, but if you can put him in the right role he is fantastic.

She has been fine in some movies, like Closer (purple hair :eek: ), but like in the Thor movies, she was the worst character in the movie.

She was excellent in The Professional, albeit very awkward for the viewer, but excellent none-the-less.

She is not good any showing emotion. Which she tried to do in Star Wars.
 
Doesn't matter who the actor or actress is. I can't imagine it's easy to feel emotion or act when you are sitting in a empty studio hangar in Australia, draped head to toe in green, whilst sitting on green blocks (that are meant to be some grand palace) whilst a fat bloke who made a good film once, sits 30 feet away with a latte in his hand nonchalantly saying "Action!"

Repeat 6 days a week for 4 months etc.

For an actor it must be soul destroying.
 
ZodaEX said:
This was really a 04 change? Dammit i'm wrong then, this first I had ever seen of this was the Blu-Rays.
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Yeah, the 2004 edit has Jar Jar shouting at the end (along with bad ending music and CGI victory celebrations) as well as the dumb changes to the musical number at Jabba's Palace. The Blu Ray version added Vader moaning 'Noooo!' before he saves Luke and tosses the Emperor down the shaft.
 
Say what you want about Jar Jar, but it's been 16 years since that movie came out and people are still talking about her?it? like it's a thing.

I don't think anyone will remember anything about VII in 16 years. Shiii i just saw it last week and i've already forgotten everything about it. Just another disposable action movie.

Getting back to topic,
the editing of the old movies is in some ways highly unique. I mean who else has done that? People are enraged precisely because it is so unusual. They feel some ownership of the movies and don't like Lucas messing with them. But the movies belong to Lucas - they are entirely his. He's the artist and he can modify the artwork if he so feels. It's all very profound.
 
I look at it this way.

Back in the 70's and 80's, Lucas was going "I want to make THIS and THIS and THIS".
Now, being somewhat constrained by the technology at the time, he had to make films that were approximations of what he wanted.

But, in the 70's and 80's, people looked at the Star Wars films and went "We want THAT!"

Fast forward 20 years and billions of dollars in Lucas' bank account.

He's going to make 3 new movies. And he goes "I want THIS and THIS and THIS".

Not being anywhere NEAR as constrained as he was 20 years prior, he goes hog wild on a CG fantasy, and being rich, evinces "I don't give a shit" when it comes to actually developing the plot and dialog the way he was forced to do in the previous films.

People look at his newer films and go "That's nice, but we don't want THAT!".
And he took it personally.

Granted, yes they were HIS movies. He paid for them. But, by the time he made the second trilogy, he'd basically disconnected himself so thoroughly from the process and social aspects of film making, that he may as well have been writing slash fiction for his own personal consumption.

Disney, at least, will try to service the franchise in a way that will appeal to many Star Wars fans, and keep it going long past what George could have done, and expand the scope in ways he simply didn't care about.
 
Chas said:
I look at it this way.

Back in the 70's and 80's, Lucas was going "I want to make THIS and THIS and THIS".
Now, being somewhat constrained by the technology at the time, he had to make films that were approximations of what he wanted.

But, in the 70's and 80's, people looked at the Star Wars films and went "We want THAT!"

Fast forward 20 years and billions of dollars in Lucas' bank account.

He's going to make 3 new movies. And he goes "I want THIS and THIS and THIS".

Not being anywhere NEAR as constrained as he was 20 years prior, he goes hog wild on a CG fantasy, and being rich, evinces "I don't give a shit" when it comes to actually developing the plot and dialog the way he was forced to do in the previous films.

People look at his newer films and go "That's nice, but we don't want THAT!".
And he took it personally.

Granted, yes they were HIS movies. He paid for them. But, by the time he made the second trilogy, he'd basically disconnected himself so thoroughly from the process and social aspects of film making, that he may as well have been writing slash fiction for his own personal consumption.

Disney, at least, will try to service the franchise in a way that will appeal to many Star Wars fans, and keep it going long past what George could have done, and expand the scope in ways he simply didn't care about.
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Well said.
 
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