George Lucas: "I'm Retiring"

[devilof76]

That's my favorite post in this thread.

 

[Too Much Garlic]

A shame. He's a very good idea man and starter of good companies. If only the quality control was as good in the beginning as its original intent. But nevertheless, he's a master company starter and brilliant at most things he do - business wise.

Hope he has a good retirement from big screen movies and can concentrate on small films and perhaps try to get back to the heart of story-telling rather than big fluff effects.

 

[DinoLast]

you only ever made 3 good films in your career (and eventually screwed them up too).

.

So you don't like Raiders of the lost ark then?

 

[The Mike]

Depends on the definition maybe? Lucas made Star Wars but didn't direct the other two. It's still his stuff but maybe the poster was referring to things he actually helmed?

 

[Khev]

I DVR'd the Oprah/Lucas interview and just watched it last night. Its getting harder and harder to maintain any real respect for the man.

He went on and on about how any movie, Star Wars included, is the vision of one man, and a deeply personal vision at that that shouldn't be interferred with.

Give me a break. Half the things in his movies are other people's "visions." There's documents and video interviews up the wazoo showing him basically commissioning a bunch of illustrators and sculpters to design characters and illustrate dynamic scenes that he then cherry picks from to assemble an outline for a script.

He didn't "envision" Darth Maul. He asked an illustrator to draw something scary and that particular illustrator happened to be afraid of clowns. Sure, he intertwined a melting pot of ideas and constructed a story but it was hardly his own, singular and "personal" vision.

There's having final cut and then there's taking credit for every minute contribution from hundreds, if not thousands of creative artists and technicians.

As if all the great ideas of his collaborators and happy accidents that helped the films be so great were all the result of his own personal vision. Please.

 

[Mad Old Lu]

Khev, I started watching the Oprah thing yesterday too, and saw that part that you're talking about. I had the exact same thoughts. How can he minimize the input and contributions all those illustrators like Ralph McQuarrie, Doug Chiang and Iain McCaig (who created Maul), not to mention all the other technicians and conceptual designers who worked on the 6 films?

My wife said, "Geez, he sounds so arrogant".

 

[Darth Waller]

He went on and on about how any movie, Star Wars included, is the vision of one man, and a deeply personal vision at that that shouldn't be interferred with.

I can see a movie being the idea of one man, but the vision of one man?

My wife said, "Geez, he sounds so arrogant".

 

[Sweet Rabbit]

Khev, I started watching the Oprah thing yesterday too, and saw that part that you're talking about. I had the exact same thoughts. How can he minimize the input and contributions all those illustrators like Ralph McQuarrie, Doug Chiang and Iain McCaig (who created Maul), not to mention all the other technicians and conceptual designers who worked on the 6 films?

My wife said, "Geez, he sounds so arrogant".

 

[Frank]

The man just may be a genius yet... employing the grievance narrative to sell his new film. He was so noble to keep his trap shut back when it actually could have helped get backing for his film.

Or maybe just maybe he was always going to foot the bill because that would mean retaining complete control.

 

[abake]

I DVR'd the Oprah/Lucas interview and just watched it last night. Its getting harder and harder to maintain any real respect for the man.

He went on and on about how any movie, Star Wars included, is the vision of one man, and a deeply personal vision at that that shouldn't be interferred with.

Give me a break. Half the things in his movies are other people's "visions." There's documents and video interviews up the wazoo showing him basically commissioning a bunch of illustrators and sculpters to design characters and illustrate dynamic scenes that he then cherry picks from to assemble an outline for a script.

He didn't "envision" Darth Maul. He asked an illustrator to draw something scary and that particular illustrator happened to be afraid of clowns. Sure, he intertwined a melting pot of ideas and constructed a story but it was hardly his own, singular and "personal" vision.

There's having final cut and then there's taking credit for every minute contribution from hundreds, if not thousands of creative artists and technicians.

As if all the great ideas of his collaborators and happy accidents that helped the films be so great were all the result of his own personal vision. Please.

It's obvious that it is a collaborative medium and that a lot of people contribute, but ultimately, it's the director's (and sometimes the producer's or writer's) vision that gives shape to a movie. I don't think anybody belittles the input of the artists and screenwriters and actors who worked on Apocalypse Now, but it's still Francis Ford Coppola's vision. The same is true for Ridley Scott's Alien and Blade Runner.
It's not Dan Obannon's or Giger's or Moebius' or Chirs Voss' Alien. It's Ridley Scott's.
It's not Doug Chiang's Star Wars. It's not Kershner's Star Wars. It's George Lucas' Star Wars.
It is the vision of one man who puts everything together and who guides everybody else.
In this case it is George Lucas.

 

[arnax161]

Enjoy you retirement George. Now let someone, like Neil Blomkamp or Duncan Jones (Great directors both!) remake the original trilogy, to really tie them altogether. It sounds horrible I know, but I think it would be neat to see.

 

[Mad Old Lu]

It's obvious that it is a collaborative medium and that a lot of people contribute, but ultimately, it's the director's (and sometimes the producer's or writer's) vision that gives shape to a movie. I don't think anybody belittles the input of the artists and screenwriters and actors who worked on Apocalypse Now, but it's still Francis Ford Coppola's vision. The same is true for Ridley Scott's Alien and Blade Runner.
It's not Dan Obannon's or Giger's or Moebius' or Chirs Voss' Alien. It's Ridley Scott's.
It's not Doug Chiang's Star Wars. It's not Kershner's Star Wars. It's George Lucas' Star Wars.
It is the vision of one man who puts everything together and who guides everybody else.
In this case it is George Lucas.

It is obvioius, abake. But in the interview, George worded it like it was him and only him. And I'm sure Coppola, Ridley and even Cameron would acknowledge that filmmaking is a collaborative art and that they have invaluable people who work tirelessly to make their personal vision come to life. Not George. He made it pretty clear that he does not like anyone's input because the vision of the movie is his alone.

 

[bidge1000]

This thread is still bringing in the haters, we are losing someone incredibly special to the world of not just Star Wars but also film in general, sound and technology.

None of you moaners will understand what he has brought to cinema, not just via Star Wars and Indy. Oh... and whatever anyone says, there is definitely a pristine print/digital file of the unaltered original trilogy in some Lucas Archive vault somewhere, the man is definitely not as stupid as some of you make out.

I see this being released many many years from now, maybe after George has left us all for good, in some form of Lucas Commemorative Edition . I wonder about what will be said then.

I know George is off to make smaller films, but a big part of me still wants him to make his version of Flash Gordon, I think this would be all kinds of amazing and maybe make a few of you haters see the funny side again!

D

 

[devilof76]

The only question is whether Star Wars would have existed without George Lucas; given all of the other individuals that contributed to it, would any of it have become what it was without him?

 

[DinoLast]

The only question is whether Star Wars would have existed without George Lucas; given all of the other individuals that contributed to it, would any of it have become what it was without him?

For a New Hope he brought those individuals together and made sure their work was of a high standard. You only have to read the history of the troubled production and post production to know Lucas had to take control of every aspect of that movie or it would have been a disaster.

 

[EVILFACE]

The only question is whether Star Wars would have existed without George Lucas; given all of the other individuals that contributed to it, would any of it have become what it was without him?

Of course others helped him shape it into what it is today, but Star Wars would not exist without Lucas.

Imagine if he did get the Flash Gordon rights when he wanted.

you only ever made 3 good films in your career (and eventually screwed them up too).

American Graffiti
THX 1138

What is the third film?

 

[Timinator]

I wonder if it'll stick.

What, like he'll be the Brett Favre of film directors?

 

[Lejuan]

So happy that George Lucas is retiring. He will no longer make changes to the original trilogy !!!

I take it you haven't read his will.

 

[fallguy]

great thank god in heaven!

 

[ArrowMech83]

Does this mean we might see Star Wars 7, 8, 9, directed by Michael Bay or McG? ._.

Seriously though, George Lucas is legendary considering his contributions to the industry. And for that I wish him the best in his future endevours.