[NEWS] SFX interview with George Lucas
Your Name
properly), the the lastest issue of SFX Collection's Directors Edition
magazines arrived on shelves here recently and it contains an interview with
George Lucas. Among the more "interesting" questions and answers are these
...
SFX: Is Kingdom of the Crystal Skull a full stop or a new beginning?
GL: I don't know. There's no motive to continue with the series
other than to enjoy ourselves. We'll have to wait and see
what happens.
SFX: Will we see the Indy and Star Wars series in hi-def soon?
GL: That'll probably happen eventually. We're going to wait until
Blu-ray gets a little bit more establised first, because it's
only just won the hi-def war. It's got a year or two to get
some actual fission going.
SFX: How's the 3D version of Episode IV coming along?
GL: We're working on it. The technology's progressing slower
than everyone imagined. It's do-able, but not practical yet
in terms of taking old movies and transferring them to 3D.
But if we get Star Wars solved, if it's successful, I'm sure
Paramount will be interested in doing the same with
Indiana Jones.
SFX: How far down the lines will Star Wars continue in new
incarnations?
GL: I don't know. Clone Wars will probably go for at least five
or six seasons, which adds up to 200 episodes. Then
we have the live-action series, which is a little bit more
experimental. It takes place over the 20 years when
Luke's growing up, but it's not about the Skywalkers or
any of that stuff. Like in Episode IV, you hear about the
Emperor, but you don't see him. People live in the
Empire, but you don't see stormtroopers. It's a
completely different kind of idea, which is risky. But
that's the only reason I'm doing it. Some people will
say, "It's not what I think of as Star Wars", so who
knows - it may or may not work.
SFX: Is it really a radical departure?
GL: I'd say so. It's funny and there's action, but it's more
talky - more what I'd call a soap opera with a bunch
of personal dramas. It's not based on
action-adventure films from the '30s; it's more based
on film noir from the 1940s!
SFX: Would you be happy for new Star Wars tales to be
told after you're gone?
GL: I've left pretty explicit instructions for ther not to be
any more features. No Episodes VII - IX, because
there isn't any story. I mean, I never thought of
anything! There have been novels about the events
after Episode VI, which aren't at all what I would
have done. The story is the tragedy of Darth Vader.
That's the story. Once he dies, he doesn't come
back to life, the Emperor doesn't get cloned, Luke
doesn't get married.
:-)
howthore
<snip>
> SFX: Would you be happy for new Star Wars tales to be
> told after you're gone?
>
> GL: I've left pretty explicit instructions for ther not to be
> any more features. No Episodes VII - IX, because
> there isn't any story. I mean, I never thought of
> anything! There have been novels about the events
> after Episode VI, which aren't at all what I would
> have done. The story is the tragedy of Darth Vader.
> That's the story. Once he dies, he doesn't come
> back to life, the Emperor doesn't get cloned, Luke
> doesn't get married.
I wouldn't say that I'm surprised at this point. GL's flip-flopped on
what comes after RotJ so many times that I'm almost to the point of
saying that he's becoming senile. Ten years ago, he was saying that
the novels were as canonical as the movies. At one point, he said that
the original Zahn trilogy was on the money for what he would have done
for VII-IX. Now, they're not. It's like he needs a handler to keep
from saying the wrong things anymore.
Your Name
Here's another quote from the article about THX 1138 in the same SFX
magazine ...
Don Pedro Colley, who played a hologram in THX 1138, even
recalls that while shooting was in full swing, "On several
occasions, George talked about a series of films he wanted
to make - kind of a running chronology based on one theme.
He wanted to release a new episode each year for 11 years."
:-)