From usatoday, George Lucas doesn't seem too happy about the now Disney owned Star Wars Episode VII. Lucas sold his idea for Episode VII to Disney with the rest of Lucasfilm in 2012, and it appears that his ideas were not what Disney was interested in making. It has been heard before that Lucas considered the sale to Disney as a "breakup" with Lucasfilm. George expressed some discomfort with the way that Disney has handled the Star Wars franchise, which he refers to as his "kids." He even went so far as to say, "I sold them to the white slavers that takes these things, and?" he laughed, probably realizing that it was best not to continue the metaphor.
When George Lucas sold Lucasfilm (and the rights to Star Wars) to Disney for $4 billion in 2012, both sides seemed to be happy with the deal. And in fact, Disney has been reaping the benefits since Star Wars: The Force Awakens hit theaters on Dec. 18, blasting through box office record after box office record.
But in recent weeks Lucas seems to be less than happy with the way things worked out.
In an interview with Charlie Rose this week, the Star Wars creator, and recent Kennedy Center honoree, spoke about the franchise and the deal, and compared Disney to "white slavers."
“I sold them to the white slavers that takes these things, and…,” he said in the interview, before deciding not to finish the sentence.
He also explained how his and Disney's visions for the future of the franchise differed wildly.
“They looked at the stories, and they said, ‘We want to make something for the fans,’” Lucas said. “They decided they didn’t want to use those stories, they decided they were going to do their own thing. … They weren’t that keen to have me involved anyway — but if I get in there, I’m just going to cause trouble, because they’re not going to do what I want them to do. And I don’t have the control to do that anymore, and all I would do is muck everything up. And so I said, ‘OK, I will go my way, and I’ll let them go their way.’”
5 comments:
Lucas' temper-tantrum over the success of 'The Force Awaken's is consistent with the terms "narcissistic injury" and "bruised ego", which describe how a narcissistic individual deals with perceived insult. I am sure he quietly hoped that 'The Force Awakens' would not be successful once he learned that Disney jettisoned his original ideas. As of this moment Star Wars has made
$1,228,349,526! It will probably unseat 'Frozen' later today.
1. Avatar $2,787,965,087
2. Titanic $2,186,772,302
3. Jurassic World $1,668,984,926
4. The Avengers $1,519,557,910
5. Furious 7 $1,515,047,671
6. Avengers: Age of Ultron $1,405,035,767
7. Harry Potter / Deathly Hallows (P2) $1,341,511,219
8. Frozen $1,276,480,335
9. Star Wars: The Force Awakens $1,228,349,526
10. Iron Man 3 $1,215,439,994
His comments totally sound like sour grapes to me.
Hm. I don't know. I watched that part of the interview, and didn't get the impression he was being a big baby about it (here's the link, if you're curious: http://youtu.be/O8hQVlRgFlU ) Seemed genuinely thoughtful of the story as owned by the fans, and willing to sacrifice his vision to keep the story alive and give it the best chance possible. Yeah.
I prefer to give him the benefit of the doubt, and think he meant it in the most positive light possible.
(But I still hate Jar Jar.)
How dare they give the fans what the fans want!
This was the first thing I've read that made me feel sorry for the guy. He's an odd testament to... fallen genius? I'll never know how it feels to make something so universally beloved and then watch years later as all those people are thrilled to see me replaced. Then again...
The prequels were one thing, but they pale in comparison to the Orwellian "the Star Wars from your youth was ALWAYS this one... Greedo ALWAYS shot first..." thing is just so goddamn awful. It's like he really tried to take away pieces of our childhood, as literally as possible.
Post a Comment