From the Editor's Desk: George Lucas' Negative Energy

The question you should be asking is why does George Lucas suck so much. Here's my theory. He never created a good screenplay at all. We owe Star Wars to Joseph Campbell and Georgie just stole it. And he got Spielberg and other better men involved in the other successes he's had. Anyway, Joe died and for the life of him, Georgie couldn't recapture the magic that was Star Wars; It wasn't his in the first place. And now everyone knows he sucks. He's gone back on the whole "special effects support the STORY" and now is essentially saying "Special effects are my marketing tool so I can continue to make shitloads of money with ILM, the story is tertiary." Now, no doubt, Star Wars IV and Raiders is why many of us love movies, but these just moved through him, George himself is the Jar Jar Binks of the movie world.

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Wow, he is being really oversensitive. Just because he did a shitty job with the prequels doesn't mean people aren't going to give Indy a chance. In fact, we gave every prequel a chance, judging from their grosses, even though each one sucked in new ways. I'm sure he's just bitter. He should really keep his mouth shut though or he might make Indy a self-fulfilled prophecy.

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I think, given how burned Lucas got by critics and fans for the Star Wars prequels, it's understandable that he's a pessimistic and broody guy these days.

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THe man is just making rationalizations and trying to anticipate the bad reviews in advance so he can blame it all on the critics. I think he knows he made a crappy movie and is trying to spin it even before it comes out just so he can say that the critics are out to get him and THAT is the reason why they say it sucks....not because it actually sucks. If that makes any sense at all.

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I think those words are born out of experience. Critics and fans have been very brutal about him and his work for many years. They've been very critical, and sometimes even far below the belt, about the Star Wars movies, the new ones at least, his constant itching to redo everything and stuff like that. I've read a lot of really vile and hateful stuff thrown at him at every turn. And now we see the result. He's been very burned in the past that he already expects it. And he's resigned to it. And that's just sad because WE are the ones who made him this way. And now we complain because HE is so negative? Don't wash your hands off this, people.

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Well, I have my faith in Spielberg more then in Lucas. Lucas is the one that rejected a former Indiana Jones screenplay that both Spielberg and Ford both liked apparently. If Lucas was directing this I probobly would be hesitant about this film as well, but being as its Spielberg I believe that for better or for worse he makes movies with his fans in mind, at least his popcorn films. With Spielberg's influnce and at the helm this movie should be fine in his hands. Lucas needs to shut his mouth and let Spielberg and Ford do their thing.

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I think Lucas' piss-poor attitude doesn't stem just from being trashed over the "Star Wars" prequels. It's because he still CAN. NOT. FATHOM. WHY. he got trashed over the "Star Wars" prequels. He is baffled, mystified, genuinely shocked that he got criticism for them. I'm guessing he concluded that the only possible explanation was that, for whatever reason, people were simply out to get him, and that they always will be no matter what else he does.

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The guy's just not a great filmmaker. He's made two very good ones, American Graffiti and Star Wars (Episode IV), and a host of mediocre or bad ones. But because he's brilliant at creating franchises (Star Wars, Indy) he's still commands megabucks in serial-crazy Hollywood. It's all about the cash cow, baby.

Maybe now that he's older, he's looking back at his legacy and getting a little defensive at how very shallow it is.

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I know the words hit a little close to home, but it's basically true. Critics already have a set of expectations for the movie, and after the Star War movies, most of them that I've seen are wary to negative in their language (including on this site). Even the people who aren't negative have a set of expectations entirely different from say, Juno, or some other film fest fav. The hardcore Star War fans, if the internet is any judge, are unrealistic and don't know what they want, just what they don't want. So I don't understand why he's a "dick" for saying so. There's no way for this film to live up to what people hope it will be, Lucas just seems aware of that.

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I watched Return of the Jedi the other day on HBO, and at the end, I saw none other than Hayden Christensen at the end of it (the ghosts of Yoda, Obi-Wan and Anakin), instead of the guy who WAS in it, back when it originally came out.

It's that kind of stuff he pulled, that ruined it for me. Hayden was simply horrible as Anakin, period. Adding it to the end of ROTJ just reminded me of how bad the prequels were. As a kid, I saw all of the first three installments the night they opened. As an adult, I saw absolutely zero of the prequels in the theaters. If that isn't a dropoff I don't know what is.

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I don't know about hating the movie, but there has been plenty of bitching about the title alone. Personally, I can't see anything wrong with what he's saying.

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In anticipation to indy 4 I rented indiana 1, 2 and 3. My childhood
was broken. I soon discovered that the first one was the only good
one. I was disgusted with 2 and 3. Felt really uncomfortable
watching the second one, and i fell asleep watching the third one. It's horrible what years do to you.
On the star wars subject.... my problem with star wars prequels is
that it was all CGI. Every location was digital, every
alien, every robot... that blew it for me. I don't think any
paratrooper was real.
do you think he knows that we can spot the difference between CGI and real people - stuff - places? I'm really having doubts..

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Hilarious. Lucas talks about how The Audience (critics + fans) is hypercritical of sequels and how he understands that and how he deals with it. Then a member of The Audience (this blog's author) responds by being pissed off at Lucas's "negativity," thus proving Lucas's point, which is basically that opinions are like assholes: everybody has one. Especially about what he does.

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I definitely don't agree with you. Lucas has a point and there is nothing wrong with what he said. He wasn't being negative. If anything he was being positive about it being a good movie in his mind. And that's all that should be in the mind of a guy in his position :

Confidence and complete disregard for what the biased parties think of his work.

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Truth must be told, and the guy is being honest. What, are you pissed at him because he's being realistic? At least he's not doing what many other Hollywood people does and talks about his film being like the masterpiece everybody was waiting for. Yes, there are many people looking forward Indy 4, hoping is good, but seriously, there are also a lot of people who are already mind tracked on hating the film. Can't hurt to be prepared for that, and George Lucas has been a long time in this business to know that.

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You think Lucas is a dick for saying Critics hate his films and that fanboys have already written the film in their heads? Show me evidence that he's wrong and I'll show you an honest politician. Twat!

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I re-watched Sith last night and thought it was great, had some genuinely fantastic moments and great scenes but i also threw on Ep4 straight after and boy it was nice to get back to sets and models after so much cgi, i have faith that indy4 will be great as Spielberg hates cgi sets and lets face it, Lucas can write a good yarn

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I find it amusing that the prequels are now automatically viewed as failures by a section of the audience despite the large majority that did enjoy them (children for example). Qualitative judgments have somehow been accepted as fact.

Anyway, I don't have a problem with his comments. He's always been cynical, even in the '70s. No one remembers the many negative reviews he received for the original trilogy. If you compare the response to the prequels, eerie parallels can be drawn. Star Wars aside, no one remembers how much the Temple of Doom and Last Crusade got blasted either. Even today, there are people that see Raiders of the Lost Ark as the only Indiana Jones movie worth watching.

Personally, I welcome this kind of openness, even if it's viewed as negative. I didn't read it that way, but that's irrelevant. The fact that he doesn't have high expectations for critical response does not mean he thinks the movie will be bad. He's just trying to be realistic, though I think he's confusing the mainstream audience with the small minority of people that bitch online.

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I think those comments are a direct result of someone who has been severely bludgeoned by the people he was trying to entertain. Those prequels are the direct result of the hard work and labor of hundreds of people. People payed plenty to watch his vision on the big screen, yet those movies are panned by nearly everyone. They aren't bad movies and I guess it must suck when people are so easily dismissive of their quality.

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