Lucas fears Sith flop

Sydney Morning Herald ^ | May 4, 2005 | Louisa Hearn

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Ask George Lucas about his hopes for the closing instalment of Star Wars, Revenge of the Sith, and he replies that he expects it to fail.

In an interview with TIME magazine, Lucas says that like everyone who makes movies, he is "always convinced the next one will be a flop".

"So right now I’m thinking it probably won’t make any money and will be considered a failure."

But in spite of his fears, he concedes he is very satisfied with the final product. "I think it turned out as well as I could have hoped, and at the same time I'm very glad that I finished it."

Others may be less glad the saga has finally come to an end. In the first published review of Revenge of the Sith, filmmaker, Kevin Smith described the film as "so satisfyingly tragic, you'll think you're watching 'Othello' or 'Hamlet'".

"This is the 'Star Wars' prequel the haters have been bitching for since 'Menace' came out, and if they don't cop to that when they finally see it, they're lying," added the maker of Clerks, Chasing Amy and Jersey Girl.

Despite the staunch enthusiasm of fans of the original Star Wars, Lucas said he never really entertained the fact that there would ever be more than one film. "I expected it to take me a year, year and a half to make, and then I expected to move on to other things."

Lucas considers the Star Wars storytelling format very stylised, and "very much in opposition to what my natural inclinations are".

He now hopes to explore more abstract forms of filmmaking that interested him in his days at film school. "It's vaguely in the land of music videos, I guess, but I don't even know how to describe them. I know they won't be mainstream movies. I'm sure they'll be just as criticized as Star Wars films are," he said.

Lucas also has a hankering to work in television principally to shift away from doing anything that may considered "important". He said television offered the chance to do "really great work" without all of the "megillah" that surrounds film.

Revenge of the Sith is being released around the world on May 19.

[The_Reader_David]

Personally, I blame Lucas's directing for the lameness of the romance between Anakin and Amidala.

Both Christensen and Portman intermittently got across convincing emotion even within the confines imposed by the conceit that both Jedi and Republican Senators spoke in very formal language. Lucas should have pushed them and reshot scenes so the level of acting which intermittently glimmered through was maintained throughout. He didn't, and as a result dragged down what would have been a very nicely plotted movie about power politics.

Here's hoping that either a few years of maturation by the actors or a revitalized commitment to directing on Lucas's part for the finale got rid of the problem for Episode III.

[My Favorite Headache]

The problem with the new Star Wars movies are they feature actors like Samuel L Jackson who is in a new movie every week and then you have Natalie Portman who is in a new movie every other month,Liam Neeson and the rest of these people. They are just WAY too visible. The good thing about the original films is the cast was fresh and new and nowhere near as politically outspoken and thrown down your throats as the people that Lucas picked for these last 3.

Now we get to hear Portman with her movie sister Julia Roberts tell us how we should run our foreign policy,how much Bush is evil,how horrible and brutal Republicans are and we are supposed to kiss her ass because of where she went to college and because she is easy on the eyes.

Forget it. I simply don't have time for these movies and I certainly am not going to give a dollar to their pockets so they can line the next DNC/Soros nutcase who decides to run for whatever office they are going to run for.

[inquest]

Even that's doubtful. My family just watched the original. My seven year old was impressed. My ten year old thought most of it was laughable.

I will say that one of the reasons for the success of the original is that it was able to appeal to most age groups without being shamelessly juvenile. The kids could still get a kick out of the fight scenes and the Death Star blowing up and all that, even if they don't get all of the subtleties of the story that are designed more for adults. I think it fully earned the success that it enjoyed.

[timtoews5292004]

The clone wars were mentioned in Episode IV. The battle of Kashyyk was a battle during the clone wars. I agree that it ends up being little more than an "Aw cool", but it was intended to tie the two films together.

[jayef]

Yeah . . . I wanna see Luke go dark and in a battle with Leah win her over to the Dark Side.

[MikefromOhio]

you know you are going to get people dressing up like Darth Vader to show up to this thing in droves....

it will make money. Whether it is going to be a good movie or not is another thing entirely.

I have read the end of the book that is out, looks interesting at least, definitely not must see though...

[inquest]

But nothing in the original movie tied Chewbacca to the clone wars, or to much of anything else for that matter. He was really just there for background music.

[knittnmom]

My daughter and I have enjoyed the novels by Timothy Zahn using the characters from the original Star Wars movies, and building a story taking place after Return of the Jedi. Got to meet him at a Con (SciFiCon, FictionCon, can't remember what it was called) a few years ago, and he's really a nice guy. Don't know what his politics are - and don't particularly care. He writes compelling, richly detailed stories.

[eyespysomething]

But nothing in the original movie tied Chewbacca to the clone wars, or to much of anything else for that matter. He was really just there for background music.

Any insight on this?

[xp38]

It was no accident that Obiwan meets up with Chewbacca in the cantina when he, Luke and the droids need passage to Alderaan. They had met before. I could feel it. :)

[Sybeck1]

So why doesn't Obi-wan remember the droids in Episode 4?

[Luddite Patent Counsel]

Hammill's character was supposed to be full of "whiny teen angst", at least in the first movie. His character got darker (and less whiny) as the series unfolded. Played against Ford's cool and Fisher's courage, it was the right note at the time. And James Earl Jones for Vader? Tell me anyone else whose voice would have been better.

[xp38]

selective memory :) Please don't ask me to explain every anomaly in the movies. The sound of the tie fighters zooming through space was cool to me in my youth.

[TheBigB]

VRWC member is correct:

http://www.starwarz.com/tbone/cut_scenes/trash_compactor/missing_episode.htm

"Despite many rumors to the contrary, the subtitle to the original STAR WARS film, EPISODE IV: A NEW HOPE, wasn't actually added to the opening crawl of the film until 1981, about a year or so after the release of THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK. Of course, there were various re-releases of the original STAR WARS but it wasn't until around the time that EMPIRE was released that George Lucas decided to go back and change the film's opening for consistency's sake. Since EMPIRE was going to be known as EPISODE V and he knew he was going to at least finish one trilogy, if not two or possibly three, he went back and added the EPISODE IV: A NEW HOPE to the famous yellow text."

"There are many out there who claim to remember seeing the EPISODE IV: A NEW HOPE lettering in theaters before the 1981 re-release but from what I can gather, that's absolutely wrong..."

[PfromHoGro]

Obeewan in IV: "I don't remember ever owning any droids before."

Yeah right, great memory dude. He had better have his memory wiped at the end of Sith.

Oh, but perhaps he was trying to keep Jedi info from Luke. Then why'd he give him his dad's light saber? And people say it's a bad movie.

[LanPB01]

I don't recall that exact line in the book, but there is a point where Obi-Wan claims it isn't possible to label things as good or evil, and only a Sith would think in such terms. Apparently, Jedi see things in varying shades of grey.

[Charles Martel]

I liked this version's caption...

"Somebody missed a meeting."

[xp38]

Maybe my memory is going too because I don't recall anytime in episodes 1 or 2 his charactedr ever owning droids either. You could plausably argue the droid in his Jedi starfighter in Attack of the Clones was Jedi or Republic property and not his.

[js1138]

Lucas went into hock up to his eyeballs to get the first movie out. Even after it succeeded he had trouble financing the second. There had never been a blockbuster sequel to a blockbuster.

[Busywhiskers]

"Ask George Lucas about his hopes for the closing instalment of Star Wars, Revenge of the Sith, and he replies that he expects it to fail."

He should. Watching that last one he made was one of the most tedious and boring experiences I've ever had. I finally went out to the lobby to watch them pop popcorn just so I wouldn't nod off. The adolescent Darth Vader, (whatever his name is), whined like a Democrat through the whole movie and I CAN'T STAND WHINING.