Lifetime award for Star Wars man

BBC ^ | 6/9/05 | n/a

[kiriath_jearim]

Thursday, 9 June, 2005, 16:47 GMT 17:47 UK

Lifetime award for Star Wars man

George Lucas, creator of the Star Wars movies, is to receive a lifetime achievement award on Thursday from the American Film Institute.

Director Steven Spielberg will present the prestigious honour at a gala ceremony in Los Angeles.

Star Wars actors Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill and Harrison Ford will pay tribute to the film-maker alongside previous recipient Tom Hanks.

Last year's winner of the AFI's highest award was the actress Meryl Streep.

"George Lucas is a master storyteller, but he is first and foremost a moving image pioneer," said Sir Howard Stringer, chair of the AFI's Board of Trustees.

Inspiration

"He has advanced the art of the moving image like few others, and in the process has inspired a new generation of film-makers around the world.

Lucas said he felt honoured to be recognised for "doing what I love to do".

"I'm proud to be counted among such an extraordinary group of people whose lives are dedicated to the art of making movies," he said.

The AFI Life Achievement Award was established in February 1973.

Other recipients include Robert De Niro, Barbra Streisand and Clint Eastwood.

[Sloth]

Lucas is crap when it comes to writing dialogue, but great on telling a story. Let's not forget that Indiana Jones was his baby, too.

[pabianice]

Lucas' earlier film -- "THX-1138" -- is far better than any of the Star Wars movies.

[ClearBlueSky]

He didn't do anything to HELP him either!
If Lucas and Spielberg hadn't promoted Ford with the Indy movies, where would he be?
Mark got a bad deal. Twenty years later, and he would have been the blond hearthrob like Pitt- because of SW. Timing was all wrong for him- from his accident, to his type not being popular at the time, and Lucas doing nothing to help him as he did Ford.
And Mark has never critized anyone, nor has he been vindictive considering how he has been treated in the press. He's a decent family man, one wife for 25 years, three good looking kids and good work on Broadway to go with the SW films and the Big Red One.No scandal, no embarassing behavior.
Every actor had done clunkers-real stinkers-even the greats.
Mark is a good guy. How many actors can we say that about?

[GunnyHartman]

I find it pitiful that these hollyweirdos are constantly giving each other awards for the simple act of flapping their respective gums in front of or behind a friggin camera.

[bobjam]

The quote I've always heard as a dig at Bush was the "Only Sith see things in absolutes". That quote, an absolute in and of itself, isn't so much a dig at Bush as it is a necessary statement consistent with the Buddist underpinnings of the Star Wars "force". It would be a dig at Christianity, Judaism, Islam, and any person who practices those faiths. It also can be seen as a rebuttal against the religious ideology displayed in Star Wars's recent competitor, Lord of the Rings.

[aft_lizard]

I dont blame Jar Jar, I blaim Lucas creation of a useless race called the Gungans, "Meesa thinks it was stupid" to have them create a race of characters so stupid.

[isom35]

"a lifetime achievement" of adding flotsam and debris to our already sinking culture

[Sir Gawain]

Congrats. He deserves it.

[Dark Knight]

He put the Ad back into adventure.

He put the venture back into venture capital.

And he put the capital back into his movies...making him a very rich man indeed.

No one wanted star wars in the beginning. He believed in it.

And he has finished a tough one. How do you surprise anyone, when everyone knows the outcome?

DK

If we were limited to Star Trek clones for sci-fi, I doubt I would not have survived the 90's.

He also pushed the nature of special effects (and profitted there too.

Mark Hamill would not have an acting career without Star Wars. Remember his first post Star Wars try..."Corvette Summer". Annie Potts got her career starter there as VanEssa.

[colorado tanker]

I agree with you that Hammill is a good guy. Just staying married to the mother of his children is quite an accomplishment in Hollywood. But c'mon, the guy's not a great actor.

Harrison Ford is the only Lucas protege that really took off to a top level career. And did you know that Indiana Jones was first offered to Tom Selleck, who turned it down? If I were Ford, I'd send Selleck a magnum of Dom every Christmas.

[The KG9 Kid]

<<<(((*SPOILER ALERT*)))>>>

The entire plot of Star Wars Episode III follows:

Annakin: "I had a nightmare that you'd die in childbirth!"

Padme: "I promise I won't die in childbirth!"

(Later, at the circus)

Annakin: "Senator, I am so afraid that Padme will die in childbirth."

Palpatine: "Come to the Dark Side and I can guarantee Padme won't die in childbirth. Of course, you'll have to kill all the Jedi."

Annakin: "Okay."

(Later, at their apartment)

Padme: "Anni! You killed all the younglings! I have it here on VHS..."

Annakin: (Slapping the VCR remote from her hand) "Never mind that crap, come rule the galaxy with me!"

Padme: "No way, and just to spite you, I have decided to die during childbirth!"

Annakin: "Not if I STRANGLE you first! I keeeelll you!"

(Later, at the volcano)

Obi-Wan: "Annakin, you've been tricked! Padme wasn't going to die in childbirth!"

Annakin: "I keeelll you too!"

Obi-Wan: "Now that you've been vanquished, I will hide your children from you!"

(Later, at the hospital)

Obi-Wan: "Doc, is she REALLY gonna die in childbirth after all?"

Doctor: "Uh huh. You want the babies?"

Obi-Wan: "Okay."

(Later, on Tatooine)

Obi-Wan: "Take this baby, and hide him. The Empire will scour the galaxy and leave no stone unturned in order to find him and me. Just to be extra-safe, I am going to change my name to Ben Kenobi and live in a craggy pass a few miles over that way."

Aunt Beru: "Hey, wasn't there another baby?"

Obi-Wan: "Yes, but someone else wanted it."

(Very far away on another planet)

Darth vader: "NNNnnOOOoooo!!!"

[Frumious Bandersnatch]

Now that's a cheap shot. He does indeed deserve it. Without "Star Wars: A New Hope," it is unlikely that any of the Star Trek movies would have been made, not to mention Superman, Spiderman, Batman, etc., etc. and etc.

And truth to tell, his anti-Bush references are very mild indeed. More of a disagreement than anything else. If Mr. Lucas hadn't indicated otherwise, I would have thought of Palpatine to be more of a Reid or Pelosi.

[EveningStar]

Selleck had to turn it down because he couldn't get leave from his Magnum PI set.

[colorado tanker]

ROTFLMAO!

[colorado tanker]

Too bad, although Selleck has had a pretty decent career. I've always tried to picture if he would have been as big a hit as Ford, but really came to no conclusion.

[Cousin Eddie]

This award was decided upon long before ROTS came out.

[rocklobster11]

Harrison Ford is the only Lucas protege that really took off to a top level career.

Ron Howard, Richard Dreyfuss, Cindy Williams, and Mackenzie Phillips had pretty good careers after American Graffiti.

Happy Days and Laverne and Shirley wouldn't have ever been made had America Graffiti not been a hit. In fact, ABC didn't like Gary Marshall's original pilot for Happy Days, so they didn't pick up the series and just used it as an episode of Love American Style. After the movie came out, they went back and picked up the series.

[colorado tanker]

I freely concede the American Graffiti cast, but would not consider most of them Lucas proteges, especially Ron Howard. He shrewdly tapped some up-and-comers when they were still relatively unknown outside the business.

I'm really not a Lucas-hater, honest. I'm a Star Wars fan and saw ROTH twice. But I have to concede the new trilogy just doesn't have the same quality as the originals.

[drjimmy]

Harrison Ford is the only Lucas protege that really took off to a top level career.
Though he already had some great movies under his belt, Robert Duvall from THX-1138 hasn't done too bad either. And Lucas teamed up with Francis Ford Coppola to form the American Zoetrope film production company, whose first project was THX-1138. The following year Coppola went on to direct The Godfather, and the rest, as they say, is history.

[rocklobster11]

The Phantom Menace was complete crap, and the other two in the new trilogy could have been great movies with decent acting and better dialogue.

We can only hope that Hayden Christensen's carrer ends as quickly as Mark Hamill's, as he makes Hamill look like Sir Laurence Olivier.