George Lucas to TIME: "All democracies turn into dictatorships..."

TIME Magazine via TheForce.net ^ | April 21, 2002

[Darth Sidious]

Here's the press release for the latest edition of Time Magazine which is on newstands now:

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COVER: Yoda Is An Action Hero
in the latest STAR WARS Feature

TIME Interview--GEORGE LUCAS:
'All democracies turn into dictatorships...That's the issue I've been exploring: how did the Republic turn into the Empire'

TIME's JESS CAGLE Was First Journalist To See the New Movie, Which Opens May 16

New York - Yoda is the real action hero of the newest "Star Wars" prequel opening May 16, reveals TIME's Jess Cagle - the first journalist to see the entire feature this past Thursday, at the side of creator George Lucas at Skywalker Ranch in Marin County, CA.

Now fully computer-animated, Yoda (who appears on TIME magazine's cover) is "no longer the endearing puppet animated by Frank Oz's hand" but is "both more supple and more thoughtful," Cagle reports. "Who'd have thought that our sedentary sage was such a deft martial artist, with lightsaber maneuvers...a Gandhi-turned-Rambo?"

In TIME's cover story, "Yoda Strikes Back!" An exclusive guide to the new STAR WARS movie, Episode II--Attack of the Clones" (on newsstands Mon., April 22), Cagle and critic Richard Corliss provide the most detailed view yet of the much-awaited fifth feature. Cagle talks to Lucas about how Anakin Skywalker becomes Darth Vader - and political analogies in the latest "Star Wars" installment (some scenes remind TIME of Kofi Annan and John McCain).

Lucas tells TME about his own geopolitics, reflected in the features:
"All democracies turn into dictatorships--but not by coup. The people give their democracy to a dictator, whether it's Julius Caesar or Napoleon or Adolf Hitler. Ultimately, the general population goes along with the idea. What kinds of things push people and institutions in this direction? That's the issue I've been exploring: how did the Republic turn into the Empire?...How does a good person go bad, and how does a democracy become a dictatorship?"

Lucas also opens up about how Anakin Skywalker becomes Darth Vader:
"Because he gets attached to things...He can't let go of his mother...his girlfriend...things. It makes you greedy. And when you're greedy, you are on the path to the dark side because you fear that you're going to lose things. You fear you're not going to have the power you need."

Lucas admits to TIME that his 1999 Star Wars movie, Episode I--The Phantom Menace, was not universally revered - though it made $431 million at the North American box office, making it the fourth highest-grossing movie of all time (after Titanic, the original Star TIME 'Star Wars' cover story/p. 2 of 2) Wars, and E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial.) "I'm getting my education now from the press," Lucas says. "They come in and say, 'Wow. People hated your movie. What do you think about that?"

"There's only one issue for a filmmaker," Lucas tells TIME. "Will this make it's money back so I can make the next one?" With Phantom Menace, Lucas admits he did not know: "It didn't have Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher. It was not a slam dunk."

Lucas also talks with TIME about fatherhood ("My kids don't have a perfect life...they don't have a mother, and they just have to get over it"); making movies for 12-year-olds ("We had reached a period in terms of our society of not having a mythology, of not having a code that you pass down to the next generation"); demands of fans ("I can't really make a movie for fans"), and more.

Cagle and Corliss conclude Clones is "two hours of serious fun." By adding love scenes between stars Natalie Portman and Hayden Christensen, Cagle and Corliss conclude the hit new feature "looks like Shaquille O'Neal standing three feet from the basket." Clones extends the franchise "from 12-year-old boys (the action scenes) to 15-year-old girls (the love scenes). If it works, Lucas has quite a combo: the Star Wars and Titanic markets in one package."

TIME also reports:

? Interview: NATALIE PORTMAN:
When she's not playing Amidala, actress Natalie Portman has been going to college and keeping a low profile. "When I'm at a restaurant with my parents," Portman tells TIME, "I don't want to be stared at." Yet last week she wrote a letter to the Harvard Crimson objecting to a racially-charged essay about the Palestinian conflict that appeared in the paper; her family immigrated from Israel. Portman has completed her credits for a B.A. in psychology but may go back for another year of college before the summer of 2003, when the next Star Wars film goes into production.

? Interview: HAYDEN CHRISTENSON:
Actor Hayden Christenson, 21, whose role as Anakin Skywalker, Jedi knight-in-training, will make him world-famous, tells TIME "I think I'm a pretty grounded individual and will handle it as well as anyone my age would...Or maybe I'll become a big mess. Who knows?"

? Digital Yoda:
Once rubber, Yoda is now digital for Attack of the Clones. "We didn't want to make him look like he was real," Lucas tells TIME. The digital Yoda remains remarkably true to the delicate puppetry of Frank Oz, who still supplies the voice, TIME reports.

? FIRST ENTIRELY DIGITAL FEATURE 'FILM':
Clones is the first major feature to be shot and, in certain theatres, shown on digital disks. "The result," writes TIME's Richard Corliss, "is a breathtakingly clear image that lends a superreal glamour."

? 'Star Wars' Effect:
The series' huge success "forever altered the way Hollywood made movies and did business," according to TIME. Now, "films are made for kids, especially teen boys." Once, "movies were one-offs; there was no 'Gone With the Wind II." Now, "Studios swing for the fences to get a megahit action film that can win name-brand recognition and be profitably cloned for years to come."

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You can read more by clicking here and check out the Lucas interview by clicking here.

[Lessismore]

Mature societies tend to oscillate slowly between the imperial and baronial forms of government. One of the barons will gain power over the others, usually with popular support, and form a line of emperors. The problems with succession planning eventually cause the line to dissapate and power to flow back to the barons.

Democracy is an anomaly, and it requires either a low population density, plentiful resource environment (e.g. the US) or a catastrophe which disrupts the old power structures (e.g. WW I and II).

[Vince Ferrer]

Mr. Lucas is a revisionist..... Word on the street is that he's re-editing the orginal trilogy with newly filmed footage so it will meld with Episodes 1-3. And note that the PHANTOM MENACE DVD is different from the one that played in movie theatres. I never cared much for revisionists.

I have had suspicions about this, but I can't remember any changed scenes, and usually when people do this I can remember what was taken out. What was changed?

[tal hajus]

I believe it was the philosopher Plato who wrote, "Republics decline into democracies and democracies into dictatorships."

That having been said, I enjoyed The Phantom Menace, even Jar-Jar, and from the trailers of the new one, it appears that I shall enjoy that one also.

[TaxPayer2000]

Thank you

[RasterMaster]

I think Lucas and the author of the article been spending too much time with John McLame.

[miamimark]

Well said-Just look at all the politician's relatives busted for drugs and never sent to jail, as just 1 example.

[smokeyb]

Has anyone noticed that Yoda looks like Ross Perot ?

[f.Christian]

Drones...dumbdowned devilcrats---social evolution!

[Rebelbase]

Good thing that some patriotic galactic citizens did'nt turn in their weapons and formed a core group that manged to rebel against the Evil Empire.

[boris]

Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all convictions, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.

Surely some revelation is at hand;
Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out
When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi
Troubles my sight: somewhere in sands of the desert
A shape with lion body and the head of a man,
A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it
Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds.
The darkness drops again; but now I know
That twenty centuries of stony sleep
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?
--W. B. Yeats

And "all that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing."

Somewhat better turns of phrase than Lucas, but then what did we expect?

--Boris

[boris]

"The first STAR WARS movie was a re-telling of all of the serials that we used to see as kids"

Actually it was a retelling of the story of King Arthur. Obi-Wan is Merlin, Luke is the young king Arthur, and the light-saber is Excalibur.

After Star Wars, the makers of the excreable Excalibur went to lengths to point this out, even making the knights' helmets look like Darth Vader, and the moves Arthur makes with the sword are identical to those performed by "Luke".

==============

BTW, Forbidden Planet is based on Shakespeare's Tempest, while The Day the Earth Stood Still is a retelling of the Passion of Christ.

--Boris

[AmishDude]

Lucas isn't the most subtle guy in the world and the Nazi angle was fairly obvious from ANH. He's included some elements from ancient Rome as well (chariot races, slavery and I think there's something akin to a gladiator fight in this one). I enjoy historical references in sci-fi, but I'm not at all looking to Lucas for historical or political insight -- even if he were a political ally.

[Brett66]

It's sort of a false version of history to imply that Rome elected Ceasar and that was it. First of all, a very corrupt Senate elected the Emperor so Ceasar was elected in a derivative fashion out of fear because the army was loyal to him. He was not truly elected by the people.

I also believe Rome survived for hundreds of years after Caesar's murder and prospered greatly. I don't know how any analogy of Rome would relate to America. It was totally different.

I suppose there are a few lessons from Rome we could apply, but again America is very different from what Rome once was.

[marajade]

Has anyone noticed that Yoda looks like Ross Perot ?

I've always thought Yoda favored Joseph Lieberman-D of Connecticut more than any other political personality myself.

[marajade]

Glad to see you...

[marajade]

OT: TNN is showing fans favorites of ST:TNG...

[AmishDude]

Sorry I didn't ping you, this is your kind of thread. I'm looking forward to the film. Sometime a few weeks after it's been released, I'll make the trek to Cleveland to see it the way it was meant to be seen -- in digital.

Sometimes I hate Pittsburgh so much . . .

[marajade]

Disagree with you there... Most filmmakers today aren't into digital filming and GL is leading the pack. His ILM and Skywalker Sound are the best in Hollywood. In relation to Animation, he first owned Pixar, considered topdog, but still owns some of it and does major work for their releases.

[marajade]

Well there isn't many in Phoenix either so I'm not going to bother. However, I've already planned to use a vacation day on 5/21 and book three showings in a row.

Its going to be much more of an adult movie and it does appear, if you believe the spoilers, GL is listening to his fans.