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Lucas Forced Himself To Write 'Episode III'

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It's no wonder the prequels are no comparison to the originals. The creator himself has lost all passion for the star wars universe that he created. Pretty sad huh?

http://www.imdb.com/news/wenn/2005-04-27/


Hollywood mogul George Lucas struggled so much with writing the screenplay for final Star Wars installment Episode Iii - Revenge Of The Sith, he had to force himself to stick to a rigid working day as he sought inspiration. The hugely successful movie-maker, 60, took on the persona of a normal office worker as he sat at his desk for nine hours a day, five days a week - and he still only managed to produce five pages everyday. He says, "I am very diligent about writing. I go to work at 8.30am and leave at 6pm. I sit there with that page in front of me but I still can't write it. I do get it done, I actually write five pages a day. But I force myself - otherwise I would probably write a page a day."

It's too bad he couldn't have just sold the rights of the story to somebody who actually cared.
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Having writers block and not caring are two SEPERATE things.

Maybe the whole 'closure' thing was something that subcon he was dreading.
The Jedi are all but extinct.......
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So wait you think spending 9 hours a day 5 days a week indicates a lack of passion!? Jesus, there's no pleasing some people - you'd be criticising him if he'd said it was dead easy and he finished it in a week. Frankly there's only one thing here that's 'pretty sad'...
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This whole situation with Lucas is sad.
I'd like a qui-gon jinn please with an Obi-Wan to go.

Red heads ROCK. Blondes do not rock. Nuff said.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v72/greencapt/hansolovsindy.jpg
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No, if he had passion, he wouldn't have had to 'force' himself to write it. Read it again. He treated it like a job that he had to get done but had no desire for.
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Jesus, c'mon now. That's silliness. When he was writing the FIRST one he used to chop his own HAIR out of his head because he hated writing so much. It made him anxious. He's ALWAYS hated having to actually write the stuff down. It's why he was so turned on by documentary filmmaking, abstract filmmaking, editing and the likes. He could just pick up a camera, cut together some images, lay some music over, and tell a story without having to use a word.

The fact that he's getting FIVE pages a day done instead of 2 tells me he's IMPROVING--it was EASIER to write this script this time out. To think that forcing yourself to write denotes a lack of passion reveals a total ignorance about the craft of writing. you think writers sit at their desk and orgasm out a chapter a day like it's nothing? It's hard, VERY hard work, to keep plugging along when inspiration isn't striking as fast as you want it to. It's why a lot of writers become alcoholics. It doesn't mean they don't WANT to write the book anymore, just that it's gotten HARDER.

To point to this article--which is pretty lazy writing, itself, couldn't have taken more than 10 minutes, being as most of the quotes come from the "Making of" book, as some sort of proof that he doesnt' care anymore, is silly, straight up. You're just trying as hard as you can to see what you want to see, that's all.
The Best Show You've Never Heard
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Originally posted by: The Bizzle
You're just trying as hard as you can to see what you want to see, that's all.


and you're doing exactly the same thing.

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I have to agree with the Bizzle too. I'm a writer myself and sometimes I have to force myself to write, even if it's a story I really want to tell. It is just so easy to procrastinate, and there are all kinds of things. Sometimes you dread writing a scene because you're afraid how it will turn out: will it be powerful, funny, awesome enough? Will this evoke the right emotion or just come across as angst? Just because you care about something doesn't mean it will come easy for you. And of course as Hardcore Legend said, there is always writer's block. Some stories go unfinished for years because the author can't think of where to go next... or he may know where to go but not how to get there.

You (Justin, SoloVJones, and Warbler) are just taking this and looking at it through your hate of Lucas, plain and simple.

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I will concede that writing is not easy and of course there is such a thing as writer's block.
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Whoa, whoa, whoa there! I never said I hate anybody. Chaltab, Bizzle, and Wajas: you guys need to calm down and not get so defensive. I don't know why everything has to be so polarized.

On this forum, people are categorized into two groups: they either 'HATE' Lucas or they 'LOVE' Lucas. I was just reading a forum talking about Kung Fu Hustle. People there either LOVED it or HATED it. If I go to a digital camera forum, people either say that Compact Flash is the best media option or that Secure Digital is ALWAYS superior. And what interests me is how emotional people get defending the side they choose to be on. But remember guys, things in life aren't so black and white. People can't be stereotypically placed in strictly one group or another.

You guys act like you know Lucas personally. But the truth is, none of us will ever know his true feelings or motivations. We can only make our own opinions based on the interpretations of what we read in the media. One thing that most of us can agree on is that Lucas' style of storytelling and the scope of the target audience has changed between the OT and the PT. The OT is what made Lucas as rich and famous as he is today. One can only wonder what would have happened if he had released these PT movies first, without the established fanbase of the star wars universe.
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Originally posted by: justlnluck
Whoa, whoa, whoa there! I never said I hate anybody. Chaltab, Bizzle, and Wajas: you guys need to calm down and not get so defensive. I don't know why everything has to be so polarized.

On this forum, people are categorized into two groups: they either 'HATE' Lucas or they 'LOVE' Lucas. I was just reading a forum talking about Kung Fu Hustle. People there either LOVED it or HATED it. If I go to a digital camera forum, people either say that Compact Flash is the best media option or that Secure Digital is ALWAYS superior. And what interests me is how emotional people get defending the side they choose to be on. But remember guys, things in life aren't so black and white. People can't be stereotypically placed in strictly one group or another.

You guys act like you know Lucas personally. But the truth is, none of us will ever know his true feelings or motivations. We can only make our own opinions based on the interpretations of what we read in the media. One thing that most of us can agree on is that Lucas' style of storytelling and the scope of the target audience has changed between the OT and the PT. The OT is what made Lucas as rich and famous as he is today. One can only wonder what would have happened if he had released these PT movies first, without the established fanbase of the star wars universe.


I feel that justInluck shows a lack of passion for this forum in the above post. He forced himself to write it based on the previous 'episodes' and his lack of finding a firm black or white stance leads me to believe he hates puppies and eats only the brown M & M's.

just thought I'd try and lighten this up a bit
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Reading justInluck's post gave me freaky D*****B deja vu.

Must... leave... forum....

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Don't let someone imitating Daniel drive you away! Fight the evil power! Unleash the Blade of Pwnage!!!

Ok... So... Don't acutally use a blade. But still, fight his assumptions. He assumed that because he forced himself to write, Lucas must lack the passion, and then assumed that because we defended this, we "love" Lucas. You know what they say about assuming, right?

I hardly love lucas. His over use of CGI and stupid humor annoys me. His refusal to release all his versions of the OT is infuriating. And I think he is full of himself. But I don't hate him. That doesn't acomplish anything. He is responsible for the greatest scifi trilogy ever, so I tend to give him the benefit of a doubt.

But if Episode 3 sucks, then it's all over.

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Originally posted by: justlnluck
On this forum, people are categorized into two groups: they either 'HATE' Lucas or they 'LOVE' Lucas.


Not true. I have a strong distaste for what he's done to the Original Trilogy, and I think that he's taking it a bit too far with the computer imagery in the new movies (the last two aren't really films, eh?), but I can say that I genuinely like a lot of TPM and that I really like AOTC, and I honestly can't imagine myself disliking ROTS at all. Yeah, I dislike what he's done, but I don't hate him for it. I don't love him, either, because of aformentioned reasons. Somewhere happily in the middle.

I used to be very active on this forum. I’m not really anymore. Sometimes, people still want to get in touch with me about something, and that is great! If that describes you, please email me at [my username]ATgmailDOTcom.

Hi everybody. You’re all awesome. Keep up the good work.

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Originally posted by: Darth Chaltab
He assumed that because he forced himself to write, Lucas must lack the passion, and then assumed that because we defended this, we "love" Lucas. You know what they say about assuming, right?


Hmm, yes, what do they say about assuming?

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You (Justin, SoloVJones, and Warbler) are just taking this and looking at it through your hate of Lucas, plain and simple.


Most of my reply was in reference to the fact that you categorized all three of us as Lucas 'haters'. I haven't visited this board since September/October and after one post, it is assumed I must hate Lucas. I don't know SoloVJones' or Warbler's opinion on this, but I do not 'hate' Lucas. I could only hate someone if they made an intentional, significant negative impact in my life on a personal level. Lucas certainly did not do that. These are just movies after all. The original trilogy was a set of great movies that I thoroughly enjoyed as a kid and I thank Lucas for that entertainment.
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To the Bizzle, you listen!

Some people are just obsessivly hating him. Even if he did something that was great, they would spit on it.
Granted he hasn't been the king of good decision making latley, but forcing himself to write isn't inheritly a bad thing. He had to do the same thing with the original movie, didn't he?
And weren't the Special Editions his "passionatte rejuvination" of what he originally had to force himself to write anyway?

My stance on revising fan edits.

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and you're doing exactly the same thing.


How so, exactly? I don't see the correlation you're drawing at all. I made two points in the rebuttal:

1) This isn't news, Lucas has ALWAYS had to force himself to write stuff, since he doesn't at all LIKE writing
2) To say that only putting out 5 pages a day denotes a lack of passion reveals very limited knowledge of how differently writers work from one another.

That's all my post did. I'm not at all certain how that's "seeing what I want to see" since what I want to see is some knowledgeable, informative posts. Don't assume that because you read most posts with a predetermined outcome already prepared in your head at the slightest mention of a few keywords (Luca$, Greedo, Spielberg, Kershner, Kurtz, JarJar, etc..) that's what I'm doing as well. It's not true.

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Chaltab, Bizzle, and Wajas: you guys need to calm down and not get so defensive. I don't know why everything has to be so polarized.


I wasn't defensive. The first REAL defensive post in here is yours, telling me to calm down for poking holes all over your interpretation of the article. I'm not tripping that you think his writing sucks--I can't really argue that. What I CAN argue is the laughable idea that Lucas somehow only cranking out 5 pages a day points to some sort of lack of passion in making movies overall. That's a hell of a leap, especially since it ignores Lucas well-documented history. Of course, it's easier to MAKE that leap if what you're REALLY trying to do is condemn the man as some sort of money-grubbing emotionless hack, which you're obviously trying to do. And if you hold that opinion, that's fine..but don't try to tie it to something as ultimately substanceless as this.

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I will concede that writing is not easy and of course there is such a thing as writer's block.


Well thanks for the concession. I'll alert imdB right away
The Best Show You've Never Heard
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Ok, after thinking about it I agree that just because Lucas stuggled and forced himself to write does not nessessary mean that he lacks "the passion". I was wrong, sorry. But I will go on record as saying that I do hate Lucas for everything has done to the OT. For refusing to to release it on DVD. For turning what could have been another great Trilogy into a mess. For treating the fans like sh**. I sorry but I do hate him. And you are right, just this once I was only looking for what I wanted to see.