Originally posted by: Switch Radic
so what exactly made Lucas "lose his hunger" as you put it? This is the only thing that interests me at this point.

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Success. It happens to alot of great people in their field who succeed to a greater rode then they thought. I don't think Lucas thought Star Wars would ever be the success it was, and probably no one else did either.

Sometimes when you reach the pinnacle, unfortuanately the only way is down. Now Lucas is not the only this has ever happened to. Look at many great actors who win a best oscar award, and then 10 years later then never make a good movie again, it is because they were content with the oscar and felt where do I go from here? Many athletes or coaches win a championship and never have that same drive again. Look at Jimmy Johnson who coached the Cowboys to two superbowls in the 90's, he then took over the Dolphins and never had that hunger to be the best, now he lives the good life in Florida on his boat and works once a week on Fox Sunday with Bradshaw and Howie Long.

I am not degrading Lucas, but it does happen to the best of them. When he made ESB, he said to Kershner, "This movie has to be better than Star Wars, if it isn't than there are no more movies." Lucas knew he HAD to succeed with Empire, it had to be great, hell he financed it with his own money, if it didn't, he would be bankrupt, that takes a lot of guts. After ESB, he became the head of his own company, and he had made it, and deserves kudos from many fans that hate him so much now, but finally making it to the top to become independent turned out to be his worst enemy. By doing everything on the prequels: Writing, Directing, etc. the movies showed his directorial flaws, and that is why alot of people on this site have problems with those movies. Even Lucas admits he hates writing, so go out and get a damn screenwriter!

Look at many directors who are past their prime, when was the last time Coppola did a good movie, or Brian Depalma, or when was the last time James Cameron made a movie? Not since he won an oscar. It happens to the best of them, unfortunately Lucas didn't know when to stop.