logo Sign In

Interesting transcript from online chat about George Lucas on how Empire turned out...

Author
Time
 (Edited)

This was taken from an online chat with Dale Pollock, the author of Skywalking, the autobiography on George. What stands out to me is the statement that apparently George hated that Irvin Kershner didn’t make Empire exactly the way he wanted it. I’d hate to imagine what Empire would have been like if George had directed it.

Here is the link:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/discussion/2005/05/06/DI2005050600821.html

 

Mod Edit: a working link to the above article can be found here:-

http://web.archive.org/web/20191031115434/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/discussion/2005/05/06/DI2005050600821.html

George Lucas was seduced by the dark side. The OOT ceased to exist in his mind and became the Special Editions...." "They're more maching now than movies. Twisted and evil."
Author
Time
Oddly enough, when Lucas altered the trilogy to align it with his original vision in 1997, and again in 2004, Empire was the movie that was changed the least. Kershner's film is bulletproof.
"It's the stoned movie you don't have to be stoned for." -- Tom Shales on Star Wars
Scruffy's gonna die the way he lived.
Author
Time
that was a good take on lucas, about the exposition thing in ep1 and 2 lucas even says that ine ep4 commentary, thats probably why he wasnt interested in the prequels they were always there to set up the OT
Author
Time
might be a twice typed typo, but Pollock spells it "Annakin"...
Author
Time

(...)Why has Lucas not directed any non-"Star Wars" films since the first film came out?(...)

Because essentially he hates directing, and has only directed the first three prequels only because they necessitate little actual direction of actors, and far more attention paid to effects.(...)


OK, so, George? Why didn't you just stayed at home since 1983, with your billions of dollars? You don't have to work for a living anymore, you know? Did you know you own the RIGHTS for STAR WARS? That is a VERY profitable thing, you know? If you hated it so much, WHY destroy your career and your movie saga by directing it yourself, since you hate writing AND directing, and it's SCREENPLAY, DIRECTING and ACTING that makes a movie good, not ILM. The guys from ILM will NOT make a movie good. So you could have stayed at home, while someone talented could just have made the prequels.
“Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country.” — Nazi Reich Marshal Hermann Goering
Author
Time
Check this out:

How/when did Lucas come to believe that Kershner ruined Empire? I ask because (1) a lot of people (me included) believe it's the best one, and (2) even after that, he still had someone else direct Jedi. (Thanks for taking questions, by the way. Very interesting chat!)

Dale Pollock: Glad you're enjoying this chat. Kershner said he would never work with Lucas again after his EMPIRE experience, and I think Lucas felt the same way. He felt Kershner went too emotional in EMPIRE, and put too much emphasis on Vader's struggle, and not enough on Luke's. It just wasn't the movie he would have made (I think many of us are glad he didn't make it!)


And now GL is saying that the SAGA is Anakin's story?

If I could ask GL another question, it would be this:

If you hated Kershner's approach to EMPIRE, why is it the least edited of all the special editions?
MTFBWY. Always.

http://www.myspace.com/red_ajax
Author
Time
do you think george really made the prequels for kids? does anyone know if kids like it, the one time i saw TPM in the theaters kids were throwing popcorn at the back of peoples heads because they were bored
Author
Time
I don't think I would say he made ROTS for kids.

But, as Irvin Kershner once said "I wanted the movie to appeal to the kidddies, but with deeper meanings for the adults."
Author
Time
why did george lucas betray us, why god why?!
Author
Time
I just wished someone would confront him about those things on an interview or something.
“Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country.” — Nazi Reich Marshal Hermann Goering
Author
Time
I must question old Georges taste if doesnt like the way Empire turned out, and likes how the other movies turned out especially the ones after.
Author
Time
I don't think he actually dislikes Empire. I think he's just jealous that it came out better than any of the ones he directed. And he uses the fact that, at its release, it wasn't as popular as the original movie to rationalize his position.

There is no lingerie in space…

C3PX said: Gaffer is like that hot girl in high school that you think you have a chance with even though she is way out of your league because she is sweet and not a stuck up bitch who pretends you don’t exist… then one day you spot her making out with some skinny twerp, only on second glance you realize it is the goth girl who always sits in the back of class; at that moment it dawns on you why she is never seen hanging off the arm of any of the jocks… and you realize, damn, she really is unobtainable after all. Not that that is going to stop you from dreaming… Only in this case, Gaffer is actually a guy.

Author
Time
Originally posted by: ricarleite
I just wished someone would confront him about those things on an interview

He most likely won't agree to an interview without first seeing the questions ahead of time. He's not going to allow someone to put him in an uncomfortable position or embarrass him. The questions would have to be very general. No one's going to be able to ask him - "Mr. Lucas, how come you castrated the character of Han Solo by making him shoot in self defense instead of keeping him as a no-so-trustworthy smuggler that kills someone outright?"
Forum Moderator