Emphasis mine:
zombie84 said:
I think a large part of this has to do with the fact that George Lucas isn't a regular, integrated part of society. The world he lives in is not the same as yours and mine. He can't go check out a movie theatre saturday night, or take the subway downtown. He can't just go with a friend to a comedy club, or take a walk around the neighbourhood when he is feeling restless. He can't go window shop on sunday afternoon with his girlfriend, or take his kids to the local baseball game. He's not going to have a conversation with the guy standing next to him in line at the bank, because he doesn't line up at the bank in the first place, and he can't walk into a comic book shop and see what's out this week.
zombie84 said:
I guess that is the downside of not having to have a care in the world and being able to do pretty much anything.
Those two statements are at odds. Also no I don't see things that way. It's pretty clear he's wanted to be the public figure head for Star Wars since the SEs were produced. He had plenty of time to think about it and he wanted that fame induced lifestyle. I hazard a guess that his life was becoming ever more "average" during that time. I mean when Star Wars was discussed prior to the SEs I as a kid did not care and did not know about George Lucas. I just discussed the characters on the screen with my friends. Sure this is anecdotal, but I ask you prior to the SEs in the early 90s how much did you associate George Lucas with Star Wars?
He essentially had the perfect "out" of the fame burdening lifestyle during that time. He could've just marketed the hell out of the directors of Empire and Jedi. After all Empire is arguably the film that made Star Wars stick in the public eye. If he wanted to he could've praised Irvin Kershner's film. Instead you look at this interview and it doesn't even resonate with the interviewer to interject on his "That whole issue between filmmakers and the studios with the studios being able to change things without even letting the director of the movie know" comment. Just shows how much he expects people to see these movies as all his. He makes that comment so easily and he knows few will actually say "hey wait a minute, you didn't direct Empire Strikes Back or Return of the Jedi".
Hell what about the marketing for Red Tails? Anthony Hemingway isn't the main person being interviewed for it, it's George Lucas. Sure he directed a few reshoots, but that arguably makes him a second unit director at best. How many second unit directors get the main press coverage for a film?
The way I see it he's a guy who doesn't want to be forgotten. He wants to be a household name. He wants the kind of life where it's difficult for him to do average things. If he didn't he could've faded into obscurity long ago. I mean think about his initial aspirations to be a race car driver. Not exactly the dream of someone wishing to stay out of the public limelight.
Then again I'm tired been up all night, I'm not even sure what I'm typing makes sense... So yeah I could be wrong I admit that.
