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Lucas on Colbert — Page 3

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Originally posted by: Go-Mer-Tonic
Lucas has certainly done more for the medium of film than just about anyone else has.
Please tell me you don't really believe that.
Don't you call me a mindless philosopher...!
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Please tell me you have more to counter that with than just an eyeroll.
Your focus determines your reality.
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Are you suggesting that Luca$h is more important to the history of film than Orson Welles, Ray Harryhausen, Toho, Stanley Kubrick, Michael Curtiz, Akira Kurosawa, John Ford, FW Murnau, Fritz Lang, DW Griffith...? Not to mention the DOPs and other crew members.

Luca$h helped make some advances in cinematic special effects photography.
Don't you call me a mindless philosopher...!
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Helped, he dragged the rest of the industry, kicking and screaming into the era of modern film making and film presentaiton.

The bean counters in Hollywood were always too greedy to reinvest any of their money into research and development.

It's not taking anything away from those visionaries you brought up to include Lucas in their ranks.
Your focus determines your reality.
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Include, yes. That's not what you said.

Besides, I think you're at risk of "demonising" the Hollywood of the 1970s.
Don't you call me a mindless philosopher...!
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On the one hand, I understand the animosity towards Lucas when it comes to releasing the O-OT in a standard quality format, but on the other I think sometimes a lot of us go out of our way to demonize the man out of spite.

Talking to some of you, Star Wars was great despite Lucas. Everything that was good about these films was the result of Lucas not getting what he wanted, and everything that was bad about them was the result of Lucas getting his own way.

When I said Lucas has done more than just about anyone else, I meant he was one of the biggest contributors to modern cinema. Not the only contributer. I guess I could have been more clear.
Your focus determines your reality.
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Fair enough. But I regard his contributions as being in the effects photography, which was not solely down to him. The techniques were developed by others on the productions. What other contributions has he made to modern cinema, in your opinion?
Don't you call me a mindless philosopher...!
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I just meant that he bothered to invest in the reasearch and development that resulted in ILM, which became the premiere SFX company for most of Hollywood.

I think he pioneered some techniques in storytelling in film such as having multiple threads of different storylines woven through each other (people told him he couldn't do that while he was making Amercian Grafitti, now it seems like a lot of people are doing it).

Obviously with THX he helped make the movie going experience grow into the subwoofer driven, multi channell surround experience we take for granted today.

I also think that with the money he had dumped into digital cameras and digital presentation, he is again dragging the industry towards a higher standard of presentation in general.
Your focus determines your reality.
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I do think Luca$h was a different man before he had the weight of a film company hanging round his neck. I honestly feel that he has now become one of the "bean counters" you speak of. He wanted independence and he got it. Be careful what you wish for, as they say...
Don't you call me a mindless philosopher...!
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I think he has always been both an artist and a bean counter. He was upset with Kurtz for going over budget on Empire. Lucas has always been mindful of the costs, and he has always gone for good enough as opposed to "perfect". It's a balancing act to be sure, and wether or not one thinks he does a good job of balancing it is depndant on how good they think his movies turned out in the end.

Watching the doc that came with THX about American Zeotrope, Lucas says he was always worried about the bottom line, and Fracis was always just jumping into things and letting the chips fall where they may. He said that most everything he learned about taking risks, he learned from Francis.
Your focus determines your reality.
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But Luca$h now seems to be espousing a philosophy of never-ending adjustment. He is not satisfied with "good enough" and wants "perfect". I don't think he'll ever get what he wants.

And I honestly feel that he may have denied us some other really great projects because he's been so focused on the SEs and PT. How many other films could Luca$h have made by now? His independence from the American Film Industry has resulted in his directing four films in the last 30 years and they're all SW movies. Where are all the other great stories he's created over that time? His lack of "exercise" on the directing front shows in the PT, I feel. He doesn't get half as much out of the actors as he would have 30 years ago.
Don't you call me a mindless philosopher...!
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I think he's still going for "good enough", but he just has more time and money that he can spend on it now. I don't think he's shooting for perfect, but he knows of ways he can make it closer to the way he'd like them to be.

As for what movies we're missing out on because of his devotion to Star Wars, I don't think he owes us more movies or anything, whatever he wants to spend his time on is fine with me. I am personally grateful that he is taking his time to make Star Wars as good as he can.
Your focus determines your reality.
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Lucas is definitely on that line between artist and bean counter...blame his father for that. He even admitted that in one special I saw on Lucas. Being fiscally responsible is what he learned most from his father....and that still translate today into some of the decisions he makes.
Twisted by the Dark Side, young Skywalker has become. The boy you trained, gone he is. Consumed by Darth Vader.

-Yoda; Episode III Revenge of the Sith.
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Why do you guys feed the troll?

Let him hug his jar jar plushy and suck Lucas' dick. It's been that way for years anyway. I've been on 4 different boards and it's always the same guy. And now he's here to stir shit up. don't give him what he wants.

Anyway thanks for the heads up. Lucas reminds me of the star wars kid, but old.
He big in nothing important in good elephant.

"Miss you, I will, Original Trilogy..."

"Your midichlorians are weak, Old man." -Darth Vader 2007 super deluxe extra special dipped in chocolate sauce edition.

http://prequelsstink.ytmnd.com/
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Who are we talking about here?
Twisted by the Dark Side, young Skywalker has become. The boy you trained, gone he is. Consumed by Darth Vader.

-Yoda; Episode III Revenge of the Sith.
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That guy or gal or whatever who's dedicated their entire life to straddling George Lucas publically.
He big in nothing important in good elephant.

"Miss you, I will, Original Trilogy..."

"Your midichlorians are weak, Old man." -Darth Vader 2007 super deluxe extra special dipped in chocolate sauce edition.

http://prequelsstink.ytmnd.com/
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You know, he could just be a fan of his and takes the good with the bad when it goes to good 'ol GL. I certainly don't straddle Lucas but I've been more on his side than on the other over the years....
Twisted by the Dark Side, young Skywalker has become. The boy you trained, gone he is. Consumed by Darth Vader.

-Yoda; Episode III Revenge of the Sith.
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Maybe you haven't known him for as many years as I have. He's worshipping lucas. It's insanity, or money, but money can make someone do insane things that's for sure. If Lucas had Han jump on jabba's tail and shit on jabba, he'd eat it up. The man can do no wrong in his eyes and that's all he does on the boards is argue with people about lucas' flawlessness. It's either some sick game or some shit I don't even want to begin to care about for another minute.

I will always admire young 70s lucas for being the pioneer of great popcorn movies, not just shitty ones. But of course he's become a different person, more like an odd mix of jabba and the emperor. So I've lost a lot of my respect for him.

Now I'm going to play this video again and laugh at how silly he looks.

He big in nothing important in good elephant.

"Miss you, I will, Original Trilogy..."

"Your midichlorians are weak, Old man." -Darth Vader 2007 super deluxe extra special dipped in chocolate sauce edition.

http://prequelsstink.ytmnd.com/
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Lucas isn't flawless, I just don't expect him to be.

Look you can see the interview on Colbert's site here.
Your focus determines your reality.
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It was a friend of mine, Bonnie Rose, who won. The whole thing is pretty surreal ....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-oSzmq0vMWw

Give her a big hand. She beat out a number of really amazing entries.

Her entry, "Freedom Fighter", was indeed damn good, showing Colbert as a video game character executing a complex series of moves.

I'd been following the competition and had already watched the show and Bonnie's entry before realizing that it was hers and she had won.

I was thinking ... hey, I know a Bonnie R ...

Bonnie writes.

>.WOW!! I just... wow.

Eugh, I don't want to put it on You Tube, they make everything all small and smooshy. I could digitize it and upload it to my file sharing website. I'll try to do that tomorrow.

I had NO IDEA who the "other contestant" was when I was on the phone with Stephen. All I heard was when he was talking to me and showing my video, then it was just silence for five minutes, until he came back saying, "Are you ready Bonnie?" I thought it was seriously another real contestant that I seriously might lose to, so I was genuinely thrilled and surprised when I won. I also didn't know what the "visual approximation" of me was, I could just hear him and hear the audience laughing. (they never even asked for a picture!) So it wasn't until the show came on that I saw it was George Lucas, and that added another layer of surrealness to the whole experience! It was a Star Wars contest, he gets George Lucas to come on and show his own entry probably made by the people who actually work on the Star Wars movies, and the one that wins, mine wasn't about Star Wars at all! I kinda feel bad!

Wow. Wow. WOW!

Bonnie

>>

Thanks everybody! Someone put the whole bit up on You Tube, which is at

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-oSzmq0vMWw

The day after the show, much to my delight, Stephen Colbert called me to thank me personally, since he didn't get to talk to me for real the night before. He's NOTHING like his character. I didn't even recognize his voice at first. He's very softspoken and subdued, and totally nice. And he said George Lucas really liked my video too. HAHAHA!

What a great experience!

Bonnie


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That was an awesome entry.
Your focus determines your reality.
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Congratulations to the girl, but I personally liked some of the other entries better.
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Originally posted by: Invader Jenny
What disapointed me the most with the Lucas Green screen entry was the fact that they had to get Colbert to add extra lines and dialogue for the segment. That's not the point of the challenge!!

One guy was original and used a "Noooooo!" scream from Colbert from an earlier episode, but didn't request that he do a whole new set of lines like Lucas did.
What extra lines did they add? I noticed his entry included more lines than were in the actual clip people were supposed to use, but the whole Jar Jar bit was taken from the original episode during a later portion when Colbert pretended he was talking to Jar Jar while introducing the Mayor or whatever of the district they were doing the segment on.
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no matter what your take on the situation is... I thought it was very funny... Lucas never does crazy things like this... and it was hilarious
seeing him lightsaber fighting!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v463/Lord_Phillock/starwarssig.png

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so ocpmovie, Bonnie is a mutual friend of ours?!? Cool, but now I'm dying to know who you are! Drop me a PM or something, please. This is toooo funny!