Saga Will George Lucas direct another Star Wars film?

Well, I doubt he will come back. I was really disappointed when I heard that he was actually writing his own scripts for the ST, but they never ended up being used. That will probably bug me a little for the rest of forever. Even if these new movies turn out awesome, I will still always be at least curious about what Lucas' plans were.

Since they decided to do the ST without using his script, I would honestly be really surprised if he ever came back to make more Star Wars. I would honestly be shocked if he even makes a cameo in any ST movies, though I suppose its possible.

 

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

 

I know people dislike what he did with Episode 1,2 & 3 but to me Lucas is Star Wars and I hope he directs once again.

 

he should direct a stand-alone film for darth maul set before phantom menace && a stand alone film for obi-wan set between ep.3&4 perhaps?

 

I was reading an article a few months ago about what construes 'fan fiction' (can't remember where it was, or why I happened upon it), and today a few points that it brought up occurred to me in relation to SW. In essence, I think a lot of the fanbase is having trouble letting go of George Lucas, as if he's the only person capable of creating 'authentic' Star Wars stories, and I don't believe GL ever planned on the franchise being like that, even though it sort of was for a while (no EU authors were allowed to touch the PT period, and loads of stuff got retconned).

Is every Batman story written after Bob Kane, Jerry Robinson and Bill Finger stopped working on it in the 1940s somehow inauthentic, non-canon, or fan fiction? Ditto Superman stories without Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, and James Bond films based on material that Ian Fleming had absolutely nothing to do with, the list goes on and on.

I think GL's done with the GFFA, let him walk away from it in peace. I predict that in fifty years time, the franchise could easily be going strong in all sorts of media, and George Lucas will always be remembered as the man who created it, but other films, novels, comics etc may well have been created by then that are regarded as superior to the original GL Saga, much as Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns took the Batman mythos to a new level, far beyond anything its creators ever imagined.

 

I agree with what you say, but I suppose it's about the difference between a "series" (in which different authors can create different stories based on characters created by someone else) and a "saga" (in which you have one author creating a single story).

Batman, Superman, James Bond... are (or have become) series, in which we can accept a new story by a new creator.

However, for example, Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings or A Song of Ice and Fire/Game of Thrones are sagas in which we have a clear overarching story created by a single author, and we would not accept a new sequel unless created by the original author (and even that would be questionable!), no matter how good they could be.

Star Wars started out more like a series in which different filmmakers were supposed to make different films, relatively unconnected to each other; but it soon became a saga in which there was a clear direction, single story and authorship (and everybody considered Lucas the "maker" of it).
I think it's understandable that some people may have problems accepting that the "George Lucas' Star Wars Saga about Anakin Skywalker's Rise, Fall and Redemption through his Son" is to be expanded by different creators who have created different stories (moreso, if they pretend to make the new stories part of the overarching Saga/story!).

An interesting intermediate example bewteen a Saga and a Series would be Indiana Jones, actually. The movies are serialized, they don't form a single story at all, and yet the makers behind the films have always been the same. How easily would we accept a new Indy film not directed by Spielberg, not written by Lucas and not starred by Ford?

 

George Lucas won't direct any Star Wars movies or other big blockbusters until... well (I hate to say it but I have to acknowledge with it)... he passes away. He made it clear on this video and interview with Vanity Fair: George Lucas Explains Why He's Done Directing Star Wars Movies

I guess all the negativity, the bashing and hatred spewed online against him have convinced him that it's not worth continuing in the blockbuster industry. He will only produce small experimental movies like THX 1138 that you won't necessarly see on theaters.

 

It is a shame that the man who created such an important part of my life got treated this way.

 

He says that he's keener on making experimental films these days. I look forward with bated breath to seeing some of these.

 

Exactly what I was thinking. Some people should be ashamed of themselves to criticised him the way they did, just because they disliked what he did with the new movies.

 

Harsh criticism, like effusive praise, is part and parcel of putting your creative works out into the public. You can disregard all of it, but if you buy into the good, you have to be able to deal with the bad. Having said that, it did go well and truly over the top at some points.

 

Very well put, on all counts. Although GL once had the idea that SW stories could be created by other filmmakers and authors, the slightly later spin that there was already an outlined 'Saga' (referred to early on as 'The Adventures of Luke Skywalker' in various media) did alter he way the public viewed Star Wars, as did the addition of episode numbers, and also, perhaps, the long wait between the OT and the mysterious Prequel Trilogy that only George Lucas himself knew the specifics of.
Despite allowing the EU to exist, LFL did create something of a division between the material created by GL and that which wasn't, plus the man himself occasionally made comments about there being 'his thing' and then there was what all the novels, comics etc were doing.

TCW was probably the first step towards a more 'democratic' SW franchise, where LFL really pushed a vehicle towards the mass market which wasn't entirely the creation of George Lucas (I know he was involved quite a bit, but not anywhere near the way he was on the films). The novels and comics, despite being huge, are still really part of a niche market.

I think the fanbase will one day accept non-GL SW stories as being just as valid as the original six-episode Saga (it's already beginning - the new trilogy most certainly has his 100% stamp of approval, but not his direct involvement, plus TCW and Rebels have been thoroughly successful in a way that Droids and Ewoks never could have been), but it'll take time.

As for a new Indy film without Spielberg, GL or Harrison Ford - just a matter of time, although I think the hardest pill to swallow will be another actor playing Indiana Jones, but it's worked repeatedly for James Bond.
The series doesn't have the same mythic scope that SW does for the specific authors to matter too much to most audiences, and it's not as if the involvement of SS & GL on Kingdom of the Crystal Skull saved it from being pretty poorly received by fans - although personally, I think Spielberg's slightly old-fashioned directing style in certain parts saved it from being unwatchable.

There's no real expectations or long-held anticipation for a new Indy film - it's not like we're waiting for Indiana Jones: Episodes I-III - so despite obvious comparisions to the rest, it'd be nice to think that a new one will eventually be judged on its own merits. It'll all come down to finding a decent replacement for Ford.

 

A mass market that's worth many billions more than the fans could provide? Face it, we're numerous, but we're not the entire mass market.

 

According to recent statements by Lucas, I don't think the way Disney is taking the ST has his stamp of approval, Disney Katheen don't give a flying Dutchman about what Lucas thinks.

 

Well, there are some people who think Superman stories were only good when it was done a certain way. Such as everything before 1986. And when those creators stopped working, everything else was basically fan fiction to them. Likewise, there's an individual over in Amph who finds only the Siegel Superman stories to be of note, because he was the co-creator. So you're going to find that going on no matter what the franchise, it's just that it is more apparent with "Star Wars" due to the emotional intensity of the fandom.

Well, he's been keen to do that before all the backlash of the last eighteen years.

Paul Scanlon: This was something else you said in London: "I'm tired of being a director, I want to go back to being a filmmaker".

George Lucas: Well, that's true, that is really what I want to do. I've done this thing now. I've directed my large corporation and I made the movie that I wanted to make.


Scanlon: The film's success should guarantee some success in the merchandising program you've launched.

Lucas: One of my motivating factors for doing the film, along with all the other ones, was that I love toys and games. And so I figured, gee, I could start a kind of a store that sold comic art, and sold 78 records, or old rock 'n' roll records that I like, and antique toys and a lot of things that I am really into; stuff that you can't buy in regular stores. I also like to create games and things, so that was part of the movie, to be able to generate toys and things. Also, I figured the merchandising along with the sequels would give me enough income over a period of time so that I could retire from professional film making and go into making my own kind of movies, my own sort of abstract, weird, experimental stuff.

--Rolling Stone interview, 1977.

Which is why he's said for the last ten years or so, that anything he'd direct that wasn't "Star Wars" would be something that would be off the cuff. Not mainstream and most likely not released publicly. He'd probably show them to his family and closest friends.

As soon as "George Lucas raped my childhood" began, that's when it...

 

For about 7 years, I'd assumed Revenge of the Sith was the last Star Wars film ever and that was directed by Lucas. So, I was good with it then and I'm good with it now.

Let Lucas do other things.

 

My issue isn't that only Lucas can make "real" Star Wars, but that I suspect new Lucas Star Wars would interest me more than that done by the people Disney has thus far hired. But even then, I'm fine with Lucas being with Star Wars for good if it means there's more of a possibility (however slight it is) that we get to see something new and non-Star Wars directed by Lucas. I'm hoping for at least a short film of some type, perhaps included with the 50th anniversary edition of THX 1138.

 

Do I think that other people can come up with great stories in GFFA? Absolutely. I've enjoyed TCW, KOTOR and some of the books and comics I've read. So it's entirely possible. After all, Star Wars universe is fairly eclectic and open to experimentation (how about a miniseries similar to what Marvel is doing with Netflix now?)

However, what I'm worried about is that the large studio won't be willing to make risks and will resort to rehashing old stories or creating some generic space fantasy blockbusters instead of very personal and mythological saga Lucas excelled at. So far, everything I've seen from TFA doesn't instill much optimism in me.

 

I think the question has been answered:

http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment...ar-wars-but-was-rebuffed-20151123-gl57df.html

Much what I expected. If GL really ever wanted to deal with SW again, he wouldn't have sold the franchise.

 

I still believe Lucas would never get actively involved (as a writer, director...) in any SW film just for the sake of making ore films. I do believe he cares about the STORY first and foremost, and he considers "his" SW to be a soap opera, as he says. He did the PT because he wanted to tell the story of the Fall of Anakin, and he says he would never do a ST because he didn't have a story for it, and because he was satisfied with his 6-part Saga.

I do believe Lucas is happy giving ideas to other writers and sort of supervising the Clone Wars TV series and stuff like that... but he never considered it part of "his" SW soap opera, and never had the intention to become actively involved in any other SW movie. Of course, the public backlash of the PT didn't help, but that didn't make Lucas stop until he completed the PT, because he DID want to tell that story...

Regarding EVII, and reading between lines of public statements (which have been proven to be misleading at best), I'm quite sure that Lucas didn't start thinking about a possible ST story until he decided to sell Lucasfilm, and therefore, needed SOMETHING to sell. I doubt his outline for the ST was something he was really invested in, as it was something he produced to sell it to Disney. Lucas probably thought the ST would be like the Clone Wars series, and he saw himself as a global supervisor figure... until Disney decided to ditch Lucas and his outline completely. As Darth-Nub says, if Lucas really wanted to get involved in SW again, he wouldn't have sold it.

At least all this makes it more clear in my mind that the 1-6 SW Saga is the George Lucas Saga and whatever comes after is... something else (Disney milking the cow, as I see it).

Sadly, I think all that talk about "small experimental films" is just empty talk. He was been talking about making those kind of films ever since 1977 and he never has. Either he HAS been doing experimental stuff in his garage (literally) or he will never make them.
And after all, if you really think about it, what kind of experimental thing could he do today? They kind of abstract short-film he talks about (remembering his student years) is something from the 1960s.

 

That makes me think of Lucas becoming a Youtube personality. Or doing some kind of internet multimedia stuff, performance art. That's kind of the experimental stuff of today, isn't it?

 

That's a flawed line of reasoning. If you care about your kids the most, does it mean you don't care about your parents? He had other priorities, doesn't mean he didn't care.

He cared enough to write the story for an whole trilogy, and even considered doing the first one and then leave the reamining two to other directors.

 

I doubt very much that he wrote the story for "a whole trilogy" (i.e. the ST) - he only provided Disney with notes in 2012 as a part of the sale, which were rejected, I'm sure in a friendly way. Just what those notes were will be an intriguing mystery for some time - just how extensive they were, as well as how much they related to the Sequel Trilogy he mentioned in 1979. I'm guessing a)not very, and b)not much, if anything.

GL created his own SW Saga and brought it to the screen - Episodes I-VI. It has two beginnings and two ends, and the argument about which ones are the best or 'right' rages on, but it's complete.

Numerous discussions about GL's once-proposed Sequel Trilogy of Eps VII-IX usually run into dead ends, due to developments in both ESB and ROTJ that may have effectively destroyed what further storylines he may or may not have not had in mind. Star Wars: Episodes VII-IX as made by Disney will not be the same thing as GL's - at all. That's been confirmed.

He's allowing someone else to continue Star Wars without any of his involvement, and he's happy to walk away, although I'm sure there was probably some very understandable disappointment on his part, which he's both trying to downplay and subtly admitting to. GL sold the entire SW franchise to Disney, and their response to his suggestions for its future was "Thanks, but no thanks". No one's done anything wrong.

I think you really have to compare GL's selling SW to Disney to selling the family home, rather than parting with children. If you sign it over, then the new owners knock it down and replace it with a hideous McMansion, that might hurt, but them's the breaks.
The ownership of Star Wars was something he was paid for - paid a LOT for. Last time I checked, you can't sell children in the United States.

 

Story treatments (plural) are not simple notes. It was implied from the beginning that they were for a trilogy of movies, not just Episode VII.

I agree. This new story was written recently (around 2010).

There are three concepts here, one of which is not really relevant anymore:

GL's vague idea for a sequel trilogy in the '70s and even the 12-part saga (which became obsolete with the release of TESB and RotJ and are not really relevant anymore), GL' story for the sequel trilogy that he included in the sale to Disney and the fan pandering version that Disney is developing.

They haven't done anything illegal, but I'd say ignoring the author of the franchise and pretending they know better is wrong (yes, subjective opinion from a subjective term).