Saga Will George Lucas direct another Star Wars film?

I don't think they're doing that at all (although December 18 may well prove otherwise). Yes, they rejected GL's notes for the ST, but it's not as if they're rebooting altogether (Han, Leia, Luke, Chewie, Artoo and Threepio are continuing directly from the OT), and as I mentioned in an earlier post, the SW franchise proper has been expanding beyond his own specific ideas since TCW, without the restrictions imposed upon the EU.

I do admit that it sounds as if he's been shut out somewhat - you'd think that they would, at the very least, suggest somewhere that the next film is 'based upon a story by George Lucas', even if it isn't - but TBH, there's only so long any company could stomach carrying on with such a farce.
The way I see it, they want to put their own stamp upon the franchise immediately and proceed in their own fashion. The kids, teenagers and families who are going to account for the majority of the nine-figure sum that The Force Awakens rakes in couldn't care less about some guy called George Lucas.
It's not personal, it's strictly business, and I'm sure GL knows that.

 

That's right, GL is not stupid. If he wanted to maintain control over the story he could have worked out some sort of a licensing deal - there's not a studio in the world that wouldn't want to jump on an opportunity to make new Star Wars movies. Instead, he chose to sell wholesale and focus on his family. I'm definitely bummed that he's not even a consultant, especially in light of too much rehashing that seems to go on in TFA (although it's still possible some of his ideas got through). We'll see...

 

They are making a sequel to the OT, but not the sequel as envisioned by the author. So they are calling this the seventh chapter of a story while at the same time ignoring the author of the previous chapters.

Except one was supervised by Lucas, the other wasn't. And let's put things into perspective here, Lucasfilm didn't say a word about this. The initial videos promoted the idea they were going to adapt Lucas' story treatments for VII, VIII and IX, that he was going to have a role of creative consultant. Had the media never asked and we would never know the truth.

Why does it have to be a farce? Why not come out and say it? Why do we have to discover all this based on unrelated interviews with George Lucas?

It's always business. They were going to make a ton of money anyway, with or without Lucas. So why not follow Lucas' story? They are free to do what they want, but I expect an explanation for why they would discard the story he gave them. As it stands, this just screams of pretentiousness. And doing a movie for the fans (something already noticeable even before Lucas' comments) is as cheap as it gets. It's sad to see that this is the future of Star Wars.

 

I would like if George directed another Star Wars film. Though probably an anthology film.

 

George Lucas: I'm Done with Star Wars

 

Because Lucas' stories aren't always the most comercial ones. Lucas is the guy who, after the huge success of Star Wars, created a tonally different sequel that was not what everyone expected or wanted (and was recieved somewhat coldly -Empire). Lucas is the guy who, after the success of Raiders, created a really different sequel (Temple of Doom). Lucas is the guy who, instead of making a PT about what fans wanted (Darth Vader being a badass) created his own story, which had a 9y.o. Anakin and Jar-Jar -things that were bound to upsed the established grown-up fanbase.

But I disagree with you - if Lucas had really wanted to make his own ST he would've done. There's absolutely no logic in selling your company just when you really want to make new films. And the fact that Lucas denied for years any intentions of making a ST (and the fact that the existing Saga 1-6 has a perfectly round-up ending that doesn't need continuations, as Lucas repeatedly said) adds to my believe that the story of the ST was only proposed by Lucas BECAUSE he wanted to sell the company. He didn't have any story for the ST, he didn't want to make it (as he said repeatedly) and since he decided to sell the company and retire, he decided to think of something, but he was happy letting it go.

So, what exactly did Lucas create for the ST. I agree with Darth_Nub... probably not much. Lucas has often exaggerated the amount of material he had for the Saga, after all, but the truth is that Lucas has never written a treatment for a whole trilogy before. And he normally doesn't write a treatment until he was worked out the story (often with some other writer).

 

The flawed logic again. He had other priorities, doesn't mean he didn't want to do it nor that he didn't care. He has already explained why he wouldn't do it.

His explanation is sound to me. Where's the lack of logic?

But that's not what happened. He started writing the ST when he was producing The Clone Wars TV series. So before that, of course he would deny something that didn't exist yet.

Meanwhile, TCW sparked his interest in writing the ST and he did it. It was only later that he decided to sell the company. And he admitted that he considered doing the Episode VII and leave the rest to others, but his daughter became a priority and solidified his decision to sell the company.

A story. A story that Disney owns but decided to ignore.

 

Dont read the youtube comments. Good video.

 

If he had other priorities, nothing was stopping him from handling it the same way he’s handled ALL his post-1977 projects except for the prequels. He would’ve hired a director who wasn’t him (e.g. Irvin Kershner, Steven Spielberg, Richard Marquand) hired a writer who wasn’t him (e.g. Lawrence Kasdan), guided them through story development, and sit back in his comfy San Francisco office while other people go about the business of making the movie.

Lucas had complete, absolute control over STAR WARS until 2012. He wouldn’t have relinquished that unless he WANTED to let it go. I’ve criticized alot of his decisions over the years but I give him credit for knowing when to step aside.

 

Actually, Lucas waver very involved in TESB and ROTJ, including writing a significant portion of the scripts, pre-production, post-production, effects, score, editing. He was a second unit director and ROTJ and even with TESB, he was present on the set a lot (some of it was due to the fact that Kurtz didn't do his job). This level of involvement would have been too much if he wanted to focus on his new baby.

I do agree that he decided to let go. He could have still owned Star Wars, guided the general direction of the story and let someone else worry about production, marketing, etc. Maybe when it comes to the Star Wars films, he's just all or nothing kind of guy.

 

I know he heavily micromanaged the production of RETURN OF THE JEDI (I believe Marquand compared the experience to directing HAMLET with Shakespeare constantly hovering over your shoulder), but I was generalizing. His involvement on THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK is more heavily disputed, though. I seem to recall that Kershner claimed he was only onset for a few days, and even then, he didn’t interfere with production. In fact, Kershner says that Lucas basically told him that he’d stay in San Francisco and supervise Industrial Light & Magic while Kershner made the film and Kershner has always maintained that Lucas kept his word.

Given what I’ve heard of Lucas, I think your speculation about him being “all or nothing” is spot-on.

 

If you read the Making of Empire Strikes Back you will see that's clearly false: he was on set for a whole third of the production in total. (in any case, the fact that he was on set is irrelevant, he hired Kersher to direct and Kersher DID direct the movie... but that doesn't mean it wasn't Lucas who was ultimately in charge, had final cut....).

 

He just didn't direct, but he was heavily involved on those projects. Not comparable.