George Lucas Arthouse Films

For years, George Lucas has been claiming that he intends to return to his roots and make low budget arthouse films. Now that the Star Wars franchise has been sold, it is worth observing to see if there is any development on this front. This thread is intended to track any rumours or nees that emerges about these hypothetical projects.

For background and the long-running history of these rumours, see this link: http://entertainment.time.com/2012/...ts-to-retire-and-make-art-films-sure-he-does/

 

Sorry, can't post link properly from this Android tablet and trying to stick the URL inside an image input field as a workaround didn't work either.

 

Fixed the link.

There's been a lot of cynicism regarding these 'experimental' films GL has claimed he wants to do over the years - personally, I think it's much the same anyone who tells themselves that once they've sorted out the renovations, the finances, moved house etc they'll finally sit down and write that novel/screenplay they've wanted to do for years. And it rarely ever happens.

The difference, however, is that GL did make a heap of very experimental films in the early days, and LFL has always pushed the envelope on a technical level, particularly with early CGI. Pixar was originally owned by LFL, the Avid editing system was originally developed from Editdroid, an LFL venture. ROTJ was the first major film to fully incorporate CGI with live action (the DSII schematics), Young Sherlock Holmes had the first fully CGI character in a live action film. The Young Indy TV series developed a number of early CGI techniques.

George Lucas has been making 'experimental films' for his entire career. It's a bit rough to pick him up on this issue, which is sort of his safety blanket. They might happen, they might not. He'll still leave a thoroughly solid legacy to cinema behind him.

I'd really like to see him have a crack at some short films for fun, though. David Lynch did it for his website about ten years ago - some were good, some were bad, but he was getting his ideas and creations out there without having to deal with a bunch of studio executives.

 

With Lucasfilm off his plate, here's hoping so. I'd like to see him do what Coppola is doing now. Or, to put it this way: if a new film by Lucas was announced today, I'd be far, far (away) more interested, downright hyped, for it than I would with Episode VII.

 

I would be beyond excited if he were to ever actually settle down and get one of these films made.

 

I wonder if he he will do them under a pseudonym on Youtube etc. It must be hard once you become a household name to make these kind of movies without them being compared to your blockbusters.

 

Eh, at that point where you're big enough to be a household name I doubt that you'd really be that concerned with your films being compared in such a fashion. If anything, being a household name would help to sell your smaller movies to audiences that would normally pass on such a thing.

Guillermo del Toro, for example, is able to make the switch back and forth between blockbuster and more "artsy" movies without much of a problem, mostly because he has the same passionate outlook on everything he does; whether he's making something small like The Devil's Backbone or something on an epic scale like Pacific Rim you can see the love poured into every frame of film.

 

I would love to see these, I don't think it's going to happen, though. I think Lucas is more about being retired with his new wife and baby now.

 

I remember when Coppola's Youth Without Youth came out, and Lucas said he wanted to make a film like that. And more recently he said something about making films in his garage. But he also seemed to be disheartened by the difficulties with Red Tails (with the distribution side of things) so hopefully he didn't get put off about making films completely. I've always hoped he would make something arty and experimental, but like Darth_Nud mentioned, Lucas has been saying that for so long, it's kind of hard to imagine him doing it.

 

Like everyone else, I've been waiting a long time for Lucas to tackle these projects. I had hoped his production of "Red Tails" would jump start things, but that ended up being a poor experience for him. Even though he's sold everything off and it would appear his plate is empty now, I don't know if we'll really ever get any other projects from Lucas. I really do think he's retired, and now that's married and is raising his baby, I think he wants to focus his time on his family, museum, and charitable contributions.

 

Want a Lucas art house film...watch Mishima

 

What about Strange Magic? He didn't retire...

 

Well, Strange Magic has been in production for years. A lot of us here had thought that Disney had jettisoned the project after the sale of Lucasfilm, as it's been several years since we've heard any concrete info about it. Then, lo and behold they reveal the entire film a mere months before its release date.

Hopefully, he'll have a few more things up his sleeves. The Lucas Museum is going to take a lot of time and effort, and then of course he's raising his baby, so he is pretty busy.

 

The Lucas museum is not star wars related, correct?

 

Maybe he'll get back into something when the kid goes off to school. Need something to fill the day!

 

Not entirely. The Lucas Museum of Narrative art will focus on art, illustrations, paintings, sculptures, and moving images in the context of narrative, and the evolution that has occurred with such art throughout the years. Lucas has a massive art collection that will be the focal point of the museum, and his works (everything from Star Wars, creations from ILM, LucasArts, Skywalker Sound, et al) will also be displayed. That said, the museum will have much more than just material that Lucas has worked on.

The museum will now be constructed in Chicago, after San Fransisco totally goofed up on it and passed.

Lucas has spoken very passionately about this project the past few years, and I can't wait to see it come to fruition

Check it out; http://www.lucasmuseum.org/.

 

I know. I live in SF...they're so stupid...this is his home...we got stupid Kink castle and the perverted Folsom Festival but not Lucas' museum...sad...this city is twisted...

 

Saw this piece (from Jan 16) posted in another thread and thought it should be here too:

http://herocomplex.latimes.com/movi...-plans-to-make-but-not-release-two-new-films/

I hope he's not being completely serious when he says he won't be releasing them!

 

Yeah, I'm honestly 50/50 on the idea that Lucas would flat-out make a movie and never release it and only show it too his buddies. He does seem eccentric enough to do that but I'm assuming (hoping) that's Lucas' sarcastic quip side showing.

Of course, Lucas could just be grumbling about distribution of films (“It costs more to put them out there than it does to make ‘em,”) which is actually very true. Hopefully, he embraces / someone tells him about online / VoD distribution. Assuming Lucas would be into that idea, he does push hard for the theatrical experience.

Watched THX-1138 again and I'm down for some abstract-Lucas. I just wanna see them, I don't care about how they get out there!

 

Very happy to get some concrete information concerning possible future films made by Lucas. It's still very early, and he is busy with his family and his museum, but I do hope if/when he makes these two projects, that he'll give them some sort of release. A lot of us have been waiting years and years for this stuff. I think his stance right now is more just a commentary on the general state of film making and distribution. He had a very, very poor experience with "Red Tails" a few years ago.

 

That's cool, though it is sad that George doesn't plan on releasing them to the public.

Perhaps he'll make them available to be distributed online?

 

Yeah, and what a goof that was. Still mildly pissed off about it. I'm only a few hours north of the Bay Area and was eagerly anticipating the project in question. When I read that San Fransisco had passed on the deal, I walked out onto the street and yelled at some random woman's baby.

Encouraging, to say the least. Though, Lucas has a tendency to draw out projects near indefinitely. It could be another five or ten years before these ever see completion.

 

I first read about George wanting to make these smaller, non-linear, experimental films when I read Skywalking by Dale Pollock. That was 20+ years ago. Since then, there has been no discernible public movement on these films except for talk.

I really hope he does make these but I'll believe it when I see it(which I might not anyway if he never releases them).

 

strange magic is one of these i feel.

 

The recent Charlie Rose interview (http://www.rollingstone.com/movies/news/george-lucas-not-a-fan-of-retro-star-wars-approach-20151230) has some new insight into these experimental films. A few points of interest: (1) he claims to be only making them for himself and a few friends, (2) part of his motivation for selling Lucasfilm is that he wanted to make films that aren't commercially viable and it would be unfair to the company/employees to take them along for the ride. We'll see if we ever get to see any of these movies. Given his thoughts on critics, he seems resistant to share them with a mass audience, which is really a shame. He's kind of pulling a JD Salinger--continuing to write/film but refusing to share. Will these be stored in some vault and released for future generations?