Stars Wars creator George Lucas has criticised the “retro” tone of the latest episode of the space saga.

Until now Lucas had avoided commenting on Star Wars: The Force Awakens, the first film made without his involvement.

In an interview with US talk-show host and journalist Charlie Rose, Lucas described the original and prequel trilogy as his “kids” and compared Disney, who bought the rights to the franchise, “to white slavers that take these things”.


Lucas also confirmed that the film studio had not wanted his input in the new instalment.

“They wanted to do a retro movie. I don’t like that,” he said. “They weren’t that keen to have me involved anyway, but if I get in there, I’m just going to cause trouble, because they’re not going to do what I want them to do. And I don’t have the control to do that any more, and all I would do is muck everything up. And so I said, ‘OK, I will go my way, and I’ll let them go their way.’”

The Force Awakens is on-course to challenge the all-time box-office world record of $2.78bn currently held by Avatar.

