Overview (3)

Mini Bio (2)

George Walton Lucas, Jr. was raised on a walnut ranch in Modesto, California. His father was a stationery store owner and he had three siblings. During his late teen years, he went to Thomas Downey High School and was very much interested in drag racing. He planned to become a professional racecar driver. However, a terrible car accident just after his high school graduation ended that dream permanently. The accident changed his views on life.



He decided to attend Modesto Junior College before enrolling in the University of Southern California film school. As a film student, he made several short films including Electronic Labyrinth THX 1138 4EB (1967) which won first prize at the 1967-68 National Student Film Festival. In 1967, he was awarded a scholarship by Warner Brothers to observe the making of Finian's Rainbow (1968) which was being directed by Francis Ford Coppola. Lucas and Coppola became good friends and formed American Zoetrope in 1969. The company's first project was Lucas' full-length version of THX 1138 (1971). In 1971, Coppola went into production for The Godfather (1972), and Lucas formed his own company, Lucasfilm Ltd.



In 1973, he wrote and directed the semiautobiographical American Graffiti (1973) which won the Golden Globe and garnered five Academy Award nominations. This gave him the clout he needed for his next daring venture. From 1973 to 1974, he began writing the screenplay which became Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977). He was inspired to make this movie from Flash Gordon and the Planet of the Apes films. In 1975, he established ILM. (Industrial Light & Magic) to produce the visual effects needed for the movie. Another company called Sprocket Systems was established to edit and mix Star Wars and later becomes known as Skywalker Sound. His movie was turned down by several studios until 20th Century Fox gave him a chance. Lucas agreed to forego his directing salary in exchange for 40% of the film's box-office take and all merchandising rights. The movie went on to break all box office records and earned seven Academy Awards. It redefined the term "blockbuster" and the rest is history.



Lucas made the other Star Wars films and along with Steven Spielberg created the Indiana Jones series which made box office records of their own. From 1980 to 1985, Lucas was busy with the construction of Skywalker Ranch, built to accommodate the creative, technical, and administrative needs of Lucasfilm. Lucas also revolutionized movie theaters with the THX system which was created to maintain the highest quality standards in motion picture viewing.



He went on to produce several more movies that have introduced major innovations in filmmaking technology. He is chairman of the board of the George Lucas Educational Foundation. In 1992, George Lucas was honored with the Irving G. Thalberg Award by the Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for his lifetime achievement.



He reentered the directing chair with the production of the highly-anticipated Star Wars prequel trilogy beginning with Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) . The films have been polarizing for fans and critics alike, but were commercially successful and have become a part of culture. The animated spin-off series Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) was supervised by Lucas. He sold Lucasfilm to Disney in 2012, making co-chair Kathleen Kennedy president. He has attended the premieres of new Star Wars films and been generally supportive of them.

- IMDb Mini Biography By: Sujit R. Varma <sujit_varma@hotmail.com> & Travis Brainerd

George Walton Lucas, Jr. (Modesto, California, May 14, 1944) is an American filmmaker, creator of the film sagas of Star Wars and Indiana Jones, and former president of Lucasfilm Limited, LucasArts Entertainment Company, Lucas Digital Ltd, Lucas Licensing, LucasBooks and Lucas Learning Ltd. It was considered, for two consecutive years, the fourth most powerful person in the entertainment industry, behind the owners of Time Warner, Turner and Steven Spielberg.



Upon graduating from the University of Southern California in 1967, Lucas co-founded American Zoetrope with his fellow filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola. Lucas wrote and directed THX 1138 (1971), based on his student short Electronic Labyrinth THX 1138 4EB, which was a critical success, but a financial failure. His next job as a screenwriter-director was the movie American Graffiti (1973), inspired by his adolescence in the 1960s in Modesto, California, and produced through the newly created Lucasfilm. The film was a critical and commercial success, and received five nominations to the Academy Award, including Best Picture.



The next film by Lucas, an epic space opera entitled Star Wars (1977), went through a problematic production process; however, it was a surprise blow, becoming the highest grossing film at that time, as well as winning six Academy Awards and a cultural phenomenon. After the first Star Wars movie, Lucas produced and co-wrote the following installments in the trilogy, The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and The Return of the Jedi (1983). Together with Steven Spielberg, Lucas co-created and helped collaborate with the stories of the Indiana Jones movies. Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984) and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989). Lucas also produced and wrote a variety of films through Lucasfilm in the 1980s and 1990s.



In 1997, Lucas relaunched the original trilogy of Star Wars as part of a special edition, where he made several modifications to the films; The local press releases with the most changes were published in 2004 and 2011. He also re-directed the Star Wars prequel trilogy, consisting of The Phantom Menace (1999), Attack of the Clones (2002) and Revenge of the Sith (2002). 2005). Later he collaborated as executive producer of the war movie Red Tails (2012) and wrote the CGI movie Strange Magic (2015).



Lucas is one of the most financially successful filmmakers in the American film industry and has been personally nominated for four Academy Awards. Some of his films are among the 100 highest-grossing films in the box office of North America, adjusted for the inflation of ticket prices.



George Lucas, along with Francis Ford Coppola, Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, Dennis Hopper and Brian De Palma, is considered one of the most important and influential filmmakers of the New Hollywood era, a period that is considered one of the most important phases of cinema from the artistic point of view. He sold Lucasfilm to Disney in 2012, making co-chair Kathleen Kennedy president. He has attended the premieres of new Star Wars films and been generally supportive of them.

- IMDb Mini Biography By: Deis Morici Santiago, santideis@gmail.com

Spouse (2)

Trade Mark (14)

His films usually feature a battle scene which takes place around a large shaft or pit.





Characters he has created often have "a bad feeling about this" (as in all of the Star Wars movies and in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008))

Stunning visual effects sequences, provided by Lucas's own special effects company, ILM (Industrial Light & Magic).



According to Lucas, one of the themes in all of his films is man's relationship to machines and technology - either controlling them, or being controlled by them.



High-energy action scenes using fast-paced montage (Includes all films in the Star Wars and Indiana Jones series).



Frequently uses the famous "Wilhelm Scream" sound effect in his films. This sound effect has been used in dozens of movies.





Re-releases new versions of his films with enhanced special effects, much to the chagrin of critics and fans (the special editions of the original Star Wars trilogy, the director's cut of THX 1138 (1971)).

His stories often feature older, more experienced characters educating younger ones.



Science fiction and fantasy themes in his films



Frequently tells his actors the line "faster, with more intensity".



Often uses soft-edge wipes as transitions between scenes in his films.





Frequently uses composer John Williams to score his films

Trivia (79)

Graduated from USC's school of cinema (1962)



Shortly before graduating high school, he was involved in a high speed car accident that left him hospitalized and near death.





For 2nd consecutive year, ranked No. 4 on Entertainment Weekly's annual list of "101 Most Powerful People in Entertainment." Ranked just ahead of Steven Spielberg and just behind the power couple that runs the Time Warner Turner media empire.

Sits on USC School of Cinema-Television's Board of Councilors.



In the 2001 edition of the Forbes' "400 Richest People In America", it is reported that Lucas' fortune is $3 billion.



He is a diabetic.



He has created the image of always being on the cutting edge of technology. However, when he writes, he does it in longhand in a loose leaf binder rather than on a word processor.





He was so impressed with relatively unknown stage actor James Wheaton that he cast him over studio objections in the voiceover role of "OMM" in THX 1138 (1971). The studio wanted Orson Welles to play the role.



His script for Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977) was turned down by every major Hollywood studio, the reason being that no one would want to see it. In a last ditch attempt, Lucas approached 20th Century Fox who decided to go ahead with the script even though they were convinced it would flop. Star Wars ended up becoming the highest grossing movie ever released at that time.



Sold Lucasfilm's Computer Graphics Division to Apple Computer co-founder Steve Jobs , and it later became Pixar Animation Studio.



His name backwards is Egroeg Sacul. This name is also used in the Disney theme park ride Star Tours (1987).



Conceived Indiana Jones while on vacation with his friend Steven Spielberg in Hawaii. Lucas decided to produce while Spielberg would direct.



Was engaged to longtime girlfriend Linda Ronstadt



With THX 1138 (1971) and Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977), Lucas reinvented the way sound was used in films. Using it in both a linear and abstract way, to tell the story, he pushed sound design to the forefront of the filmmaking process.

Refuses to put "critics quotes" on his movie posters. Something that infuriates many critic societies.



Biography in: John Wakeman, editor. "World Film Directors, Volume Two, 1945-1985". Pages 605-610. New York: The H.W. Wilson Company, 1988.





He based the character of Han Solo on his friend Francis Ford Coppola



Became so stressed during the filming of Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977) that he checked himself into a hospital, where he was diagnosed with hypertension.

When he began his apprenticeship at Warner Brothers, what he wanted to see most was the Animation Department. He claims that the day he arrived on the lot was the very day the Animation Department was closed down.



Despite a reputation as Hollywood blockbusters, all of the Star Wars films are actually independent films, with the exception of Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. The only way he could get the required funding to make the film was to apply for studio funding. With the success of the film and its merchandising, Lucas no longer needed to go to the studios. For Episodes V and VI, he took out bank loans, which he paid off on each films' earnings.



For the Prequel Trilogy, he no longer needed bank loans, having made enough money to fund each film out of his own personal savings.





He made what was at the time an unusual deal for the film, Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981). Paramount financed the film's entire $20 million budget. In exchange, Lucas would own over 40% of the film and collect almost half of the profits after the studio a grossed a certain amount. It turned out to be a very lucrative deal for Lucas. Paramount executive Michael Eisner said that he felt the script for the film was the best he had ever read.

Won the American Film Institute's Lifetime Achievement Award.



His favorite stage of filmmaking is editing the film together.



His nickname in high school was Luke. This later became the name of the hero of his original Star Wars trilogy, Luke Skywalker.



He originally wanted to do a film adaptation of Flash Gordon, but he could not obtain the rights, so he created Star Wars instead, which was in a similar vein to Flash Gordon.





Used the UFA film Metropolis (1927) as guidelines for some of his Star Wars characters - the "robotic man" for "C-3PO" and the "robot's creator" as "Anakin Skywalker". Both the creator and Anakin lost a hand. The "robotic man's creator" loses his hand while building the robot.

Became rich almost overnight due to him keeping the rights to Star Wars and not selling them outright to 20th Century Fox.





In the 2005 edition of Forbes' "400 Richest People in America" list, his net worth is estimated at $3.5 billion. He and his good friend Steven Spielberg are the only filmmakers on the list.



Plans to reissue all of the Star Wars movies in 3-D versions using the dimensionalization process by ILM (Industrial Light & Magic). The process was first used in Chicken Little (2005).

Had a dog named 'Indiana' which not only inspired the Indiana Jones character, but Chewbacca from Star Wars was also modelled around the way the dog looked.





He received a medal from US president George W. Bush for outstanding achievement in improvements in technology in movies made by his special effects company, ILM.

Grand Marshal of the Tournament of Roses Parade. [2007]





Is a fan of Doctor Who (1963).

Skywalker Ranch, Lucas' film production facility, covers an area of some 3,000 acres in Northern California's Marin County hills. The precise address is: 5858 Lucas Valley Road, Nicasio, California, 94946. The facility employs around 200 personnel, is home to a baseball field, a vineyard, 3 restaurants and a fire station, not to mention the array of hi-tech amenities. The fact that Skywalker Ranch is located off Lucas Valley Road is pure coincidence.



Graduated from Modesto's Roosevelt Junior High School in 1958.



Rankings on Premiere's annual Power 100 List - 2002: #14; 2003: #10; 2004: #16; 2005: #11.





Quit the DGA after some disputes over the opening credits in Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980). The movie had no opening credits and the DGA fined Lucas with $250.000, which he paid, and eventually quit.



As a fan of Family Guy (1999), he occasionally gives the producers the clearance to do "Star Wars" gags on the series.



During pre-production of Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980), George created a phony working title - not for fan purposes, but to save money. Vendors and service providers, upon getting wind of the next Star Wars picture, were doubling their prices.

Lives in San Anselmo, California.





Close friends with Steven Spielberg



Lucas supported Barack Obama for President in 2008. With girlfriend, Mellody Hobson , he attended the "We Are One" Presidential Pre-Inaugural Concert on 18 January 2009.



George Lucas has been in a relationship with Mellody Hobson (president of Ariel Investments, LLC) since 2007.

He was inspired to create his iconic villain Darth Vader by Marvel Comics villain, and archenemy of the Fantastic Four, Doctor Doom.



Daughter, Everest Hobson Lucas, was born via surrogate, on August 9, 2013.



Appeared in television camera commercials for showing only in Japan.



Cites the work of Mythologist Joseph Campbell as an influence.



According to a 1982 interview, Producer Stanley R. Joffe said that George Lucas should be bottled. He said he thought he was unique - probably the closest thing the world has to Walt Disney.



In 2012, sold his production company Lucasfilm to Disney for four billion dollars.





Is best friends with Steven Spielberg and was best friends with Jim Henson when he was still alive.



Has the head of a Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977) Stormtrooper and an R2D2 in his office.



After having a great working relationship with Steven Spielberg on Gremlins (1984), Spielberg produced the next two films Chris Columbus scripted, The Goonies (1985), based on an idea Spielberg had, and Young Sherlock Holmes (1985), which was Columbus' idea, which altogether was two years working on three films. Spielberg then wanted Columbus to script Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989), a big step for him as a writer. He accepted and went to meet Spielberg and Lucas, two men he was very intimidated by, even though Columbus had worked with Spielberg three times, and they were two of his cinematic heroes. Columbus acted as Spielberg and Lucas's secretary on The Last Crusade for five days taking down all of their ideas. Lucas dictated the screenplay to Columbus making him fearful of changing any of it, and it went against what Columbus had learned at film school. To him, the script seemed lifeless and without energy and there was nothing of Columbus in it. He assumed Spielberg hired him for that last reason and when Columbus turned it in he was fired from the picture for all the above flaws in the script. It was a defining moment in Columbus's career, to never again ignore his base instincts on a movie, or to be intimidated by the people he worked with.

He got quite poor grades for most of his school years, attributing it to feeling bored most of the time. He even had trouble with spelling up through college.



Considers ''THX 1138 (1971)'' to be the greatest achievement of his career.



His childhood dream had been to become a race car driver.



Mentioned in Vic Armstrong's book "The True Adventures of the World's Greatest Stuntman: My Life as Indiana Jones, James Bond, Superman and Other Movie Heroes" as doing assistant camera work on Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981).



Is a major collector of the American illustrator and painter Norman Rockwell. A collection of 57 Rockwell paintings and drawings owned by Lucas and fellow Rockwell collector and film director Steven Spielberg were displayed at the Smithsonian American Art Museum from July 2, 2010 to January 2, 2011 in an exhibition titled Telling Stories.



Mentioned in George Stevens, Jr.'s "Conversations at the American Film Institute" as being the one, who along with Caleb Deschanel, who shot the Newspaper sequence in The Godfather.



Mentioned in George Stevens, Jr.s' book "Conversations At the American Film Institute" in his interview excerpt from 2005 as doing serving on his first film THX 1138 (1971) as doing second assistant directing, second art direction and being the second cameraman.





At one point during production of Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977), he lost his voice. Because he was so non-communicative anyway, none of the cast or crew were aware of it for several days.

The USC School of Cinematic Arts has a building named after him.



Has referred to his Star Wars films as a family soap opera.



Personal Quotes (57)

A special effect is a tool, a means of telling a story. A special effect without a story is a pretty boring thing.



The sound and music are 50% of the entertainment in a movie.



The script is what you've dreamed up-this is what it should be. The film is what you end up with.



I am simply trying to struggle through life; trying to do God's bidding.





[on the making of Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977)] When you're directing, you have to get up at four thirty [A.M], have breakfast at five, leave the hotel at six, drive an hour to location, start shooting at eight, and finish shooting around six. Then you wrap, go to your office, and set up the next day's work. You get back to the hotel about eight or nine, hopefully get a bite to eat, then you go to your room and figure out your homework, how you're going to shoot the next day's scenes, then you go to sleep. The next morning it starts all over again.

I took over control of the merchandising not because I thought it was going to make me rich, but because I wanted to control it. I wanted to make a stand for social, safety, and quality reasons. I didn't want someone using the name "Star Wars" on a piece of junk.



The object is to try to get the (movie) system to work for you, instead of against you. And the only way you can do it is through success, I'm afraid.



Making a film is like putting out a fire with sieve. There are so many elements, and it gets so complicated.



To be renewed is everything. What more could one ask for than to have one's youth back again?





[describing Luke Skywalker after his duel with Darth Vader in Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980)] He is his own man, he is not a son anymore, he is an equal.

I wanted to make abstract films that are emotional, and I still do.



[describing Han Solo] He is one of the best. He's outwitted the empire on numerous occasions, and he has made some very fast deals. One of his problems is that he gambles quite heavily and that's where he loses most of his money. He's tough and sharp, but never manages to scrape together enough to get any power...He's slightly self-destructive and he sort of enjoys being on the brink of disaster...You might meet him and he may be worth ten billion dollars and the next time you meet him he's in debt up to his ears.



It's hard work making movies. It's like being a doctor:you work long hours, very hard hours, and it's emotional, tense work. If you don't really love it, then it ain't worth it.



From being a struggling, starving filmmaker to being incredibly successful in a period of a couple of years is quite a powerful experience, and not necessarily a good one.





I've had a very volatile relationship with Francis ( Francis Ford Coppola ). It's on both sides, like we were married and we got divorced. It's as close a relationship as I've had with anybody.

If you can tune into the fantasy life of an 11-year-old girl, you can make a fortune in this business.





[regarding Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005)] Right or wrong this is my movie, this is my decision, and this is my creative vision, and if people don't like it, they don't have to see it.

I am very concerned about our national heritage, and I am very concerned that films that I watched when I was young and the films that I watched throughout my life are preserved, so that my children can see them.





[on Gangs of New York (2002)] We showed a print of it at the Skywalker Ranch. I was amazed by what he (Scorsese) did with it and where he went. It was terrific.

The parallels between what we did in Vietnam and what we're doing in Iraq now are unbelievable.



[about making art films that he admits no one will want to see] I've worked hard enough and earned enough to fail for the rest of my life. And I'm gonna do it!!



Part of the reason I went back to tell the prequel, of how Anakin Skywalker became Darth Vader, is that it's an interesting story and a fun one to tell. Because it is the story of how a good person turns bad.



[expressing concern over the colorization of black & white films] I am very concerned about our national heritage, and I am very concerned that the films that I watched when I was young and the films that I watched throughout my life are preserved, so that my children can see them.



[while receiving the Best Movie award for Revenge of the Sith at the Peoples Choice Awards] Thank you. Thank you all. This is a very, very important award for me. Star Wars, oddly enough, doesn't really get that many awards. I'm not a big favorite with the critics, but who listens to them? I'm not a big industry favorite either, but of course they are a bunch of studio executives. The most important people for any filmmaker, the reason that I make films, is for you! The audience rules! Thank you. Thank you very much!



With film, if you get a million people to see your movie on the first weekend, you've made about $5 million. That basically will not end up on the top-10 chart. You have to get 10 million people on the first weekend. And if you don't do it in two days, you're basically out of the theaters and into the DVD market. There's just an ecology there. If you're a mouse, don't expect to kill a lion, because it ain't gonna happen. If you want to have that kind of power, it's better to be a lion, because the mice are fine - you can have a life and everything - but the lions are the ones out there prowling and scaring the hell out of everybody.





Yeah, I have a few dollars, but when you're getting up to the point where the average movie costs $80 million, anything under $20 million is pretty cheap. Anything under $10 million is almost impossible. And anything under $5 million is Roger Corman

[on film critics] There are a few critics overseas, and occasionally a critic will write an astute analysis of the movie. There is value in reading critics that actually have something intelligent to say, but the journalistic community lives in a world of sound bites and literary commerce: selling newspapers, selling books, and they do that simply by trashing things. They don't criticize or analyze them. They simply trash them for the sake of a headline, or to shock people to get them to buy whatever it is they're selling.



[on critics] You have to have a thick enough skin to cope with the criticism. I'm very self-critical and I have a lot of friends that I trust who are film directors and writers and people in my profession. I trust them to be extremely critical but I trust their opinion; their opinion is thoughtful, knowledgeable. I also know them personally so I know the psychological slant they are putting on it. I know what their tastes are and I can say, "Well that's great for them but that's not great for me." Technical criticism is extremely helpful but you are only going to get that from your peers.





[about THX 1138 (1971)] My first film was a parable about the way we are living our lives today. I realize it was a rather depressing statement. People really weren't interested in a depressing statement. Being a pessimist doesn't seem to accomplish anything.



[about the origin of "Chewbacca"] There was a dog in American Graffiti (1973), but I didn't use "Indiana" for the part because it was a night scene and I wanted a white dog. My wife was very upset that I didn't put my own dog in the movie; so I said I'd put Indiana's spirit in the next one. And that's how the "Wookiee" came into being.



[about the upcoming film Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008)] When you do a movie like this, a sequel that's very, very anticipated, people anticipate ultimately that it's going to be the Second Coming. And it's not. It's just a movie. Just like the other movies. You probably have fond memories of the other movies. But if you went back and looked at them, they might not hold up the same way your memory holds up... You're not going to get a lot of accolades... All you can do is lose.

Honestly, everyone feels you have to talk about yourself all the time. They say I'm introverted because I don't give many interviews. But I don't give many interviews because I don't make many films.



[on the influence of Star Wars on Hollywood films] People say my movies are just like Hollywood movies. And I say, "I can't help it if Hollywood copies."





I am the father of our Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977) movie world - the filmed entertainment, the features and now the animated film and television series. And I'm going to do a live-action television series. Those are all things I am very involved in: I set them up and I train the people and I go through them all. I'm the father; that's my work. Then we have the licensing group, which does the games, toys and books, and all that other stuff. I call that the son - and the son does pretty much what he wants. Then we have the third group, the holy ghost, which is the bloggers and fans. They have created their own world. I worry about the father's world. The son and holy ghost can go their own way.



My greatest regret in my career is that John [ John Landis ] was unable to direct Howard the Duck (1986). I feel the movie would have been far more successful and saved me the years of hardship following its release.



People think of me as a sort of pathological, Howard Hughes -type guy sitting in a hotel room, which is definitely not so.



[on why he waited so long to do the Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977) prequels] Jurassic Park (1993) inspired me. I didn't have to use rubber masks. I could build digital characters that can act and perform and walk around and interact with actors. I can use digital sets. I can paint reality. In essence, it means that cinema has gone from being a photographic medium to a painterly one.



[on James Cameron 's Avatar (2009)] Creating a universe is daunting. I'm glad Jim is doing it - there are only a few people in the world who are nuts enough to. I did it with Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977), and now he's trying to challenge that. It's a lot of work. I do believe Jim will take this further out than anyone's ever conceived of.



[on Akira Kurosawa ] Kurosawa was one of film's true greats. His ability to transform a vision into a powerful work of art is unparalleled.



[on the Imperial walkers in Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980)] The walkers, if anything, were inspired by the original novel of "War of the Worlds" where the Martians walked on giant spiders that walked on legs. I was trying to come up with a way of making this battle different and unusual without putting tanks and normal military stuff in there... They're tall because I wanted the speeders to fly under them to make a more dynamic kind of battle out of it. And again I was struggling with the fact that in the first film I had this big space battle at the end of the movie but in this movie there wasn't anything like that.

I hate corporations and I'm not happy that they have taken over the film business but on the same hand I find myself being the head of a corporation. There's a certain irony there.



[on his future plans] I'm moving away from all my businesses, I'm finishing all my obligations and I'm going to retire to my garage with my saw and hammer and build hobby movies. I've always wanted to make movies that were more experimental in nature, and not have to worry about them showing in movie theaters.



[In response to whether film is an art or a business] The problem is that making film is an art. Selling film is a business. The trouble is that they [studio executives] don't know how to sell films. As a result, they try to make you make films that people will go to without them having to be sold, which is the real key to the problem. And, if they weren't so backwards-- if they can't put a film in a theater and have people rush to the door, they're not interested.





I'm amazed and surprised that Star Wars [ Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977)] was picked as the number one film of the millennium. Little did I know when I started this film 20 years ago that I'd be making a film that achieved such an outpouring of enthusiastic raves and joy. It's after all the fans that have made this film what it is today.

I can't even begin to tell you how much of an influence Disney has had on me.



Well, Star Wars isn't sci-fi at all - it's space opera, which is a sub-genre; I mean, it's sort of halfway between sci-fi and fantasy. The motif I used to tell these stories was the Saturday night-day serial, which is a particular genre which was very popular in the thirties and forties. I wanted it to look just like that and those were - at least, the Flash Gordon/Buck Rogers kinds of things - were space operas. Some people like to call them comic-book stories, but they aren't comic-book under the superhero genre. They're kind of looking at the early part of the century, when adventure serials first started.



Phantom Menace is so popular you know it's people liking it and going back to see it again. For some it's like the Meaning of Life.



I was never interested in being powerful or famous. But once I got to film school and learned about movies, I just fell in love with it. I didn't care what kind of movies I made.



Although I write screenplays, I don't think I'm a very good writer.





If you look at Blade Runner (1982), it's been cut sixteen ways from Sunday, and there are all kinds of different versions of it.



As a Western, The Magnificent Seven (1960) was a pretty good film. I don't think it was as interesting or as multi-faceted as Seven Samurai (1954).

Don't forget the basics. Don't get enamored with new technology, because it's not new. Just the medium we're working in is new, but that doesn't change anything. The art of what we do is exactly the same. It's beyond technology. It's the art of movies.





[describing scenes in Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999)] Again it's like poetry, it's sort of -- they rhyme. Every stanza kind of rhymes with the last one. Hopefully it'll work.

Salary (8)