Lucas Unapologetic

[Jay O'Connor]

Interview

 makes no apologies for The Phantom Menace, insisting that Jar Jar Binks served a purpose and noting that to properly set the Star Wars universe in motion, the first film had to center on a child and had to introduce all the political intrigue unfolding within the Republic...



When I made Phantom Menace, I knew that I was basically not going down the commercial route that everybody expected. I knew that I was doing it with a 9-year-old kid, and everyone said, "You can't do that. It's got to have Jedi fighting and all this kind of thing everybody wants to see." I knew I was doing it without the cast from the other films, and everyone was saying, "You've got to work Harrison Ford into it somehow." I said, "It's a prequel. How can I do that?" And if I'd been doing it in Hollywood they would have done all their market research and said, "This is the kind of movie you've got to make."

I'm telling a story. I'm telling a story I wrote 30 years before. So I wasn't going to change it. I said, "If it doesn't work, we'll deal with it. It will be harder to get the other two made, but somehow we'll manage to do it." That's the way I was thinking when I finished the first film. I said, "We'll get these other two done somehow. But I'm not going to suddenly make some other kind of movie just because it seems to be more marketable." I'm more interested in the story, not in whether or not the film is a commercial success.

[Squishy]

Translation: "You're not the boss of me! Now shut up and give me your money!"

[Jay O'Connor]

I think that's what he's saying to the Movie industry.  Lucas is somewhat of a thorn in their sides.  Very successful financially with the franchise, but also very independent in how he does things.

One example is that he has to hire non-union directors because the director's union requires the director's name to be in the opening credits and, if you think about it, there are no opening credits in the Star Wars movies.

I never pay attention to the critics.  If you think they panned Ep I, go back and read the reviews of Ep IV from 1977; they blasted it.

Lucas does things his own way.  In a sense, he's very much an independent filmmaker who is wildly successfull and now has the money to do what he wants with his vision

When I was young, I saw Star Wars for the first time and loved it.  Now that I'm older and have a son of my own who is about the same age I was, he watches Phantom Menace and loves it and I see the same joy in him that I felt long ago, so I can't help but feel Lucas has done something right

[Chadzilla]

Love him or hate him for whatever reason you may have (and there are myriad) Lucas still has done things his way.  He is both fiercely independent and very controlling.  Consistently (and this is from the sixties) he has done things HIS way and gets VERY upset when his movies are altered in anyway shape or form.  One of the primary reasons he left Hollywood and, from his first movie on, has been an INDEPENDENT filmmaker.  All of his movies were made outside of the Hollywood system on his own terms in his own way.  The smartest thing he did was retain the rights to his intellectual property (i.e. Star Wars) so all the merchandising goes right into Lucasfilm and his other companies.  His movies are made his way with is own money, his own people, and his own toys  No investors to kowtow to, no market research being forced on him to make the most economically viable product and yet he still makes gazillions.  No wonder Hollywood hates him.  Sure he was a cool figure to those struggling against The Man in the seventies, but since he has become The Man (successfully sticking it to the same suits that tried to control him so long ago) many gleefully rip him apart because he remains strong willed and independent, using his power for his own purpose (thus he is no longer a struggling artist fighting to get his vision out but a Studio Fat Cat hawking crap to the kiddies).

Some may whine that he isn't making the movies they want, or that he isn't even trying.  How dare he cater to the unwashed masses, he should be an artist struggling to raise the bar on big budget filmmaking instead of making these silly space movies that are just so stupid.  Well then don't pay to see them, vote with your wallet.

Still, I'd love to be in his shoes right now.

[bangdazap]

Even independent directors _can_ screw up and make bad movies, you know.

[Lee]

VERY TRUE

[Chadzilla]

I was only speaking about Lucas's persona and how he is perceived.  I made no mention of the movies he has made, or simply produced.  I was just playing Devil's Advocate for the guy.

However I have lived on this big blue marble long enough to know that there is no possible way to avoid making a bad movie every now and then.  The actual difference between being produced by Hollywood or an Independent studio is essentially meaningless, both have foisted some truly rank crude on cinema attenders in the hunt for the mighty dollar.

As far as The Phantom Movie goes, I saw it long after its opening weeked in a nearly empty theater, my wife and son loved it, but the movie doesn't hold up to repeat viewing.  My take was that it "wasn't THAT bad".  It's just a mediocre movie, easily the least of the bunch and the closest that SW has come to replicating the failure that is Star Trek- The Motionless Picture (big and impressive looking, but dramatically inert).

[Jay O'Connor]

Phantom Menace suffers in that a lot of it is setup for the rest of the series.  The whole purpose of Phantom Menace was to get Anakin identified and introduced to Palpatine and the Council.  The whole purpose of most of the events within the movie was as a ruse by Palpatine to get installed as Chancellor

Seen as a movie in it's own right, the whole Trade Federation vs Naboo conflict is kinda "huh?  who cares?" and a lot of the movie seems like a kinda "well, that looks  cute, but so what?".  The movie just seems to fall flat.

*But*!  Watch PM and AotC in short span and PM looks much better because it becomes obvious why some things happened in PM and the movie makes a lot more sense.

Even down to Jar-Jar.  Jar-Jar is the annoying nerdy kid that nobody really likes or respect and he knows it.  He desperately wants to be 'part of the team' and do something to fit in with his friends and 'do the right thing' so they will respect him.  Palaptine knows this, and manipulates him because of this.  Think about it, Padme is against a Republic Army.  Palpatine wants one.  Palpatine also controls Dooku.   So Palpatine  uses Dooku to stir up trouble, and uses Jango Fett to get Padme out of the way.  Padme leaves Jar-Jar in charge, and Palpatine gets Jar-Jar to propose giving him emergency powers, something Padme would never have done.  And then Palpatine gets his clone army

If Jar-Jar had not been what he was in PM, his actions and reactions and Palpatine's ability to manipulate him in AotC would not have made much sense

Any, PM seems kinda flat because it starts story lines that don't get dealt with until AotC, and even those are not resolved yet.  I have a suspicion that  by the end of the next movie, PM will look much better as "Act I" of a three act play than as a movie in its own right

[jmc]

I read a blurb yesterday from Lucas about how Episode III will be a big downer.  That might be interesting to see.  

I'm going to see Episode II later today.  I hated Phantom Menace--I think he could have done a better job in making a movie that would appeal to intelligent viewers, not just die-hard fans and children.   The earlier films were able to do that.  Star Wars was one of those movies that a lot of critics changed their minds about over time.  I don't think Phantom Menace will be that way.  It's just not a very good film.  I don't have any specific things I demand to see from Lucas, I just want something that will entertain me.  And as "amazing" as the computer effects are today, they don't have the magic of the effects of the earlier films, that involved craft and ability other than computer programming.  

Still, I seem to continue to give him the benefit of the doubt, but if I have the same blah feeling today that I had about Episode I this will be it.  Really.  I mean it!

[Jay O'Connor]

>I read a blurb yesterday from Lucas about how Episode III will be a big downer.

Of course.  Since it finishes up whole Anakin->Darth Vader connection and the descent of the Republic into an Empire run by Palpatine/Sideous, it's gonna be one heck of a downer

>I think he could have done a better job in making a movie that would appeal to intelligent viewers, not just die-hard fans and children.

If you look at PM in the way it sets up what's to happen in the future, it has a lot of subtley that kids aren't going to catch.  Behind the gee-whiz effects and the big battle(s) and stuff was a an understory of the rise of Palpatine to power and his manipulation of both the Jedi Council and the Trade Federation.  From a plot line point of view, the two most important events of PM were that Palpitine was elected Chancellor, which he manipulated to happen through the Trade Federation, and the introduction of Anakin to Palpatine, which he hadn't planned but he worked to his advantage.  The most important line in the whole movie was Palpatine telling Anakin "We will be watching you career with great interest", and once you realize that, everything else falls into place.

As a movie, it was weak on it's own, as Act 1, it was good

"Fellowship Of The Ring" is the same way, a gee whiz special effects bonanza that, as a single story, actually falls short.  Except a lot of people know what the next two parts bring so it's forgiven the fact that it's incomplete.  No one knows how the Star Wars saga is going to play out to PM is only judged as a stand alone movie, without being given the benefit tat it is just a part of something much larger

[jmc]

But I don't think films should be evaluated as parts of a larger series.  They should suceed or fail on their own.   That's what I mean about Lucas appealing more to the fanbase and not to the general public.  Why not do all that foreshadowing and referencing while at the same time make a movie that stands well on its own?  I don't watch movies just so I can see a set-up for future movies in a series.   That being said, I thought EPISODE II was decent...definitely better than EPISODE I  and probably better than JEDI.    

For what it's worth, I thought FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING was easily as good as the best of the STAR WARS films, probably because of the superior source material.

[Jay O'Connor]

>But I don't think films should be evaluated as parts of a larger series. They should suceed or fail on their own

Depends on their intent.  Most James Bond movies are intended as stand alone movies, even though they are in a series.  

However most movies in a series take liberties that single movies do not, or can not.

Empire Strikes Back, for example is very much an "Act II", it does not spend much time in character introduction, nor does it resolve many points.  The relationship beteen Han and Leia makes no sense on it's own, unless you've seen Star Wars and understood how that developed. Yoda and Lando are the only two really given introductions, because they weren't around in Star Wars, but who is this voice and vision that keeps appearing to Luke?  Something from the first movie.  And the situation of Han and his fate with Bobba Fett is never resolved, nor is there any really 'climactic' scene.  The fight with Vader and Luke is sorta, but it's not a very good climax for a stand along movie; Luke loses his hand and vader says he's Luke's father.  If you didn't know that this was all a setup for Luke being tempted to teh Dark Side in RotJ, it would be a pretty lame climax for a movie.  "Empire" has to be evaluted as part of a larger whole, because it was intended to fit in a larger whole; on it's own, it's not very good.

Return Of The Jedi is similar.  At least it wraps everything up in a big climactic scene, but it starts off with the assumption "OK, you know the characters and you know what's going on, I'm not going to explain it again, so let's get moving". If you hadn't seen the first two movies, most of RotJ would seem a) confusing or b) pointless

PM and AotC are actually better as standalone movies then Empire because they have some semblance of a climax and victory and resolution, even though if you knw what's really going on, those are hollow victories.  AotC suffers in the same way as Empire as starting from a story already in motion and has to leave things unresolved

Star Wars is really the only of the five movies so far that can stand alone because it was intended to because when it was made, the possibility of telling the whole story was pretty much unknown

Fellowship Of The Ring is even more so.  Some things make little sense, unless you know what's coming.  FotR really climaxed at the Balrog scene, and even that was sorta anti-climactic.  The 'good guys' didn't win, they barely escaped, with one main character dying.  Very unappealing for a stand alone movie.  The big fight at the end of the movie was, I thought, longer than it should've been and much more involved than the book bothers to be with it.  It felt like an attempt to give the movie a climax at a point in the story when the real climax was more an emotional turning point of the splitting of the fellowship. When  I saw FotR and it ended, I heard some lady behind be saying "is that it?  Do the destroy the ring?"  In other words, FotR can get away with being "Act I" because  *most* people in the Western Hemisphere know that it's just part I and  know how it's going to turn out.  Most people know the whole story, so they are willing to judge FotR as a portrayal of just one part, not as a stand alone work.  FotR has to be evaluated as part of a series because, as a standlone work, the story is pretty unsatisfactory in what it leaves undone

One thing that Nathan once said was that one way to judge a movie was in how close it came to it's intended goal.  In that respect, I think PM did a very good job because it's goal was to be introduce the main characters and setup a larger conflict that streteches over six movies and two generations, and I think it did a good job at accomplishing that

[The Bard]

Kevin Smith anyone? Is there anyone more in love with himself?