Legendary Star Wars creator George Lucas spoke at the Cannes Film Festival ahead of receiving the honorary Palme d’Or later today, and the retired filmmaker shared his thoughts on how the iconic franchise has been performing under the Disney banner since he sold the rights to the franchise over a decade ago.
While a lot of fans have been critical of the new movies and Disney+ shows overseen by Lucasfilm's Kathleen Kennedy, Lucas believes the projects have “a lot of talent, great ideas and production,” although it sounds like he does miss being more directly involved in the creative process.
“I feel like they come from my children, and sometimes it hurts a little when they grow up and get away from you,” he tells elpais.com.
Lucas also spoke candidly about some of the criticisms the first six Star Wars movies, most of which he directed, have received over the years, including the perception that the Galaxy Far, Far Away was dominated by white men in the early days.
“Most of the people are aliens! The idea is you’re supposed to accept people for what they are, whether they’re big and furry or whether they’re green or whatever. The idea is all people are equal.”
Lucas went on to point out that the only "species" that gets discriminated against in the Star Wars universe are the droids.
“That was a way of saying, you know, people are always discriminating against something and sooner or later, that’s what’s going to happen,” he said. “I mean, we’re already starting with AI, saying, ‘Well, we can’t trust those robots.'”
As for the saga's depiction of women, Lucas simply doesn't feel any of the backlash is warranted.
“Who do you think the heroes are in these stories? What do you think Princess Leia was? She’s the head of the rebellion. She’s the one that’s taking this young kid who doesn’t know anything and this boisterous, I-know-everything guy who can’t do anything and trying to save the rebellion with these clowns. And it’s the same thing with Queen Amidala.”
He continued, “You can’t just put a woman in pants and expect her to be a hero. They can wear dresses, they can wear whatever they want. It’s their brains and their ability to think and plan and be logistical. That’s what the hero is.”
When it comes to the much-maligned prequel trilogy, Lucas reiterated his feeling that the Star Wars movies were always made with children in mind, and The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith were met with a mostly negative response because those same kids had grown up by the time they were released.
"I made Star Wars for 12-year-old kids, at the time we were going through a dark period with the Vietnam War and we needed to dream. That's why fans of the 1st trilogy didn't like the prequels, they weren't kids anymore."
Some Star Wars fans tend to agree with this assessment, while others have always felt that it was a bit of a shaky excuse for a significant dip in the overall quality of filmmaking displayed in the prequels.
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