POSTED BY

Joel Johnson

AT 8:31 AM
Monday June 29, 2009

Science Fiction

american zoetrope • george lucas • star trek • star wars

Video: George Lucas: Maker of Films

Binary Bonsai has secured this 1971 interview with a young George Lucas, whose first major film, THX 1138, has flopped at the box office and who is disillusioned with Hollywood entirely. I haven't actually watched this thing yet—it's nearly an hour— but BB's write-up makes it sound fascinating. (He's got a directly download link to a 650MB version, too, which I'm caching for later.)

How this has managed preservation until now is a small media miracle in my book. It offers rare insight into both Lucas as well as American Zoetrope's position following THX's release. And remember, this is before Lucas goes on to make American Graffiti and later Star Wars, and the fact that this at the time relative nobody is interviewed at all, is probably because of Gene Youngblood himself was at the forefront of film, though in a journalistic capacity, and thus in touch with what was coming out of student films and also what was going on with this prodigious young filmmaker.

The rarity of any footage of Lucas from this period makes this amazing in itself, but more than that, this is also very soon after Lucas had his first film taken away from him, something which would happen again on American Graffiti, and one of the prime reasons that Lucasfilm came into existence at all. Had things fallen out differently, he may well have continued working with Coppola at American Zoetrope.

Lucas is such a tragic figure to me, something I just now starting to comprehend, having fully disengaged myself from Star Wars and Lucas fandom. Although I shared the sense of real, if childish pain at the treatment of the mythology of my youth by its creator, it wasn't until J.J. Abrams' Star Trek reboot reignited my love for that franchise that I was able to fully metabolize the pain I felt from living in a world where Star Wars was a gross, terrible thing. It wasn't until one of the franchises were good again that I realized how much I needed to live in a universe where one of the star operas could satisfy.

0

5 Comments

Cowtown2

#1 – 10:41 AM June 29, 2009

Interesting. I wonder if his need for control also generated a contrarian streak that led him to stop seeking input from skilled professionals and artists, instead surrounding himself with yes-men and people whose comparatively modest talents and resumes would prevent them from ever thinking they knew better than Lucas. For the former,I'm thinking in particular of Leigh Brackett and Lawrence Kasdan on Empire, but even Richard Marquand seemed to have a defter touch with characters than Lucas; for the latter, I'm thinking in terms of Rick McAllum and the various Young-Indy alumni he recrutied to help him "polish" dialog. I wonder if this same streak might have led him to consciously ignore what the originals' fans were hoping for.

Of course, none of this adequately explains the mind-fuck that was Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

Anonymous Anonymous

#2 – 12:28 PM June 29, 2009

As for Star Trek, it would be better to have a new space opera than settle for the stylishly reanimated corpse of the old one.

It's not like there aren't new writers with fresh ideas available. Hell, there are still hundreds of old science fiction series that deserve filming. I'd rather stop poking Rodenberry's corpse with sticks now.

DSMVWL THS

#3 – 1:33 PM June 29, 2009

...it wasn't until J.J. Abrams' Star Trek reboot reignited my love for that franchise that I was able to fully metabolize the pain I felt from living in a world where Star Wars was a gross, terrible thing.

As many have pointed out, the new Trek film is packed full of Star Wars tropes (farm boy meets wise elder who knew his father, goes on redemptive quest, finds companions, vanquishes evil planet-destroying craft, etc.).

It seems clear to me that the team that made it was aiming to splice together the, ahem, best of both worlds.

artbot

#4 – 4:54 PM June 29, 2009

That was actually a good listen. Became comical at the end where the interviewer basically just talks about himself, and "cassss-ettes". But it's fair to say George had a fairly well-formed plan for sidestepping Hollywood, which he deftly accomplished.

While the Emperor certainly lacked clothes later in his career, there's no denying his early (collaborative) artistry. The sound montages of Walter Murch's radio voices in THX are still brilliant to this day.

As I always point out in any GL thread, 'The Making of Star Wars' book is a great read and really opens your eyes to the brilliant origins of that series, and perhaps saddens more at its ultimate downfall.

Agies

#5 – 6:22 AM June 30, 2009

@3 To call them Star Wars tropes is to deny the fact that Lucas borrowed them from other sources (I know a great story about a young squire who meets a wise old man and becomes great).

Leave a comment