For all of George Lucas’ acts of war against Star Wars fans like his ceaseless tinkering and his boner for the legislative machinations of a galaxy far far away, as well as his present status as a mere creative consultant on Episode VII following the epic sale of Lucasfilm to Disney, Lucas is still the all-father of the Star Wars universe. And because of that, his opinion of the shape of the continuing adventures of Han Solo, Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, and Star Wars should matter to fans. Even if it comes without the authority of someone who is still in charge.
Unfortunately, for Lucas to have an opinion about the shape of the latest Star Wars film, he would have had to have seen the 88-second teaser trailer. And according to a comment that Lucas made to Page Six, he has not.
“I don’t know anything about it. I haven’t seen it yet.”
When we further asked Lucas why he hasn’t seen the clip, he explained, “Because it’s not in the movie theater. I like going to the movies and watching the whole thing there.
“I plan to see it when it’s released.”
I can respect that, actually. To each his or her own, but I personally feel that the abundance of trailers, featurettes, and preview scenes do more harm than good to the movie-going experience sometimes. With that said, I was drooling beside everyone else when the Star Wars trailer hit, because the gravitational pull of seeing those first few seconds of footage was as intense as seeing the glory of the Millennium Falcon in flight. Again, I can respect Lucas’ desire to stay pure, but I don’t understand it. I also don’t understand how he isn’t insanely curious to see what JJ Abrams has done with the world that he created.
A year ago, Lucas’ son, Jett Lucas, said in an interview that his dad, who’s credited as a creative consultant on the new film, was “constantly talking to J.J.,” and that “J.J. was handpicked.” But when we asked Lucas if he was curious to see what Abrams has done with the new Star Wars, Lucas said, “Not really.”
There are two ways to look at that. One is that Lucas has such abundant faith in Abrams and the Lucasfilm team that he doesn’t feel any pangs of curiosity to check in on their work because he knows that it will be stellar and in-line with the overall legacy of the Star Wars universe. The second way to look at that is that Lucas got his money, moved on, and doesn’t want to play in the arena with fans who constantly mocked his efforts and often show little gratitude for the good things that he has done. I’m going to believe the former, because if the latter was true (and I’m obviously not saying that it is) then that would be depressing… but also maybe a little understandable.
Via Page Six
