Twenty years ago today (1st November, 1994) - and it really does feel like it was only yesterday!- George Lucas, after fulfilling his dedicated parental duties, and his daily ritual of watching the early morning news, sat down at his favourite desk, using his favourite paper pads and pencils, and began writing the story treatment, later scripts, for what would become the next trilogy of STAR WARS films- the long-awaited Prequel adventures of Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi- at his home in Northern California. This was the day that many STAR WARS fans thought would never happen, but finally did, opening up the immense floodgates to a new universe of storytelling and characters, pioneering visual effects wonders, spin-off animation, comics, books and merchandise that would resuscitate the franchise and place it forever more in the entertainment/sci-fi/fantasy league stratosphere. Now, George Lucas has sadly retired, but in an equally unexpected move two years ago, would overturn his original 2008 decision to not let anyone else take the reins of his beloved universe, and actually give it over to trusted friends and colleagues to continue its groundbreaking legacy with the final trilogy of post Classic-era adventures, coming to movie theatres, alongside further intriguing spin-offs, from 2015 onwards. It was a move that would delight and enthral generations worldwide as soon as the Disney/LUCASFILM press release was issued that fateful and exciting day of 30th October, 2012.
On behalf of fans everywhere, STAR WARS AFICIONADO today sends its heartfelt thanks to George Lucas for creating the STAR WARS universe, continuing the STAR WARS universe, and for making it what it is today- the greatest cinematic story ever told...
“There are a lot of interesting aspects to
the next stories, but if I were to use them the way I’d done the other STAR
WARS films, they’d be astronomically expensive, over $100 million. Nobody can
afford to make a film for $100 million today. So we have to sort of re-invent
the wheel. What I want most is to be able to do the more fantasy-orientated,
high-imagination movies and be able to accomplish them with a reasonable amount
of money. It all depends on how fast the technology falls into place, but it’s
coming along pretty fast now.”
“I plan to start working on the screenplays
soon, and hope to be in production of the trilogy within the next two years. I
think they’ll be done in the next four or five years. But it really depends on
how fast we can make these technological changes.”
“We did a test (of the dinosaurs) for
Steven Spielberg, and when we put it up on the screen I had tears in my eyes.
It was one of those moments in history like the invention of the light bulb or
the first telephone call. A major gap had been crossed, and things were never
going to be the same. You just can’t see them as anything but real. It’s just
impossible. Maybe 20 years from now, 50 years from now, they’ll look clumsy.
But I’m not sure that will happen. I think we may have reached a level here
where we have actually created reality, which of course, is what we’ve been
trying to do all along.”
GEORGE LUCAS INTERVIEW WITH THE WALL
STREET JOURNAL - 1994/5
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