In a recent interview with Charlie Rose, George Lucas let some of his true feelings for "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" and Disney slip.
Lucas, who created the "Star Wars" saga, said he was against making the new movie "for the fans" and felt he sold the company he created, Lucasfilm, to "the white slavers," referring to Disney. [UPDATE: Lucas has issued an apology for his remark to Disney.]
This is somewhat surprising because Lucas has previously seemed supportive of "The Force Awakens." It's even been said that he liked the movie and attended its premiere.
When Disney bought Lucasfilm for $4 billion in 2012, it gave Disney ownership of the "Star Wars" franchise. At the time, Lucas had some ideas for how "Episode VII" could be told. But it seems once the papers were signed, Disney told Lucas to take a hike.
"They looked at the stories and they said, 'We want to make something for the fans,'" Lucas said. "I said, 'All I want to do is tell a story'… They decided they didn’t want to use those [my] stories, they decided they were going to do their own thing. They weren’t that keen to have me involved anyway — if I get in there, I'm just going to cause trouble, because they're not going to do what I want them to do. And I don't have the control to do that anymore. All I would do is muck everything up. And so I said, 'OK, I will go my way, and I'll let them go their way.'"
But it seems Lucas hasn't been able to let go.
"It's a very, very, very hard thing to do," Lucas said about letting go of the franchise, as well as another Lucasfilm property that is now Disney's, "Indiana Jones.""You have to say, 'I have to move on,' and everything in your body says, 'Don't. You can't.' These are my kids."
Rose then said, "Those were your kids … and you sold them."
"I sold them to the white slavers that take these things and, and …" Lucas then stopped himself and laughed, probably realizing he was about to get himself into some hot water.
So it's obvious that while "Star Wars" fans love "The Force Awakens" and it's a box-office juggernaut, the "remakequel" style it's in wouldn't have been the path Lucas would have taken if he were still at the helm.
So why did George Lucas sell Lucasfilm?
"There are three more stories," Lucas told Rose, referring to episodes "VII,""VIII," and "IX."
"To do it right would be 10 years, and I said, 'I'm 70 — I don't know whether I'll be here when I'm 80,' every 10 years the odds get less, and I want to do [other films], so I have to make the decision on my own that it's time for me to move on."
Watch a clip with the above quotes in the embed below. Watch the entire interview here.
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