George Lucas recently shared his thoughts on the current state of Hollywood, and he didn’t hold back.
In an interview at the Cannes Film Festival, Lucas said he’s frustrated with how many movies today are just sequels and reboots of old films. He pointed out that there’s a lot of focus on making another version of existing movies rather than coming up with new ideas:
“The stories they’re telling are just old movies. ‘Let’s do a sequel, let’s do another version of this movie.’ There’s no original thinking. The big studios, they don’t have an imagination.”
When asked about Martin Scorsese’s comments from 2019 that Marvel movies aren’t ‘cinema,’ Lucas gave a simple response:
“Look. Cinema is the art of a moving image. So if the image moves, then it’s cinema. I think Marty has changed his mind a little bit.”
Lucas confirmed that he is retired from filmmaking. His last project as a producer was ‘Strange Magic.’ He’s busy building a museum in Los Angeles nowadays.
You can watch the interview below.
“J’étais à la plage, à faire des châteaux de sables avec Steven Spielberg. Des amis m’ont appelé en disant : regarde les infos […], c’est là que j’ai compris que Star Wars était un vrai succès.”
Conversation entre @ATrapenard et George Lucas, qui reçoit une Palme d’or d’honneur… pic.twitter.com/uXMN78AktA— Brut FR (@brutofficiel) May 24, 2024
He Says ‘Star Wars’ Is Made For Kids
Lucas also talked about the ‘Star Wars’ prequel trilogy a couple of days ago. He explained that these movies were meant for 12-year-olds dealing with big life questions. He wanted the films to be a source of guidance for youngsters:
“It was supposed to be a kid’s movie for 12-year-olds who were going through puberty, who don’t know what they’re doing, and are asking all the big questions: What should I be worried about? What’s important in life? And ‘Star Wars’ has all those things in there. They’re buried in there but you definitely get it, especially if you’re young.”
The prequels, especially ‘The Phantom Menace,’ faced a lot of criticism for characters like C-3PO, the Ewoks, and Jar Jar Binks. Lucas defended these characters by saying that ‘Star Wars’ has always been a children’s movie.
