Star Wars:Episode III Get's Thumbs Up!

[BenJammin]

Another view on Mark Hammil's success [or lack thereof]

He was about a half foot shorter than Harrison Ford. Too short for 'leading man' roles. I think he is like 5'7" .

I can say this because I'm a short shit too and I notice those things.

Some may argue that Tom Cruise is that height also, but let's face it, he's much better looking than Mark, not to mention his acting skills.

If you've got two out of three [height, looks, acting skills]
you should do well in the entertainment biz.

[Nickdfresh]

A Look Back in Wonder

After nearly three decades, George Lucas has finished his culture-changing saga of a fallen father and the son who redeems him. The director seems as surprised as anyone at what he has done. He sat down with TIME's Richard Schickel, who has known him since shortly after the original Star Wars came out in 1977, to talk about how he works, his fear of failure and the sort of movies he really wants to make.

By GEORGE LUCAS AND RICHARD SCHICKEL

Posted Sunday, May 1, 2005

TIME: Now that you've finished the entire saga, what do you feel? Sad? Glad? Half mad?

LUCAS: Well, I'm still stunned at this point. Yesterday was the first day I saw it, actually sat back and looked at it with an audience. I'm very happy with it. I think it turned out as well as I could have hoped, and at the same time I'm very glad that I finished it. It was desperate just to get the first one made. But the idea of actually doing the other two was this huge Mount Everest. And then the concept of going beyond Mount Everest was completely unthinkable. I expected this to be one movie. I expected it to take me a year, year and a half to make, and then I expected to move on to other things. Especially in the storytelling sense, it was very stylized, very much in opposition to what my natural inclinations are. It was a kind of whim which turned into my life.

TIME: Is that why, after the first three Star Wars episodes, it took you 16 years to come back and do these last three films?

LUCAS: Star Wars was written very carefully around the limits of technology. I had one big technological leap that I had to make, and that was to be able to pan the spaceships. I thought I knew enough about animation that I could make that happen. Everything else was written for what I knew I could get away with, given the fact that I had a limited budget, limited resources. But in terms of having creatures? I could barely get the cantina scene done. I had a couple of really stupid rubber masks. I had to go back and beg another $10,000 so I could go down to a garage and have a friend of mine make some better masks that actually moved their mouths. It took every ounce of energy to create Chewbacca. But then Jurassic Park inspired me. I didn't have to use rubber masks. I could build digital characters that can act and perform and walk around and interact with actors. I can use digital sets. I can paint reality. In essence, it means that cinema has gone from being a photographic medium to a painterly one.

Now just having made it to the end of the river is a relief. All the pieces are together, and I was able to buff up the older ones. I can put it together in a six-part DVD and be very proud of the way the story gets told. On the other hand, I have a feeling this one is going to be sort of like the last one in terms of some people like it, some people hate it. And like everyone who makes movies, I'm always convinced the next one will be a flop. So right now I'm thinking it probably won't make any money and will be considered a failure...

TIME: I think you've probably heard people say, "George doesn't really like directing actors. George doesn't really like being on the set and having the rub and scratch of egos and all that." Is there any truth to that? Is it easier for you to paint them on a computer?

LUCAS: No, no, no, it's not. People don't remember that every time you have a digital character, you have an actor. There's an actor doing the voice, or there's an actor on the set doing the performance with the other actors. He takes the place of the digital character. But you're still dealing with another human being, you're still trying to get a performance out of him, you're still doing that part of directing. I work with actors. I've always worked with actors. Francis Coppola taught me how to work with actors. Now, Francis takes them home to dinner. He lives with them. I'm a different kind of guy.

But I know a lot of directors who are far less communicative than I am. Am I less comfortable on set working with actors than I am in the editing room trying to put it all together? Yes, I would say that's probably true. Am I by nature a shy person? Yes. Have I kind of overcome my shyness to do things that a shy person shouldn't be able to do? Yes, of course I have. But people think of me as a sort of pathological, Howard Hughes-type guy sitting in a hotel room, which is definitely not so. I mean, you've known me for years. It ain't even close to that.

TIME: No, but everybody says, "Well, he's up there on the mountaintop, and he's all by himself—Mr. Mystery."

LUCAS: Yeah, but there's thousands of people here. I wish I worked by myself—it would mean the overhead's much less. But part of that comes from not being in a media center. I'm not in L.A., I'm not in New York, and therefore I must be out in the wilderness, sort of sitting in the Himalayas somewhere. San Francisco is not the wilderness. We have a nice little film community here. We make movies we're very proud of. We're not alone, and we may be liberal, but we're not completely crazy.

TIME: All right now, George, I've been hearing about these movies you're going to make since I first met you. In 1977 you said, "I'm gonna go off and make my little art films." What will they be?

LUCAS: I've got a whole binder full of stuff. Which one I'm going to take on first, I have no idea ... I know I'm going to produce a film about the African-American fighter pilots—the Tuskegee Airmen—during WW II. I've been working on that for 15 years. I've been having a very difficult time getting a script on it.

Like everyone who makes movies, I'm always convinced the next one will be a flop ... [that] it probably won't make any money.
— GEORGE LUCAS

TIME: And?

LUCAS: I'm going to go off in the direction that I was really interested in going off in when I was in film school—films like Koyaanisqatsi, films that are a little more abstract in nature. It's vaguely in the land of music videos, I guess, but I don't even know how to describe them. I'm going to deal with themes that have always interested me and are vaguely esoteric in nature. But I'm going to try to make them dramatic. I'm going to try to make them emotional. How they're gonna turn out, I don't know. I know they won't be mainstream movies. Fortunately, I have built my facility here to work in. I've set aside a chunk of money to do my movies—that I figure will last me for 10 years, when I'll be seventysomething and I should probably quit. I'm sure they'll be just as criticized as Star Wars films are. I'm sure some people will be just as devoted to them as the Star Wars films.

I'm also going to do some TV shows. I love television because it's not important. You get to do really great work, you really get to focus on the work, and all this megillah that goes on around it is gone. And you get to explore your interests, and it doesn't have to be that important. I want to get out of doing anything important.

TIME: Except maybe one last Indiana Jones movie.

LUCAS: You know, I said three's fine. And then I came up with an idea I thought was brilliant, so I told the other guys [Steven Spielberg and Harrison Ford], and they kind of flipped out. It's vaguely in the realm of the supernatural. We have to accept the fact that Indiana Jones is an older man. But it's been hell getting a script out of it. Steven is committed to shooting it next year. I just got the latest script yesterday.

TIME: You don't have that many watersheds left, no matter how old you live to be. So, let me revert to my first question: What does it feel like bringing the Star Wars saga to a conclusion?

LUCAS: Well, I had mixed feelings about being George Star Wars Lucas. That was a hard thing, but I did finally accept the fact that there was probably nothing I was going to do with the rest of my life that was going to change that, that I might as well live with it. It's not the worst thing in the world. If that was my shot at some kind of vague little mark on history, hey, that's not so bad. That sort of led to saying, Well, if I'm already George Star Wars Lucas, then it doesn't make any difference what I do from now on. I've cleaned up the first three to the point where I am happy with them now. They may not be perfect, but they are as perfect as I can make them. I'm proud of the second three movies. People may not like them, but I'm proud of them. I never in a million years thought I could finish the whole story. In its course, I've done a lot of things I wanted to do, taking themes and stringing them different ways in different tones through different times—recurring elements twisted in different ways. And I've managed to do something that I've always kind of been fascinated with—doing something over 12 hours instead of two. What it really comes down to is, I am a happy man. What else can I tell you?

[DrMaddVibe]

Doin the Lynndie!

[Nickdfresh]

Pic's From Episode III


Hayden Christensen plays troubled young Jedi Anakin Skywalker in Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith

LUCASFILM LTD. & TM
Obi-Wan employs the services of a giant lizard to fight droids


LUCASFILM LTD. & TM
Yoda is back in lightsaber-wielding form

[Nickdfresh]

More...


LUCASFILM LTD. & TM
Mace Windu (played by Samuel L. Jackson) faces a treacherous Palpatine

General Grievous, the part-alien and part-machine military leader of the Separatist army, stands on the Trade Federation cruiser bridge and prepares for a Jedi attack

LUCASFILM LTD. & TM
A Utapau clone trooper holds a hologram while receiving a message

Onetime comrades Obi-Wan and Anakin engage in a furious duel on the lava river of Mustafar

Courtesy of Time Magazine

[Cathedral]

Originally posted by DrMaddVibe
Doin the Lynndie!

ROTMFFLMMFAO, That pic hit me like a ton of bricks...I think i laughed up my spleen.

[Vinnie Velvet]

Cool pics!!

May 19th BABY!!!

Hey Bueno, are you seeing the first midnight showing?

[bueno bob]

Originally posted by Vinnie Velvet
Cool pics!!

May 19th BABY!!!

Hey Bueno, are you seeing the first midnight showing?

No...believe it or not, I usually don't rush to the theaters for new Star Wars movies...and the reason for it is because I'm clausterphobic...I can't stand being in a highly dense, closed in area, I totally freak out, and with all the people that pile into the theaters whenever a new Star Wars movie hits, I can't handle it...as usual, I'll probably wait for a week and a half and then go see it, when it's not as jam packed as it is on opening night.

[Vinnie Velvet]

Originally posted by bueno bob
No...believe it or not, I usually don't rush to the theaters for new Star Wars movies...and the reason for it is because I'm clausterphobic...I can't stand being in a highly dense, closed in area, I totally freak out, and with all the people that pile into the theaters whenever a new Star Wars movie hits, I can't handle it...as usual, I'll probably wait for a week and a half and then go see it, when it's not as jam packed as it is on opening night.

Oh well, gotta look after your well-being first.

I'll be sure to post up my review of the movie!

But from what I've already read, the movie kicks ass.

[bueno bob]

Originally posted by Vinnie Velvet
Oh well, gotta look after your well-being first.

I'll be sure to post up my review of the movie!

But from what I've already read, the movie kicks ass.

Yeah, I truly feel this is going to be the Star Wars movie that everybody has KNOWN George was capable of...I don't think that there's going to be a lot of complaining about things out of the fanbase. It'll probably have it's normal deadspots for acting, but overall I think this is going to be the movie that ranks right up there with Empire in overall "Best" Star Wars movies. I think George pulled out all the stops and I doubt there's going to be any sort of drag at all...there were elements to Ep 1 & 2 that sort of drug along, even for me. Ep 1, I thought they spent too much time on Tattooine...Ep 2 I thought drug with the love story a little...

I doubt Ep 3 is going to have any time for slow spots.

[Warham]

I'm going to the 7 pm show on opening night, so I'll have a review up the next day fo' sho'.

[Cathedral]

I'm hitting the opening day matinee, oddly enough there aren't a whole lot of people missing work to catch films first.

By the way, I just had a huge yawn and with this upper respiratory infection i have, the phlem made me sound just like Chewy.

I wish i could have recorded it, it was way cool!

[Vinnie Velvet]

I've read a ton of reviews for Sith and mostly all of them have been extremely positive!

The general consensus is that the movie is fucking awesome.

Hands down the best of the prequels and would even give Empire a run for its money (well it will most likley make more that it, that's for sure).

[bueno bob]

Originally posted by Vinnie Velvet
I've read a ton of reviews for Sith and mostly all of them have been extremely positive!

The general consensus is that the movie is fucking awesome.

Hands down the best of the prequels and would even give Empire a run for its money (well it will most likley make more that it, that's for sure).

I'm sure it's going to. This is the movie everybody's always wanted to see, and they'll be out in droves...I wouldn't be surprised to see it topple Ep 1's take.

[Vinnie Velvet]

Originally posted by bueno bob
I'm sure it's going to. This is the movie everybody's always wanted to see, and they'll be out in droves...I wouldn't be surprised to see it topple Ep 1's take.

I'd say that it will probably make as much as Menace, but who knows. Maybe it will make more since its the last one.

I'm not sure about Titanic though.