There's a petition going that wants George Lucas to direct Episode IX

[Mage]

https://www.change.org/p/disney-lucasfilm-kathleen-kennedy-george-lucas-back-to-the-star-wars-movies

The man can make a pretty picture, but only that. Pretty. No clue on how to direct actors, or how to write a decent script with actual dialogue......

How the hell would anyone want him back?

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Re: There's a petition going that wants George Lucas to direct Episode

He didn't direct Episodes 5 or 6, why would he come back for 9?

Even if he could handle 1) the daily grind of being a director, which is probably a very hard thing to do and 2) fan hate.

(I'm not referring to you, Mage, with that last bit. I just suspect he's had enough of all the vitriol being spewed at him that he figures no one would accept ANY more SW coming from him, so he says the hell with it and lets other people take it in any direction they want.)

 

[Kor]

Re: There's a petition going that wants George Lucas to direct Episode

There's a petition going that wants George Lucas to direct Episode IX

No.

Just.... no.

Sometimes I wish these online petitions had an option to vote and comment against them.

Kor

 

[The Nth Doctor]

Re: There's a petition going that wants George Lucas to direct Episode

I heard about this earlier. I can't fathom this. Some fans are just plain crazy.

 

[Mage]

Re: There's a petition going that wants George Lucas to direct Episode

He didn't direct Episodes 5 or 6, why would he come back for 9?

Even if he could handle 1) the daily grind of being a director, which is probably a very hard thing to do and 2) fan hate.

(I'm not referring to you, Mage, with that last bit. I just suspect he's had enough of all the vitriol being spewed at him that he figures no one would accept ANY more SW coming from him, so he says the hell with it and lets other people take it in any direction they want.)

That's oke. I don't hate because of fanhate, I hate because of his lack of directing skills. Or rather, directing that I like. There are plenty of directors out that there, that use visuals as a means of telling a story. George is one of those. So is Spielberg, so is Abrams. But what the other two can, and George can't, is actually work with actors.

And, like I said, the man can't write dialogue.

 

[CorporalClegg]

Re: There's a petition going that wants George Lucas to direct Episode

I'm not going to sign a petition, but I wouldn't object if it were to happen--provided they keep him far, far away from any and every writing instrument.

 

[Mage]

Re: There's a petition going that wants George Lucas to direct Episode

I'm not going to sign a petition, but I wouldn't object if it were to happen--provided they keep him far, far away from any and every writing instrument.

Still, it would be George Lucas telling two people to stand in front of green screen, and tell them to say lines. He will make it look pretty.

 

[EnsignRicky]

Re: There's a petition going that wants George Lucas to direct Episode

This is just a pointless exercise in wishful thinking. A bazillion kajillion signatures later and Lucas still won't be doing another Star Wars film; The man is done. He's off making home movies back at the ranch.

 

[Turtletrekker]

Re: There's a petition going that wants George Lucas to direct Episode

I signed it. Why not? It's not like it will ever happen.

 

[The Wormhole]

Re: There's a petition going that wants George Lucas to direct Episode

As Lucas considers himself retired and doesn't want to direct anymore Star Wars movies, the petition is moot.

 

[ALF]

Re: There's a petition going that wants George Lucas to direct Episode

Let's start a petition for the opposite. I know there will be more signatures to have Lucas NOT direct episode IX.

 

[Set Harth]

Re: There's a petition going that wants George Lucas to direct Episode

Some fans are just plain crazy.

Or they have a more nuanced view of reality than "George Lucas bad".

And, like I said, the man can't write dialogue.

ANH would seem to imply otherwise.

 

[EnsignRicky]

Re: There's a petition going that wants George Lucas to direct Episode

Some people can live their entire lives and never write anything as eloquent as A Long Time Ago In A Galaxy Far, Far Away....

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Re: There's a petition going that wants George Lucas to direct Episode

Or they have a more nuanced view of reality than "George Lucas bad".

Mr. Laser Beam likes this.

(sorry, I'm just psyching myself up for the switch to Xenforo )

 

[Reverend]

Re: There's a petition going that wants George Lucas to direct Episode

Some fans are just plain crazy.

Or they have a more nuanced view of reality than "George Lucas bad".

And, like I said, the man can't write dialogue.

ANH would seem to imply otherwise.

Apparently Guinness was allowed to rewrite his own dialogue (because he's Alec Guinness and who's going to tell him "no"?) and IIRC both Hamill and Ford pushed back on some of the more unwieldy lines. Most everything else seems to have been saved in the editing bay. Check out some of the deleted material and it's replete with clunky dialogue.

As for the petition...obviously it's not going to have any baring on who eventually ends up directing Ep IX.
Regardless, Lucas is *never* going to direct a movie unless he has full creative control and everything we've seen since he sold the franchise says Disney don't want him within 500 meters of creative control.
They already threw out his outline for the third trilogy and everything he's said publicly since indicates he would have wanted to go in a very different direction and wouldn't be interested if he weren't allowed to have his way.

The reality of it is that he's just not that good a director. Don't get me wrong he has a very creative mind, excellent cinematic tastes and some great instincts for what makes an exciting scene. However he's never been able to direct actors to save his life, he has a distressing habit of building narratives around set-pieces instead of allowing the narrative to flow organically and of course he tends to depend too much on special effects.

A truly good director should have a much more balanced skill set. Imagination alone isn't enough. Just about anyone can be an "idea man" what counts is being able to execute them consistently.

 

[EnsignRicky]

Re: There's a petition going that wants George Lucas to direct Episode

The other thing to bear in mind is that Colin Trevorrow is already slated to direct Episode IX and is well into pre production on it. It's too late.

 

[Ithekro]

Re: There's a petition going that wants George Lucas to direct Episode

Even as far back as 1977 everyone knew what Lucas's limitations were. He said it, Harrison Ford said it. Mark Hamill said it, and I think Carrie Fisher said it. Aside from "Action and Cut" the only directions Lucas gave were "Faster and More Intense". Ford had worked with Lucas before so he knew what to expect and could give advise to Fisher and Hamill, plus they had Alec Guinness and Peter Cushing there to give acting wisdom to the young stars of the film. Even then the film's pacing was saved in editing by then Mrs. Lucas.

The other two films had better directors and writers so the actors could work better with what they had.

The Prequels have a double problem. Lucas's direction style, which by itself would not have hurt the movie, but it was paired with massive use of green screen work. Green screen acting was still relatively new, and the actors didn't know how to act in front of one for so many shots, reacting to things that were not there, or represented by a ball on a stick. That didn't help their performances. The editing did help craft the films to be very pretty and cinematic in scale and scope. But it didn't save the acting and direction issues. The story....had potential, but it needed work to get it to the point where the actors could pull it off easily, rather than struggle with the words they needed to say against a scene that wasn't behind them with people that were not there.

 

[The Borgified Corpse]

The reality of it is that he's just not that good a director. Don't get me wrong he has a very creative mind, excellent cinematic tastes and some great instincts for what makes an exciting scene. However he's never been able to direct actors to save his life, he has a distressing habit of building narratives around set-pieces instead of allowing the narrative to flow organically and of course he tends to depend too much on special effects.

Everything that you say here is true. However, IMO, his positives outweigh his negatives.

Directing actors isn't always a necessary skill when you cast great actors that are capable of making their own choices. Alec Guinness, Ewan McGregor, & Liam Neeson all did fantastic work under him.

Furthermore, "building narratives around set-pieces" and depending too much on special effects are both central staples of modern blockbuster film making.

I also think that Lucas has a knack for understanding epic structure that many other filmmakers don't have. And that structure is the most important part of making a great tentpole film. It's what separates a flawed masterpiece like Revenge of the Sith from a hot mess like Jupiter Ascending. Even when the dialogue fails to live up to the story's epic ambitions, it doesn't matter when he has the John Williams score do the talking for him.

And although the prequels were a little rough around the edges, I'll gladly take them over anything J.J. Abrams has ever done (with the possible exception of M:I:III). I also thought the Star Wars prequels were much more engaging & fun than Colin Treverrow's tepid work on Jurassic World. Hell, they're more entertaining than anything that Spielberg has done in the last 17 years!

That said, it will never happen. Disney has made it clear that they have no respect for Lucas or for what he created. And if Lucas were genuinely interested in directing another Star Wars movie, he wouldn't have sold it to Disney in the first place. Plus, isn't Disney a DGA signatory? So wouldn't Lucas have to rejoin the Director's Guild in order to make a movie for them? 'Cuz that ain't gonna happen!

 

[wulfio]

I'm all for Lucas being part of the story group. The main arc of the prequels has tons of potential with some minor tweaks(the world building is also magnificent), and the original trilogy is obviously iconic. This is his baby, and he knows it intimately. But as far as script writing or directing, no thanks. Let other people have input, and execute his excellent creative vision.

I'd love to know what his idea was for the new saga.

 

[{ Emilia }]

He's never been a particularly good director so... why?