When he was creating his first Star Wars movie he was met with opposition from the board of directors at Fox. They hated it because it was such a different film from the rest at the time. Even his friend Stephen Spielberg thought the movie would be an absolute flop at the box office. This did not stop George. He believed in what he was doing and fought to get the film made against all odds and it was a wild success. It launched one of the greatest most age defining franchises of our time. Its influence stretched throughout media and beyond. This is because of his dedication to telling the story.
Even though he sold the Star Wars property for about 6 billion dollars to Disney, he still is intrinsically motivated to continue thinking of new ideas for the universe. He continues writing about backstories and content which he hands over to Disney in the hope that they will incorporate it in some form. He proposed a story for the new sequel trilogy which Disney rejected because it was too different and out of the ordinary. This is similar to what the Fox executives said about the original movie so I cannot help but wonder if we are missing out on an incredible story.
Like many other creatives he feels his work is never completed. He is constantly thinking of better ways he could have done something or thinking about a mistake he should fix even if it is something that is only apparent to him. This is made apparent through his many changes to his original trilogy. He made these additions later due to technological and financial constraints during the production. He is quoted in saying that only 35% of his vision made it on screen. So there is still so much more that he would like to tweak and fix than he has already done.
I think another interesting product he created is Lucasfilm. He managed to create a creative space with vibrant collaboration. Everyone was working and communicating with each other so it helped focus the creative products of the large organization. At Lucasfilm George created an environment that had a purer less analytical creative process where they were able to explore where their imagination took them. George Lucas credits collaboration and creative exploration for helping him create his age defining films.
I was unaware that George Lucas proposed a trilogy idea to Disney after they had bought the rights to star wars. Its interesting to think about how different the movies that he had in mind would have been compared to the movies that Disney has produced since gaining the rights to the story.
ReplyDeleteI think that George Lucas is an amazing creative to mention because of the impact that his work had at the time. We look back and watch the first Star Wars trilogy and think that it's corny and unrealistic, but my parents always tell me about watching it in theaters and being amazed at what he has created.
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