A genuine thank you to the man who started it all.
It was Lucas who spent the better part of a decade coming up with the universe we are returning to on Friday. Lucas who made A New Hope absolutely on faith, with no inkling of future sequels in 1980 and 1983 as he was making it in 1976. He wisely left the directing chores to those sequels to others, while keeping his stamp on them by writing and producing.
Yes, it was also Lucas who came up with and directed the three prequels, the acts of a middle aged man desperately wanting to prove that he still had it. And production and effects wise, he did. But as was apparent from the first film in 1977, dealing with actors and getting performances out of them was not his strong suit. Credit goes to his Hail Mary Pass Foursome encompassing both trilogies (Guinness, Neeson, MacGregor and Portman) for sensing what was needed and just doing it.
Which brings us to the painful divorce. I am damn sure that JJ Abrams (the hot new wife..yikes) is grateful to be able to continue what Lucas started, having directed his "kids" (Hamill, Ford, and Fisher) in new adventures. I am equally damn sure that there's a silly Disney gag order preventing him or anyone else from commenting too effusively in George Lucas 's direction. The fact that the Mouse House turned down his new ideas and scripts points to that. Yet I am sure that an exceptionally intelligent and intuitive person like Lucas knows down deep that sometimes in long standing endeavours, change must occur to survive and thrive. I only hope two things: that the "writing room" approach for future sequels and spinoffs doesn't result in a bunch of bland movies. And that everyone involved always remembers who and where the magic came from.
So thank you, George Lucas.
Thank you.
MTMG
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