We learned a few days ago that George Lucas has already seen Star Wars: The Force Awakens. The word coming off that screening was that Lucas liked the movie. However, that word came from Kathleen Kennedy, the current head of Lucasfilm who has, to be honest, a personal interest in the film getting the best press possible. Now Lucas has spoken publicly about the film, himself. What’s the word from the horse’s mouth? Well, he didn’t really say whether he liked it. But he did say that you will.
At the Kennedy Center Honors over the weekend, where Lucas was being honored, he was asked point blank what he thought of the movie. According to Vulture, he thinks fans will love it, but he stopped short of saying he did.
I think the fans are going to love it. It’s very much the kind of movie they’ve been looking for.
This is what’s known as a backhanded compliment. George Lucas’ public comments regarding the Star Wars franchise of late have seemed a bit bitter, to be honest. He’s spoken about how Disney wasn’t interested in his original story for what the new trilogy would be about. He said they were looking to make a movie for the fans. The statement, of course, implies that whatever he was planning on making wasn’t interested in the fans at all.
So the good news, at least potentially, to pull from this, is that Disney has successfully made exactly the movie they were trying to make. Their goal was to make a movie for the fans and Lucas himself says they have succeeded in doing just that. One can infer that Lucas himself actually may not have liked the movie that much, though, from a certain point of view, that can also be a good thing. If you haven’t liked Lucas’ recent work with Star Wars, like the prequels or the Special Edition changes, maybe a movie he didn’t like is exactly the movie for you.
George Lucas has not been silent regarding his frustration with movie fans in general. Many of them were far from silent regarding dissatisfaction with the prequel trilogy, and this has lead to some pretty major irritation for him.
The filmmaker previously described going to see the new movie in terms of going to a wedding where he knew he was going to run into his ex. It’s obvious he wasn’t particularly excited about seeing the franchise, which used to be his, going on without him.
How important is George Lucas’ opinion of The Force Awakens for you? He is the godfather of the franchise after all. Would a glowing endorsement fill you with confidence, or does his opinion not really matter anymore?
