OFFICIAL NEWS Disney didn’t Use George Lucas’ Ideas for The Force Awakens.

My summation of his book excerpt: "George didn't agree with us, WAAAAAAAAAH! He doesn't understand the pressure!!"


So, yes. Very. Salty.

 

Seriously?

Sure seems like GL is a bit salty to me. I sold the company and the rights and they arent still listening to me. I want the story about the micro organisms controlling the force.

 

Yeah, it's pretty obvious who is salty in this one. Iger seems genuinely upset he let George down and to believe they'd do his story.

However, this is all moot because George has gone on record liking TLJ, R1 and Solo. It was a little salt from not using his midichlorian ideas and it seems to be over.

 

If George was that worried about making the Sequels EXACTLY the way he wanted, he shouldn’t have sold to Disney in the first place. He got 4 billion dollars out of the whole ordeal, so I don’t feel too bad for him honestly.

Let’s not forget that pre-TFA, George’s least-favorite Star Wars film was Empire Strikes Back... the one he had the least involvement in (prior to Disney’s buyout) and the one that’s widely considered to be the best Star Wars film.

 

Exactly. Salty is not the same as feeling bad that they let George down and werent letting him know earlier that they were going in another direction.

 

No not really. We know that Lucasfilm took some of his ideas (Rey, Luke in exile, etc) and made their own film. I suspect The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker may be using more of his material. It's kind of cool Iger is talking about this stuff. It makes me think we'll get more of a narrative about this trilogy after it's over.

As far as the pressure Disney was under I think Iger is right. Like it or not the prequel trilogy wasn't received well. The Force Awakens had to be a crowd pleasing film. Yeah, TFA leaned too much on nostalgia, but I don't think they really had a choice. They were more ambitious with The Last Jedi and it was successful as well. People moaned that TFA wasn't original and then people moan that TLJ was too different. People are always gonna moan.

I'm happy with the way it played out.

 

IIRC: George was sneaky on his own end with regards to the sale; he installed KK to run LucasFilm WAY late in the game. That obviously backfired on him when she went against his wishes as well. The whole story is funny to me.

Iggy lost me when he said George doesn't understand, his whole side of the story became spin in that instant.

Gotta love the irony of it all. The greatest SW movie ever made was the one Lucas had the least to do with.

I keep seeing this. Must be trendy.

Do you now how much of the sale that he gave to charity?
Here, let me help you with that: https://ladyandtheblog.com/hats-off-to-george-lucas-donates-4-billion-dollars-to-education/
https://www.ifc.com/2012/11/george-lucas-donating-4-05-billion-from-disney-deal-to-charity
http://www.supportingeducation.org/2012/11/08/george-lucas-donate-4-billion-education/

 

I fail to see how that's relevant... he's being philanthropic. Disney didn't tell him how to spend his money. He is still getting Disney money with half the shares of Disney stock.

 

Was Iger's method of being "crowd pleasing" was to be unoriginal? It seemed like it. How gutless of him. And what he and the media had failed to consider is that the Prequel Trilogy STILL managed to create a large fan base, despite DarthMedia.

 

I'm not sure what that means. You can fashion any reality you want, but the prequels were not received that well. Disney has plans to make Star Wars films for a long time so they had to make a film that appealed to more people than the prequels. By any measure they were successful.

 

George wasn’t entitled to having his wishes followed to the letter by KK and Disney. Like I said, if he was that worried about it, he shouldn’t have sold the franchise in the first place. It’s not really the story that’s funny to me, it’s more the way that some people have overreacted.

Like @Andrew Waples said, he was still paid 4 billion dollars regardless of where it (selflessly) went to.

Iger had nothing to do with the “crowd pleasing” aspect of TFA, nor did he or any of Disney have any control over the creative process; it was all JJ and Lucasfilm.

Whether or not the prequels managed to create a fan base is irrelevant. Episodes 1-3 were not nearly as well-received or popular as any of its predecessors or successors. It wasn’t until “prequel memes” took off that those films became more relevant in a positive context, and even that was ironic at first.

 

Cheeky response to "I don't feel bad, he's counting 4 billion". No more. No less.

20 years ago I bashed everything stupid about the PT

& now I defend the creator's right to bash the ST.

However petty, his complaints might be.

The circle is now complete.

Irony is my destiny.

 

Yep, that's exactly what I mean. You understand me perfectly-- the story treatment might not have been useable.

 

I love George and I think he has every right (except those he sold) to feel disappointed, betrayed or cheated if he felt he was misled to the extent that Disney gave him the impression they would be using more of his ideas for the ST than they did in TFA.

I don’t recall Lucas actually ever saying he hated TFA per se (hey! It rhymes, it’s like... never mind)... it seems to me he laments it for what it isn’t and could have been rather than what it is on its own merits.

LEORGE’S ICE-CREAM SHOP

Say some guy (‘Leorge Gucas) sold his ice-cream shop (GucasIce), famous for a new flavour every year... and he sells it with a nice planned-out list of flavours for years to come, and the guy buying the shop (‘Iob Bger’) for the ‘Yisned Company’ says ‘Great! We’ll include the list as part of the sale and you can even come and help us to see we get the ice-cream just right... ?’

But then later...

IOB: ‘Oh, er, we decided to change the flavour already.’
LEORGE: You’re not doing bubblegum and sparkles flavour now?’
IOB: ‘No, we thought we’d go with vanilla. Vanilla’s good. It’ll be premium vanilla George, don’t worry! Highest grade Madagascar vanilla!’
LEORGE: ‘Yeah... but the bubblegum and sparkles... the world needs the bubblegum and sparkles... ‘
IOB: ‘Maybe next time George. Maybe next time.’
LEORGE: ‘Chuh. *sigh*. ... the bubblegum and sparkles though... they’ve all had vanilla before..’
IOB: ‘the thing is, your nettle and kumquat flavours weren’t quite as popular... we kind of need to bring back vanilla again first...’
LEORGE: ‘Well I don’t think you really need me around for vanilla. I’d just be telling how much better it would be to add some bubblegum, or even som—...’
‘IOB: ...some sparkles Leroge? Were you going to say sparkles?’

LEORGE [walks off in a huff muttering under his breath...] ‘this deal is getting wmmmf alhm t’rr tmmmm’...

 

I sort of understand both sides in the matter. I understand Disney getting worried that Lucas ST storylines wouldn’t go over well with the fans. But I understand Lucas being bitter cause this was his baby, and part of the deal is he’d stay involved.

 

Sometimes when you are to close to the material you cant see outside the material. Isnt this why a lot of us believe that flaws in the PT that could have been fixed werent. Conventional wisdom is that during the creation of the PT George had too many people that were simply yes me. Yes George, that is great, yes George do it that way. Yes George Jar Jar stepping in poop is funny. I for one love the story of the PT and love them as I watched them through my kids eyes as they grew up with them, but I realize they are flawed and the same is that the flaws could have been fixed rather easily had George had people that would apply a critical eye towards things.

It does not surprise me one bit that once the Ice Cream story was bought and the planned flavors of Tutty Fruity Dog Poop Pecan was viewed as not a wise choice.

 

That's also been Simon Pegg's argument.

Simon Pegg: (51:46) “Back in the day when [George Lucas] was making the first films, there was a Gary Kurtz and Alan Ladd Jr., there were these producers that were there to kind of reign in his incredible sort of miasmic imagination which could very easily overflow into confusion and I think there were people there keeping it nice and restrained and those first three films were the product of real collaboration. And then with the prequels it was like, ‘Do what you want.’ And without someone to steer him in the right direction it did overflow into slightly muddled kind of less elegance. But I do feel like [George Lucas’s] voice is missing from the current [Star Wars films]. Controversial.” (November 12, 2018)

Simon Pegg: “Yeah [fans like yourself have undying curiosity about the sequel trilogy treatment by George Lucas]. I…yeah. No [it’s not maybe horrible.] Everybody got – including myself we all got sort of very down on George because of the [Star Wars] prequels but I feel like…no, not you [Josh Horowitz]…and who’s laughing now? I think it’s like you look at Star Wars – look at the first three [episodes] and you have George Lucas working with a Gary Kurtz or whoever, people who are kind of there to manage his incredible imagination and his ideas and sort of practicalize everything, you know? And I think that combination was what made it all so special and so great. Then you have the prequels which in my opinion you know [where] maybe George’s wild untethered brilliance wasn’t reigned in enough and his thirst for new technology and maybe it didn’t work as well – for me it didn’t work as well. And I feel like I miss George a little bit, you know?” “Well I think [George Lucas] is a visionary. You realize it wasn’t just TIE fighters and AT-ATs and seeing things like that again do not a Star Wars film make. It’s kind of…there’s a spirit there and I hope the guys that are now in charge – I know J. J. obviously does – keeps that alive.” (April 4, 2018)

 

Only problem I have with Simon Pegg 2nd take is that what was poorly execute was the imagination part of the stories it was more basic movie making processes. It was never the use of CGI and having more varied and imaginative planets and designs. It was dialogue and working with actors to help with the performance. Coming out of Phantom Menace the biggest initial complaints were the voice work/accents for the Nemodians, Jar Jar, Watto. It was the fart and poop jokes involving Jar Jar. Coming out of AOTC it was the dialogue particularly around the love story. GL was just never good with dialogue and getting the best performances out of actors. Stronger producers and others would have talked to GL and gotten those things ironed out.

 

Rick McCallum was the worst choice.

Oh my G-d we bashed him.... relentlessly throughout the PT.

Dude never met a stupid Lucas idea that he didn't endorse 100 percent.

Best: "YES, man!" ever.

 

Do we know if Iger and his team READ Lucas' treatments before buying them?

Because I would love to be a fly on the wall when KK, JJ and Iger read the treatments based entirely around a microbial world.