Luke Skywalker,our hero ,forever.

Luke can only stay our hero if we ignore this KK/JJ/Rian fanfiction trilogy completely.

 

People might not understand it, but directors don't make movies for an audience. They make movies for themselves. This is the difference between a good and a bad director. Everyone can please fans by giving what they want, but not everyone can tell a good story. I'm not saying Rian was successful with that (he actually wasn't), but it was the right decision not to listen to the fans. You can't even listen to the fans because everyone wants a different movie.

I like TLJ Luke more than the OT Luke (and that Luke was already one of my most favorite Star Wars characters).

 

He actually was.

Coming back to the actual topic - fandoms are not homogenous. General movie audiences are even less. I'm not even even talking about demographics like gender, age, race, nationality, etc. People's tastes differ just because each one of us is different. How do you make a film that appeals to everyone? Usually, if you try doing so, you end up satisfying no one, because your film is bland, generic and uninspired, like Geostorm or The Mummy. The goal of a filmmaker is to make what they consider to be the best film possible. If they do so, their film will always find an audience, sooner or later. And if they try to appeal to the masses in every way possible, they'll fail because masses aren't uniform.

 

You're not convinced by Rian Johnson? Fine. Here's another director who said exactly the same thing. All of his films (but one) are critically praised, have huge fanbases and made quite a lot of box office money. Not only that, he's also directed a sequel to an established franchise and now he's finishing touches on another sequel. Ladies and gentlemen, let's make some noise more BRAD BIIIIIIIRD (crowd screaming in the background)!!!!

The frangment of interview in question starts at about 35:50:
https://www.pixarpost.com/2018/04/incredibles-2-interview-with-brad-bird.html

 

Rian Johnson made the movie he wanted to make, not Disney and not the fans. That's my point. A good director has his/her visions and goals. Yes, movie making is a business, but if you are a director or storyteller with passion, then you won't care about that. You just want to tell the story which you want to tell, regardless what others think. If the movie is good everyone with love you for your passion. If it's bad, then not... This is what happened to Rian Johnson.

 

Or the film needs to time to be reevaluated and be praised, like with Vertigo, Psycho, It's a Wonderful Life, Big Lebowski, O Brother, Where Art Thou? etc.

 

I mean, Lucas did undeniably have a huge influence on cinema, but as a director Johnson is better. All directors that worked on Star Wars are better than George Lucas.

 

"LUKE SKYWALKER,OUR HERO ,FOREVER."

Yeah, exactly. That's what the film was about, in fact.

 

In my oopinion the most important task of a director is to... direct actors and George's direction at its best was unobtrusive (A New Hope) and in the worst cases made good actors give bad performances (Natalie Portman in the Prequels.) He even said that his favourite part of making a film is editing. Don't get me wrong, George Lucas is the reason why we're here, but as a director he's... meh.

 

they didnt ruin Luke Skywalker and he was a Hero at the end Renewed The Jedi and gave the Resistance a chance to fight another day

 

I believe there is an argument to be made for the idea that the writer and the director should really be two different people. When George was the writer and Irvin Kershner was the director of ESB, it was a recipe for great success. The ultimate purist in me kind of wishes that George Lucas had been retained by Lucasfilm as the official writer of the Sequel Trilogy with JJ and Rian only directing their respective movies. I really would have loved to see George Lucas's version of old Luke on the big screen.

 

Luke our hero forever. Agree.

And TLJ made him a legend, the greatest jedi of all time.

 

YES! TLJ made Luke a much better and much more developed character than in the OT.

 

1) Watch American Graffiti
2) Repent in dust and ashes

 

I will, eventually. Maybe even today.

 

In my observation, no movie ever became a massive success by trying to please its property’s fans. It’s the general audience that makes or breaks you - the non-fans, the people with no personal investment. That’s whose opinion truly matters.

All they want is a well told story that engages and entertains them. That’s the director’s job: tell us a good story. Whether TLJ accomplished that is debatable, but ‘fan acceptance’ should have never been a determining factor. Fandom thinks too highly of itself and its overall significance in my estimation.

I think you’re greatly diminishing the roles of Huyck, Katz, and Kasdan here. Lucas, by his own admission, is not a particularly good writer. He actively hates the writing process. He’s an innovator. He’s the ‘idea man’. If LFL had wanted to retain him as a ‘creative consultant’, sure. But would George have been OK with that limited level of influence over something he used to have supreme control of? I doubt it.