For years, George Lucas has flirted with the idea of returning to the sort of small, so-called personal movies that he toyed with at the outset of his career, before Star Wars diverted him off the path of the iconoclastic New Hollywood directors and straight onto the blockbuster highway.
Set aside for a moment the fact that every film Lucas has made in the last 13 years has been personal — the Star Wars prequels were done by him, his way, with his money, and the upcoming Red Tails is the product of more than twenty years of interest in the Tuskegee Airmen — and what starts to emerge is the idea that Lucas is tired of being second-guessed, criticized and scrutinized.
And so, after Red Tails is released, Lucas wants to walk away from the high-profile filmmaking world and make the sort of films that his friend Francis Ford Coppola has been making in the past decade. Read More »
.
Please Recommend /Film on Facebook
I feel like the late Nineties was such an innocent time to be a film fan. Geeking out over your most anticipated films wasn’t about microscopic dissection, it was about simple passion and possibility. And no other film sparked our interest like Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace. Sixteen years in the making, George Lucas‘ return to the Star Wars universe was going to be the event we’d tell our kids about. To this day I’ll never forget the first time I saw the trailer, the teaser poster, or heard Duel of the Fates. I’ll always remember the feeling of elation when I finally had that opening day ticket in my hand, the goosebumps as the Lucasfilm logo came on the screen and the screams that reigned down when the crawl finally began.
I’ll also never, ever forget the thought that involuntarily popped into my head five minutes into the movie when two Jedi were swimming underwater. I thought, “What the heck is going on here?”
Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace is being re-released in 3D on February 10 and five new posters have surface that are so incredibly cool, it made my consciousness revert back, just for a second, to how I felt on May 18, 1999. Read More »
According to executive producer George Lucas, Red Tails is “as close as you’ll ever get to [Star Wars] Episode VII.” So it seems appropriate that seven minutes of the film have made their way online for your viewing pleasure.
The action epic, over two-decades in the making, is directed by Anthony Hemingway and sports a super-impressive cast such as Cuba Gooding, Jr., Terrence Howard, Bryan Cranston, David Oyelowo, Tristan Wilds, Method Man, Andre Royo, Ne-Yo and Michael B. Jordan, just to name a few. It tells the inspirational story of the Tuskeegee Airman and is the first non-Star Wars or Indiana Jones film LucasFilm has released in almost two decades.
After the jump, watch seven minutes of Red Tails as well as an interview with George Lucas from The Daily Show with Jon Stewart where he talks about why the studios didn’t want to make the film, how it’s similar to Star Wars and the fact that he has both a prequel and sequel already in his head. Read More »
When we last left the saga of the slowly developing potential film, Indiana Jones 5, Steven Spielberg clarified that “It’s up to George.” He and George Lucas, of course, had agreed on the concept for the film but until Lucas had more story details worked out, the film can’t progress. The man with the plan was on the red carpet for his friend’s The Adventures of Tintin premiere (which, itself, is structured and feels like an Indiana Jones movie) and offered his two cents. No big surprises here, he’s basically just echoing Spielberg but you can read the quote and watch a video of Spielberg talking a bit about the film after the jump. Read More »
Friendship can often be fraught with difficult negotiations. When friends are involved in creative endeavors, some disagreement and compromise is guaranteed to be in order. Take George Lucas and Steven Spielberg, who have been friends and occasional collaborators for decades. Their friendship launched the Indiana Jones film series, the last installment of which isn’t quite a fan favorite.
Even Spielberg seems to recognize that Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull isn’t such a great film, as per comments he made at a recent screening of Raiders of the Lost Ark. He even seems down on the basic story of the picture, but explains that his friendship and partnership with Lucas is what pushed it forward. Film is all about compromise, even if you’re one of the biggest names in filmmaking. Read on… Read More »
There’s only so much that we can get out of seeing a 3D trailer in 2D, especially when the film in question is something as well-known as The Phantom Menace. But on the off chance you didn’t see the trailer for Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace 3D on screens this weekend in front of The Three Musketeers, you can now check it out below. Read More »
Oh, look, there’s a poster for the post-converted 3D re-release of Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace. This poster is missing three key elements. Two are among the worst aspects of the film, Jar-Jar Binks and Jake Lloyd as young Anakin Skywalker. Also absent is the best thing about the movie: Liam Neeson.
See the full image below. Read More »
When George Lucas put the words “Episode IV: A New Hope” in front of the original Star Wars for the film’s 1981 theatrical re-release, no one could have imagined where it would lead: Greedo shooting first (above), midichlorians, Jar Jar, “Nooooo” and Jedi Rocks. But did you know that the addition of the subtitle, around the release of The Empire Strikes Back, wasn’t the first change made to Star Wars? That’s according to a well-researched infographic put together by The Geek Twins that tracks all the changes George Lucas has made to his film from 1977 through today, the official release of the entire trilogy on High Definition Blu-ray. Check it out after the jump. Read More »
