Skywalking: The Life And Films Of George Lucas, Updated Edition by Dale Pollock

Author:Dale Pollock
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2009-05-08T05:32:00+00:00

HOW ISPENT

MY RETIREMENT

Good, now George will be back with another picture. He won't retire into moguldom, he likes to win too much.'

-Francis Coppola, the morning after Star Wars failed to win the Academy Award for Best Picture

George Lucas was thirty-three years old at the end of 1977. His beard was showing its first signs of gray. His jeans were well worn, his shoes were scuffed, and he still drove a 1967 Camaro. But now Lucas was one of the richest young men in the country with all the perquisites of stardom: money, fame, power, influence. What was he going to do for an encore?

Quit, he thought. George hated working with actors and film crews. He was ready to return to movies that required almost no one's participation but his own. But first he felt he had to complete the trilogy he had begun, although he would not direct the remaining two films. "As a director, I wanted to do everything," explains Lucas. "It's very hard for me to delegate things to other people. Well, the best way to do that is to take one more step back and be forced to delegate everything. And see if I could stand it."

There were other things to keep working on. Lazing in the Hawaiian sun, Lucas dreamed of a new USC patio, a ranch in Marin County to accommodate the growing number of friends working at Parkhouse. Along with offices there would be editing and postproduction facilities, a research library, and most important, the companionship and support of other filmmakers. With the proceeds from two more Star Wars movies, Lucas could have financial security and Skywalker Ranch.

The idea of retiring at the height of his fame, confounding Hollywood tradition, also appealed to a perverse streak in Lucas's personality. He once told Mark Hamill that the movie industry is fascinated by the rejection of success: "If you retire and don't do anything, you'll be sticking to your guns. And if you do something, you can say, `Well, this project was so extraordinary that it brought me out of retirement."'

Lucas had first to accept that he was a success before he could stop being one. His low opinion of Star Wars didn't make the adjustment easier. Jane Bay says, "If you have created something that you only hope will not be an embarrassment, and instead it is received with such overwhelming attention, that's something you have to come to grips with. I personally think George had difficulty accepting that."

Lucas had always thought Graffiti would be his biggest hit; he now thinks that of Star Wars. But his first success did not really prepare him for what followed Star Wars: "It was a terribly wrenching emotional experience, filled with anxiety and confusion," Lucas says. He wasn't accustomed to reading about himself in tabloids at supermarket counters: The Star reported in July 1977 that Lucas had purchased a $500,000 Lear jet with an interior design like that of the Millennium Falcon.I "If I hadn't had Graffiti first," Lucas says convincingly, "I would have gone nuts.

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