“It Bothers Me to Watch It.” Despite the Success of the Star Wars Movie, George Lucas Was Disappointed with It

As a dedicated Star Wars fan, I can’t help but empathize with George Lucas‘ relentless pursuit of perfection. His story is a testament to the power of vision and the challenges that come with bringing it to life. Despite the initial success of Star Wars, he was haunted by the feeling that his masterpiece was only half-realized.


Initially, George Lucas’ creation of “Star Wars” stirred up a variety of opinions. Some people were doubtful about the vision of this filmmaker, who harbored grand ambitions for his project. As a result, even after the success of the first movie, he found it hard to fully appreciate his accomplishment.

George Lucas realized there was potential for more from Star Wars if he had additional resources in terms of time and funds. Since A New Hope, the first movie in the series, initially known as just Star Wars, didn’t have a substantial budget, Lucas found it challenging to fully bring his concept to life. He discussed this during an interview with the BBC.

Well Episode IV was not really finished because I didn’t have the money, the time or the technology to finish it. At the time I was kind of upset about it. People were going, “It’s marvellous! How do you feel?” And I was saying, “I feel it’s only 50 or 60% of what I wanted. I’m really disappointed, I’m really sad, it bothers me to watch it.”

His opinions on the forthcoming Star Wars sequels weren’t fantastic either. While there was less dissatisfaction since he accomplished more compared to the first one, it still fell short of his expectations. It wasn’t until later that he was able to make necessary changes, eventually shaping the films according to his original vision.

To a certain extent, this statement held true for the next three films as well, mainly because I was self-financing them and they were more intricate. I completed these movies in Special Editions, ensuring they were finalized according to my vision. I can be quite persistent, dogmatic, and tenacious about making my movies just right. Fortunately, I’ve had less interference for the last three films, allowing me to produce them as intended. I’ve spent whatever was necessary to ensure their success, and now the entire project is complete, mostly how I envisioned it.

It wasn’t until the prequel trilogy, made many years after his original creation, that George Lucas fully brought his vision for Star Wars to life – a vision he is now content with, given the series’ established popularity and his financial freedom.

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2024-11-22 21:32