I think as you grow up, you realize you have obligations just in your life – being a citizen, being part of humanity – to help other people, to help your country, to help the world.
George Lucas in 1999
quotes
I was a terrible student in high school and the thing that the auto accident did – and it happened just as I graduated, so I was at this sort of crossroads – but it made me apply myself more, because I realized more than anything else what a thin thread we hang on in life, and I really wanted to make something out of my life. And I was in an accident that, in theory, no one could survive. So it was like,
‘Well I’m here, and every day now is an extra day. I’ve been given an extra day so I’ve got to make the most of it.’
George Lucas on the teenage car accident that nearly killed him
Well, um, I always thought I wasn’t going to do any more. That’s true…I’m not going to do anymore. But that doesn’t mean I’m unwilling to turn it over to Kathy to do more. I have story treatments of 7, 8, and 9, and a bunch of other movies and obviously we have hundreds of books and comics and everything you could possibly imagine. So, you know, I sort of moved that treasure trove of stories and various things to Kathy, and I have complete confidence that she’s gonna take them and make great movies.
George Lucas in 2012
The history books will tell what happened but the art will tell them how we felt about it.
Jermaine Rogers (via lonequixote)
Showing how much Anakin and Padmé care for each other is one of my weak points,” Lucas admits. “Expressing that is hard to do. It’s really hard in the end to express the idea, I’m so in love with you that I would do anything to save you; I’d give up everything – friends, my whole life – for you, and make that real – make that stick – and say it in two minutes, which is all the time this film has for it. If I had a whole movie, I could probably manage it. But I can’t go deep into the psyche of these people beyond a certain stylistic reality I’ve created for myself. It wouldn’t work.
From The Making of Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith
Liam seemed born to play the role of Qui Gon Jinn. He’s very quiet, he’s very big, he’s very powerful, but he’s very contemplative. And Ewan is very witty and enthusiastic and young and impatient. Those things come through. Natalie is very intelligent, has a lot of presence and is a very strong person. At the same time, she’s very young. I needed somebody to play a 14-year old girl who basically could be elected to rule a planet and make that believable. Jake was this wild little Tom Sawyer kid, which was exactly what I was searching for in the young Anakin Skywalker.
George Lucas on casting for The Phantom Menace
It really has to do with learning. Children teach you compassion. They teach you to love unconditionally. Anakin can’t be redeemed for all the pain and suffering he’s caused. He doesn’t right the wrongs, but he stops the horror. The end of the saga is simply Anakin saying, I care about this person [Luke], regardless of what it means to me. I will throw away everything that I have, everything that I’ve grown to love – primarily the Emperor – and throw away my life, to save this person. And I’m doing it because he has faith in me; he loves me despite all the horrible things I’ve done. I broke his mother’s heart, but he still cares about me, and I can’t let that die. Anakin is very different in the end. The thing of it is: the prophecy was right. Anakin was the chosen one, and he does bring balance to the Force. He takes the ounce of good still left in him and destroys the Emperor out of compassion for his son.
George Lucas – The Making of Revenge of the Sith; page 221. (via greenkaorichan)