While creating the prequels starting with The Phantom Menace (1999), Lucas attempted to get others to direct them like Ron Howard, which he wrote Willow (1988) for, and his Indiana Jones franchise director Steven Spielberg. While ANH was written and directed by him, its sequels in Empire Strikes Back (1980) and Return of the Jedi (1983) were directed by Irvin Kershner and Richard Marquand, respectively. Lucas admitted he gets too personally involved with the film regardless of who's directing. 'So the question was am I going to keep doing this the rest of my life? Do I want to go through this again? Finally, I decided I'd rather raise my daughter and enjoy life for a while.' Lucasfilm 'It takes 10 years to make a trilogy,' he explained, noting that he would 'still be working on Episode IX' if he had gone ahead with the decision to get underway on those movies. The next one, I'll be able to enjoy it like anybody else.' The filmmaker came to a crossroads in his life to create the sequel trilogy or raise family and he ultimately decided on the latter. 'The time is more important to me than the money…The only thing I really regret about Star Wars is the fact I never got to see it - I never got to be blown out of my seat when the ship came over the screen. If I was in Disney's position, I would have thought long and hard before casting aside any ideas that poured directly out of Lucas' grey matter.'It's better for me to get out at the beginning of a new thing and I can just remove myself,' Lucas said in early 2015. It's his world we're daydreaming in when we spend long, dull meetings imagining epic lightsaber battles, or spicing up a boring commute with some Duel of the Fates. This even led to viral hits such as a mocking rework of the first that imagines what the new film could look like with Lucas in the driving seat.Īre 'Star Wars' fans altogether too eager to give Lucas a hard time though? I'd argue that while there's little to redeem the prequel movies, Lucas is the father of the 'Star Wars' universe beloved by so, so many. Widespread criticism of the CGI-heavy prequel trilogy that arrived between 19 has seen Lucas' cachet within the geek community drop. There will doubtless be many sci-fi fans claiming relief at the news that Lucas' ideas won't be making it into 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens', which is scheduled for release in December. 'The Force Awakens' in Lego: New 'Star Wars' trailer in bricks.Watch the 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens' trailer here.

George lucas disney