George Lucas Finally Answers the Ultimate Question

[Stephen of Borg 2]

Director George Lucas bids Vader goodbye — for good

 

 

 

Welcome to the house that Darth built.

 

Actually, what is called the Main House at Skywalker Ranch, a few minutes outside San Rafael, is an exquisitely crafted and elegantly appointed Victorian model home.

 

Just no one officially lives there.

 

The master of the manor, George Lucas, actually lives in San Francisco.

 

The house is used primarily to welcome visitors and clients, and to give people who work for LucasFilm and its special effects company Industrial Light & Magic a respite from their offices and work stations. Many of them work a short walk away at what is called the Tech House, which is where they and Lucas spent much of last year bidding Darth good-bye.

 

The demise of Darth Vader, one of the most well-known fictional villains in the world, occurred in 1983 in "Star Wars: Return of the Jedi."

 

But Lucas swears we will see the last of Vader — also known as Anakin Skywalker — in the last of three prequels, "Episode III — Revenge of the Sith," opening May 19.

 

"Yes, this is really, really the end," says Lucas, who has opened the Main House, the Tech House and other buildings on the 5,000-acre spread of Skywalker to the curious, the fascinated and the obsessed one final time before he starts what he calls "the rest of my life."

 

He’s showing them his final "Star Wars" movie in his state-of-the-art screening room so they can write an end to this chapter of the story.

 

LucasFilm will continue production on "Clone Wars," an animated series spin-off of the franchise, and within a couple of years, hopes to launch a new live-action series that would take place in the years between episodes III and IV, but not feature any of the now-iconic characters from the film.

 

As for Lucas, he will be listed as a producer of these efforts, but his day-to-day involvement in anything "Star Wars" is at an end, he says.

 

But can he walk away from the most influential myth — and movie series — of the past half-century, not to mention an industry with an annual profit larger than some movie studios?

 

"I did it for 16 years," says Lucas, firmly. "I’m ready to do it for good."

 

Some critics argue that Lucas should have never returned to "Star Wars"11 years ago, when he began writing what would be released in 1999 as "Episode I — The Phantom Menace."

 

It told the story of Anakin, a 9-year-old from the planet Tatooine, whose family is visited by a Jedi Knight and informed that he is the chosen one, a savior imbued with a magical power known as the Force who can maintain the balance of the universe if only he gets into the right school.

 

"Everybody believed ‘Star Wars’ was the story of Luke Skywalker," says Lucas, sipping soda in a small room attached to the recording studio where the sweeping orchestral scores for his movies are recorded. "It wasn’t. It was the story of Anakin, his father, who started as a hero and was then lured into the Dark Side by a powerful surrogate father, who convinced him that to save the wife he loved, and save the universe from the betrayal of the Jedi, he had to give in to his worst impulses — the lust for power, greed, selfishness — feelings all humans harbor.

 

"You can buy this or not, but I actually felt compelled to get the story I always wanted to tell on the record. It was Darth Vader who made the sacrifice by killing the evil Emperor who had seduced him."

 

"The Phantom Menace," undoubtedly the most anticipated movie ever made, was released in 1998 to mixed reviews.

 

Most said that the special effects, thanks in part to animation director Rob Coleman, were the most remarkable ever seen onscreen, but that the story was weak and the dialogue was worse. The digitally created alien Jar Jar Binks, the film’s comic relief, was declared one of the most annoying characters ever made for a major film.

 

Producer Rick McCallum says he was sad, but not altogether shocked.

 

"Writing has never been the easiest thing for George," says McCallum. "But he seemed to be the only one who could fathom his own vision; that, like the original three movies, these three were actually one big movie, too, so you had to start with Anakin as a kid. ‘Phantom Menace’ is a kids’ movie, and the kid who was 8 when he saw it is 15 or 16 now, and he’s ready for the darker, more ominous tone of the final act, ‘Episode III.’ He knows now the world is not just pod racing and adventure, that it’s full of evil and betrayal."

 

If the criticism Lucas received for casting Jake Lloyd as 9-year-old Anakin was harsh, it only intensified when he chose little-known TV actor Hayden Christensen to play the teenage Anakin.

 

Then there was the script that was pretty much gutted by critics.

 

"Listen, I was thrilled to get the role," he says. "It was one of the greatest parts ever, and I just wanted to do the best I could do. ... I just said to myself, I am George’s voice. This is his vision, and I’m here to fulfill it, and that’s how we worked."

 

Christensen believes that "Revenge of the Sith" will ultimately make the previous two episodes more palatable.

 

"I felt that everybody felt more comfortable with this, and I know I’m looking forward to going back and looking at episodes IV, V and VI now because this changes everything. You’ll see them in a different way."

 

And that, claims Lucas, was always the point.

 

"I could have never conceived this, because I always thought ‘ Star Wars’ was like the first act of the movie in my head, and I never really thought I would get the opportunity to make the ending.

 

"You have to remember, nobody wanted to make that movie. They (the studios) didn’t get it. Then I get to go back and explain the beginning. It’s still the classic hero’s journey, but because it’s just been made backwards so to speak, in reverse chronology, we’re just now seeing where the hero gets corrupted, before he gets redeemed."