George Lucas Defends 'Star Wars' Prequel Trilogy's Cringeworthy Dialogue

There has been an onslaught of recent ‘Star Wars’ news and announcements within the recent weeks – most coming from the Walt Disney Company’s December 10th Investor Day meeting. However, one interesting story involves insights from George Lucas himself as he defends the oft-criticized dialogue in the prequel trilogy, in particular “Attack of the Clones.”

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As quoted in film historian and archivist Paul Duncan’s newest “The Star Wars Archives 1999–2005” (via Digital Spy), George Lucas attempts to set the record straight on the tone and delivery of the prequel trilogy’s dialogue. Specifically citing the many scenes between Hayden Christensen’s Anakin and Natalie Portman’s Padmé in “Attack of the Clones,” Lucas claims that criticism has been misplaced and his stylistic approach to the film has been largely misunderstood.

“It is presented very honestly, it isn’t tongue-in-cheek at all, and it’s played to the hilt…,” he said. “But it is consistent, not only with the rest of the movie, but with the overall ‘Star Wars’ style… Most people don’t understand the style of ‘Star Wars.’ They don’t get that there’s an underlying motif that is very much like a 1930s Western or Saturday matinee serial… It’s in the more romantic period of making movies and adventure films. And this film is even more of a melodrama than the others.”

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Over time, ‘Star Wars’ fans have developed increasingly forgiving sentiments towards the prequels. In fact, one could argue that “prequel hate” has fallen out of vogue; the sequel trilogy seems to get the brunt of the online criticism from the fandom nowadays.

For added evidence, look no further than Disney’s confident rehiring of Hayden Christensen, who will reprise Anakin Skywalker in the upcoming Disney+ series “Obi-Wan Kenobi.” Whether the dialogue of the prequels was misread or not, the love-hate-love cycle of fandom seems to have come full circle once again.

For those unfamiliar with some of the questionable dialogue, here you go: