"Star Wars: The Force Awakens" opens in just a couple of weeks, and while you might think George Lucas, $4 billion richer following his sale of Lucasfilm to Disney, might be at the very least curious about what J.J. Abrams has coming, he’s mostly been a downer. A couple of weeks ago he detailed his "break up" with the franchise, he’s also bemoaned that "you can’t experiment" with "Star Wars," while also once again insisting that Greedo shoots first. Basically, Lucas hasn’t been a lot of fun, and once again, he’s talking about his exit from "Star Wars," but has chosen some stronger language to describe the parting.
“I call it like a divorce,” he told The Washington Post, and while he’s yet to see "Star Wars: The Force Awakens," he does admit that had he decided to be involved (remember, Abrams and co. are not using the stories Lucas had written for his own proposed sequels), it likely wouldn’t have gone well.
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“There is no such thing as working over someone’s shoulder,” he explained. “You’re either the dictator or you’re not. And to do that would never work, so I said ‘I’m going to get divorced.’ . . . I knew that I couldn’t be involved. All I’d do is make them miserable. I’d make myself miserable. It would probably ruin a vision — J.J. has a vision, and it’s his vision.”
And fair play to Lucas, it would probably be very difficult for him to be involved in something where he didn’t agree with the basic creative thrust, so he was wise to step aside. As for when he’ll see ‘The Force Awakens," he expects it to be soon, and it’ll be interesting to hear what he has to say about the next step in the saga.
"Star Wars: The Force Awakens" opens on December 18th. Lucas will receive the Kennedy Center Honor this weekend.