By most accounts, George Lucas seems like a really creative, smart, kind person. This is the guy who created “Star Wars” and kickstarted the imaginations of millions around the world, right? Well, according to Seth Rogen, Lucas might also be a bit of a survivalist prepper fearful for the coming apocalypse.
Speaking to Conan O’Brien on the Conan Needs A Friend podcast, Seth Rogen was asked a question about a story in his recent memoir, “Yearbook.” The story involves a meeting that happened in 2012 with Rogen and his producing partner Evan Goldberg talking to Steven Spielberg. The meeting was going fine until George Lucas walked in. (Lucas and Spielberg being long-time friends, obviously.)
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According to Rogen, when Lucas was asked the fairly tried-and-true question, “How’s it going?” the director replied, “Not great. We’re entering the end of 2012 and the world is ending.”
“A question that haunts me to this day, and I think I know the answer, is was he joking? And the answer is no, it did not appear he was joking” said Rogen.
For those unaware, back in 2012, there was a fear that the world was going to end because the Mayan calendar didn’t extend past the year. Those concerned expected natural disasters to engulf the Earth and for humans to face extinction on a mass scale.
After that initial puzzling response, Rogen and Goldberg began to joke to lighten the mood and ask how the world was going to end. To which, Lucas explained how a fault line was going to break open, and the “Star Wars” creator said it wasn’t a coincidence that Skywalker Ranch is on the right side of the fault line. (Basically, the plot of “2012.”)
“We [made] a joke like, if you’ve got a spaceship to escape Earth, can we get a seat on that thing?” said Rogen. “And he was like, ‘No.’ It makes me think he wasn’t joking because, if you were joking, you would just say ‘Yes’… But, no, he said, ‘No.’ To this day, I am confounded and plagued by that story.”
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Rogen is a funny guy that tells incredibly funny stories. But one thing is very clear from his work and every interview, the man is honest and sincere. So, if he says that he thinks George Lucas was convinced the world was going to end in 2012, you kinda have to believe Rogen. Sure, it’s a funny story, but there’s no reason to make such a ludicrous claim if there isn’t truth to back it up.
So, with that said, I don’t know about you guys, but if we do enter the end-times at some point soon, I’m going to make my way to Skywalker Ranch because I’m going to bet Lucas has some primo underground bunker with a massive movie screen and tons of fun things to do. How else would you want to spend the end of the world?