Los Angeles: ‘Star Wars’ creator George Lucas feels a lot of movies being made in Hollywood today are “circus movies”. The director-producer, who sold his company and Star Wars franchise to Disney in 2012 for over USD 4 billion, said substance is lacking in movies today. “A lot of movies you see today are circus movies,” Lucas said during a panel discussion with Robert Redford at the Sundance Film Festival yesterday.
“Its now gotten to be more and more circus than substance. I get blamed for a lot of that,” Lucas said referring to critics who blame him for starting the blockbuster franchise trend. The director, however, added that there is “a lot more substance than circus” in Star Wars. Lucas said that he created a lot of modern technology for ‘Star Wars’ and unlike the special-effects driven productions of today, his franchise had a great storyline. “All art is technology. That’s the one thing that separates us from animals,” he said.
Redford, who also made a parallel career in independent, character-driven films besides his work in Hollywood, said he admired the fact that Lucas had total control over his films. “What I admire about what he’s done is he’s been able to control his own universe,” said Redford, who found Sundance as a platform to celebrate independent movies.
“We thought if we had a festival at least artists could come together and see each other’s work,” said Redford. Lucas said while growing up they were suspicious of establishment. “All of us in film school hated the establishment. It was
the ’60s…. I grew up in the era of don’t trust anyone over 30, I still believe that,” Lucas said, adding he kept his distance from studios. “Studio executives generally are not the most sophisticated people in the world… you do not want to be oppressed by people who are not as smart as you are and I’m dumb,” said Lucas.
