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George Lucas: Descent Into Madness
long time ago on a studio lot far far away,
there was a man with a vision. A vision to
create a movie that would capture the cycle of the hero’s journey and bring it to the masses in the form of a science fiction fantasy epic. Unfortunately, that simple dream would lead into a personal journey of madness for its creator, a journey that would both birth a generation of fans in one hand, and crush their youth in the other. But, like any journey we must start from the beginning, back when Lucas was but a young director looking for his big break in the movie business.
There is no doubting that the original Star Wars was a monster hit when it debuted in theaters, not a great movie, but a good solid movie. While the film was well before my time, my mother often recounts the stories of seeing lines wrapped around the block at the local cinema showing this “wild” new movie that was playing. You have to understand that at a time before the internet, or even regular phone conversations were a big deal, Star Wars had managed to capture audiences attention in a way few other films had up to that point. It brought elements of what Science Fiction books had been using for years and put them onscreen for all to enjoy. While the impact of Star Wars is without question and not really up for debate, what is was if was what ended up on the screen what Lucas had envisioned throughout the course of shooting.
Many people know the great Alec Guinness hated the script and his characters of Obi-Wan and it’s safe to assume that most reader also know the stand-off nature that Harrison Ford has had with regards to Han Solo, going so far as to call him an idiot. But, and this is a pretty big but, what many people aren’t aware is that Lucas may actually shot an utter mess of a movie. There are rumors that have persisted for a great many years that after completing work on Star Wars, what was shown was just plain bad. So bad in fact that Lucas’ girlfriend at the time is said to have made major cuts and edits just to make the film watchable before getting what we know and love today. That notwithstanding, Star Wars was a major hit and helped cement George Lucas as one of the Hollywood élite and a major director, even if he would end up doing very little directing outside of the first film.
Star Wars would of course get a sequel in the form of Empire Strikes Back, the almost unanimously agreed upon best Star Wars film ever, a few years later.