Q & As about 'Star Wars': Does George Lucas regret making Star Wars I, II and III? Star Wars I especially has been badly received but do you think he has any regrets about its production?

Does George Lucas regret making Star Wars I, II and III? Star Wars I especially has been badly received but do you think he has any regrets about its production?

I don’t know Mr. Lucas in person, but given what I know about him, his films, and the Star Wars franchise, here’s my educated opinion.

No, I don’t think he regrets making the Star Wars Prequel Trilogy; he created that universe, its history, its population, and the rules that govern how that galaxy far, far away works.

Financially, the Prequels did not tank at the box office; The Phantom Menace had a worldwide gross of $983,588,295. The other two prequels didn’t do as well due to backlash from those fans who hated Episode I, but still, Attack of the Clones earned $640,912,840, while Revenge of the Sith earned $848,754,768. Sure, if the Prequels had been given a warmer reception by both critics and fans, they would have earned more. (And, of course, the money we’re talking about came from the theatrical runs and does not include income from the home media market, plus earnings from books, comics, and collectibles.)

Production-wise, I think George has no regrets about the techniques he used. The tech he used to create the Prequels was still not mature, and contrary to popular belief, he and Industrial Light & Magic used a mix of practical effects, miniature photography, and CGI, rather than all-CGI or mostly CGI. He was also a pioneer in digital cinematography and the use of digital tools in editing both sounds and video images. Lucas has always been one to focus a lot on visuals and sound, and even though the late 1990s and early 2000s CGI doesn’t hold up as well visually compared to CGI 20 years later, I think he’s proud that he helped movie tech move forward.

As a writer, I do believe that Lucas was disappointed that his films didn’t please many fans, but given how highly anticipated the Prequels were at the time (especially Episode I, which hit theaters 16 years after Return of the Jedi), it is likely that even if the scripts had been more polished, the story a bit more compelling, and the casting been pitch-perfect, there still would have been bitching from some fans. And since no sane artist ever starts any project, be it a music album, a novel, a new comic book, a play, or a movie with the intention of giving people a bad experience, I’m sure that Lucas regrets that the fans felt cheated of the viewing experience they were hoping for.

Former actor Jake Lloyd played Anakin Skywalker in The Phantom Menace.  Photo © 1999  Lucasfilm Ltd. 

Achmed Best did all of the on-camera reference photography for the CGI character Jar Jar Binks in the Prequel Trilogy. Photo © 1999 Lucasfilm Ltd.

From what I know about George Lucas as a human being, the biggest regret he has about the Prequels is the shabby treatment received by Jake Lloyd and Achmed Best (Anakin Skywalker in Episode I and Jar Jar Binks, respectively) from fans whose reaction to the films and the two actors’ characters (or their acting) was nothing short of shameful. Lloyd and Best found themselves at the center of a hate-filled storm that was so bad that one quit the business of acting and became so bitter about Star Wars that he got rid of all his collectibles, while the other attempted suicide. Now, the kid known for playing Anakin Skywalker is a medically-diagnosed schizophrenic who blames Lucas for all his woes. Best has fared better; last I heard, he had worked with Lucasfilm Animation on Lucas’s Star Wars: The Clone Wars, a TV series created in part to fill in some of the gaps in the live-action Prequels.

Regret over how actors he hired were treated by toxic fans, I think, are the biggest ones Lucas may have about the Prequels.