Time Magazine recently had a rather interesting sit-down with mega-successful moviemaker George Lucas, and topics included the next Indiana Jones epic, "day & date" release patterns, 2D vs. 3D, and, of course, the upcoming "Star Wars" TV series.
Regarding "Indy 4"
R.C. If you’re retired, I guess you’ll be less involved with an "Indiana Jones 4" than you were in the first three?
G.L. Well, I’ve been working on Indy 4 for ten years. So I’ve been more involved, so no matter how you count it on this one I’ll be more involved than I’ll have ever been on the other three put together. It’s taken forever to get a script of it. That’s my part of it.
R.C. Isn’t Harrison Ford now older than Sean Connery was when he played his father in "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade?"
G.L. Uhh, yeah. But the thing is designed for that. And I think it’s funny, it’s exciting. You know the problem there, which is not a problem, is that we don’t have to make that movie. All we can do is hurt ourselves, all it’s going to do is get criticized. I mean it’s basically "Phantom Menace" we’re making. No matter how you do it, no matter what you do, it won’t be what the other ones were in terms of the impact or the way people remember them.
R.C. But there’s also no need to complete the holes in the epic.
G.L. We don’t have anything like that. We just had a great time making those movies. And if we can have a great time doing this one and we can enjoy ourselves, and make something that’s entertaining to us, no matter what the world thinks, let’s just do it.
Regarding the "Star Wars" series:
R.C.Do you think audiences are so technically sophisticated now that they know the difference between formats? Virtually every CGI animated feature has been a much bigger hit than any non-CGI over the last ten years. Is that just a coincidence or a better story?
G.L.What happened with Pixar is they made brilliantly creative movies, but they looked different. They had a different quality about them than on television, than Rugrats. When you see a 3D movie, you assume it’s a higher-quality movie and it’s something you don’t see on television. Now the television show I’m working on, the "Star Wars" television show, is 3D.
R.C.When you said you were going to do Star Wars in 3D, do you mean in the old-fashioned 3D?
G.L.Yeah, with glasses and everything.
For more banter between Richard Corliss and George Lucas, head on over to the interview at Time Magazine’s website.
