GEORGE LUCAS AT CANNES: ONE OF THE FATHER’S MOVIES OF STAR WARS ALMOST MISSED THEATER!

In film history, George Lucas is the creator of Star Wars, yes. But not only. And at the masterclass he gave, on the eve of receiving the Palme d’honneur at the 77th Cannes Film Festival, he notably returned to other moments of his career.

Not related to a galaxy far, far away. Even if everything leads one way or another. And that the success of Star Wars influenced his career. Unless one of his films was released in theaters, as almost happened.

• “Oh my god !” : The day George Lucas discovered Star Wars music

When he revolutionized Hollywood

To be completely honest, we were less interested in making money than making films. It was a big difference because we all love movies. When we were in film school, we saw that you couldn’t make it into the film industry. That it just wasn’t possible unless you were already a parent of someone there or knew the person who would let you in.

But you couldn’t enter the studios, they were completely locked. So none of us really thought we were ever going to make movies. The first time our camera instructor came, he asked how many of us wanted to make movies: they all raised their hands and he said. “None of you are going to make movies. You’re not going to get ahead. So if you want to make movies, you’re in a hopeless department where you spend two years and forget about it.”

We were less interested in making money than making films

The thing was, we all loved movies and all we really wanted to do was make them, even if it was just short films made at school. And it was a magical time in Hollywood in the mid-’60s because the founders and the studio founders were all retiring: they were all in their seventies or eighties and leaving. Then the studios were bought by companies like Coca Cola or Gulf Western who didn’t know how to make movies.

So they hired people who knew how to do it, and they ended up hiring a lot of young people. The doors to places that we didn’t have access to started opening because they hired people from film schools thinking they knew what to do. if they knew (laughs)

When he first arrived in Cannes

Legend has it that it was during his first appearance at the Cannes Film Festival, where THX1138 Presented at Filmmakers Monday, George Lucas signed a contract to produce American Graffiti, which would later pave the way for Star Wars. George Lucas did not confirm this, but he told a funny story.

I looked at all the studios in town, but they all thanked me and said they would call me. Even United Artists, which at the time seemed like the best choice in terms of freedom. and Warner Bros. Reluctant to send us to Cannes where THX 1138 was presented at the Quinzaine des Cinéastes. They barely had enough money to release the film, let alone pay for this trip.

“If you have the Palme d’Or, but it’s Filmmakers’ Monday, it’s only for first films, we don’t care.” Walter And so I decided to put the money we had left over – which wasn’t much – to go to Cannes and see the film there. It was pouring rain when we arrived but we were greeted by a cinema which was a small annex room.

But we sneaked inside. We didn’t have tickets, we didn’t have anything, and we just walked in. And a few years later, when I came back with Star Wars, I was asked why I didn’t come to the THX press conference: I said I didn’t know there was such a thing. We didn’t know.

When his second film was almost not released

The premiere of American Graffiti was incredible. It was unlike anything I had ever seen, heard or done before. The audience went crazy: they stood, shouted, shouted, it was like a rock concert. But the head of the studio told us that we should be ashamed of the film that was not good enough to show. until it was finished.

Francis And I had a big argument with them in the back of the room. He asked how dare they say that when I nearly killed myself in twenty-eight days of shooting this film. They wanted to remake it and retitle it, but we fought back. They managed to cut out five minutes – the only scene in which Ron Howard’s character is dissing one of his teachers – but they still didn’t want to let him go. Just broadcast it on TV.

They did another review, the people heard on the front and the people in the middle of the TV, and the same thing happened: the people went crazy again. But they still weren’t convinced, so we started again and that was it.

American Graffiti grossed $25 million in one weekend. Which was huge at the time, equivalent to 200 million today

So the marketing teams went to see the producers who didn’t like our movie, to tell them that it was really good and that it should be released in theaters. which they did But August, the worst month to release a movie – still means sending it to the graveyard. However, we should consider ourselves lucky that it was released in fifty theaters.

But in one weekend it earned 25 million dollars. which was huge at the time equivalent to 200 million today. So they kept it for a month and he was still making $25 million a week. It then received more theaters and ran for about a year, grossing over $100 million in total.

I didn’t expect him to do anything and neither did the studio. And at the studio’s final screening, Fox production executive Alan Ladd Jr. saw it and did something that had probably never happened to a director—except maybe Stanley Kubrick: He said he liked the movie he wanted to work with and he’d do what I wanted, another If I had a project.

I told him about this science fiction movie inspired by 1930s fantasy movies, I told him about dogs that steer ships. He told me that he would do it, he would do what I wanted because I was a good director for him. So he hired me and the rest is history.

When he managed to maintain his independence

I’m a stubborn person and I didn’t want anyone to tell me how to make my films. I have a group of friends, with people like Walter, I went to school with Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola, Steven Spielberg… we all know each other well, so I know what their prejudices are, I show them the film and they comment. But I can tell them it’s a good idea, but I don’t want to do it.

The studios are still at a point where they seem to let the audience make the movie. That’s not how you make a movie

I don’t like focus groups. I don’t like previews. The preview might be useful for me and the people working on the project to see if it works because we’ve never shown it to an audience. But once that’s done, we ask people what kind of movie they want to see, and they can sometimes say: “I want to see something like Star Wars!” But that’s not really the answer.

What we have to do is make a movie. As I want to do and as I like. But public attention. Studios are still at a point where they seem to let the audience make the movie. And, of course, they are crazy. For them, it’s about pleasing the fans. Now, as I said before, that’s not how you make a movie.

Comments collected by Maximilien Pierret in Cannes on May 24, 2024