Carrie Fisher interviews George Lucas - January 2002 

i just now got the joke hahaa

That was good.

Lol

So funny that you mention that. I never felt attracted to Leia or Carrie Fisher because Princess Leia was always in my childhood since before I can remember, so she has always been an aunt figure to me in a galaxy far, far away. I know Leia is super sexy but I can't feel attraction because she's always been my Star Wars auntie that my brain just can't do it. I was born in 1994 so Padme and Natalie Portman are in the same category... But goddammit I'd be lying if I said Rey and Daisy Ridley don't make me feel the rise of a certain Force in my jimmies LMAO

I understand what you mean, but at the same time, if I had been there, I would have wanted to go off somewhere and make out. And I'm 32.

​@@AlmostaFlipinSkaterbro i was born in 94 too and i would absolutely do unspeakable, primal things to princess leia. Especially episode 6 leia 😅 padme was never really on that level except for the arena scene in 2. Rey? Are you joking? She has ABSOLUTELY nothing on early 80s coked out carrie fisher 😂

My aunt looks like that but is actually cool! Not just famous and lackluster

She's definitely got coke in her purse

Christopher M. George is my drug. I fall asleep to his interviews and films.

Sobriety is often not linear :(

the sequels killed here

She was the better writer… she had a point. Lol. But you have to give it up for his vision. No one can deny that.

Like the show Rome on HBO 😂

He did even before 2002. In 1991 he created Young Indiana Jones for television. It really is the precursor to everything we see now.

He also helped pioneer the first digital camera with Sony for use in filmmaking. All the studios use it now.

@@Rock-n-Rolla369 Same with pioneering digital editing with creating the EditDroid and getting cinemas to convert to digital projection. He really changed the industry as a whole.

what he says about Ancient Rome here definitely found it's way into Clone Wars a few years later. how a democracy becomes a dictatorship.

He was also part of it with Young Indiana Jones in the early 90's.

He mentioned so many times he wanted to make small movies and how he had all kinds of projects in his mind but looking at imdb I don't see any production that's not SW related...what happened?

How about the Fall of Western Civilization? No need for Lucas to shoot a film. Just look out your window or watch the news.

@@FlorisDVijfde The 2005 Rome TV happened lol. Stole his idea.

@@FlorisDVijfde I think he eventually decided to do his Rome idea but again through the lens of Star Wars so that it would be more commercial. That's what Star Wars Underworld, his unproduced live action TV series, was basically going to be. It took place between Episodes III and IV and dealt partially with the political situation in the Empire. I think he also put some of those ideas into the Clone Wars animated series that got into a lot of the politics of the Republic. I think he just wasn't able to get anything else off the ground because of the commercial situation. It has to be remembered that while Lucas was very rich (but not as rich as he is now after the Disney sale), he was just one guy with his own independent company, and he always financed everything himself. He didn't have the resources of a major studio, and he had no interest in giving up control to a major studio in exchange for financing. So he had to make commercial concessions, and in a lot of cases that meant translating some of his more avant-garde ideas to something like Star Wars that could actually sell. That was the whole reason the Young Indiana Jones series was about Indiana Jones. It was actually more of an educational historical series and didn't have that much to do with the Indiana Jones movies, but making Indiana Jones the main character and putting him in the title made it more commercial. So it allowed Lucas to indulge his passion for historical drama while hopefully getting people to actually watch it. Unfortunately that strategy didn't work out for Young Indy even though it was actually a really good show that was ahead of its time in a lot of ways.

@@FlorisDVijfde he made red tails about the black pilots in ww2 not an amazing film but it’s alright.

I doubt she was that comfortable.

StarKiller 5iveOh That's why she got to move on.

I LOVE her, but if she was that comfortable, she wouldn't have needed to take all those drugs,.... for decades nonetheless

I’m bipolar/manic depressive like she was. We are often very UNCOMFORTABLE in our own skin. I’m a huge fan of Carrie and one of the many things I love about her is that she often talked about how very insecure she was, as I often feel the same.

Lol comfortable with himself & obviously very financial stable.

Money, wealth buys security, it’s all he’s ever known, parents were wealthy, lucky guy but cool he chose to do something at UCLA

He a smart man

Cuz he’s a Taurus baby 💪🏽👊🏽

He’s rich.

She never made excuses. She was so real and honest. I love her for that. We need more people in the world like that. I wonder what she would be saying about the state of our nation and world right now.

Dyn Jarren you find it strange that she talked about her death and then eventually died? Everybody dies lol

Well, she did joke that he owned her likeness and that every time she looked in the mirror, she owed him a couple of bucks. Lol. Maybe she just figured since he already owned her likeness… lol

True. Specially given the square tv frame

LRC42 have you seen young george and carrie? i think they slept together. also in HOOK, there's two poeple kissing on the balcony annd alot of peole are saying it was them

@@flower_girl4983 yes it’s Carrie and George on the bridge

Everyone who ever met Carrie had a crush on her.

I agree, there's a slight flirty undertone to this conversation, especially when they're talking about dating and relationships...

winomaster yes please

Was hard to watch KYLO and leia die like CARRIE and DEBBIE,,,HOPE IT WASNT MEANT LIKE THAT

Same with Young Indy a decade before this interview. He's always been ahead of the curve.

He and Carrie were very close friends. He's currently doing a lot of work with his educational foundation he's had since the early 90's, philanthropy like donating with his wife Mellody Hobson to NYU to start up the Martin Scorsese Institute of Global Cinematic Arts - he and Marty are lifelong friends, restoring classic films such as Accattone by Pier Paolo Pasolini, is starting an art museum set to open next year, and is raising his daughter who was born in 2013. One of the main reasons he retired from Star Wars is because he wanted to focus on her like when he slowed down in the 80's to raise his first born daughters. There's countless other things I could mention. He's a noble and great man who is always looking to help those in need to better society. I'm forever grateful to him as he's taught me so much over the years.

Jonathan Buckwalter instead of ellen

It’s hard to do a talk show 5 days a week. I doubt Carrie would have enjoyed that grueling schedule. It’s not as easy as you think.

Woah. Carrie had a talk show? Please elaborate

@CB Thats Me people say he's gay

He was a workaholic and it consumed him. By his own account it was his children that offered him redemption. He found his now wife Mellody in 2006 and is a parent again to a young girl.

His series Young Indiana Jones really shows the early groundwork of what TV has become. It really is feature length films for the small screen. You can see it even more clearly when watching the Adventures version. It also paved the way for the Prequels in many ways. Not to mention The Clone Wars did many things that weren't common for an animated medium show at the time. It has so many qualities of feature films with the camera work and how much it experiments. He really was ahead of the curve time and time again. Including with the Prequels. I will always love them and all of his work.

@@zoetropeguardian The prequels had tremendous potential and Lucas had some amazing, fresh ideas for them (I will always appreciate that he didn't shy from trying to weave in political commentary into the series). I think the problem was the dramatic execution - his weaknesses as a writer and director, combined with a less collaborative approach than during the making of the OT, resulted in bad films. But he remained an ambitious visionary and always tried to do something new.

@@ImVeryOriginal I personally don't have any issues with the Prequels. I think they're great just the way they are as I think all six have their share of flaws but that's not a problem for me that they do. I can look pass them and love them for what they are instead of what I think they should be. I find a very profound story at its core about family and redemption designed for the eight year old that is inside each of us. I think it's often difficult for us as adults to switch off the sensibilities we've acquired with age. He actually also was just as collaborative on the Prequels as he was the Originals. Jonathan Rinzler said so multiple times in interviews before he passed away. He wrote the Making of Revenge of the Sith book and was around working at Lucasfilm from 2001 through 2016. He would know. I think it's sad the internet created misinformation he was not willing to listen to others when the Prequels came along. The truth is much different.

​@@zoetropeguardian A guy hired by LucasFilm to write promotional books saying everything was peachy doesn't mean too much to me tbh. I know Lucas tried to get other people to direct, but everyone refused. Whatever went on in his head, fact is that nobody could really treat him as an equal and push back against his worst tendencies. And it's not about being an adult, there's lots of children's movies that are made with such artistry that adults can easily enjoy and find meaning in them. That argument is moot anyway - you can't convince me that a story detailing the fall of democracy through political machinations, culminating in the main character murdering children and getting hideously mutilated, should be judged solely as children's entertainment, sorry. It was clearly meant as adult adventure drama to a large extent. If you believe the prequels were just fine as movies and simply met with unfair expectations - great, glad you enjoyed them! But I see an impassable chasm in narrative quality and artistic merit between the original movies and the prequels. It might be hard to find common ground here, as it's a very subjective judgement.

@@ImVeryOriginal Jonathan Rinzler was a very honest and professional man. We spoke a few times. He also detailed a lot of things in his blog Disney had him delete. Some of what he said about the Prequels was very honest in how they were received at Lucasfilm at the time but he never left doubt in how people respected George and how open he was to others and their ideas. Other people involved also said George was a generous collaborator like Ahmed Best, John Knoll, and Hayden Christensen. Key people with the art department discussed things in Paul Duncan's Star Wars: Archives 1999-2005 as well. I feel they'd know better than the internet. I much prefer to believe those involved instead of internet belief rooted in a dislike for something by him they don't like. It feels counterproductive to believe internet rumours instead of people there on the ground in my book. Sometimes stories for children have difficult themes. All Dogs Go to Heaven, The Lion King, and Harry Potter to name three. Fairytales also were very grim once upon a time. Stories for kids used to be unafraid to cover difficult subject matters. As a society we've started sterilising more and more what we find acceptable to show children. I was a young child when I saw these and the Prequels I saw them as they came out when I was 4, 6, and 8 as my birthday is after the original May releases. I never had a problem with anything in them to the point I was unable to accept them. In fact they helped me grow the sensibilities I have carried into adulthood and continue to help me grow like all of his stories do when I need to forget being an adult for awhile and remember the journey that got me there. Not everything is going to be pleasant all of the time but it can be told and conveyed in a way that's accessible to children. I think his six Star Wars films do that as good as any story out there. Absolutely. I was about to say the same. It might be hard for us to find common ground but I do appreciate you taking the time to respond to me. It's always good to get a different prospective even if we don't always agree with someone. It would be a pretty boring world if we agreed on everything. :)

Georgie boy?

cruel scientist He was way sexier. watch photos of him from 70s

Yes, she's referring to a poll where 9 out of 10 Americans were in favor of war. He was probably smart to change the subject

Yes this interview was only a few months after 9/11

He didn't change the subject, he said something like "we are hearing the same things about fear and vengeance now" tying the prequels into then-current events.

Really? The man who directed “Leaving Los Vegas.”? How do you know that?

alphabetaxenonzzzcat he’s made remarks about how George is a Children’s Storyteller and also didn’t seem to be too pleased with digital filmmaking.

Jared Wignall I saw a Figgis Q&A in London and I like Mike Figgis he’s made some good films but obviously had bad experiences in Hollywood and during the Q&A he called Spielberg a nazi in a tongue and cheek kind of way, I have the audio it’ll never see the light of day, he then realised the slip and took it back, not many people there maybe 40 but it was definitely out of line and he almost wasn’t thinking it was a stream of consciousness he said some stuff about John Williams too probably for a split second forgot about Spielberg’s heritage, this was at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden maybe 6 years ago. Weirdly Figgis is one of the First guys to really embrace digital filmmaking he’s shot on digital HDV, DV over the years and DSLR maybe it was green screen and effects he’s against. Great Jazz musician and like to see him making more films and move on from Hollywood.

Chris B yeah, he might not be fond of the special effects type films that Lucas and Spielberg sort of pioneered in the 70s and 80s that became increasingly popular. I just remember reading somewhere that he wasn’t fond of digital filmmaking, which is odd as you say he was one of the first to embrace making films on digital. He may not have been quite clear in his speaking, which may not be surprising when it seems as if he sort of goes off the rails when talking about Lucas and Spielberg.

Daneelro he's shy?

dos350 he has whatever he wants

@@pyrobison2002 im glad that he does, george lucas is LIT

George Hamilton Different definitions of cameras.

@@salvadorprado3175 No, they've just changed and aged.

@Dave Blackmen Not everyone changes that much.

shs done

Why?

You also seem to have this weird condition that makes you only write in block caps.

Mark Hamil hooked up with her too. He talked about it during her tribute at SW celebration

That's got to be one of the least difficult things to imagine.

Who didn't?

You think so I don't

I finally found what you were talking about and it seemed like he was missing a lot of context with making quite a few assumptions as it looks like a lot of people did at the time about digital cinema, including Paul Thomas Anderson. Mike Figgis was also critical of George for making films for children in the interview. I also found a conversation between Paul and Mike where they both didn't seem to fully grasp what was going on with George and digital sound in cinemas for example. So it seems like a lot of his issues with George and probably Steven are from assumptions. However I wonder if George and Mike have buried the hatchet as latter had very nice things to say about the former when he interviewed him for the documentary about Francis Ford Coppola's Megalopolis. I'd like to think so. Especially now that we can all see George was proven right and what Disney has done to Star Wars.

i'd wager a guess that it's Martin Scorsese. That sounds exactly like the same voice as his criticism of Marvel and superhero, amusement park movies.

Mike Figgis.

@@mudge843 Thank you for your answer, but I think George and Carrie would not talk of Martin Scorsese with such abstract and mercyless words (Scorsese and Spielberg and Lucas and De Palma and Coppola were good friends in the seventies and still are I think for most of them). By the way, I know Scorsese was a drug addict a long time ago, but I never heard of him as a "drunk"... (sorry for my english, I do what I can I guess but it's not my language and I know it's far from perfect !!)

@@nothanks3590 Thank you for your answer... :)

@@StephenDedalus74 I agree, I think Lucas considered "Marty" as one the gang along with Spielberg, Coppola and De Palma. I read in comments below that it could have also been Tarantino, makes more sense, given his public persona, but it's all completely speculative. Either way, I LOVE this interview. It's the only one I've seen that truly treats Lucas like the human artist he is, albeit with the necessary dose of Carrie's brilliant irreverence.