lucas the father of the altmanesque multi character movie?

Started by tpfkabi, April 22, 2003, 09:20:48 PM

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Myxo

Quote from: LucasAnd we're going to do a live-action spinoff TV series of "Star Wars," an hour drama, (but) not with the main characters.

What? :saywhat:

Here I was thinking the T.V. series would be about Luke and Leia's upbringing.

RegularKarate

Why did you think that?  It's been pretty clear from the start.

It's going to be Battle for Endor: The Early Years: The Series

mogwai

Star Wars creator George Lucas has donated $1m to build a memorial to civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr in Washington.

The landscaped memorial would lie near the Lincoln Memorial, where King gave his "I have a dream" speech in 1963.

"The ideals and principles for which Dr King fought have never been forgotten and are as relevant today as they were 40 years ago," Lucas said.

He also said a memorial would ensure King's message endured for the future.

Other notable supporters of the project include former US Secretary of State Colin Powell and Jack Valenti, former president of the Motion Picture Association of America.

More than $40m has been raised for the memorial, with $100m needed to finish the project, organisers said.

The US Congress authorised the memorial in 1996, and groundbreaking is scheduled for late next year on a four-acre site among trees on the National Mall, beside Washington's Tidal Basin.

Other causes supported by Lucas include his own educational foundation set up to help bring about a technology-enriched educational system of the future. Premiere screenings for the Star Wars movies have raised $5.6m for charity.

MacGuffin

Lucas: "The Blockbuster Is Dead"

Movie mogul George Lucas predicts Hollywood will soon start shifting away from mega-budget blockbusters in favor of making more independent films for less money. Alongside Steven Spielberg, Star Wars creator Lucas is cited as being chiefly responsible for the blockbuster phenomenon that has gripped the movie industry for the last three decades. But he now believes big-budget films can no longer be profitable and are going out of fashion, as evidenced by this year's Academy Award nominees, including independent movies Crash and Good Night, And Good Luck. Lucas tells the New York Daily News, "The market forces that exist today make it unrealistic to spend $200 million on a movie. Those movies can't make their money back anymore. Look at what happened with King Kong. I think it's great that the major Oscar nominations have gone to independent films. Is that good for the business? No - it's bad for the business. But movie-making isn't about business. It's about art. In the future, almost everything that gets shown in theaters will be indie movies. I predict that by 2025 the average movie will cost only $15 million."
"Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art." - Andy Warhol


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modage

Christopher Nolan's directive was clear to everyone in the cast and crew: Use CGI only as a last resort.

MacGuffin

"Star Wars" film legend George Lucas wants more worldly Hollywood

SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) - Legendary "Star Wars" film creator     George Lucas told a packed house the United States is a provincial country with a culture that has invaded the world via Hollywood.

Lucas made the comments as he was honored with a "Global Vision Award" by the World Affairs Council in a downtown San Francisco hotel ballroom.

"As long as there has been a talking Hollywood, Hollywood has had a huge impact on the rest of the world," Lucas said as he discussed his films and enhancing education with computer technology.

"It shows all the morality we espouse in this country, good and bad. The French were the first to start yelling cultural imperialism."

Some people in other countries are troubled by what they see as US culture "squashing" local art and cinema, Lucas said.

"I hate to say it, but television is one of the most popular exports," Lucas said.

People see shows such as "Dallas," about a wealthy Texas oil family, and decide they want the grand lifestyles portrayed, according to Lucas.

"They say that is what I want to be," Lucas said. "That destabilizes a lot of the world."

"There has been a conflict going on for thousands of years between the haves and the have-nots, and now we are in a position for the first time to show the have-nots what they do not have."

Lucas endorsed US students studying abroad to help imbue them with more global perspectives.

"Study abroad is extremely important; just for kids to get outside this country and experience the fact there is a big world out there," Lucas said.

"We are a provincial country. Our president has barely been out of the country."

An onus is on film makers to be careful with the messages they send because they speak "with a very loud voice," the famed movie director said.

California congresswoman Nancy Pelosi presented Lucas his council award, likening him to renowned classical music composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

The council crowned Lucas "the father of digital film" with profound insights into the globalization of culture.

"Like Mozart, George Lucas is no ordinary genius," Pelosi said. "He is a magician. He will be remembered as a legend."
"Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art." - Andy Warhol


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MacGuffin

Lucas taps Ridley to write 'Tails'
Filmmaker exec producing WWII movie
Source: Variety

George Lucas has hired John Ridley to write "Red Tails," a WWII action adventure about the Tuskegee Airmen based on a story by Lucas, who is financing development through his Lucasfilm production company and exec producing.

Pic charts a group of young pilots as they overcame racism to form the Tuskegee Airmen, a distinguished group of fliers who broke the aviation color barrier to become the first African-American fighter pilots in U.S. military history.

Lucas, who has been busy with the fourth installment of "Indiana Jones," has long had a passion for the Tuskegee Airmen, whose planes were distinguished by the red-painted tails that give the film its title.

He hired Ridley after reading "L.A. Riots," the Universal/Imagine drama Ridley just turned in to director Spike Lee. Ridley's just getting off the ground on "Red Tails" after meeting with the surviving pilots at a convention in Texas.

Rick McCallum and Charles Floyd Johnson are producing.

"These were guys who had to figure everything out for themselves, because military units were completely segregated at the time and there was no seasoned war pilot to teach them," Ridley said. "President Roosevelt formed the unit as a publicity stunt because he wanted the black vote for his re-election campaign, but these guys were such skilled pilots that they ended up becoming true heroes by escorting bombers in North Africa and Italy."

Ridley added: "ILM will make the fight sequences come alive, and make you feel what it must have been like to be 19 and flying in a fighter plane."
"Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art." - Andy Warhol


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MacGuffin

George Lucas Hails Maverick Filmmakers, Teases Indy 4
Source: TV Guide

George Lucas is feeling good about television. In his life post-Star Wars franchise, the legendary writer, director, producer, special-effects czar and mega-mogul is still embracing his legacy — the far-far-away galaxy he created for six films that changed the cinematic universe and became a part of world pop culture. But now a new medium will bear the message. In a conversation with TV Guide executive editor Steve Sonsky that began with a discussion of Fog City Mavericks, a Starz documentary (premiering Monday, Sept. 24, at 9 pm/ET) about the history of San Francisco-based filmmakers like himself, Francis Ford Coppola and Clint Eastwood, Lucas also held forth on the status of his two forthcoming television series that will expand the Star Wars saga, his own TV-watching habits, the Internet culture, and why it turned out OK that Sean Connery wouldn't reprise his role as Harrison Ford's dad in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, scheduled for release next May. Here is Part 1 of that conversation.

TV Guide: So, Fog City Mavericks — a wonderful couple of hours. It was great fun to watch.
George Lucas: I'm a firm believer in regional cinema, cinema that's not made by people who live in Hollywood but who live in [places] like Austin or New York City or Chicago, Baltimore, San Francisco. There are several little film communities that exist outside the main center, Hollywood, and who take their ideas from different places and do different kinds of things and have more of a creative say in what they do. This film is about San Francisco. I hope, at some point, somebody makes one about New York and Austin and all of the other places.

TV Guide: It seems almost as much an homage to San Francisco as it does to all of you, the filmmakers. It paints a great portrait of the city as an incubator for artistic individuality.
Lucas: Well, yeah, the thing most people don't understand is that San Francisco has a long tradition of making films, not just having films shot here but actually [hosting] an indigenous film industry. It's very, very small, but the people who live and work here have a different outlook and get their ideas from different sources, and [so] the films come out differently. I think [Mavericks] clarifies that some of the more successful films that have come out of Hollywood actually haven't been made in Hollywood.

TV Guide: What do you think it is about San Francisco that makes that happen? There's a fun quote in the film from [Toy Story director] John Lasseter — who says it's the great food, it's the great wine — but, more seriously, there's also a lot of discussion obviously of the spirit of independence and the nonconformist ethic of San Francisco.
Lucas: Well, yeah. We're free of the institution, the institutionalized creative system, which means that we've been able to do things pretty much on our own without much interference. And even when things do get assigned to us, we still have a very independent way of looking at things. Everyone here kind of thinks outside the box, and Hollywood is the box.

TV Guide: Could you ever do good work in Los Angeles — or do you think it's just not your nature?
Lucas: It's not my nature. I've never worked down there, and I don't see any reason why I ever would.

TV Guide: So what lessons would you impart to young artists trying to fight authority?
Lucas: Well, it's not a matter of fighting authority. It's a matter of realizing that you don't have to go to Hollywood to make movies. A lot of independent filmmakers around this country make movies in their hometowns. You know, there's like a thousand independent films made every year. Not that many of them make it into the mainstream, and what [Mavericks] is about is the ones that do. This is about how even the most mainstream of movies can be made outside the system. And, for a lot of the independent filmmakers who are working outside the system and working all around the country, I think the message of the [documentary] is to stay there. If you become successful, if you make a movie that actually hits the mainstream, that becomes successful, don't move. Stay home. Work out of your own background. Work out of your own milieu. Work out of your own history.

TV Guide: Who are the young filmmakers you see out there, the regional filmmakers who you think are particularly doing wonderful stuff that should be noticed?
Lucas: That's one of those things like, "What's your favorite film?" Whoever I say, somebody else is going to say, "Why didn't you mention me?" [Laughs]

TV Guide: Yeah, it's a loaded question, I know. Come on.
Lucas: There are a lot. There are some great filmmakers who are working, and you see them at Sundance every year, and the problem there is people sort of get sucked into the system and then they lose their voice. And my plea is for them to stay outside the system and try to work out of their heart instead of out of their pocketbook. Because ultimately, if you're good at it... Those of us in San Francisco and New York and Austin, especially, we've done financially fine. We're not sacrificing anything by not working down there.

TV Guide: Yeah, I think you've done OK, George.
Lucas: Yeah, and so have Francis [Coppola] and John Lasseter.... If you've got the talent and you can tell a story, you'll do fine. And if you want to be personal and esoteric and not go to a mass market, then you will struggle to tell your story, which is equally valid. But to go and get paid a lot of money not to tell your story is definitely not what you want to do.

TV Guide: As the documentary unfolds, telling the history of San Francisco filmmaking, there are some just amazing parallels — your nearly fatal car accident at 18 and the nearly fatal stagecoach accident of [motion-picture camera inventor] Edward Muybridge put each of you on new paths that maybe wouldn't have been the case otherwise, as filmmakers.
Lucas: [Laughs] Well, life throws you funny curves, and you can either look at it as a detour, or you can look at it as an opportunity. In both cases, we reassessed our priorities, which people do when they're in those kinds of life-and-death situations. You end up doing what's more in your heart, what you actually want to do rather than what you think you have to do, because you have a feeling that you're kind of on borrowed time and you don't want to waste it.

TV Guide: Do you still have that feeling at this point in your life?
Lucas: I still feel very lucky about what happened and grateful that I managed to survive and have a life after that. And so I try to make the most of every day, and I have ever since then. I was basically putzing around, not doing anything. It sort of said, "Hey, wake up and make something out of your life because it may be over before you think."

TV Guide: More amazing serendipity in the history of San Francisco filmmakers: If THX 1138 [Lucas' ambitious 1971 box-office failure, which nearly bankrupted his friend and producer Francis Coppola's American Zoetrope studio] was a hit, Coppola might not have made The Godfather.
Lucas: [Laughs] Possibly, yeah. You know, you sort of have to look at opportunities and sometimes things come along and you sort of, even though you want to reject them outright, you have to look at the other side of it. Fortunately, in terms of The Godfather, Francis would never have done that just for the money, no matter what. He had to find something that he loved about it. He had to find the hook that would get him into it, to say, "How can I make this mine? I know something about Italians, I know something about the Mafia and I know something about family" — and those are things that really interested him. And so he turned it into his movie. And you know, it's different than the book, and obviously he had to fight very hard against the system to do that. Fortunately, he managed to survive and overcome all of the influences. That was literally going to be a very cheap gangster movie starring Kirk Douglas, and he made it something extraordinary.

TV Guide: Do you ever see you and Francis working together again?
Lucas: You never know. We're all kind of loose. We help each other out, basically. And you know, we obviously are friends and communicate with each other. So there's no formal reality to all of it. It's just basically what happens when people are friends and hang out together.

TV Guide: Speaking of friends working together... you and Steven Spielberg — how's Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull going?
Lucas: Very well. Very well indeed.

TV Guide: Were you disappointed about Sean Connery not coming out of retirement to play Indy's father?
Lucas: No, in the end, it turned out better. In the beginning, he was just in a little bit of it, and I think with the strength of Sean Connery, people would've wanted him to go all the way through the whole thing, and the story really didn't work that way. And so I think there would've been some disappointment that [his character] dropped out partway through the movie. By having somebody else fill that role, you lose him without any regret, so to speak, even though we got a great actor to play the part. And I mean, he's not his father, so it's much easier....

TV Guide: You mean [the other actor] is not playing Indy's father?
Lucas: That's right. It's just a completely different character, so you're not invested in him in any way. The fact that that character, after the first part of the movie, isn't needed doesn't become a problem. Whereas I think with the scene we had, where [Indy] says goodbye to his dad, everybody was, "Wait a minute! Isn't he coming back?" So in the end, I think it turned out for the best. Sean just retired and he wants to stay retired, and I understand that. [Laughs] I think he just said, "Look, I've done it, I've done it." He was very tempted, you know, and we talked for a long time. But in the end, he just said, "Eh, I'm playing golf."

TV Guide: Anything about the film that's been out there, wrong Internet buzz, that you want to correct?
Lucas: Well, I don't really read the Internet buzz.

TV Guide: Probably healthy.
Lucas: Yeah, I don't get involved in all that. A film is what it is. And you know, I think it's turned out well. It's very funny, it's very exciting, and it's everything that the other ones were. I can't wait to see it! [Laughs]
"Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art." - Andy Warhol


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MacGuffin

George Lucas planning 'Star Wars' TV series
By Geoff Boucher, Los Angeles Times

Attention, TV executives: The Force may soon be with you.

Filmmaker George Lucas said Tuesday that he has "just begun work" on a live-action television series rooted in the "Star Wars" universe, which is huge news not just for fans of the science-fiction epic but also for networks looking for a piece of the Lucas magic that has grossed $4.3 billion in theaters worldwide.
 
There is a caveat, though: The proposed series doesn't have anyone named Luke or Anakin in it, a story path that Lucas concedes is "taking chances" as far as connecting with an audience expecting the familiar mythology.

"The Skywalkers aren't in it, and it's about minor characters," Lucas said in an interview. "It has nothing to do with Luke Skywalker or Darth Vader or any of those people. It's completely different. But it's a good idea, and it's going to be a lot of fun to do."

Lucas joked that the series would be about "the life of robots" but wouldn't let any details slip about the true premise. The "extended universe" of "Star Wars" has come to life already in Lucas-sanctioned novels, comics and games that chronicle the history of the Jedi and tell the tales of bit players in the films, such as the bounty hunters from "The Empire Strikes Back."

Lucas already has another television series percolating: Lucas Animation has been working for months on "Star Wars: The Clone Wars," a computer-animated series that he hopes will introduce a new era of visuals to weekly episodic television. Lucas plans to produce it through his own companies before shopping the finished product to networks.

That model may also be used for the live-action show, although producer Rick McCallum said Tuesday that it's too early to say. McCallum is interviewing writers for the live-action series.

Lucas is confident he can find a home for his droids and Jedi, but he also knows the projects are unorthodox enough to give network executives pause.

"They are having a hard time," Lucas said. "They're saying, 'This doesn't fit into our little square boxes,' and I say, 'Well, yeah, but it's "Star Wars." And "Star Wars" doesn't fit into that box.' "
"Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art." - Andy Warhol


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squints

Quote from: MacGuffin on October 17, 2007, 01:04:43 AM
"They are having a hard time," Lucas said. "They're saying, 'This doesn't fit into our little square boxes,' and I say, 'Well, yeah, but it's "Star Wars." And "Star Wars" doesn't fit into that box, motherfucker. Eat shit and die.' "
"The myth by no means finds its adequate objectification in the spoken word. The structure of the scenes and the visible imagery reveal a deeper wisdom than the poet himself is able to put into words and concepts" – Friedrich Nietzsche

MacGuffin

Tuskegee Airmen to be subject of George Lucas film

The black airmen whose lives will be the basis of a George Lucas movie know the picture will highlight their record of successfully escorting thousands of U.S. bombers in World War II.

They also feel it should tell of the trials they encountered stateside, like seeing German prisoners of war being treated better and afforded rights that were withheld from black American citizens.

Now that "Red Tails" is in preproduction, some of the airmen say they are excited their story is coming to the big screen but torn over how much it should devote to each of their two historic fights against Adolf Hitler abroad and Jim Crow at home.

Lt. Col. Eldridge F. Williams, 91, wants the film to recount the discrimination they had to overcome in their own country. Williams, who served in the military from August 1941 to November 1963, said a white doctor's false diagnosis of an eye condition kept him from achieving his dream of being a pilot, though he became a navigator.

"I think the story that has not been told is stories like mine in which the home battle that was waged ... shall we say, helped open the door so that the unit could enter combat and demonstrate its capabilities and be successful," he said.

Col. Herbert Carter, who also was with the airmen in the '40s, said the racism the men encountered should definitely be mentioned but not dwelled upon in the Lucas film.

"So many want the movies to focus in that sense and that's bitter history that has been thoroughly emphasized and publicized," the 88-year-old said in an interview.

He said the real story is how they blew apart the notion that blacks could not fly planes in war.

Producer Rick McCallum said both elements are addressed in a script by John Ridley that "balances difficult and painful issues with what is, at its heart, the story of men with a dream to fly and serve their country."

Lucas hopes to begin shooting by year's end or early 2009, McCallum said. The movie's title refers to the color of their fighter planes' tails, which were distinctive and allowed U.S. bomber crews to know they were being escorted by the aggressive Tuskegee Airmen.

"It is a story of incredible adventure and enormous courage," said the producer, who's scouting locations for "Red Tails" in Prague, Czech Republic, and Italy. "I think the story will speak to anyone who has ever wanted to succeed at something others told them was impossible."

At first called the "Tuskegee Experiment," the first aviation cadet class began with 13 students at the Tuskegee Army Air Field, about 40 miles east of Montgomery, in July 1941. Black people weren't allowed to fly in the military at the time and the "experiment" was to see whether they could pilot airplanes and handle heavy machinery.

Over the next four years, the airmen went on more than 15,000 combat trips throughout Europe, the Mediterranean and North Africa.

Nearly 1,000 pilots were trained at the Tuskegee Army Air Field before its 1946 closing, after which the men from the all-black units were sent to an air base in Ohio. President Truman's 1948 order to desegregate the country's armed forces eventually led to a racially mixed military.

The men have been the subject of several documentaries and books. But a 1995 HBO movie "The Tuskegee Airmen," starring Laurence Fishburne, was the film that jump-started much of the attention the airmen have received in recent years, said Christine Biggers, a park ranger at the Tuskegee Airmen National Historic Site.

The HBO movie "was about 50 percent Hollywood, but it gave a good overview and got the word out. People all over the world saw it and it whetted their appetite to want to know more," Biggers said.

Lucas plans for the movie to be based on the historic record that brought the Tuskegee Airmen fame, drawn from their own accounts.

Carter was one of several airmen who were invited to Lucas' Skywalker Ranch a few years ago to record their oral histories, which will be used in developing the film.

Carter tells of the constant adjustment of being respected as a soldier on base, then having that dignity snatched away once off-base, where they were "just another Negro in Alabama in the eyes of the civilian population."

But he said the real story is how they overcame an environment that said "they didn't have the ability, dexterity, physiology and psychology to operate something as complicated as aircrafts or tanks."

The black airmen's response was "train me and let me demonstrate I can," Carter said. "We said the antidote to racism was excellence and performance and that is what we did."
"Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art." - Andy Warhol


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MacGuffin

Trio set for Lucas' 'Red Tails'
Howard, Gooding, Cranston cast in WWII pic
Source: Variety

Terrence Howard, Cuba Gooding Jr. and Bryan Cranston have joined the cast of George Lucas' "Red Tails," the WWII action adventure about the Tuskegee Airmen.

Thesps join a cast that includes Nate Parker, David Oyelowo, Tristan Wilds, Method Man, Lee Tergesen, Ne-Yo, Elijah Kelley, Andre Royo and Jesse Williams.

Anthony Hemingway directs and Lucas is exec producing and financing through his Lucasfilm production company with Rick McCallum and Charles Floyd Johnson producing. Lensing begins soon in Europe.

John Ridley wrote the script, which revolves around the young pilots who overcame institutional racism in the military to form the Tuskegee Airmen, who become the first African-American fighter pilots in U.S. military history. Their planes featured the red-painted tails that give the film its title.

"I've been wanting to do 'Red Tails' for 20 years, and we've finally got the means to showcase the skill of the Tuskegee pilots," Lucas said. "We're working on techniques which will give us the first true look at the aerial dogfighting of the era."
"Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art." - Andy Warhol


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Reinhold

as much as i fear lucas going nostalgic or spectacular for no particular reason with this story, i'm inclined to think that those dog fights are going to look incredible.

i always thought that a film about air combat would be amazing for 3d... i wonder if they'll do that.
Quote from: Pas Rap on April 23, 2010, 07:29:06 AM
Obviously what you are doing right now is called (in my upcoming book of psychology at least) validation. I think it's a normal thing to do. People will reply, say anything, and then you're gonna do what you were subconsciently thinking of doing all along.

MacGuffin

George Lucas producing a CGI musical! Featuring ... fairies?
Source: Hollywood Reporter

George Lucas is tackling his first musical.

The untitled, top-secret CGI-animated film is in preproduction at Lucas' Skywalker Ranch in Marin County.

The project marks a rare foray outside the "Star Wars" universe for Lucas who, while not directing a movie since "Revenge of the Sith" in 2005, is putting the finishing touches on "Red Tails," the adventure movie that tells the World War II story of the Tuskegee Airmen, America's first black pilots. Lucas wrote the screenplay for "Tails" and is exec producing.

Kevin Munroe is directing the CGI film, which is expected to feature music from a variety of sources. Munroe hails from the animated world and made his directorial debut in 2007 with the fourth Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie, "TMNT." He recently wrapped production on his live-action debut, the adaptation of the "Dead of Night" comic that stars Brandon Routh and Taye Diggs.

David Berenbaum, who wrote the Will Ferrell comedy "Elf" and children's fantasy "The Spiderwick Chronicles," penned the screenplay. Plot details are locked tighter than the plans for the Death Star, but one element known is that the script features fairies.

It is not known whether Berenbaum is working from a story by Lucas, who tends to originate much of Lucasfilm's intellectual property.

A Lucasfilm spokesperson said it was too early to comment on the details of the project.
"Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art." - Andy Warhol


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