George Lucas: I didn’t mean to call Disney ‘white slavers’

George Lucas Photo: AFP/Getty

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A day after the airing of his
provocative critique of the latest
“Star Wars” film and its makers,
series creator George Lucas rolled
back his comments Thursday, saying
he was “thrilled” with the job Disney
has done with the space saga and
“blown away with the record breaking
blockbuster success” of the current
hit, “The Force Awakens.”
Lucas apologized for the “very
inappropriate analogy” he used in
comparing Disney to “white slavers,”
a statement he made during a
lengthy interview with CBS newsman
Charlie Rose [see video below].
“I have been working with Disney for
40 years and chose them as the
custodians of Star Wars because of
my great respect for the company
and Bob Iger’s leadership,” Lucas
said in his statement, issued
Thursday afternoon by Disney.
“Disney is doing an incredible job of
taking care of and expanding the
franchise. I rarely go out with
statements to clarify my feelings but
I feel it is important to make it clear
that I am thrilled that Disney has the
franchise and is moving it in such
exciting directions in film, television
and the parks.”
Lucas concluded by adding: “Most of
all I’m blown away with the record
breaking blockbuster success of the
new movie and am very proud of JJ
and Kathy.”
The last was a reference to J. J.
Abrams, director of “The Force
Awakens” and Kathleen Kennedy, the
Lucasfilm executive who brought the
film to the screen, where it has made
more than $1 billion in a little less
than two weeks.
In his lengthy interview with Rose,
the “Star Wars” inventor had
expressed deep ambivalence about
the fate of his space epic, despite
the fact $4 billion cash and stock
windfall he gained in the 2012 sale
to Disney.
He not only suggested control of the
franchise had gone to “white
slavers” (in what some described as
a “quip”) but added that he did not
agree with the “retro” approach the
entertainment conglomerate had
taken with the film.
“They wanted to do a retro movie. I
don’t like that,” Lucas told Rose.
“Every movie, I worked very hard to
make them different. I made them
completely different—different
planets, different spaceships to make
it new.”
Lucas also said in the PBS talker that
he liked J.J. Abrams, who has won
wide praise for re-energizing the
space series with “Star Wars: The
Force Awakens.”
“J.J. Abrams, he’s a good director, a
good friend,” Lucas told Rose.
The comments predictably set off
furious chatter on the Internet, with
some defending “Star Wars” founding
father and his right to criticize his
successors, while others labeled him
as ungrateful and out of bounds for
biting the hand that fed him a multi-
billion-dollar fortune.
Most of Lucas’s interview with Rose
had been about his own uneven
steps in developing a new
relationship with his “Star Wars”
legacy, since putting it in another
company’s hands.
He acknowledged that, even before
selling to Disney, he could never
simply put others in charge of the
space films and felt he “had to stand
over the shoulder of the director,
help him, whisper in his ear
constantly, ‘No, do this. Do that.’ And
be there to help guide it.”
Once Disney took over and began
working on Episode VII in the space
sage, Lucas told the CBS newsman it
was clear the conglomerate wasn’t
“that keen to have me involved
anyway” and was “going to do their
own thing” with future “Star Wars”
movies.
The director said he tried to realize
that it was healthier for him to move
on with his life and not look back.
“You just say, ‘No! Gone! History! I’m
moving forward.’ Because every time
you do…something like that, you’re
opening the wound again, and it just
makes it harder for you,” Lucas
explained.
“You have to put it behind you, and
it’s a very, very hard thing to do.”