Star Wars: George Lucas says he sold franchise to 'white slavers' and criticises 'retro' The Force Awakens

The 'Star Wars' creator has come out against Disney and J.J. Abrams' latest contribution to the franchise, 'The Force Awakens'.

George Lucas (Getty)

There actually exists, on Earth, someone who isn't a fan of The Force Awakens. And his name is George Lucas. 

Speaking to Charlie Rose, the Star Wars creator showed some regret in selling his beloved franchise to a conglomerate like Disney; though Lucasfilm's acquisition went for a staggering $4 billion. He even joked, "I sold them to the white slavers that takes these things, and..."; before trailing off into laughter on realising the bombast of his own statement.  

Weighing in on The Force Awakens, Lucas expressed his frustrations with the film's overt sense of nostalgia, "They wanted to do a retro movie. I don’t like that. Every movie I work very hard to make them completely different, with different planets, with different spaceships, make it new."

Indeed, he does seem to hold a level of resentment towards Hollywood's overall reliance on regurgitating familiarity, "Of course, the only way you could really do that [make money] is not take chances. Only do something that’s proven. You gotta remember, Star Wars came from nowhere. American Graffiti came from nowhere. There was nothing like it. Now, if you do anything that’s not a sequel or not a TV series or doesn’t look like one, they won’t do it!"

Star Wras: The Force Awakens Trailer

Lucas went on to compare his detachment from Lucasfilm to a "break-up". And as with any ex, he assures that the safest cure for heartbreak is a complete cut of ties; meaning Lucas essentially had zero part to play in the making of the latest installment, "They looked at the stories, and they said, ‘We want to make something for the fans’….They decided they didn’t want to use those stories, they decided they were going to do their own thing…."

"They weren’t that keen to have me involved anyway — but if I get in there, I’m just going to cause trouble, because they’re not going to do what I want them to do. And I don’t have the control to do that anymore, and all I would do is muck everything up. And so I said, ‘Okay, I will go my way, and I’ll let them go their way.'"

Lucas' viewpoint isn't particularly surprising; he's protective of the Star Wars franchise to the point of referring to the movies as his "kids". Any creative will suffer that rush of queasiness seeing their life's work handed over entirely into the hands of another, and Lucas was always going to be hypercritical of the first Star Wars not to be created under his guidance. 

Just, try and brush aside that fit of irony that the man responsible for the prequels is in any viable position to be criticising a Star Wars film. 

You can watch Charlie Rose's full interview with George Lucas here.