The success of Star Wars propelled George Lucas from an indie filmmaker to a Hollywood
Titan.
But despite Lucas' reputation as a dominating creative force, his rise to billion dollar
success didn't come without some questionable traits that tend to get pushed under the rug.
For example...
Domestic dark side
In a 2005 interview with Film Freak Central, Luke Skywalker himself, Mark Hamill, called
George's ex-wife Marcia Lucas "the warmth and the heart" of the original films, and
cites her influence as what's missing from the prequels.
Marcia was part of the Academy Award-winning editing team responsible for shaping the original
Star Wars trilogy, and famously helped make some big decisions regarding plot and characterization.
But as Michael Kaminski's The Secret History of Star Wars notes, following their ugly divorce
in 1983, Marcia was "practically erased from the history books at Lucasfilm" and became
"the forgotten Lucas."
In a 1997 interview, Marcia says that George rudely dismissed her and her contributions
to the franchise:
"In his mind, I always stayed the stupid Valley girl.
He never felt I had any talent, he never felt I was very smart and he never gave me much
credit."
Underwear in space
Princess Leia's bikini in Return of the Jedi became such an iconic image that it even has
its own Wikipedia page.
But in her final book The Princess Diarist, Fisher said she was always uncomfortable with
Lucas's choice to put her in such a revealing outfit.
"I thought he was kidding and it made me very nervous.
I had to sit very straight because I couldn't have lines on my sides, like little creases.
No creases were allowed, so I had to sit very, very rigid straight."
That wasn't the first time Lucas's wardrobe preferences made Fisher uncomfortable, according
to her memoir Wishful Drinking.
She was only 19 when the first movie was made, and on the first day of filming, Lucas told
the young actress she couldn't wear a bra under her dress.
Why?
According to Lucas:
"There's no underwear in space."
The Phantom minstrelsy
The Phantom Menace was a huge box-office success, but is often cited as a low point in the franchise.
A big reason for that is the inclusion of a few racially insensitive characters, as
Bruce Gottlieb of Slate noted back in 1999:
"Crafty Japanese trade villains aren't the only heavy-handed ethnic stereotype in The
Phantom Menace.
As the story continues, the heroes slip past the evil Japanese to a nearby planet.
There, they attempt to repair their broken spaceship but are stymied by the hook-nosed
owner of the local parts shop – Watto – who also happens to have a thick Yiddish accent!"
Making matters worse is the controversial character Jar Jar Binks, who many perceived
as an unfortunate stereotype of African-Americans.
Lucas dismissed the backlash as a manufactured controversy, saying:
"You can only sell newspapers by creating controversies and making controversies."
Critical intolerance
As criticism about the racial stereotypes in The Phantom Menace continued to grow, Lucas
became increasingly defensive to the point where he began lashing out at critics and
essentially calling them all stupid.
Lucas told Salon in 2000:
"They certainly don't know anything about history; they don't know anything about film.
They don't know anything about politics.
They don't know anything about sociology or psychology or anything.
I mean, it's like, you get into a conversation with them and it's hard to find a subject
that they can actually converse on."
"Slaver" slip-up
Disney purchased Lucasfilm in 2012 for a whopping $4 billion and sent shockwaves through the
fanbase when they announced a new sequel trilogy.
Behind the scenes, Disney decided to not use Lucas's story outlines for the new movies,
prompting Lucas to use some ill-advised words during an interview with Charlie Rose.
"I loved them, I created them, I'm, um very intimately involved with them, an obviously…"
"And you sold them."
"I sold them to the people that takes these things..."
Lucas later apologized for calling Disney "bad people" in a statement to The Hollywood
Reporter.
"I misspoke and used a very inappropriate analogy, and for that I apologize."
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