George Lucas turned 80 on May 14. He is the creator, with Star Warsfrom one of the most popular mythologies of the 20the century, the inventor of the franchise Indiana Jones, at the same time as a visionary businessman in the mastery of merchandising and new technologies. This discreet man with global notoriety, of whom we have lost sight of the fact that in his youth he was a fanatic of experimental cinema, comes to collect, Friday May 24 in Cannes, temple of auteur cinema, a palm of honor which, without honor, would pass concerning him for a pleasant trinket.
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Naturally affable, the director, in agreement with the Cannes organization, gives us seventeen minutes with the watch in hand to ask the hundred and one questions that make our lips itch. This under the supervision of his wife, Mellody Hobson, who discreetly ensures that nothing goes wrong. This contemporary formula of cinephilic exchange, which is to the warmth and surprise of the encounter what a stump is to an arm, must it still, in this place where the law of supply and demand proves ruthless, to be considered a privilege?
Hello George Lucas and happy birthday! At 80, do you think you have finally achieved the wisdom of Master Yoda?
No way ! My wife right here is much younger and much wiser than I am. Despite being 400 years old, I haven’t figured out how it works yet!
In this case, is there a character in your saga to whom you felt particularly close?
When we create characters, we love them all. They are like your children. All different, but all lovable to me and all unique.
The imaginary universe that you have created evokes the age-old struggle of good against evil. When you look at the state of the world today, starting with the United States, which way does it seem to you that the Force is leaning?
When I started writing the script for the first Star Wars, the idea was to write for 12-year-old children who were going to become adults. It was about giving them direction, because at that age you don’t know what you want in life. Talking about what it means to be friends, to be responsible, to be human. However, in the 1970s, cinema was very black in the United States. We were in the middle of the civil rights struggle, there was the Vietnam War, we thought we were going to win it, and in truth it was a terrible quagmire, in every way.
This is what the Ewoks represented in my film, a simple people, with rudimentary technology, but who kept the Empire in check. The situation then was probably bleaker than it is today. And what I wanted to say is that in the darkest of trials that we experience, we must keep the faith, try to be inspired. When I was younger, I studied anthropology at university, and I think I was left with this idea that telling stories, trying to make sense of what we live by raising minds, to found a belief system, is fundamental in any society. And we know in this regard, just by entering a Catholic church, that a picture is worth a hundred words.
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