In 1977, George Lucas gave birth to the blockbuster space opera that is now widely renowned as the mammoth Star Wars saga with his original fan-favorite film trilogy. This was followed by a prequel film series that uncovered the events before the Harrison Ford-starrer trilogy. However, this prequel was anything but appreciated by fans and critics as much as the original film series.
Apparently, this didn’t sit well with the mastermind, especially regarding the second installment of this prologue film series, Episode II – Attack of the Clones. As it turns out, critics claiming it has a “pretty corny dialogue” was one thing Lucas severely disagreed with. In fact, he even fired back by counterarguing that fans who thought this way didn’t really understand SW at all!
George Lucas Clapped Back at Critics Calling Attack of the Clones “Corny”
As fans must already be aware, if there’s one thing that perfectly had Episode II dig its own grave, it is the dialogue that has been widely termed as “corny.” This was especially for those scripted for Hayden Christensen‘s Anakin Skywalker and Natalie Portman’s Padmé Amidala, which includes the likes of “I am haunted by the kiss that you should never have given me.”
Obviously, that does sound corny enough to have fans cringing to the core, but it seems like George Lucas doesn’t feel the same way about it. In fact, if anything, he even ostensibly claimed that people who felt this way about the sweet talk don’t really understand the style of his space opera saga.
In Paul Duncan’s book The Star Wars Archives. 1999-2005, the genius filmmaker presented his thoughts on the same, saying (via Digital Spy):
It is presented very honestly, it isn’t tongue-in-cheek at all, and it’s played to the hilt. But it is consistent, not only with the rest of the movie, but with the overall ‘Star Wars’ style.
Not only that but continuing, he also implied how, if fans find it corny, perhaps they just aren’t aware of the saga’s true style after all. He said:
Most people don’t understand the style of ‘Star Wars.’ They don’t get that there’s an underlying motif that is very much like a 1930s Western or Saturday matinee serial.
At the same time, Lucas also admitted how “there’s a bit more soap opera in this one” as compared to the other SW films.
George Lucas Admits There’s “A Bit More Soap Opera” in Episode II
Continuing during the same interview, Lucas further explained his point of view, sharing how this Natalie Portman-starrer is set “in the more romantic period of making movies and adventure films.” This is why it holds “a bit more soap opera” as compared to all the previous movies from the franchise.
As Lucas elaborated while talking about Episode II:
This film is even more of a melodrama than the others. There’s a bit more soap opera in this one than there has been in the past, so setting the scenes up and staging them was more complex than it usually is.
That being said, it is only true that the film is more set in the romantic era of movies and soap operas, so it does become somewhat understandable why it was helmed this way. Nonetheless, we’ll let the true fans of the space opera saga land the final verdict on this debate after this.
You can watch Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones on Disney+.
