After the Hays Code was finally dropped in the late ’60s, it allowed filmmakers to make films without any restrictions, which led to the rise of some of the greatest names in filmmaking. This included acclaimed filmmaker George Lucas, who rose to prominence following the success of American Graffiti, starring Harrison Ford, which hit the shelves in ’73.
But it was his next collaboration with Ford that would go on to change Hollywood forever, kickstarting one of the most iconic movie franchises of all time. However, making Star Wars: A New Hope was pretty taxing for the filmmaker, as the sci-fi juggernaut almost fumbled after Lucas underwent some medical issues.
George Lucas’s Medical Emergency Almost Halted Star Wars’ Production
With A New Hope George Lucas not only created one of the most influential sci-fi releases of all time, he also pushed the boundaries of what technology was capable of. This resulted in some of the most impressive visuals to be put on screen at the time, but achieving this feat took a heavy toll on the director. Not only was Lucas running short on time, and struggling to get the performances he needed from the cast, but he was appalled after learning that ILM had spent $1M of their $11M budget on 7 VFX shots.
Moreover, Lucas only found 1 of the 7 shots to be acceptable, which led him to confront the company lead, John Dykstra. Unfortunately, the pressure from these setbacks proved to be too much for the director, as he was admitted to the hospital after suffering chest pains, which was a result of hypertension and extreme stress. But even though the doctors urged Lucas not to engage in any stress-inducing tasks, the acclaimed filmmaker went against them and took matters into his own hands to salvage A New Hope‘s ship.
In order to avoid further delays, Lucas fired the film’s original editor and joined forces with his wife Marcia Lucas to do the cuts for the film. He further hired Paul Hirsch and Richard Chew for the job, who’d go on to secure an Academy win for their work on A New Hope. In ILM’s case, who were known for being relaxed in their work, Lucas maintained a keen eye on the VFX company to ensure the final output lived up to his standards.
George Lucas Was Disappointed by the Lack of Originality in The Force Awakens
Following the success of Episode IV, which spawned one of the most profitable movie franchises of all time, Lucas was bent on adding something new with each entry in the original and prequel trilogy. Reasonably, when it came to Disney’s Sequel trilogy, Lucas was disappointed by Star Wars: The Force Awakens, as unlike the previous entries, it didn’t add anything new to the Galaxy far, far away.
In his memoir, Bob Iger recalled (via Screen Rant):
Just prior to the global release, Kathy [Kennedy] screened ‘The Force Awakens’ for George. He didn’t hide his disappointment. ‘There’s nothing new,’ he said. In each of the films in the original trilogy, it was important to him to present new worlds, new stories, new characters, and new technologies. In this one, he said, ‘There weren’t enough visual or technical leaps forward.’
Despite coming across several roadblocks at every turn during A New Hope‘s production, Lucas and his crew pulled through, which resulted in one of the most iconic sci-fi releases of all time.
Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope is available to stream on Disney Plus.
