George Lucas attained critical acclaim and commercial success with the 1977 sci-fi film Star Wars. The filmmaker worked laboriously to realize his vision for the epic space opera saga, expanding the original film into two trilogies of movies. However, Lucas eventually handed over the keys to his beloved franchise to Disney.
In an interview, Lucas once recalled the challenges he faced while trying to sell his vision for Star Wars to his peers. The filmmaker narrated an incident where test footage he had compiled for the film failed to impress anyone. While the incident didn’t dishearten Lucas and he went on to realize his vision, Disney has been running his franchise into the ground and The Acolyte‘s poor reception might break the filmmaker’s heart.
George Lucas Recalled Showing His Friends Star Wars Test Footage
George Lucas was present at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2015, where he took part in a panel hosted by Stephen Colbert. During the panel, Colbert interviewed the filmmaker, who is best known for creating the iconic Star Wars franchise, which became a pop culture juggernaut.
During the interview, Lucas revealed that none of his peers, especially his filmmaker friends believed in his idea for the space opera. The filmmaker recalled being convinced that Star Wars wasn’t going to be successful. He said (via Yahoo.com):
I showed it to all of my friends early on, but it was mostly [filled with] stock footage of old war movies, and all kinds of stuff. They saw it and [said] Poor George. What were you thinking?
Lucas added that among his friends, only fellow filmmaker Steven Spielberg was convinced that the movie was going to be one of the biggest blockbusters of all time.
Lucas stated that the studio also had little faith in the movie. He admitted that the concept was originally intended to be experimental, explaining why Lucas himself did not have much faith in it. Nonetheless, despite lacking support from his friends or the studio, Lucas persisted with his vision and created one of the most successful entertainment franchises.
George Lucas Might Feel Bad After Laughable Reception of The Acolyte
Despite implying that his initial attempt to sell the idea of Star Wars was laughable, the filmmaker did not let the negativity affect him. Lucas admitted that after the first film was released in theaters, he received a call from Alan Ladd Jr, the then president of 20th Century Fox, who broke the news of the positive reception of the movie.
In contrast, the latest addition to Lucas’ wide-stretching space opera saga The Acolyte has been a disappointment on every level. Since acquiring the franchise, Disney has produced a string of poorly received and commercially unsuccessful entries in the franchise. However, The Acolyte proved the worst yet as it currently holds an audience approval rating of 14% on Rotten Tomatoes.
Furthermore, the series was criticized by fans for its woke agendas and has been laughed off because of the supposed poor handling of the franchise’s canon and lore. Therefore, it is safe to say that the series marks the lowest point of the iconic franchise, and Lucas will certainly be hurt by the state his epic saga finds itself in.
The Acolyte and other Star Wars shows and movies are streaming on Disney+.
