TSPDT

Key Production Country: USA
Key Genres: Science Fiction, Space Adventure, Sci-Fi Action, Teen Movie, Coming-of-Age, Short Film
Key Collaborators: John Williams (Composer), Ewan McGregor (Leading Actor), Natalie Portman (Leading Actress), Rick McCallum (Producer), David Tattersall (Cinematographer), Ben Burtt (Editor), Ian McDiarmid (Leading Character Actor), Gavin Bocquet (Production Designer), Frank Oz (Voice), Hayden Christensen (Leading Actor), Harrison Ford (Leading Character Actor), Pernilla August (Leading Character Actress)

"In whatever capacity George Lucas works—director, writer, producer—the films in which he is involved are a mixture of the familiar and the fantastic. Thematically, Lucas’s work is often familiar, but the presentation of the material usually carries his unique mark… Lucas’s films are self-conscious about genre conventions and often refer back to earlier films. Also familiar in his work are the archetypal figures from myths and legends. At the same time, the films are fantastic and unfamiliar, filled with strange creatures and exotic settings. However, the narrative weaknesses of Phantom Menace suggest he is somewhat less adept with the processes of storytelling than with realizing ambitious action sequences and inventive special effects." - Marie Saeli (International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers, 2000)

"He made his feature debut with the science-fiction story THX 1138 (1971). The phenomenal success of Star Wars (1977) transformed him into an influential producer, technical innovator and owner of his own film empire. It also kept him away from directing for the next two decades." - Chambers Film Factfinder, 2006

"Along with Steven Spielberg, with whom he regularly collaborates, George Lucas is financially the most successful of the Hollywood 'movie-brats'. Revealingly, after three features he seems to have forsaken directing for producing; indeed, his importance lies less in his films themselves than in his influence on various current tendencies - including marketing - in American cinema... Even more than Spielberg, Lucas adheres to a bland, childlike and Disneyesque concept of entertainment." - Geoff Andrew (The Film Handbook, 1989)

"Despite his shyness, his difficulty with the human encounters of directing, and his “temperament of an artist who works alone in an attic,” Lucas was undoubtedly at his best when surrounded by talented collaborators. His distaste for studio interference was one thing, but being around smart people who knew how to temper his eccentric impulses and overreach would always result in his strongest films. There is a long list of significant names in the history of Hollywood who also did some of their best work while working alongside Lucas, including Irvin Kershner, Lawrence Kasdan, Charlie Lippincott, John Dykstra, Marcia Lucas, Gloria Katz, Willard Huyck, Ben Burtt, Ralph McQuarrie, and yes, even Hollywood titans like John Williams, Steven Spielberg, Ron Howard, Walter Murch, and Jim Henson." - Dan Golding (Senses of Cinema, 2021)

"He has been an immensely successful entrepreneur; his company Industrial Light and Magic is a pioneer in movie special effects. Whether he is capable of moving beyond the comic strip world he has created will become evident once the second Star Wars trilogy is completed." - The Movie Book, 1999

"Rambling nostalgia (American Graffiti, 74) and science fiction (THX 1138, 71; Star Wars, 77) have been covered by Lucas in his short career. The director shows a knack for details of time and place and the ability to produce skin-deep drama, but his excursions into more complex plots or characters are flawed." - William R. Meyer (The Film Buff's Catalog, 1978)

"You could actually go to school and learn how to make movies. Suddenly everything came together in one place. All my likes, everything I actually seemed to have talent for was right there." - George Lucas