What resulted was a trilogy of films that people despised at the time, but have deservedly gained respect in the years since. He was also such a revolutionary figure in the industry that he was surrounded by 'yes men,' people who were too afraid to challenge him on some of his less successful efforts in these movies.

With figures like Spielberg and Robert Zemeckisturning the job down, as well as seemingly everyone in Hollywood finding the task of following up the original trilogy too daunting, Lucas took it upon himself to write and direct all three episodes. That's where the prequels come into play. He's a fantastic 'ideas guy.' Lucas can come up with a seemingly infinite number of great concepts and ways of building his worlds, he's just not the greatest screenwriter or director around. With Kershner taking directing notes and Kasdan developing a pre-outlined script, Lucas now had the room to continue running Lucasfilm, pushing artists at ILM to innovate in special effects, and further plan the future of Star Wars.īy being able to write Star Wars story treatments and give Lucasfilm and ILM the attention that they deserved, Lucas's degree of involvement in the original Star Wars trilogy has been its biggest contributor to its success. Kershner eventually took the job to direct the sequel and would push for the darker tone that it is now so highly acclaimed for, but still work within the parameters that Lucas set up for him. Lawrence Kasdan would pick up where she left off, taking Lucas's intended story beats for the film, but also giving the Empire his signature witty dialogue. Simply put in the documentary Empire of Dreams, if the first sequel was a dud, there wouldn't have been any more Star Wars! Lucas also approached sci-fi legend Leigh Brackett to write the screenplay, who was able to finish one draft before passing away. He would have to follow up on the biggest movie ever released at that time, doing so with a film that was so good that Lucas could continue making Star Wars movies for as long as he wanted. Kershner was hesitant to take the job for obvious reasons.

George lucas the star wars trilogy