Well I've been getting flooded with email about the "Prequel teaser poster" that was up then down over at the Official Star Wars site. Some people thought it was funny as hell, while others thought it was 'bitchy' as hell. I've heard conspiracy theories that it was revenge from 20th Century Fox for leaving them for Sony, I've heard that George hates Roland and Dean and so on and so on. But nobody seemed to know for sure, well this fella here seems to of been in the right place at the right time to hear exactly what the ol Lucas man thinks of the pair, and this may be a product of that. This was sent in by Mannequin Skywalker....
Re: the whole: "Plot Does Matter" Godzilla slam on the Star Wars web site. My theory is the idea came directly from the Big Man George himself. How do I hunch this? I had a brush with the great one at the premier of ID4 in San Francisco last summer. Lines were wrapping around the block for the soon-to-be sold-out show, so me and my friend had to bribe a corrupt popcorn attendant to get tickets (Don't judge too harshly, I still feel guilty about it). Anyway, we get in to the movie 20 minutes late, so we decide to hang around in the back of the theater and catch the beginning of the next showing (and ended up staying all the way through). It's just us in the theater, hiding behind the curtain, when in through the back door pops 4 people, one of them being a guy who looks just like George Lucas. They sit down, and after a while I get the cajones up to ask him if he really is George Lucas, (Yes) and could he sign my ticket stub (for a friend, an SW freak. He does: To Danny, May the Force be with you, George Lucas). He acted pretty hassled by it, though, which I kind of understand. We go back to the back row of the theater and gaze at him from afar. Pretty soon, other folks start coming in, and they start asking him for autographs. I can tell by body language that he's getting progressively more and more peeved each time. THEN, TO OUR AMAZEMENT, GEORGE AND CO. GET UP AND HE ASKS IF THEY CAN SIT BESIDE US ("You've already got your autographs, he says) WE WERE WAY COOLED OUT!!!!
Turns out, George had already seen ID4 -- Hated it. He was just there to test audience reaction to the premier of the SE trailer, San Francisco being close to Skywalker ranch and all. Anyway, George goes on and on and on and on about how much ID4 sucks. Says "I could write the script for this movie in 1 week and make it in four months. The special effects are cheap." Now, I bit my lip, but I was thinking, "Wait a minute George, we've been waiting how long -- 14 YEARS !!! -- for you to make your next movie.
Anyway, I got the feeling old George wasn't speaking from any kind of charitable point of view. In fact, his whole attitude to the theater slowly filling up to overflow (and the lines around the block, no doubt,) seemed to be one of sheer BLOCKBUSTER ENVY!!!!! He sounded, well, a tad bitchy and insecure. I'm guessing, during his 14 years off, George's had his share of long nights wondering HOW he's going to live up to the pressure of another trilogy (maybe you should call me Sigmund, instead).
All this to say, my sense from the whole encounter (especially the disgusted way he glowered at the theater after it's thunderous review of the trailer) pretty much jives with the below-the-belt shot starwars.com took at Godzilla. I'm not saying George is taking the time off from his production schedule to PhotoShop spoof posters, but I can see him taking a break with a bunch of the guys, and making some crack about "Plot Does Matter," Then some junior assistant guy thinks "Oh cool, I bet the big man would dig it if I put that poster on the site." This would also explain why it came down so quickly -- George or someone else probably though back on it and said "Great try, kid, but you know, that ain't too cool....)
Just a thought.
Here's the poster that appeared on the official Star Wars web site...
