George Lucas to retire from blockbuster filmmaking

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You've all been very mean to him

In news that is certain to go down well with a certain section of our regular users, George Lucas has revealed that he is “retiring” from the business of making blockbusters, and will instead focus on more personal filmmaking.

The quote comes from an interview with the New York Times in which Lucas describes the difficulties he encountered in getting WW2 drama Red Tails made, and how he couldn’t find anyone to distribute a more epic, straight-laced version of the script.

“I can’t make that [ kind of ] movie,” he complained. “I’m going to have make this kind of… entertainment movie. [ So ] I’m retiring. I’m moving away from the business, from the company, from all this kind of stuff.”

And as for the fans who have consistently berated him for his near-constant tinkering with the Star Wars series, Lucas had a few choice words for them too.

“On the Internet, all those same guys that are complaining I made a change are completely changing the movie. I’m saying: ‘Fine. But my movie, with my name on it, that says I did it, needs to be the way I want it.’”

So he won’t be making any more, then? “Why would I make any more,” sniffs Lucas, “when everybody yells at you all the time and says what a terrible person you are?” So long as that rule also applies to the Indiana Jones series, we completely agree… Red Tails opens in the US on 20 January 2012, with a UK release date yet to be confirmed.

George Wales
George Wales

George was once GamesRadar's resident movie news person, based out of London. He understands that all men must die, but he'd rather not think about it. But now he's working at Stylist Magazine.