It has been more than ten years since George Lucas sold Lucasfilm to Disney for $4 billion. The deal, which changed the fate of "Star Wars", effectively put an end to his history as a director and architect of the universe, which defined an entire era in world cinema. Now, at eighty-one years old, Lucas admits that he has finally let go of "Star Wars" and focused on a new дело of his life.
In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, the director said that his current goal is to build The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art in Los Angeles. About a billion dollars has already been spent on the project. The opening is scheduled for next year, and the museum itself will be dedicated to the art of storytelling in all its forms - not only in cinema.
"It's just one gallery out of thirty-three. And I did it more out of a sense of duty," Lucas said, answering a question about the presence of Star Wars in the exhibition. He stressed that he did not want the museum to be associated exclusively with the cult saga. There will indeed be several artifacts in the exhibition, including the N-1 fighter from "The Phantom Menace", but this is where the connection with the franchise effectively ends.
The director also commented on his attitude to the current state of the series: "Disney took it and did it their way. That's how it is. Of course, I left it behind. I have a life. I'm building a museum. It's harder than making movies."
After selling the studio, Disney initially planned to use Lucas' rough sketches for the new trilogy, but soon abandoned the idea. The result was "The Force Awakens", "The Last Jedi" and "The Rise of Skywalker" - films that divided fans and spawned endless debates about what the universe had lost without its creator. However, George Lucas himself has no intention of returning to "Star Wars".