WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.500 Welcome to the Deep Dive, where we take a monumental 00:00:02.500 --> 00:00:04.980 stack of sources and give you the essential knowledge 00:00:04.980 --> 00:00:07.519 fast. Today we're focusing on a figure whose 00:00:07.519 --> 00:00:10.140 name is, well, it's synonymous with modern mythology. 00:00:10.439 --> 00:00:12.900 His imagination gave us lightsabers and spaceships 00:00:12.900 --> 00:00:15.939 and, you know, MIPS. But his true genius, as 00:00:15.939 --> 00:00:18.839 the sources really show, lies maybe more firmly 00:00:18.839 --> 00:00:21.620 rooted in the spreadsheets, in intellectual property 00:00:21.620 --> 00:00:24.379 law, and in the special effects studio. We are, 00:00:24.460 --> 00:00:26.960 of course, talking about George Walton Lucas 00:00:26.960 --> 00:00:29.239 Jr. That's exactly right. I mean, when you start 00:00:29.239 --> 00:00:32.420 to peel back the layers on this massive body 00:00:32.420 --> 00:00:35.659 of source material, you realize that just calling 00:00:35.659 --> 00:00:38.939 him a director or the creator of Star Wars is... 00:00:39.259 --> 00:00:41.619 Well, it's a huge disservice to his actual impact. 00:00:41.920 --> 00:00:44.000 It's just not the full picture. Not at all. This 00:00:44.000 --> 00:00:46.240 is the pioneer of the modern blockbuster economic 00:00:46.240 --> 00:00:48.799 model. He's the architect of the franchise as 00:00:48.799 --> 00:00:51.159 we know it. And maybe most critically, he's a 00:00:51.159 --> 00:00:53.780 technological disruptor who just completely transformed 00:00:53.780 --> 00:00:56.240 how Hollywood makes movies. And what Hollywood 00:00:56.240 --> 00:00:59.159 thinks is valuable. Exactly. Okay, so let's unpack 00:00:59.159 --> 00:01:02.359 this monumental legacy. Our sources cover this 00:01:02.359 --> 00:01:06.230 full and often contradictory arc you have his 00:01:06.230 --> 00:01:09.510 humble california roots as a hot rod racer which 00:01:09.510 --> 00:01:12.150 is an amazing story in itself it is and then 00:01:12.150 --> 00:01:14.370 this unexpected pivot into the world of like 00:01:14.370 --> 00:01:17.790 avant -garde film then the founding of these 00:01:17.790 --> 00:01:20.290 technological empires industrial light and magic 00:01:20.290 --> 00:01:24.170 ilm skywalker sound thx and then of course the 00:01:24.170 --> 00:01:27.310 seismic event The sale of Lucasfilm to Disney. 00:01:27.430 --> 00:01:29.769 We're talking about a man who, after that sale, 00:01:29.890 --> 00:01:31.750 became one of the wealthiest film celebrities 00:01:31.750 --> 00:01:33.549 in the world. I mean, the network is estimated 00:01:33.549 --> 00:01:36.489 up to, what, $9 .4 billion? It's a staggering 00:01:36.489 --> 00:01:39.629 figure. Yeah. And our mission in this deep dive 00:01:39.629 --> 00:01:41.750 is really to get at that tension. We're looking 00:01:41.750 --> 00:01:44.230 at Lucas not just as a storyteller who borrowed 00:01:44.230 --> 00:01:46.310 from Joseph Campbell. Which he did. Oh, absolutely. 00:01:46.530 --> 00:01:48.590 Yeah. But also as this independent entrepreneur 00:01:48.590 --> 00:01:52.030 who saw technology and financial control as the 00:01:52.030 --> 00:01:54.469 ultimate path to creative freedom. We're tracking 00:01:54.469 --> 00:01:56.730 his evolution. from a student obsessed with non 00:01:56.730 --> 00:01:59.909 -narrative film all the way to a global philanthropist 00:01:59.909 --> 00:02:01.950 who pledged to donate the majority of that $4 00:02:01.950 --> 00:02:05.430 billion Disney sale to charity, specifically 00:02:05.430 --> 00:02:08.569 to improving education. It's the ultimate expression 00:02:08.569 --> 00:02:10.949 of creative independence, isn't it? You build 00:02:10.949 --> 00:02:12.909 the machine, you sell the machine, and then you 00:02:12.909 --> 00:02:15.270 use the money to try and change the world. Let's 00:02:15.270 --> 00:02:17.669 dive into the earliest influences that shaped 00:02:17.669 --> 00:02:20.689 this incredible trajectory. We're starting in 00:02:20.689 --> 00:02:23.569 Modesto, California. George Lucas was born there, 00:02:23.629 --> 00:02:27.750 May 14th, 1944. And the sources, they paint a 00:02:27.750 --> 00:02:29.969 picture of a pretty typical post -war American 00:02:29.969 --> 00:02:32.509 childhood. Yeah, but with his really diverse 00:02:32.509 --> 00:02:35.849 European background, German, Swiss German, English, 00:02:36.030 --> 00:02:38.289 Scottish, and even some distant Dutch and French 00:02:38.289 --> 00:02:40.340 in there. In his early interest, they really 00:02:40.340 --> 00:02:42.780 show the two sides of what his career would become. 00:02:42.919 --> 00:02:45.379 They absolutely do. On one hand, you have the 00:02:45.379 --> 00:02:47.639 escapist fun, right? The early love for science 00:02:47.639 --> 00:02:50.379 fiction, just consuming Flash Gordon cereals 00:02:50.379 --> 00:02:52.740 and comics, all the pulp adventure stuff that 00:02:52.740 --> 00:02:55.039 would directly feed into Star Wars. But on the 00:02:55.039 --> 00:02:58.060 other hand... You see this deep fascination with 00:02:58.060 --> 00:03:01.460 real world mechanics, with experiential environments. 00:03:01.740 --> 00:03:04.020 I mean, the fact that he visited Disneyland during 00:03:04.020 --> 00:03:07.020 its opening week in 1955. That's a great detail. 00:03:07.199 --> 00:03:09.300 It is because it shows he was just as interested 00:03:09.300 --> 00:03:12.000 in how things were made as he was in what they 00:03:12.000 --> 00:03:13.979 were about. But the thing that really consumed 00:03:13.979 --> 00:03:16.180 him in high school wasn't movies or space. It 00:03:16.180 --> 00:03:18.639 was speed. It was race car driving. Absolutely. 00:03:18.740 --> 00:03:20.819 That was his entire world. He spent his high 00:03:20.819 --> 00:03:23.560 school years just. Dedicated to racing, hanging 00:03:23.560 --> 00:03:25.960 out at garages. Driving his own car. Oh yeah, 00:03:26.060 --> 00:03:28.719 his customized, souped up, auto Bianchi beyond 00:03:28.719 --> 00:03:31.180 China. He drove it on the underground circuit 00:03:31.180 --> 00:03:33.400 at fairgrounds. His whole plan was to become 00:03:33.400 --> 00:03:36.060 a professional racer. He was all in. And this 00:03:36.060 --> 00:03:39.060 is where fate, in a, well, a truly cinematic 00:03:39.060 --> 00:03:43.099 turn, intervenes. Violently. Just days before 00:03:43.099 --> 00:03:45.719 his high school graduation on June 12, 1962. 00:03:46.439 --> 00:03:49.699 This event is so pivotal. He was driving. And 00:03:49.699 --> 00:03:52.099 he got broadsided by another driver. His car, 00:03:52.180 --> 00:03:54.659 the Bianchina, it flipped multiple times before 00:03:54.659 --> 00:03:56.599 crashing into an almond tree. Just a horrific 00:03:56.599 --> 00:03:59.900 accident. Near fatal. But here's the profound 00:03:59.900 --> 00:04:03.560 twist of fate that the sources detail. The seatbelt 00:04:03.560 --> 00:04:07.620 in his car. It snapped. It broke. It snapped. 00:04:07.780 --> 00:04:10.120 And that ejected him from the car just before 00:04:10.120 --> 00:04:12.460 it hit the tree. Wait, so the seatbelt failing 00:04:12.460 --> 00:04:14.919 is what actually saved his life? It's exactly 00:04:14.919 --> 00:04:17.720 what saved his life. That single mechanical failure 00:04:17.720 --> 00:04:20.300 is what prevented him from being crushed. I mean, 00:04:20.300 --> 00:04:23.220 he was still badly injured, bruised lungs, severe 00:04:23.220 --> 00:04:25.959 internal hemorrhaging, but he survived. Wow. 00:04:27.160 --> 00:04:29.720 It's a literal accident that rewrites his entire 00:04:29.720 --> 00:04:32.060 destiny. It completely shifted his mindset. He 00:04:32.060 --> 00:04:34.480 was, what, 18? Confronting his own mortality. 00:04:34.480 --> 00:04:36.899 And the sources are clear that this new death 00:04:36.899 --> 00:04:38.720 experience just made him lose all interest in 00:04:38.720 --> 00:04:40.480 racing as a career. He had to find something 00:04:40.480 --> 00:04:42.620 else. He had to pivot. So he turns to academia. 00:04:42.720 --> 00:04:45.360 He starts at Modesto Junior College, studying 00:04:45.360 --> 00:04:48.899 anthropology, sociology, literature, trying to 00:04:48.899 --> 00:04:51.480 find some broader human context. And at the same 00:04:51.480 --> 00:04:53.680 time, he starts shooting with an 8mm camera, 00:04:53.920 --> 00:04:56.810 filming the car races he's not in anymore. And 00:04:56.810 --> 00:04:59.069 from there, he transfers to the University of 00:04:59.069 --> 00:05:01.230 Southern California, USC, to the School of Cinematic 00:05:01.230 --> 00:05:05.470 Arts. But his focus was still pretty far from 00:05:05.470 --> 00:05:08.089 Hollywood storytelling. Oh, very far. His influences 00:05:08.089 --> 00:05:11.449 were the abstract, the non -narrative, the experimental 00:05:11.449 --> 00:05:14.189 stuff. He was just soaking up the work of these 00:05:14.189 --> 00:05:16.649 16 -millimeter underground filmmakers at Canyon 00:05:16.649 --> 00:05:19.129 Cinema. The who? People like Jordan Belson, who 00:05:19.129 --> 00:05:22.009 did these abstract light studies. Stan Brakhage, 00:05:22.149 --> 00:05:24.490 who was famous for, like, scratching directly 00:05:24.490 --> 00:05:28.230 onto the film stock. Bruce Conner, who pioneered 00:05:28.230 --> 00:05:30.829 this rapid collage editing. So very high art, 00:05:30.870 --> 00:05:33.449 very experimental. Totally. And he was also studying 00:05:33.449 --> 00:05:35.329 the classics, you know, Goddard's Breathless, 00:05:35.449 --> 00:05:38.269 Fellini's Eight and a Half. This mix of high 00:05:38.269 --> 00:05:40.829 art, visual experimentation, and, you know, this 00:05:40.829 --> 00:05:44.069 technical obsession, it seems critical. He wasn't 00:05:44.069 --> 00:05:46.009 learning how to tell a story in the traditional 00:05:46.009 --> 00:05:48.069 sense. No, he was learning the language of light 00:05:48.069 --> 00:05:50.949 and motion. And that aesthetic was really codified 00:05:50.949 --> 00:05:53.790 by his education at USC. He became part of the 00:05:53.790 --> 00:05:56.350 Dirty Dozen, that legendary group of film students. 00:05:56.509 --> 00:05:58.889 Walter Murch was in that group, right? Yep. Walter 00:05:58.889 --> 00:06:01.769 Murch, who became an editing genius, John Milius. 00:06:02.449 --> 00:06:05.250 And he also befriended future titans like Steven 00:06:05.250 --> 00:06:08.300 Spielberg and Martin Scorsese. Tell us more about 00:06:08.300 --> 00:06:10.660 the curriculum, though. The sources really emphasize 00:06:10.660 --> 00:06:13.639 how conceptual his film education was. It was 00:06:13.639 --> 00:06:16.019 revolutionary, really. He was deeply influenced 00:06:16.019 --> 00:06:18.439 by this course from Lester Navarro's called Filmic 00:06:18.439 --> 00:06:21.500 Expression, and it completely threw out traditional 00:06:21.500 --> 00:06:24.319 narrative. So what did it focus on? It focused 00:06:24.319 --> 00:06:26.980 on the non -narrative elements, the power of 00:06:26.980 --> 00:06:28.959 color, the rhythm of light, movement, space, 00:06:29.160 --> 00:06:32.439 time. This was all built on Slavko Vorkavich's 00:06:32.439 --> 00:06:35.850 theory about the kinetic energy of cinema. Lucas 00:06:35.850 --> 00:06:38.410 just fell in love with this idea of pure cinema. 00:06:38.569 --> 00:06:41.250 That explains so much why he initially called 00:06:41.250 --> 00:06:43.930 himself a filmmaker, not a director. Exactly. 00:06:44.029 --> 00:06:46.850 A director was about actors and drama. A filmmaker 00:06:46.850 --> 00:06:49.509 was about the technical craft, the cinematography, 00:06:49.610 --> 00:06:51.870 the editing. He wanted to make films that work 00:06:51.870 --> 00:06:54.129 like music or abstract paintings. It's just so 00:06:54.129 --> 00:06:56.129 ironic, given that he became the world's greatest 00:06:56.129 --> 00:06:58.329 granicist. But the foundation of his craft was 00:06:58.329 --> 00:07:00.490 always technical. The manipulation of images 00:07:00.490 --> 00:07:03.370 and sound, not necessarily writing great dialogue. 00:07:03.470 --> 00:07:05.829 That distinction is key. And one last detail 00:07:05.829 --> 00:07:07.990 from this period that just speaks volumes about 00:07:07.990 --> 00:07:11.790 his path. After graduating in 1967, he tries 00:07:11.790 --> 00:07:14.230 to join the Air Force. And gets rejected for 00:07:14.230 --> 00:07:16.649 the most perfect reason. Numerous speeding tickets. 00:07:16.870 --> 00:07:20.009 A perfect echo of his racing past. And then he 00:07:20.009 --> 00:07:21.870 gets exempted from the Vietnam draft because 00:07:21.870 --> 00:07:23.769 of diabetes, the same disease that killed his 00:07:23.769 --> 00:07:26.250 grandfather. So he was just literally free from 00:07:26.250 --> 00:07:29.149 any institutional obligations. He could pursue 00:07:29.149 --> 00:07:31.410 his own experimental vision. And that pursuit 00:07:31.410 --> 00:07:34.560 of pure cinema is immediately obvious. in his 00:07:34.560 --> 00:07:37.519 work right after USC. He was creating these abstract 00:07:37.519 --> 00:07:41.439 visual tone poems. Right. Films designed to evoke 00:07:41.439 --> 00:07:43.660 emotion purely through non -narrative structures. 00:07:44.040 --> 00:07:46.120 He was inspired by stuff from the National Film 00:07:46.120 --> 00:07:49.420 Board of Canada, like 2187. His early films, 00:07:49.519 --> 00:07:53.420 Look at Life, 1 .42 .08, they were all non -story, 00:07:53.560 --> 00:07:56.300 non -character studies. But the short film, Electronic 00:07:56.300 --> 00:08:01.259 Labyrinth, THX 1138 -4EB from 1967, that's the 00:08:01.259 --> 00:08:03.240 one that really acts as a bridge, isn't it? That's 00:08:03.240 --> 00:08:05.240 the... critical transition piece. He directed 00:08:05.240 --> 00:08:07.279 it while he was teaching documentary cinematography 00:08:07.279 --> 00:08:09.740 to U .S. Navy students, believe it or not. That's 00:08:09.740 --> 00:08:12.120 incredible. And it distilled all his abstract 00:08:12.120 --> 00:08:15.500 ideas into this dystopian future setting. It's 00:08:15.500 --> 00:08:17.519 all about editing and sound design creating an 00:08:17.519 --> 00:08:19.759 atmosphere. It's a technical exercise first, 00:08:19.899 --> 00:08:22.420 a story second. But that technical excellence 00:08:22.420 --> 00:08:25.160 got him noticed. It won first prize at the National 00:08:25.160 --> 00:08:27.800 Student Film Festival. And that landed him a 00:08:27.800 --> 00:08:30.240 Warner Bros. scholarship. which is how he ends 00:08:30.240 --> 00:08:32.480 up on the set of Francis Ford Coppola's film 00:08:32.480 --> 00:08:36.320 Finian's Rainbow in 1968. And that observation, 00:08:36.500 --> 00:08:39.340 it quickly blossoms into the defining partnership 00:08:39.340 --> 00:08:41.960 of his early career. Because they shared a frustration 00:08:41.960 --> 00:08:46.100 with the system. Exactly. In 1969, they co -found 00:08:46.100 --> 00:08:48.639 American Zoetrope up in the San Francisco Bay 00:08:48.639 --> 00:08:51.210 Area. This was a deliberate ideological move. 00:08:51.389 --> 00:08:53.750 It was a countercultural base designed to escape 00:08:53.750 --> 00:08:56.470 what they saw as the oppressive control of the 00:08:56.470 --> 00:08:58.190 Hollywood studio system. They wanted to be able 00:08:58.190 --> 00:09:00.110 to have final cut. And just a liberating environment 00:09:00.110 --> 00:09:02.730 for filmmakers. And their first real attempt 00:09:02.730 --> 00:09:05.210 at that liberation was the feature -length version 00:09:05.210 --> 00:09:08.210 of his short, THX Alone 38. It showed off his 00:09:08.210 --> 00:09:11.269 unique visual style, got critical praise. But 00:09:11.269 --> 00:09:14.029 it was a financial catastrophe. An absolute bomb. 00:09:14.330 --> 00:09:16.929 And the sources show that this failure was maybe 00:09:16.929 --> 00:09:18.830 more formative for him than any of his later 00:09:18.830 --> 00:09:21.350 successes. Why is that? Because it taught him 00:09:21.350 --> 00:09:24.269 that even with critical acclaim, Hollywood would 00:09:24.269 --> 00:09:26.590 try to compromise your vision if they held the 00:09:26.590 --> 00:09:29.169 purse strings. It just cemented his core belief. 00:09:30.450 --> 00:09:33.090 Financial independence is the only way to have 00:09:33.090 --> 00:09:35.629 creative independence. So right after that failure, 00:09:35.769 --> 00:09:38.330 he just doubles down on being self -reliant. 00:09:38.429 --> 00:09:41.330 Immediately. He creates his own company, Lucasfilm 00:09:41.330 --> 00:09:45.720 LTD. founded in 71, incorporated in 77. He realized 00:09:45.720 --> 00:09:48.000 the only way to escape the studio system was 00:09:48.000 --> 00:09:50.860 to stop relying on it. And this leads him directly 00:09:50.860 --> 00:09:53.860 to his next feature, American Graffiti, in 1973. 00:09:54.899 --> 00:09:57.200 which is such a pivot away from the abstract 00:09:57.200 --> 00:10:00.580 dystopia of THX. A total pivot. He was inspired 00:10:00.580 --> 00:10:03.139 by his own youth in Modesto in the early 60s. 00:10:03.159 --> 00:10:05.500 It's purely nostalgic, intensely commercial. 00:10:05.919 --> 00:10:08.399 A slice of Americana. The whole narrative is 00:10:08.399 --> 00:10:10.399 just pure kinetics, isn't it? The movement of 00:10:10.399 --> 00:10:12.419 the cars, the rhythm of the rock and roll radio. 00:10:12.779 --> 00:10:15.379 And it connected with audiences instantly. Huge 00:10:15.379 --> 00:10:17.960 success. Five Oscar nominations, including Best 00:10:17.960 --> 00:10:20.899 Director and Best Picture. And this is the first 00:10:20.899 --> 00:10:23.399 major financial turning point for him. He becomes 00:10:23.399 --> 00:10:25.879 a millionaire at 28 just from this one film. 00:10:26.039 --> 00:10:29.799 And crucially, the sources emphasize this. That 00:10:29.799 --> 00:10:32.600 success gave him the exact financial leverage 00:10:32.600 --> 00:10:36.240 he needed to propose a project so bizarre. So 00:10:36.240 --> 00:10:38.919 unproven that no studio would touch it otherwise. 00:10:39.200 --> 00:10:42.340 Star Wars. Star Wars. The birth of it as a concept, 00:10:42.480 --> 00:10:44.759 it started with him wanting to adapt the old 00:10:44.759 --> 00:10:47.419 Flash Gordon serials, a childhood favorite. Right, 00:10:47.519 --> 00:10:49.559 but he couldn't get the rights, so he was forced 00:10:49.559 --> 00:10:52.549 to create his own original space adventure. And 00:10:52.549 --> 00:10:55.129 that originality was built on some deep cultural 00:10:55.129 --> 00:10:57.549 foundation. Oh, absolutely. It was heavily influenced 00:10:57.549 --> 00:11:00.389 by Akira Kurosawa's samurai films. I mean, The 00:11:00.389 --> 00:11:03.250 Hidden Fortress from 1958. You can trace the 00:11:03.250 --> 00:11:06.389 lineage of R2 -D2 and C -3PO directly back to 00:11:06.389 --> 00:11:08.870 Kurosawa's two bickering peasants in that film. 00:11:09.009 --> 00:11:10.809 He also pulled from spaghetti westerns, right? 00:11:10.990 --> 00:11:13.730 Totally. The Wandering Heroes, the morally ambiguous 00:11:13.730 --> 00:11:16.529 Frontier Justice, and then just classic sword 00:11:16.529 --> 00:11:18.750 and sorcery fantasy. It was a mashup of everything 00:11:18.750 --> 00:11:20.450 he loved. But the sources are clear. This was 00:11:20.450 --> 00:11:22.139 a radical project for Hollywood. Hollywood in 00:11:22.139 --> 00:11:25.440 the mid 70s. Radical is an understatement. Every 00:11:25.440 --> 00:11:28.440 single studio but one turned him down. The only 00:11:28.440 --> 00:11:31.080 person who forced it through was Alan Ladd Jr., 00:11:31.080 --> 00:11:33.919 a 20th century fox who backed him on American 00:11:33.919 --> 00:11:36.259 graffiti. There's just no studio belief in it. 00:11:36.299 --> 00:11:39.000 Zero. The production was a disaster. Technical 00:11:39.000 --> 00:11:42.159 failures, budget out of control. It was just 00:11:42.159 --> 00:11:45.000 a mess. And then the success was immediate, unexpected 00:11:45.000 --> 00:11:48.539 and just seismic. It became the highest grossing 00:11:48.539 --> 00:11:51.399 film of its time, and it literally saved Fox 00:11:51.399 --> 00:11:53.799 from financial ruin. But you can't gloss over 00:11:53.799 --> 00:11:55.899 the personal cost of that. The production and 00:11:55.899 --> 00:11:58.240 post -production were so intense that Lucas, 00:11:58.419 --> 00:12:00.659 who was only in his early 30s, suffered from 00:12:00.659 --> 00:12:03.059 hypertension and severe exhaustion. He initially 00:12:03.059 --> 00:12:05.320 thought he was having a heart attack. Wow. And 00:12:05.320 --> 00:12:07.139 the sources note that this immense professional 00:12:07.139 --> 00:12:09.799 strain contributed significantly to the stress 00:12:09.799 --> 00:12:12.200 in his personal life, leading up to his divorce 00:12:12.200 --> 00:12:16.139 from his first wife, Marcia Lucas, in 1983. The 00:12:16.139 --> 00:12:18.440 foundation of the empire was laid in creative 00:12:18.440 --> 00:12:20.679 and personal stress. And here is where the narrative 00:12:20.679 --> 00:12:23.100 shifts completely. Lucas the filmmaker, you know, 00:12:23.100 --> 00:12:25.320 scarred by the financial failure of THX and the 00:12:25.320 --> 00:12:27.860 personal strain of Star Wars, he transforms into 00:12:27.860 --> 00:12:30.860 Lucas the mogul. He does. Before filming Star 00:12:30.860 --> 00:12:33.840 Wars, he's offered $150 ,000 to write and direct. 00:12:34.159 --> 00:12:36.799 His advisors tell him, hold out for more money, 00:12:36.899 --> 00:12:39.940 get a bigger piece of the box office. He says 00:12:39.940 --> 00:12:42.659 no. And he makes what is arguably the single 00:12:42.659 --> 00:12:45.080 smartest business decision in the history of 00:12:45.080 --> 00:12:48.840 cinema. The key negotiation. Instead of a bigger 00:12:48.840 --> 00:12:51.940 fee, he negotiates for ownership of two revenue 00:12:51.940 --> 00:12:55.580 streams that the studio, 20th Century Fox, thought 00:12:55.580 --> 00:12:59.179 were basically worthless. Licensing and merchandising 00:12:59.179 --> 00:13:01.519 rights. Exactly. Which included toys, clothing, 00:13:01.700 --> 00:13:04.309 novelizations, and crucially... ownership of 00:13:04.309 --> 00:13:06.990 the sequels the sources explain that fox's financial 00:13:06.990 --> 00:13:09.529 team they were just focused on ticket sales they 00:13:09.529 --> 00:13:11.690 happily gave up those rights because back in 00:13:11.690 --> 00:13:15.730 1977 toy sales were considered a tiny tiny revenue 00:13:15.730 --> 00:13:17.850 stream they thought he was a fool they thought 00:13:17.850 --> 00:13:19.649 he was giving up guaranteed money for a gamble 00:13:19.649 --> 00:13:22.830 on some plastic junk and that gamble it pays 00:13:22.830 --> 00:13:25.250 off exponentially it basically defines the economic 00:13:25.250 --> 00:13:27.929 model for the modern blockbuster I mean, Lucasfilm 00:13:27.929 --> 00:13:29.830 has earned hundreds and hundreds of millions 00:13:29.830 --> 00:13:33.009 of dollars just from licensed games, toys, and 00:13:33.009 --> 00:13:36.610 collectibles. And that stream of income gave 00:13:36.610 --> 00:13:38.889 him an operational budget completely independent 00:13:38.889 --> 00:13:41.529 of the studio system. Which means he alone decided 00:13:41.529 --> 00:13:44.370 what films got made and how. It was creative 00:13:44.370 --> 00:13:46.549 independence on a scale nobody had ever seen 00:13:46.549 --> 00:13:48.549 before. And the first thing he did with that 00:13:48.549 --> 00:13:50.850 independence was build his own self -sustaining 00:13:50.850 --> 00:13:54.169 ecosystem of companies to ensure he would never, 00:13:54.230 --> 00:13:57.159 ever... have to rely on a studio's technical 00:13:57.159 --> 00:14:00.240 capabilities again. Let's delve into this Lucasfilm 00:14:00.240 --> 00:14:02.940 ecosystem. First and foremost, you have to talk 00:14:02.940 --> 00:14:06.139 about Industrial Light and Magic, ILM, founded 00:14:06.139 --> 00:14:09.220 in 1975. And this was born out of pure necessity. 00:14:10.019 --> 00:14:12.340 The in -house effects department at 20th Century 00:14:12.340 --> 00:14:15.250 Fox was non -functional. It was useless for what 00:14:15.250 --> 00:14:18.269 Star Wars needed. So he just built his own effects 00:14:18.269 --> 00:14:20.750 house from the ground up. Yes. He gathered this 00:14:20.750 --> 00:14:23.370 small, dedicated team of engineers and artists, 00:14:23.629 --> 00:14:26.549 John Dykstra, Dennis Mirren, Joe Johnston, and 00:14:26.549 --> 00:14:28.389 put them in a warehouse in Van Nuys. And he named 00:14:28.389 --> 00:14:30.690 it after the light industrial zoning of the area. 00:14:31.009 --> 00:14:35.190 Exactly. And ILM's goal was simple. Create effects 00:14:35.190 --> 00:14:38.000 that had never been seen before. And their big 00:14:38.000 --> 00:14:40.620 invention, the Dijkstra Flex, was revolutionary. 00:14:40.960 --> 00:14:43.259 What was the Dijkstra Flex and why was it such 00:14:43.259 --> 00:14:45.580 a huge deal? It was a computer controlled motion 00:14:45.580 --> 00:14:48.759 control camera system. Before this, trying to 00:14:48.759 --> 00:14:51.100 repeat a camera move perfectly was almost impossible. 00:14:51.480 --> 00:14:53.960 You couldn't layer effect shots convincingly. 00:14:53.980 --> 00:14:56.279 Right. The Dijkstra Flex lets you execute the 00:14:56.279 --> 00:14:59.100 exact same camera move hundreds of times perfectly. 00:14:59.419 --> 00:15:01.919 So you could layer spaceships, lasers, stars, 00:15:02.039 --> 00:15:04.519 all onto one piece of film with digital precision. 00:15:04.940 --> 00:15:07.460 It just shattered the old limitations. And ILM 00:15:07.460 --> 00:15:10.220 immediately became the global leader. Instantly. 00:15:10.539 --> 00:15:13.240 And the financial benefit was staggering. The 00:15:13.240 --> 00:15:15.379 sources note that ILM made money from almost 00:15:15.379 --> 00:15:17.659 every big budget special effects film released 00:15:17.659 --> 00:15:20.220 in the U .S. from the late 80s until the Disney 00:15:20.220 --> 00:15:22.679 sale. He built the operating system for movie 00:15:22.679 --> 00:15:25.149 magic and then charged everyone to use it. And 00:15:25.149 --> 00:15:27.070 alongside ILM, he builds up the Sound Division, 00:15:27.370 --> 00:15:29.309 Skywalker Sound, and this audio standardization 00:15:29.309 --> 00:15:33.129 company, THX, in 1983. And THX, which stands 00:15:33.129 --> 00:15:35.570 for Tomlinson -Holman's Experiment, was basically 00:15:35.570 --> 00:15:38.750 a quality assurance program. Lucas was sick of 00:15:38.750 --> 00:15:41.269 creating these pristine soundscapes for his films. 00:15:41.470 --> 00:15:43.669 Only to have them butchered by bad movie theater 00:15:43.669 --> 00:15:46.509 speakers? Yeah, exactly. Poorly maintained, incorrectly 00:15:46.509 --> 00:15:50.629 calibrated. So THX certified theaters based on 00:15:50.629 --> 00:15:53.090 strict standards for sound, acoustics, and even 00:15:53.090 --> 00:15:55.830 image quality. He was demanding technical perfection 00:15:55.830 --> 00:15:58.529 from the exhibitors. He really did build a fortress 00:15:58.529 --> 00:16:00.649 where he controlled every aspect of production, 00:16:00.870 --> 00:16:03.169 post -production, and even how it was shown. 00:16:03.450 --> 00:16:06.450 And this incredible technological ambition also 00:16:06.450 --> 00:16:10.500 sort of accidentally birthed Pixar. Right. It 00:16:10.500 --> 00:16:13.600 started in 1979 as the Graphics Group, one part 00:16:13.600 --> 00:16:15.740 of Lucasfilm's computer division. They were doing 00:16:15.740 --> 00:16:17.899 pioneering computer graphics research. They made 00:16:17.899 --> 00:16:20.240 early digital films like The Adventures of Andre 00:16:20.240 --> 00:16:22.700 and Wally B. And they did effects for movies 00:16:22.700 --> 00:16:24.659 like Star Trek II and Young Sherlock Holmes. 00:16:24.799 --> 00:16:27.100 That sounds like an incredibly powerful asset. 00:16:27.259 --> 00:16:29.259 So why did he sell it? Why let go of what would 00:16:29.259 --> 00:16:31.360 become the world's leading animation studio? 00:16:31.899 --> 00:16:34.539 It was a purely rational business decision. The 00:16:34.539 --> 00:16:36.879 sources are very clear about this. Steve Jobs 00:16:36.879 --> 00:16:39.620 bought it in 86 for five million, plus another 00:16:39.620 --> 00:16:42.360 five million in capital right after he left Apple. 00:16:42.480 --> 00:16:44.539 And Lucas sold it because because it was a cash 00:16:44.539 --> 00:16:46.580 drain. These high level research projects had 00:16:46.580 --> 00:16:49.809 been losing money for seven years. Lucas wanted 00:16:49.809 --> 00:16:52.409 to refocus Lucasfilm on creating entertainment, 00:16:52.769 --> 00:16:55.990 the profitable IP not developing tools for the 00:16:55.990 --> 00:16:58.110 industry. That makes perfect sense from a business 00:16:58.110 --> 00:17:00.649 perspective. To vest the R &D arm, focus on the 00:17:00.649 --> 00:17:02.970 blockbusters. But this period wasn't all just 00:17:02.970 --> 00:17:06.119 upward financial success. Maintaining this independence 00:17:06.119 --> 00:17:09.519 required some ruthless business decisions. In 00:17:09.519 --> 00:17:12.359 1980, even after the success of Star Wars, Lucas 00:17:12.359 --> 00:17:14.960 fired his manager and laid off half of the L 00:17:14.960 --> 00:17:17.859 .A. staff. Half the staff. That seems brutal 00:17:17.859 --> 00:17:19.680 for a company that's all about creative freedom. 00:17:19.920 --> 00:17:21.759 He was fighting corporate bloat. The company 00:17:21.759 --> 00:17:24.880 had grown to almost 100 employees and costs were 00:17:24.880 --> 00:17:27.579 skyrocketing. His manager had suggested some 00:17:27.579 --> 00:17:29.980 financially risky moves, like selling off parts 00:17:29.980 --> 00:17:32.940 of Skywalker Ranch to invest elsewhere. And Lucas's 00:17:32.940 --> 00:17:36.009 response was decisive. He cut the staff immediately 00:17:36.009 --> 00:17:38.750 to maintain focus and protect the core assets. 00:17:39.150 --> 00:17:42.009 It was a clear statement. Independence means 00:17:42.009 --> 00:17:45.089 a lean, controlled operation. And this financial 00:17:45.089 --> 00:17:48.569 vigilance continued. By 1983, he's worth around 00:17:48.569 --> 00:17:51.670 $60 million, but he's facing cash flow problems. 00:17:51.769 --> 00:17:53.769 Right, because of his divorce settlement, which 00:17:53.769 --> 00:17:55.849 happened to coincide with a sudden drop -off 00:17:55.849 --> 00:17:58.609 in Star Wars revenues after Return of the Jedi's 00:17:58.609 --> 00:18:01.039 theatrical run ended. So he wasn't suddenly poor, 00:18:01.259 --> 00:18:03.900 but he was facing liquidity issues. And that 00:18:03.900 --> 00:18:06.279 period of financial strain is absolutely crucial 00:18:06.279 --> 00:18:08.759 context for understanding why he decided to take 00:18:08.759 --> 00:18:11.700 a long, long hiatus from directing features. 00:18:11.940 --> 00:18:14.720 So from about 1977 all the way through 1993, 00:18:15.319 --> 00:18:18.259 Lucas basically steps away from the director's 00:18:18.259 --> 00:18:21.299 chair. He's the CEO, the idea man, the architect. 00:18:21.599 --> 00:18:24.039 But he lets other people do the actual filming. 00:18:24.240 --> 00:18:26.000 He was protecting his health and maximizing his 00:18:26.000 --> 00:18:28.460 resources. He produced and co -wrote the original 00:18:28.460 --> 00:18:31.480 Star Wars. sequels, but he very consciously commissioned 00:18:31.480 --> 00:18:34.099 other directors to shoulder the physical burden. 00:18:34.359 --> 00:18:37.119 Irvin Kershner for Empire. And Richard Marcon 00:18:37.119 --> 00:18:39.680 for Jedi. And during this time, he also cements 00:18:39.680 --> 00:18:42.599 another huge creative partnership born out of 00:18:42.599 --> 00:18:45.920 those USC friendships, the Indiana Jones franchise 00:18:45.920 --> 00:18:48.640 with Steven Spielberg. A phenomenal success. 00:18:48.940 --> 00:18:52.019 Lucas created, produced, and co -wrote the stories 00:18:52.019 --> 00:18:54.640 for the first four films, and Spielberg directed. 00:18:55.180 --> 00:18:57.859 It was just a perfect marriage of Lucas's pulp 00:18:57.859 --> 00:19:00.740 storytelling instincts and Spielberg's incredible 00:19:00.740 --> 00:19:03.519 directorial mastery. His production portfolio 00:19:03.519 --> 00:19:07.019 from this era is so wide -ranging. He executive 00:19:07.019 --> 00:19:09.900 produced Akira Kurosawa's Kegimusha. Which is 00:19:09.900 --> 00:19:12.319 incredible, helping a master like that. He also 00:19:12.319 --> 00:19:14.619 did Jim Henson's Labyrinth, Ron Howard's Willow, 00:19:14.640 --> 00:19:17.259 and that really ambitious educational TV show, 00:19:17.380 --> 00:19:19.519 The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles. But even 00:19:19.519 --> 00:19:21.500 with all that success, the sources point out 00:19:21.500 --> 00:19:24.470 that he had some big misses. Oh, yeah. He produced 00:19:24.470 --> 00:19:26.430 the biggest flop of his career during this time, 00:19:26.529 --> 00:19:28.769 Howard the Duck. Ah, great. It was a good reminder 00:19:28.769 --> 00:19:30.910 that even high -tech special effects mastery 00:19:30.910 --> 00:19:33.029 doesn't guarantee a hit if the story isn't there. 00:19:33.230 --> 00:19:35.410 Speaking of foundations, we have to talk about 00:19:35.410 --> 00:19:38.150 the secret sauce of his collaboration, the music 00:19:38.150 --> 00:19:40.849 of John Williams. The sources suggest a really 00:19:40.849 --> 00:19:42.970 interesting moment of artistic disagreement here. 00:19:43.210 --> 00:19:45.910 It's so ironic, isn't it? Lucas, the champion 00:19:45.910 --> 00:19:48.710 of high -tech futurism, initially wanted to do 00:19:48.710 --> 00:19:52.240 what Kubrick did with 2001. Use pre -existing 00:19:52.240 --> 00:19:55.140 classical music for Star Wars. He wanted to feel 00:19:55.140 --> 00:19:58.039 abstract and alien. And Williams convinced him 00:19:58.039 --> 00:20:01.019 to go the opposite way. He argued that the film's 00:20:01.019 --> 00:20:03.400 mythical themes needed classical leitmotifs, 00:20:03.460 --> 00:20:06.039 recurring themes, inspired by composers like 00:20:06.039 --> 00:20:08.960 Holst and Walton, to ground the emotion. He said 00:20:08.960 --> 00:20:11.160 the technology should look futuristic, but the 00:20:11.160 --> 00:20:13.759 emotions should be timeless. Exactly. Rooted 00:20:13.759 --> 00:20:16.180 in an operatic structure. And the result was, 00:20:16.339 --> 00:20:20.119 well, the score for Star Wars won an Oscar. near 00:20:20.119 --> 00:20:22.819 the greatest film score of all time by the AFI. 00:20:23.289 --> 00:20:25.410 Lucas himself called Williams the secret sauce 00:20:25.410 --> 00:20:28.029 of his movies. It shows his ability to recognize 00:20:28.029 --> 00:20:30.269 when someone else's vision could elevate his 00:20:30.269 --> 00:20:33.029 own. But the big question is after two decades 00:20:33.029 --> 00:20:35.450 of producing, what drove him back to directing 00:20:35.450 --> 00:20:37.509 for the prequels? Well, there were a few key 00:20:37.509 --> 00:20:39.650 drivers, according to the sources. First, there 00:20:39.650 --> 00:20:42.470 was a real financial reason. His 1987 divorce 00:20:42.470 --> 00:20:44.789 settlement had taken a big bite out of his fortune. 00:20:44.910 --> 00:20:47.329 So returning to his most valuable IP made sense. 00:20:47.490 --> 00:20:49.809 And second, he was just creatively tempted by 00:20:49.809 --> 00:20:52.559 the new technology. Totally. He was tantalized 00:20:52.559 --> 00:20:55.259 by the possibilities of CGI that ILM was now 00:20:55.259 --> 00:20:57.900 developing. He saw a chance to make films that 00:20:57.900 --> 00:20:59.740 could only exist through digital manipulation. 00:21:00.160 --> 00:21:03.099 It was a way to finally achieve that pure cinema 00:21:03.099 --> 00:21:05.339 he was always chasing. And, of course, the fan 00:21:05.339 --> 00:21:08.119 base was ravenous for new material thanks to 00:21:08.119 --> 00:21:11.000 the novels and comics. So in 1993, he started 00:21:11.000 --> 00:21:13.640 writing. He shifted the idea from being some 00:21:13.640 --> 00:21:16.079 tangential history to being the beginning of 00:21:16.079 --> 00:21:18.940 one long saga, starting with Anakin Skywalker's 00:21:18.940 --> 00:21:21.539 childhood. and he stepped back into the director's 00:21:21.539 --> 00:21:24.019 chair for The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones, 00:21:24.099 --> 00:21:26.539 and Revenge of the Sith. But the sources also 00:21:26.539 --> 00:21:29.059 point to a hugely controversial part of this 00:21:29.059 --> 00:21:31.859 period, his insistence on modifying the original 00:21:31.859 --> 00:21:33.940 films. This is the tension at the heart of his 00:21:33.940 --> 00:21:37.309 legacy. In 1997, he re -released the original 00:21:37.309 --> 00:21:40.170 trilogy as special editions, using digital tech 00:21:40.170 --> 00:21:42.069 to bring them closer to his original vision. 00:21:42.269 --> 00:21:44.369 Adding new scenes, replacing practical effects. 00:21:44.549 --> 00:21:46.829 Changing sound designs. And he did it again in 00:21:46.829 --> 00:21:49.990 2004 for the DVD release and again in 2011 for 00:21:49.990 --> 00:21:52.650 the Blu -ray. But this was met with massive pushback 00:21:52.650 --> 00:21:54.950 from fans, wasn't it? People felt he was disrespecting 00:21:54.950 --> 00:21:57.630 the original films, the history. Huge pushback. 00:21:58.329 --> 00:22:01.220 And the sources reflect this conflict. Lucas' 00:22:01.339 --> 00:22:03.519 position was that since he owned the negative, 00:22:03.720 --> 00:22:06.900 he had the right and the obligation to make the 00:22:06.900 --> 00:22:09.380 film match the technology he wished he'd had 00:22:09.380 --> 00:22:12.500 in 1977. But fans and critics argued that the 00:22:12.500 --> 00:22:14.480 films were historical documents. They'd been 00:22:14.480 --> 00:22:17.279 released, won awards, become part of the culture. 00:22:17.500 --> 00:22:20.200 Right. But Lucas' response, enabled by his complete 00:22:20.200 --> 00:22:22.799 financial independence, was simple. I can do 00:22:22.799 --> 00:22:25.990 it because I don't need anyone's approval. He 00:22:25.990 --> 00:22:29.130 owned the IP, the tools, the rights. He saw himself 00:22:29.130 --> 00:22:31.789 as a continuously working artist. The audience 00:22:31.789 --> 00:22:34.329 saw the films as finished products. And that 00:22:34.329 --> 00:22:36.630 pursuit of his original vision is a hallmark 00:22:36.630 --> 00:22:38.950 of his independent spirit. And while the prequels 00:22:38.950 --> 00:22:42.130 were, you know, huge box office successes. And 00:22:42.130 --> 00:22:44.009 popular with a whole new generation of younger 00:22:44.009 --> 00:22:46.190 fans. The critical and older fan reception was 00:22:46.190 --> 00:22:48.569 very mixed. You put it mildly. And Lucas himself 00:22:48.569 --> 00:22:51.549 reflected on it in 2004. He said his transition 00:22:51.549 --> 00:22:53.869 from independent to corporate filmmaker sort 00:22:53.869 --> 00:22:55.990 of mirrored Darth Vader's story in some ways, 00:22:56.069 --> 00:22:58.230 a necessary path to achieve ultimate control, 00:22:58.470 --> 00:23:01.630 even if it had its darker side. But he was ultimately 00:23:01.630 --> 00:23:03.549 glad he could make the films the way he wanted. 00:23:03.690 --> 00:23:06.789 So after finishing the prequel trilogy in 2005, 00:23:07.349 --> 00:23:11.599 Lucas seems ready to slow down. In 2012, he announces 00:23:11.599 --> 00:23:14.440 he's retiring from big blockbuster films. Yeah, 00:23:14.460 --> 00:23:16.900 he said he wanted to refocus on smaller, independently 00:23:16.900 --> 00:23:19.839 budgeted features. He directed some reshoots 00:23:19.839 --> 00:23:23.119 for the war film Red Tails and wrote a CGI musical 00:23:23.119 --> 00:23:25.640 called Strange Magic. But these smaller projects 00:23:25.640 --> 00:23:28.420 were completely overshadowed by the biggest business 00:23:28.420 --> 00:23:30.940 announcement of his career. The Lucasfilm sale. 00:23:31.279 --> 00:23:35.779 October 2012. Monumental. A true inflection point 00:23:35.779 --> 00:23:38.099 in modern entertainment history. He sold the 00:23:38.099 --> 00:23:41.539 entire ecosystem, ILM, Skywalker Sound, everything 00:23:41.539 --> 00:23:44.579 to the Walt Disney Company for $4 .05 billion. 00:23:45.079 --> 00:23:47.359 In cash and stock, the scale of that is just 00:23:47.359 --> 00:23:49.720 hard to comprehend. And the succession plan was 00:23:49.720 --> 00:23:52.180 critical. It was smooth, but very significant. 00:23:52.500 --> 00:23:54.660 Kathleen Kennedy, who had worked closely with 00:23:54.660 --> 00:23:56.660 Spielberg and Lucas on the Indiana Jones films, 00:23:56.799 --> 00:23:59.519 was appointed co -chair and then became the sole 00:23:59.519 --> 00:24:02.289 leader of Lucasfilm. He was entrusting his life's 00:24:02.289 --> 00:24:04.349 work to a veteran he trusted. And the financial 00:24:04.349 --> 00:24:07.150 result for Lucas was immediate. He became Disney's 00:24:07.150 --> 00:24:09.450 second largest single shareholder. The only person 00:24:09.450 --> 00:24:11.970 ahead of him was the estate of Steve Jobs. Which 00:24:11.970 --> 00:24:14.309 is such a remarkable loop in the story, isn't 00:24:14.309 --> 00:24:17.210 it? Jobs having bought Pixar from him all those 00:24:17.210 --> 00:24:19.369 years earlier. But what's really moving, according 00:24:19.369 --> 00:24:22.029 to the sources, is the immediate loss of creative 00:24:22.029 --> 00:24:24.809 control over the property he literally invented. 00:24:25.230 --> 00:24:27.269 He did serve as a creative consultant for The 00:24:27.269 --> 00:24:29.910 Force Awakens, but mostly on technical stuff. 00:24:30.200 --> 00:24:31.880 You know, providing guidance on the physics of 00:24:31.880 --> 00:24:34.119 the universe. He'd say things like, the cars 00:24:34.119 --> 00:24:36.559 don't have wheels, they fly with anti -gravity. 00:24:36.599 --> 00:24:38.980 He was providing the rulebook. But the story 00:24:38.980 --> 00:24:41.720 he had developed for the sequels. It was jettisoned. 00:24:42.180 --> 00:24:44.859 Lucas stated very clearly that Disney just tossed 00:24:44.859 --> 00:24:47.259 out the story treatments he developed for episodes 00:24:47.259 --> 00:24:51.059 7 through 9. They chose to pursue a retro story 00:24:51.059 --> 00:24:53.839 that felt more like the original trilogy. And 00:24:53.839 --> 00:24:55.900 this led to some of his most famous and most 00:24:55.900 --> 00:24:59.140 emotionally charged public comments. He likened 00:24:59.140 --> 00:25:01.920 the sale to a divorce, the painful act of letting 00:25:01.920 --> 00:25:04.680 go of his children. He publicly criticized The 00:25:04.680 --> 00:25:07.779 Force Awakens for its retro feel, saying it went 00:25:07.779 --> 00:25:10.460 against his own career long effort to make each 00:25:10.460 --> 00:25:12.380 of his films completely different from what came 00:25:12.380 --> 00:25:14.660 before. The sources mentioned his remarks got 00:25:14.660 --> 00:25:17.569 so heated he actually had to apologize. He did. 00:25:17.750 --> 00:25:20.089 In one interview, he remarked that Disney was 00:25:20.089 --> 00:25:22.829 like white slavers, implying they bought his 00:25:22.829 --> 00:25:25.950 children, his characters, and were now manipulating 00:25:25.950 --> 00:25:28.309 them for profit in a way he couldn't control. 00:25:28.509 --> 00:25:31.769 Wow. He quickly apologized, acknowledged it was 00:25:31.769 --> 00:25:34.829 a poor choice of words, but the emotional core 00:25:34.829 --> 00:25:38.089 of that statement was clear. He felt alienated 00:25:38.089 --> 00:25:40.390 from the creation he had spent decades protecting 00:25:40.390 --> 00:25:43.140 through his independence. It just speaks to the 00:25:43.140 --> 00:25:45.619 enormous emotional investment. He built this 00:25:45.619 --> 00:25:47.799 entire fortress so he could never be creatively 00:25:47.799 --> 00:25:50.420 compromised. And the moment he sells it, that 00:25:50.420 --> 00:25:53.140 compromise happens instantly. Exactly. The sale 00:25:53.140 --> 00:25:55.740 was the ultimate financial victory, but it meant 00:25:55.740 --> 00:25:58.119 the end of his singular creative control. His 00:25:58.119 --> 00:26:00.200 later assessments did soften, though. Right. 00:26:00.259 --> 00:26:02.519 He reportedly liked Rogue One more than The Force 00:26:02.519 --> 00:26:04.480 Awakens. Yeah, he thought it was more daring. 00:26:04.599 --> 00:26:07.400 And he described The Last Jedi as beautifully 00:26:07.400 --> 00:26:10.359 made. He had some cursory involvement with Solo 00:26:10.359 --> 00:26:13.380 and The Mandalorian, but the reality is the sale 00:26:13.380 --> 00:26:15.920 marked the end of an era. The end of George Lucas 00:26:15.920 --> 00:26:19.220 as the independent auteur mogul. But the wealth 00:26:19.220 --> 00:26:21.400 from that sale became the foundation for his 00:26:21.400 --> 00:26:25.000 final act, his non -cinematic legacy. Let's turn 00:26:25.000 --> 00:26:28.069 to that final act, The Philanthropist. With a 00:26:28.069 --> 00:26:32.210 net worth close to $9 .4 billion, he's the wealthiest 00:26:32.210 --> 00:26:34.930 film celebrity in the world. But he has also 00:26:34.930 --> 00:26:37.130 pledged to give away the majority of it through 00:26:37.130 --> 00:26:39.509 the given pledge. Joining Bill Gates and Warren 00:26:39.509 --> 00:26:41.809 Buffett in that commitment. And he activated 00:26:41.809 --> 00:26:44.190 that pledge immediately after the Disney sale. 00:26:44.730 --> 00:26:46.950 He said he intended to donate the majority of 00:26:46.950 --> 00:26:50.130 the $4 billion to philanthropy with a very explicit 00:26:50.130 --> 00:26:52.750 focus on improving education. His primary vehicle 00:26:52.750 --> 00:26:55.250 for this is the George Lucas Educational Foundation, 00:26:55.450 --> 00:26:57.670 which he founded way back in 1991, operating 00:26:57.670 --> 00:27:00.490 as Edutopia. And his dedication goes beyond just 00:27:00.490 --> 00:27:02.990 funding. It goes to policy. He was one of the 00:27:02.990 --> 00:27:04.990 leading proponents of the federal E -Rate program, 00:27:05.190 --> 00:27:06.829 which was part of the Telecommunications Act 00:27:06.829 --> 00:27:09.490 of 1996. For listeners who don't know, E -Rate 00:27:09.490 --> 00:27:11.450 provides subsidies to help schools and libraries 00:27:11.450 --> 00:27:14.460 get affordable Internet access. Exactly. He took 00:27:14.460 --> 00:27:16.579 his expertise in building digital infrastructure, 00:27:16.859 --> 00:27:19.640 like with ILM and THX, and he applied that same 00:27:19.640 --> 00:27:21.960 philosophy directly to educational infrastructure. 00:27:22.299 --> 00:27:25.619 He sees broadband access in schools as being 00:27:25.619 --> 00:27:27.599 as important as textbooks. His institutional 00:27:27.599 --> 00:27:30.900 donations confirm that. He gave, what, $175 million 00:27:30.900 --> 00:27:34.200 to his alma mater, USC, to expand the film school? 00:27:34.380 --> 00:27:37.200 The largest single gift in USC's history, and 00:27:37.200 --> 00:27:40.319 the largest ever to a film school anywhere. And 00:27:40.319 --> 00:27:42.079 it led to the George Lucas Instructional Building 00:27:42.079 --> 00:27:44.480 and the Marcia Lucas Post -Production Building, 00:27:44.660 --> 00:27:47.359 which is a really remarkable nod to his first 00:27:47.359 --> 00:27:50.480 wife's critical role in his career. Beyond education, 00:27:50.740 --> 00:27:53.579 his other huge focus is the arts, the Lucas Museum 00:27:53.579 --> 00:27:56.559 of Narrative Art, the LMNA. Plans for this started 00:27:56.559 --> 00:27:59.339 in 2013 to display his vast collection of illustrations, 00:27:59.740 --> 00:28:02.220 concept art, and visual storytelling. And the 00:28:02.220 --> 00:28:04.539 project itself has been an epic saga, hasn't 00:28:04.539 --> 00:28:06.880 it? Just trying to find a location for it. It's 00:28:06.880 --> 00:28:09.400 been a logistical thriller. He offered to pay 00:28:09.400 --> 00:28:12.500 the entire construction cost, initially $300 00:28:12.500 --> 00:28:15.859 million, and endow it with $400 million, which 00:28:15.859 --> 00:28:18.440 he later increased to $800 million. It's a gift 00:28:18.440 --> 00:28:20.579 worth well over a billion dollars to the public. 00:28:20.759 --> 00:28:22.940 But the locations were a nightmare. It was first 00:28:22.940 --> 00:28:25.200 planned for San Francisco. But that fell through. 00:28:25.440 --> 00:28:28.160 Then he shifted to Chicago, where they approved 00:28:28.160 --> 00:28:31.369 a lakefront site. But he abandoned those plans 00:28:31.369 --> 00:28:34.430 because of a persistent lawsuit from a local 00:28:34.430 --> 00:28:36.589 preservation group called Friends of the Parks. 00:28:36.910 --> 00:28:40.190 Why would a lawsuit from a local group force 00:28:40.190 --> 00:28:43.049 a billionaire to abandon a billion -dollar project? 00:28:43.390 --> 00:28:45.789 Because the law was on their side. They argued 00:28:45.789 --> 00:28:47.730 the lakefront was protected by the state's public 00:28:47.730 --> 00:28:50.190 trust doctrine, which reserves it for public 00:28:50.190 --> 00:28:53.450 use. And Lucas, always wanting to avoid long, 00:28:53.470 --> 00:28:55.990 draining legal battles, just decided to pull 00:28:55.990 --> 00:28:58.450 the project rather than fight for years in court. 00:28:58.720 --> 00:29:00.920 And he finally settled on Exposition Park in 00:29:00.920 --> 00:29:03.720 Los Angeles. It's set to be completed in 2026. 00:29:04.079 --> 00:29:06.200 And the diversity of the collection is what's 00:29:06.200 --> 00:29:09.200 so remarkable. It underlines that narrative art 00:29:09.200 --> 00:29:11.960 focus. You have original Iron Man comic drawings, 00:29:12.200 --> 00:29:15.619 Indiana Jones concept art, Norman Rockwell paintings, 00:29:15.980 --> 00:29:19.240 Frida Kahlo, Peanuts sketches. It's an attempt 00:29:19.240 --> 00:29:22.720 to elevate visual storytelling from pulp to high 00:29:22.720 --> 00:29:25.180 art. Mirroring his own career path, exactly. 00:29:25.519 --> 00:29:27.960 Finally, let's just briefly connect his... personal 00:29:27.960 --> 00:29:30.720 philosophy back to all this. We know he was married 00:29:30.720 --> 00:29:33.420 to film editor Marcia Lou Griffin, an Oscar winner 00:29:33.420 --> 00:29:36.539 for editing Star Wars. They adopted three children. 00:29:36.880 --> 00:29:39.680 He later married Melody Hobson, with whom he 00:29:39.680 --> 00:29:41.960 has a daughter. And his spiritual life is intrinsic 00:29:41.960 --> 00:29:44.380 to his storytelling. He was raised Methodist, 00:29:44.380 --> 00:29:46.400 but the mythological structures in Star Wars 00:29:46.400 --> 00:29:49.359 were heavily inspired by Joseph Campbell's writings, 00:29:49.500 --> 00:29:51.839 like the hero with a thousand faces. Which is 00:29:51.839 --> 00:29:54.059 where the force comes from. Well, from that and 00:29:54.059 --> 00:29:56.319 from incorporating Eastern religious philosophies. 00:29:56.359 --> 00:29:59.140 He identifies his own religion now as Buddhist 00:29:59.140 --> 00:30:01.579 Methodist. And his passion for traditional art 00:30:01.579 --> 00:30:03.880 is clear in his collecting, especially his major 00:30:03.880 --> 00:30:06.539 collection of Norman Rockwell, which he co -owns 00:30:06.539 --> 00:30:10.279 with Spielberg. So what does this all mean? We've 00:30:10.279 --> 00:30:12.660 covered this fundamental duality of George Lucas, 00:30:12.900 --> 00:30:16.319 the avant -garde artist obsessed with pure cinema 00:30:16.319 --> 00:30:19.640 in the 60s, who simultaneously became the architect 00:30:19.640 --> 00:30:22.240 of the modern franchise and the most financially 00:30:22.240 --> 00:30:25.119 savvy filmmaker of his generation. And the core 00:30:25.119 --> 00:30:27.599 takeaway from all this material is that the entrepreneur 00:30:27.599 --> 00:30:29.859 and the technologist were never separate from 00:30:29.859 --> 00:30:32.380 the filmmaker. They were always in service of 00:30:32.380 --> 00:30:35.660 the artist's independence. That masterful merchandising 00:30:35.660 --> 00:30:38.480 deal was his ultimate creative insurance policy. 00:30:39.369 --> 00:30:41.089 George Flo meant that when he wanted to do something 00:30:41.089 --> 00:30:43.670 controversial like the special editions or an 00:30:43.670 --> 00:30:46.069 expensive passion project like the prequels or 00:30:46.069 --> 00:30:49.210 even build and endow his own museum. He never 00:30:49.210 --> 00:30:51.309 had to ask permission. He made that conscious 00:30:51.309 --> 00:30:54.569 transition from traditional storytelling to prioritizing 00:30:54.569 --> 00:30:57.559 technical and financial infrastructure. He saw 00:30:57.559 --> 00:30:59.940 technology as the key to securing his creative 00:30:59.940 --> 00:31:02.839 freedom. While he's globally celebrated for creating 00:31:02.839 --> 00:31:05.740 the galaxy far, far away, the source material 00:31:05.740 --> 00:31:08.619 really suggests his greater lasting impact might 00:31:08.619 --> 00:31:11.819 be that technological infrastructure, ILM, which 00:31:11.819 --> 00:31:14.599 revolutionized effects for everyone and the massive 00:31:14.599 --> 00:31:16.799 educational foundations he funded with the sale. 00:31:17.039 --> 00:31:19.660 It does. And this raises an important question 00:31:19.660 --> 00:31:21.640 for you, the listener, as you reflect on all 00:31:21.640 --> 00:31:24.779 this. We know the power of myth shaped the original 00:31:24.779 --> 00:31:27.079 Star Wars, defining a generation's understanding 00:31:27.079 --> 00:31:30.140 of heroism. But given his $4 billion investment 00:31:30.140 --> 00:31:32.680 in the George Lucas Educational Foundation and 00:31:32.680 --> 00:31:34.920 the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, is George 00:31:34.920 --> 00:31:37.640 Lucas's ultimate legacy less about how he told 00:31:37.640 --> 00:31:40.559 his own stories and more about how he used immense, 00:31:40.640 --> 00:31:42.940 independently generated wealth to invest in our 00:31:42.940 --> 00:31:45.420 future stories and education? Think about that 00:31:45.420 --> 00:31:46.299 generational investment.