“It Bothers Me to Watch It.” Despite the Success of the Star Wars Movie, George Lucas Was Disappointed with It
George Lucas took a very critical approach to his early successes with Star Wars because he didn't do everything he wanted to do, and thus was disappointed with his own work.
Today, Star Wars is one of the most influential sci-fi series in history, however, in the beginning, George Lucas' creation aroused mixed feelings. Many people were skeptical of the idea of the filmmaker, who had ambitious plans for his project. And they were responsible for the fact that even in the face of the success of the first film, he was unable to enjoy his achievement.
Georgie Lucas knew he could squeeze more out of Star Wars if only he had more time and money to invest in the project. A New Hope, which was originally titled simply Star Wars, was the first film in the series, so, sure enough, financing was not great. Because of this, Lucas could not afford to fully realize his vision. He shared the story during an interview with the BBC.
Well Episode IV was not really finished because I didn't have the money, the time or the technology to finish it. At the time I was kind of upset about it. People were going, “It's marvellous! How do you feel?" And I was saying, "I feel it's only 50 or 60% of what I wanted. I'm really disappointed, I'm really sad, it bothers me to watch it."
His feelings about the next two installments of Star Wars were not much better. Although there was less disappointment because he managed to do more than with the first installment, it still wasn't perfect. It was only later that he was able to make adjustments that made the movies what he wanted them to be from the beginning.
And to a minor degree, that was true on the next two films, partly because I was financing them myself and they were more complicated. I did those films in a Special Edition to finish them off the way I meant them to be. If nothing else I'm stubborn, dogmatic and persistent to get the movies the way I wanted to get them. The last three I've pretty much been able to make them the way I wanted. I haven't had much interference, I've spent as much as I've needed to spend to make them work. So now the whole thing is complete and it's pretty much the way I want it to be.
He did not fully realize his vision until the prequel trilogy, which he created many years later and with which he is already satisfied. Star Wars was already a cult title, so Lucas was not restricted financially or in other ways – so the creator could afford to do more.
