Lucas Spouts Off Again.

This time, to USA Today.

Uh, George, we sorda know it's "just a movie". Man, he really doesn't get it. And I think his comments and need to downplay his movies now says more about him than the movie itself:

George Lucas says his new 'Indiana Jones' is 'just a movie'

By Scott Bowles, USA TODAY

To hear him talk, you'd think George Lucas would have preferred to call his movie Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull: Don't Get Your Hopes Up.

Lucas, who co-wrote and produced the May 22 film, can sound downright sullen when it comes to his expectations of fan reaction to the year's most highly anticipated movie.

"When you do a movie like this, a sequel that's very, very anticipated, people anticipate ultimately that it's going to be the Second Coming," Lucas says. "And it's not. It's just a movie. Just like the other movies. You probably have fond memories of the other movies. But if you went back and looked at them, they might not hold up the same way your memory holds up."

The remarks appear to be part of a larger strategy to build interest yet temper expectations for the fourth installment of the Indiana Jones franchise. Only one trailer is playing, and when director Steven Spielberg shows up for talk shows, he doesn't bring footage.

Lucas says he learned his lesson about unrealistic expectations when he revived the Star Wars franchise in 1999. "When people approach the new (Indiana Jones), much like they did with Phantom Menace, they have a tendency to be a little harder on it," he says. "You're not going to get a lot of accolades doing a movie like this. All you can do is lose."

Except when it comes to money. Analysts expect it to rake in well more than double its reported budget of $125 million. But Lucas says that doesn't hold much sway for him, Spielberg and Harrison Ford.

"We came back to do (Indy) because we wanted to have fun," he says. "It's not going to make much money for us in the end. We all have some money. … It would make a lot of money if you weren't rich. But we're not doing it for the money."

It's fan and critic reaction for which the team is bracing, but Lucas says he has quit trying to appeal to everyone. "It was really a blast" to make. "And it turned out fantastic. … I like to watch it."

Lucas concedes that it will be impossible to water down expectations, even among fellow filmmakers.

The Dark Knight director Christopher Nolan met Lucas at the ShoWest convention this month and says he's impatient to see the competition. "Come on, he's George Lucas," Nolan says. "I felt like I should have kissed the ring."

Source:
https://www.usatoday.com/life/movies/news/2008-03-24-lucas_N.htm

I agree with George that people sometimes let whats in their minds really override the expectations. He's 110% on the ball with TPM and the other SW PT films and sadly could be right about Indy.

I agree with him too. I hope its a great movie but it will probably not live up to all the expectations.

I think he's saying is

"Look at the SW prequals. They were bad. I don't really have THAT much talent. I got lucky with one great story back in the 70's/80's and have pretty much flopped since. Sure the new movies made money, but SW fans will buy and go see anything."

i think he's trying to tell us that jar-jar will make an appearance in this one.

madden821 said:

I agree with him too. I hope its a great movie but it will probably not live up to all the expectations.

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I disagree. First of all, that argument is a non sequitur. Lucas is trying to put himself in a no-lose situation by downplaying the movie and pre-emptively bracing for criticism. It's even worse when he goes to revisionism to imply that the originals were not exactly beloved either and would probably be hated if they were released today. The man makes no sense.

I doubt anyone is looking forward to this movie more than I am. Yet I'm not expecting to be blown away either. I believe my expectations are firmly in place. In fact, if I come out thinking this movie is on par with THE LAST CRUSADE (by far my least favorite in the series) I will consider it a success. And while lots of people are eager to see the movie, most I talk too are either cautiously optimistic or downright skeptical about its prognosis.

In the end, I trust in Spielberg and feel this should at least be a worthy INDY flick. But I don't at all know what the hell Lucas is getting at with these "they think it will be the Second Coming" comments. The man is an out-of-touch coward.

You may be right about his motives. Maybe it just seems like everyone thinks is the 2nd coming because all the hype I have seen. I expect it to be somewhere between Last Crusade and Temple... but no way will it be close to Raiders.

Oh crap is it really going to be that bad that they are already attaching disclaimers?

I wouldn't put it past Lucas to be covering his butt. However, as I said I don't think he's too far off the mark with how people would take things today or how they let their childhood memeories blind them. IMO that's where a lot of the dislike for the PT comes from. I love the Indy Series and can't wait to see this one and if it comes in at LC it will rank at the top of my list as I like LC most of all the Indy flicks.

I think the hype has more to do with people just being keen to see one of the most iconic characters in movie history up on the big screen again.

Seriously, there is a difference between someone being excited to see Harrison Ford with the hat, whip and scowl and someone expecting this to be "the best movie ever". That is the leap in logic that Lucas is making. And he's either doing it because he's out of touch and doesn't get it, or he's a coward and can't take the "pressure" of having any type of expectations whatsoever... or both.

At this point, he just needs to shut up and let the movie speak for itself. Hell, HE'S the one who delayed it for years because he couldn't settle on a script he was happy with. And he even ditched one by Frank Darabont, probably the best screenwriter working today. And he wants to preach to us about expectations? Piss off, George!

IrishJedi said:

I think the hype has more to do with people just being keen to see one of the most iconic characters in movie history up on the big screen again.

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This is the case with me and where my hype is coming from. I get to see freaking Indy on the big screen again. However, I do think some are coming in with way to unrealisitic expectations as they did with the SW PT. I don't think you can deny that.

In terms of the hype, I'm not sure what people are expecting out of this, or what they think the film will fall short of: the story? the acting? whether Harrison can pull off Indy after all these years?

The trailer clearly shows elements of what Raiders and Last Crusade delivered on, and no doubt the story will be interesting. We've got the greatest team in filmaking revisiting a character they obviously love. And I have no doubt that will be evident in this film. I'm sure they had fun making it as much as I'll have fun watching it. No expectations, no comparisons, just a fun summer popcorn flick that will remind me why Indy is one of my favorite movie characters.

Lucas' comments are just opening the doors for unnecessary criticisms. Let viewers take the film for what it is. Some like hate it, others will love it. Regardless it'll be a hit.

Maybe he's just really scared of how people (fans, critics) are going to react to the whole alien connection.

I always go back to John Hurt's comment that Lucas is 'socially crippled'.Tell 'em John.

IrishJedi said:

Maybe he's just really scared of how people (fans, critics) are going to react to the whole alien connection.

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He's got a point about reactions to Indy sequels. I wish I could find a site with the reviews collected, but the critics were not that kind to Temple and Crusade. They called them derivative, boring, etc. So, in a sense, I believe Lucas is preparing everyone for that ... he's saying "the critics didn't like the original sequels, so they will probably give Crystal Skull ho-hum reviews. But, if you like the first 3 movies, you will like this one." And, he's got a point about childhood nostalgia. The PT was not as bad as some people like to portray it. But, it didn't make the majority of us feel like we did when we saw the OT as children, so many trashed it. I work with elementary and middle school children and the majority of them I talk to love the PT, many more so than the originals. So, we fault Lucas for focusing on a new generation of kids, rather than trying to recreate what we loved as kids back in the 70's and 80's. So, in effect, he's telling the truth - no matter what, making a sequel like this is going to piss some faction of fandom off, so it really is a lose-lose scenario.

Johnny Utah said:

I always go back to John Hurt's comment that Lucas is 'socially crippled'.Tell 'em John.

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However, that comment could be applied to 50% of Hollywood and 90% of us movie geeks, so that's not saying much. Hell, if you look at the world as a whole today, non-"socially disabled" people are the minority.

Sometimes when I read Lucas interviews I really think the man is clinically insane.

The Josh said:

Some are coming in with way to unrealisitic expectations as they did with the SW PT. I don't think you can deny that.

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All the elements were there for Phantom Menace, Written by George Lucas? Check. Directed by George Lucas? Check. If you really look at the Phantom Menace it was A New Hope transcribed, the problem is that he made the protagonist too young and forced a lot of the connections and forced a lot of unneeded campiness and humor. It was there though even setting itself on Tatooine to pick up the main protagionist. Qui-Gon replaced Ben Kenobi, The Federation was a weak attempt to show a kind of in place Empire, A Queen instead of a Princess, a Menacing Dark Lord who has a presence whenever he is shown, a final element where the protagionist goes even untrained except for civilian runs attacks a battle station and makes the final blow that saves the day.

A lot of what was there in A New Hope was there in The Phantom Menace, not everything but a lot. It just didn't fly the same way for a flurry of reasons which have been documented many times over. Irvin Kershner and Richard Marquand (even though ROTJ IMHO was the weakest of the OT) were missing, the differences they brought and the way the stories flowed out of the ANH made the original stand on its own and show off what was good and what was missing. The PT had a lot of issues but GL directing every single one is definitely a core one because the differences in feel and story telling weren't there and if Lucas had directed ESB and ROTJ I don't think they'd be as well received.

As for Indy expectations. Directed by Steven Spelberg? Check. Writing by Lucas and Kaufman? Check. Ford? Check. Many people are ramping up thinking this is going to be another Raiders and its because a lot of the elements are back in place even though Spelberg and Lucas were also doign the sequels looking at how TPM tried to copy ANH but make itself different at the same time.....You can't really blame them.

DouglasMcc said:

He's got a point about reactions to Indy sequels. I wish I could find a site with the reviews collected, but the critics were not that kind to Temple and Crusade. They called them derivative, boring, etc. So, in a sense, I believe Lucas is preparing everyone for that ... he's saying "the critics didn't like the original sequels, so they will probably give Crystal Skull ho-hum reviews. But, if you like the first 3 movies, you will like this one." And, he's got a point about childhood nostalgia. The PT was not as bad as some people like to portray it. But, it didn't make the majority of us feel like we did when we saw the OT as children, so many trashed it. I work with elementary and middle school children and the majority of them I talk to love the PT, many more so than the originals. So, we fault Lucas for focusing on a new generation of kids, rather than trying to recreate what we loved as kids back in the 70's and 80's. So, in effect, he's telling the truth - no matter what, making a sequel like this is going to piss some faction of fandom off, so it really is a lose-lose scenario.

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I have to agree Doug. The kids I work with here at school love to talk about the PT way more so than the OT. So Lucas did what he should have done and that was touch a new generation of SW fans that can carry it on for the next 30+ years.

In Spielberg we trust!

Seriously though, I for one am glad Lucas didn't direct Indy 4 and left the screenplay to others. A visionary he may be, a director he ain't. The PT suffered not only from high expectations but very crappy writing and terrible, terrible acting (I'm looking at you Hayden...) due in great part to Lucas' lack of communication or focus with the actors. He's a fantastic behind the scenes do-er of the undo-able, but he can't write/direct for ++++.