Me vs. George Lucas
I finally had a chance to see The People vs. George Lucas last night at an L.A. Film Fest screening, and I really liked it. It has a great analysis of what makes Lucas tick from both experts and fans, and a look at the bigger issue of whether art always remains the property of the artist, or whether is becomes part of our cultural heritage once the artist releases it to the public. There’s also a lot of discussion about Lucas’ apparent changes in attitude over the years and the negative effects of the lack of ollaboration on his later films. And it’s very funny, and usually not at the expense of the fans. It’s mostly laughing with people rather than at them.
As I was walking in I saw the director being ushered in by the Film Fest people, and he looked at me funny a couple of times so I finally introduced myself and said, “I’m in the movie…well, at least the trailer. I’m the ‘George, you must own up to your mistakes’ guy.” And he said, “I thought I recognized you. Yes, you’re in the movie as well as the trailer.” My part was just the same sound bite as in the trailer, although they did put my name on the bottom of the screen, which was pretty cool.
When I submitted my rant, I figured they would only include people who either made really good arguments or were over the top, so I tried to do both. The only part that actually made it into the film was the end of my rant where I started going way over the top. It’s funny because everyone says, “You seem so angry,” which I guess is what I was going for. But knowing that I wasn’t actually angry and was basically just acting, it’s hard for me to see what other people see.
Author Christopher J. Valin 