Rare George Lucas Appearance at TCM Film Fest: Talks Star Wars & Yoda’s Backwards Speech

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The 2025 Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) Classic Film Festival started off by showing the 1980 blockbuster “Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back,” which included an exclusive pre-film conversation with its director, George Lucas, before the movie began.

On the occasion of its 45th anniversary, the sequel to “Star Wars” kicked off the programming for the festival at Hollywood’s TCL Chinese Theatre. During this event, host Ben Mankiewicz from TCM moderated a nearly 30-minute discussion with George Lucas, covering an array of interesting topics.

In this new version, I aimed to make it more conversational and easier to understand, while still preserving the original’s essence.

During his speech, fellow director Steven Spielberg, who will be awarding Francis Ford Coppola with the prestigious AFI Life Achievement Award this coming Saturday, was frequently mentioned by Lucas. It turns out that George Lucas and Coppola are close friends and have worked together extensively in the past, which is why Lucas is presenting the award alongside Spielberg. In the course of their conversation, Lucas recounted the story of how they first met and began their collaborative journey.

Lucas first encountered Coppola while both were working on the 1968 film “Finian’s Rainbow.” At that time, Lucas was essentially an intern at Warner Bros., having won the Samuel Warner Scholarship. As a 22-year-old, Lucas found it dull sitting on set because he had no passion for making stage films. It was during this period that Coppola, who was 27 years old, approached him.

Lucas once confided to Coppola that he was watching him create a movie, but found it incredibly dull. He had no interest in producing similar films himself, an admission which marked the beginning of their friendship and lasting collaboration. In late 1969, Lucas co-founded American Zoetrope, a film production company based in San Francisco, alongside Coppola. When asked about their decision to establish the company, he joked to an amused audience, “We both didn’t fancy staying here.

During the conversation, Mankiewicz playfully teased Lucas as he tended to discuss his collaborations with Coppola rather than addressing the initial question. He joked later on, saying, “I don’t think I could handle 20 minutes with George Lucas,” expressing his concern that he might not get a chance to talk about ‘The Empire Strikes Back’ or ‘Star Wars’ in particular.

Eventually, Lucas stepped into the realm of ‘Star Wars’, discussing his contractual matters with 20th Century Fox, the film studio. Having just been nominated for an Oscar with his movie ‘American Graffiti’, the director found the studio hesitant about his potential demand for higher pay. “I won’t ask for more money here,” he recounted telling them. “I’ve received the deal memo, I’ve signed it. I’ll do it for $50,000; that covers writing, directing, and producing.

He expressed a preference for the upcoming sequels since he already owned them, and this practice in the film industry is often referred to as a contractual obligation or commitment. Typically, to launch a film, you need to agree to produce two or three more movies. However, he didn’t want to be bound by such agreements because it wasn’t the case with American Graffiti, he noted. Lucas stated that he told the studio he would make the sequels regardless of the outcome of the first movie.

Additionally, I requested licensing rights,” he recalls saying to the studio. Lucas mentions that they discussed this matter and agreed to grant him these rights as they believed he wouldn’t stand to gain financially from it.

Lucas also discussed Yoda, one of the most memorable characters introduced in the Star Wars universe during Empire Strikes Back, and his unique way of speaking. The director stated that this was intentionally done because “people tend not to pay attention when you speak in standard English. However, if there’s an accent or if it’s difficult to comprehend what is being said, people focus more on what is being communicated.

In essence, he played the philosophical role in the film, which meant extended dialogue sequences that required me to find strategies to keep viewers engaged, particularly 12-year-olds,” explained Lucas.

I, as a fortunate gamer of cinema, got the chance to immerse myself in the grandeur of “The Empire Strikes Back” on a mammoth screen, all thanks to Lucas’ insightful comments. This cinematic extravaganza is set to continue through April 27, with Hollywood serving as our guide for an array of captivating viewings around this vibrant city.

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2025-04-25 21:25