CANNES, France -- Star Wars is a wakeup call to Americans about the erosion of democratic freedoms under George W. Bush, filmmaker George Lucas said yesterday.
Lucas, responding to a question from the Sun at a Cannes Film Festival press conference, said he first wrote the framework of Star Wars in 1971 when reacting to then U.S. President Richard Nixon and the on-going events of the Vietnam War. But the story still has relevance today, he said, and is part of a pattern he has noticed in his readings of history.
"I didn't think it was going to get quite this close," he said of the parallels between the Nixon era and the current Bush presidency, which has been sacrificing freedoms in the interests of national security. "It is just one of those re-occurring things. I hope this doesn't come true in our country. Maybe the film will awaken people to the situation of how dangerous it is ... The parallels between what we did in Vietnam and what we are doing now in Iraq are unbelievable."
In the latest film, the Palpatine character takes over as ruler of the universe with the co-operation of the other politicians.
"Because this is the back story (of the Star Wars saga), one of the main features of the back story was to tell how the Republic became the Empire," Lucas said. "At the time I did that, it was during the Vietnam War and the Nixon era. The issue was: How does a democracy turn itself over to a dictator? Not how does a dictator take over but how does a democracy and Senate give it away?"
Lucas cited the Roman Empire in the wake of Caesar's death, France after the Revolution and Germany with the rise of Hitler as historical examples of countries giving themselves over to dictators. "They all seem to happen in the same way with the same issues: Threats from the outside; they need more control; and a democratic body not being able to function properly because everybody's squabbling."
Lucas earned applause for his comments and then joined his actors Hayden Christensen, Natalie Portman (who was shaven bald for a new movie role), Samuel L. Jackson, Ian McDiarmid and Anthony Daniels in a free-wheeling discussion of Star Wars: Episode III -- Revenge Of The Sith, which made its world premiere last night out-of-competition. This was before they all scuttled off to the Queen Elizabeth II cruise ship, where the Cannes brass presented Lucas with an awkwardly named honour called "the trophy of the festival." Some press conference highlights:
On the competition films, Lucas said: "I'm lucky I don't have to compete with those films because I probably wouldn't win. It's nice to be able to have the film recognized without being in a contest. I'm not a big one for contests. Just being here is an honour."
On growing up during her Star Wars experience, Portman said: "To play a character developing over that period of time, with your own age developing and your own self developing, is really an amazing opportunity. And to get to work with the same people every few years is also really lucky because it's always sad when you get to the end of a film to say goodbye."
On having his Toronto mother see him dumped in lava in Revenge Of The Sith, Christensen said: "Visually, just to look at yourself in a mirror, has quite an impact (Christensen was wearing a full-body burn suit). My mom just got to see the film and she was very disturbed by that. Watching her son erupt into flames is a little unsettling."
On his big death scene in Revenge Of The Sith, Jackson said: "I was pleased with my death. I asked him (Lucas) not to do anything messy and he didn't. Now I've had the Errol Flynn moment that I've always wished for since I was a kid watching movies. So I'm totally happy with what happened."
On making Episodes VII through IX, Lucas said he never planned to do it, regardless of rumours to the contrary: "The original intention was to make one movie and it turned into three. That was really the end of it. It wasn't until about 10 years ago that it occurred to me to do the back story (and now it is over). The important thing is, if this is the tragedy of Darth Vader, it starts when he is 10 years old and ends when he dies. There really isn't any more story."
On his dream of making abstract experimental films like his debut sci-fi drama THX, Lucas said that it was his mentor Francis Ford Coppola who pushed him into mainstream movies such as Star Wars: "I've been held in a prison ever since making theatrical movies. But now I've broken out. And now I have enough money to make my kind of movie."
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