10 Directors That Should Never Have Complete Creative Control
10. George Lucas
George Lucas gets a lot of bad press these days. Yes, bad decisions were the bread and butter of the Star Wars prequels, but its worth remembering that present day Lucas is the same man who made the original Star Wars back in 1977. So, how come A New Hope is a brilliant iconic space opera and The Phantom Menace has become the shorthand for cinematic shoddiness? The difference is arguably creative control. George Lucas wrote four versions of A New Hopes script, before refining the final version with help from his friends Gloria Katxz and Willard Huyck. He didnt do it all himself. For The Empire Strikes Back, Lawrence Kasdan wrote the entire script from Lucas basic story ideas. Lucas and Kasdan would work together on Return Of The Jedi, too. Lucas used collaboration to hone and perfect his ideas. By the time that the Star Wars prequels went into production, though, Lucas had been heralded as a creative genius for decades. He decided to write the script for A New Hope entirely by himself. This complete creative control resulted in trade negotiations, swathes of heartless CGI and Jar Jar Binks. If Lucas ever comes out of filmmaking retirement, then, he should definitely find a creative partner to help refine his ideas.
