20 Things You Didn't Know About Star Wars: The Force Awakens
1. George Lucas Was Disappointed By The Film's Lack Of Originality
Though George Lucas had no direct input on The Force Awakens despite serving as an occasional creative consultant, the world was nevertheless anxious to hear what he thought about the film.
Mere days after The Force Awakens' release, Lucas was unexpectedly candid about his mixed feelings on the movie during an interview with Charlie Rose. He said:
"[Disney] wanted to do a retro movie... I don't like that. Every movie, I worked very hard to make them different, with different planets and different spaceships."
But the real truth bomb dropped when former Disney CEO Bob Iger released his memoir in 2019, and held nothing back in recounting Lucas' true feelings:
"He didn't hide his disappointment. 'There's nothing new,' he said. In each of the films in the original trilogy, it was important to him to present new worlds, new stories, new characters, and new technologies. In this one, he said, 'There weren't enough visual or technical leaps forward.'"
Perhaps unsurprisingly, Lucas responded far more positively to Rogue One and The Last Jedi, which offered more narratively daring and expectation-defying - if divisive - entries into the franchise.