Friday, January 08, 2010

Lucas was ready for Stewart!

Satirical newsman Jon Stewart had the honour of interviewing one George Lucas on Tuesday's The Daily Show this week.

Stewart is well known for speaking his mind and I've seen politicians, civil servants, actors, novelists and other personalities freeze or buckle under the weight of some of his questions and try to laugh their way out of his interrogative grip. I knew Lucas wasn't going to be treated much differently. The Star Wars franchise is beloved by Stewart and his Daily Show staff as evidenced by the fact that not a week goes by without some Star Wars reference stuck in somewhere, but I knew Lucas was going to be fair game for some hard questions.

But I needn't have worried. I cursed my own lack of devotion which caused me to be apprehensive initially. You see Lucas can't actually be caught off guard and he'll never be stumped for words. He's gone up against every prominent journalist in the world, some of them would make Stewart look like a rank-amateur, so Lucas was never in any real danger.

There also existed another problem - I really like Jon Stewart, because of what he does and he speaks his mind as freely as I'm internationally renowned for too - so what would have happened if Lucas ate him for breakfast on his own show? That wouldn't have been good either. But a loss of Stewart's professional credibility to George himself would probably be as preferred as getting knocked down in the street by a Ferrari as opposed to a Lada - I mean if you have to loose to someone it may as well be a god right?

Either way, their exchange was most interesting - one doesn't see a lot of Lucas on TV these days and I am still hoping he grows his beard a bit longer like Zeus or this dude on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, but there's time yet, at least he has the hair right. Lucas was in town to promote his new book Blockbusting but as with many such Daily Show interviews Stewart cuts to more important matters. Lucas did raise an eyebrow at some of Stewart's hypermanic ranting about the fact that the Sith Lords didn't sense the presence or the abilities of Luke and Leia [or Obi-Wan] in the interim years between Episodes 3 and 4; but for every question Stewart asked Lucas had a fresh and more often then not, hilarious answer - one time Stewart had to get off his chair before he physically fell off it with laughter, yes I mean award winning comedian Jon Stewart was doubled over by George Lucas - I guess he's a god of comedy too.

See for yourselves.




George Lucas's Blockbusting: A Decade-by-Decade Survey of Timeless Movies Including Untold Secrets of Their Financial and Cultural Success

Available from January 10th at Amazon.com for $17.99 or from Amazon.co.uk as of January 15th at £9.99.

"This is a fascinating and carefully documented examination of the art and business of American moviemaking and its evolution over time - how our most popular pictures were made and received, how the landscape of film has shifted through the years. An invaluable historical tool." --Martin Scorsese

2 comments:

Former Grunt said...

I love the way he dismisses critics of his movies with "Whatever". That's so fucking cool. It's like they're nothing but knats to him.

While he undoubtadly rejects the notion of his defication [no offence Colonel], it's obvious the man doesn't concern himself with the minority of whiners in reference to Ewoks and Jar-Jar and is in this to reach the widest audience possible.

Constance said...

Jon Stewart, conductor of the interview that confirms that God does indeed have a sense of humor.