Until Disney bought Lucasfilm, George Lucas was the sole person to which all of Star Wars' success would be accredited to, but in reality, he only directed one of the films in the original trilogy. That's right, George Lucas was heavily involved in the first six Star Wars films, but before the prequel trilogy came along, Lucas had only directed the original: A New Hope. There was an effort being made to give each original trilogy installment its own feel and unique vision. As the prequels came along, the task of following up on the original classics would prove to be too daunting, so Lucas returned to the director's chair. Disney attempted to recreate Lucas's original idea for a new director with each episode installment, only for these plans to somewhat fold in on themselves. Each era of Star Wars holds an interesting case for how this franchise plays out when different hands are at play within trilogies, the biggest reason being that the original trilogy remains the most successful.
The original Star Wars was a massive success when it hit theaters in 1977, the type of success that few movies have seen. It quickly became the highest-grossing movie of its time, with loads of that money going toward George Lucas himself. Usually, when films are being made, studios hold onto franchise rights and merchandising rights. Fox cared so little for Star Wars though that Lucas was able to pass up an additional $500,000 in directing fees so that he could secure both the franchise and merchandising rights. This meant that he had the chance at making sequels his way, and with most of the money made off of both A New Hope and all toys, comic books, the film's novelization, books that expanded the universe, and more, going straight into his pocket.
Why Did Lucas Step Away from Directing 'The Empire Strikes Back'?
Between running Lucasfilm, an effects company Industrial Light and Magic (ILM), self-financing the future Star Wars installments to retain creative control, and ensuring that The Empire Strikes Back would be made properly, Lucas knew that he wouldn't be able to give the film the attention it needed. This meant hopping up out of the director's chair and handing the reins over to someone else. Lucas initially considered tons of directors for Empire, ranging from his peers Martin Scorsese and Francis Ford Coppola to studio filmmakers John Badham and Alan Parker. Ultimately, the baton would be passed to a figure from George's past, one of his old USC film school professors Irvin Kershner.
Kershner was hesitant to take the job for obvious reasons. He would have to follow up on the biggest movie ever released at that time, doing so with a film that was so good that Lucas could continue making Star Wars movies for as long as he wanted. Simply put in the documentary Empire of Dreams, if the first sequel was a dud, there wouldn't have been any more Star Wars! Lucas also approached sci-fi legend Leigh Brackett to write the screenplay, who was able to finish one draft before passing away. Lawrence Kasdan would pick up where she left off, taking Lucas's intended story beats for the film, but also giving the Empire his signature witty dialogue. Kershner eventually took the job to direct the sequel and would push for the darker tone that it is now so highly acclaimed for, but still work within the parameters that Lucas set up for him. With Kershner taking directing notes and Kasdan developing a pre-outlined script, Lucas now had the room to continue running Lucasfilm, pushing artists at ILM to innovate in special effects, and further plan the future of Star Wars.
Empire was a smash hit, going on to not only become regarded as the best entry in its series but also one of the greatest movies of all time. It also provided Star Wars with a guarantee for future installments! Despite Empire's success, Irvin Kershner declined the opportunity to return, so Lucas began the hunt for the director of the saga's final film, Return of the Jedi. Originally, he wanted his close friend and collaborator, Steven Spielberg, to direct Jedi, but difficulties with the Director's Guild of America prevented this from moving forward. He even approached David Lynch about the project, who turned him down so that he could continue focusing on making his small art-house films (despite directing 1984's Dune). Eventually, British director Richard Marquand was chosen to direct the film. Marquand wasn't necessarily in the ranks of Spielberg or Lynch, but his 1981 film Eye of the Needle was a hit, so his name was making the rounds in Hollywood as a quality studio filmmaker.
Lucas's Decision to Direct All Three of the Prequels
By being able to write Star Wars story treatments and give Lucasfilm and ILM the attention that they deserved, Lucas's degree of involvement in the original Star Wars trilogy has been its biggest contributor to its success. He's a fantastic "ideas guy." Lucas can come up with a seemingly infinite number of great concepts and ways of building his worlds, he's just not the greatest screenwriter or director around. That's where the prequels come into play.
With figures like Spielberg and Robert Zemeckis turning the job down, as well as seemingly everyone in Hollywood finding the task of following up the original trilogy too daunting, Lucas took it upon himself to write and direct all three episodes. He was also such a revolutionary figure in the industry that he was surrounded by "yes men," people who were too afraid to challenge him on some of his less successful efforts in these movies. What resulted was a trilogy of films that people despised at the time, but have deservedly gained respect in the years since. Say what you want about Lucas's dialogue or his static direction, but those movies are conceptually fantastic and absolutely feel like the product of one man's ambitious vision. They should be commended, if anything, for those aspects.
Disney Attempting the Original Trilogy Approach
The Disney Star Wars era saw no involvement from Lucas. After selling his properties to the corporate giant, he also handed over story treatments for the sequel trilogy. Regrettably, for Lucas's devotees, Disney threw these ideas out and started from scratch on Episodes VII, VIII, and XI. The plan was then set to follow in the footsteps of the original trilogy with a new director for each successive installment. JJ Abrams would direct the first of the sequels, then Rian Johnson, and Colin Trevorrow closing out the trilogy.
With Trevorrow's The Book of Henry being a massive misfire in every way, he was let go from the project. The reaction to The Last Jedi was also so divisive that Disney seemingly went into crisis mode and picked the safest director possible to helm XI, so JJ Abrams came back to the director's chair. The result provided a trilogy capper that oddly feels much more like a sequel to Force Awakens, as opposed to a sequel to Last Jedi. The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi rock, two films that were made by directors who had the time to craft and plan their movies. Then there's The Rise of Skywalker, the worst Star Wars film. At the very least, these three films do feel true to the visions and styles of the guys that made them. Oh well, should have stuck with Lucas's original ideas.
George Lucas's choice to step away from the director's chair after directing A New Hope, but stay heavily involved in just about every other way, proved to be the trilogy's secret sauce. It's interesting seeing how both the prequel and the sequel trilogy turned out, being trilogies from the mind of one artist, and another having two-thirds of its entries directed by one man. The originals kept things behind the lens fresh, all guided by the mind of a genius who was dunked on way too much in the 2000s. Here's hoping that as time moves forward, people get over their reservations with Lucas because of his work on the prequels and put the respect back on his name for his creative and innovative choices while making the first three Star Wars films.