The Creatordirector Gareth Edwards remembers the momentGeorge Lucascalled him on the phone, praising the work he had done withRogue One: A Star Wars Story, considered one of the best films of the entire space saga. After Disney revived the franchise created by Lucas in 2015 withStar Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens, and while fans waited for the continuation of the new trilogy that would arrive in 2017 withStar Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi, Lucasfilm surprised everyone with a very different story titledRogue One. The spinoff starring Felicity Jones takes place between the events ofEpisode IIIandEpisode IV, and follows a group of rebels who have the dangerous mission of stealing the plans to the Death Star to prevent the Empire from carrying out its evil plans.
The film, unlike the main trilogy and theHan Solo spinoff which all received a lot of criticism, was very well received by fans. And it seems that it managed to conquer George Lucas himself too. In an interview with Josh Horowitz on hisHappy, Sad, Confused podcast, Edwards recalled the moment Lucas called him on the phone to congratulate him on the film:
“We showed him around the set, he came to visit Pinewood [Studios] at one point. We had a day where we showed him everything. That just felt the most surreal thing in the world, to be showing George Lucas a Star Wars film, part of it felt wrong in that sense… I was doing interviews, and there’s this person hovering by the door, and I was like ‘What?’. And then suddenly it sort of stopped, and they said, ‘Gareth’s just gotta take a break,’ and I had no idea what was going on. And we go down the corridor, and they go, ‘George Lucas is on the phone.’ And I was like ‘What?!’.
And I suddenly got whisked into this room, and there was this phone off the hook, and I was like, ‘Hello?’. And I do this every time where I’m like, ‘Okay, everyone’s gonna ask me what he said.’ In my brain, I’m grabbing a cassette tape, I’m putting it in and hitting record, ‘Remember this, remember this!’. And I’m so in awe that it’s George… he was highly complemental, he was very kind, but I played the tape back, and it was like [noises].”
Related:Here’s What Makes Rogue One the Best Star Wars Movie of the Disney Era
Gareth Edwards Returns to Science Fiction With the Creator
After the great work the director did withRogue One, for Edwards to choose another great sci-fi story as his next project was clearly a good choice.The Creator,Edwards' new film, builds a universe different from that ofStar Warsbut just as visually impressive. But in this story the Empire is not the enemy.Instead it is artificial intelligence.
The story follows a former special forces agent who is recruited to capture and assassinate the architect of an extremely advanced artificial intelligence that is a major threat to the entire universe. What he didn’t expect is that the technology he has been ordered to destroy occupies the body of a child.
The Creatorstars John David Washington, Gemma Chan, Ken Watanabe, Sturgill Simpson, Marc Menchaca, Madeleine Yuna Voyles, Allison Janney, Ralph Ineson, and Amar Chadha-Patel and hasbeen met with rave reviews from critics.The Creatorpremiered at Fantastic Fest and is due to be released in theaters in the United States from today.
