Movies: A Look Back in Wonder

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I'm also going to do some TV shows. I love television because it's not important. You get to do really great work, you really get to focus on the work, and all this megillah that goes on around it is gone. And you get to explore your interests, and it doesn't have to be that important. I want to get out of doing anything important.

TIME Except maybe one last Indiana Jones movie.

LUCAS You know, I said three's fine. And then I came up with an idea I thought was brilliant, so I told the other guys [Steven Spielberg and Harrison Ford], and they kind of flipped out. It's vaguely in the realm of the supernatural. We have to accept the fact that Indiana Jones is an older man. But it's been hell getting a script out of it. Steven is committed to shooting it next year. I just got the latest script yesterday.

TIME You don't have that many watersheds left, no matter how old you live to be. So, let me revert to my first question: What does it feel like bringing the Star Wars saga to a conclusion?

LUCAS Well, I had mixed feelings about being George Star Wars Lucas. That was a hard thing, but I did finally accept the fact that there was probably nothing I was going to do with the rest of my life that was going to change that, that I might as well live with it. It's not the worst thing in the world. If that was my shot at some kind of vague little mark on history, hey, that's not so bad. That sort of led to saying, Well, if I'm already George Star Wars Lucas, then it doesn't make any difference what I do from now on. I've cleaned up the first three to the point where I am happy with them now. They may not be perfect, but they are as perfect as I can make them. I'm proud of the second three movies. People may not like them, but I'm proud of them. I never in a million years thought I could finish the whole story. In its course, I've done a lot of things I wanted to do, taking themes and stringing them different ways in different tones through different times--recurring elements twisted in different ways. And I've managed to do something that I've always kind of been fascinated with--doing something over 12 hours instead of two. What it really comes down to is, I am a happy man. What else can I tell you? •