Pirates & Princesses (PNP) is an independent, opinionated fan-powered news blog that covers Disney and Universal Theme Parks, Themed Entertainment and related Pop Culture from a consumer's point of view. Opinions expressed by our contributors do not necessarily reflect the views of PNP, its editors, affiliates, sponsors or advertisers. PNP is an unofficial news source and has no connection to The Walt Disney Company, NBCUniversal or any other company that we may cover.
Former Lucasfilm writer J.W. Rinzler, author of many Star Wars “Making of” books, once had a blog talking about the behind-the-scenes drama at Lucasfilm during the Disney acquisition.
That blog was titled “The Rise and Fall of Star Wars.”
Ouch.
That blog has since been taken down by request (demand?) of Disney, and Rinzler had a “Making of” book canceled by the Mouse — The Making of The Force Awakens.
The book was apparently cancelled because the various conflicts in making the movie wasn’t “magical” enough for Disney.
Rinzler spent quite a good deal of time around George Lucas himself and muses about how different the company has become under Disney’s corporate ownership.
“I was kind of cautiously optimistic, that Disney could be a really interesting place to work,” said Rinzler. “But it was basically… I felt very sad. We went to this big meeting, the whole company, and George was on the stage, and it was clearly the end of an era.”
Rinzler goes on to talk about how Lucasfilm was slowly worked into the Disney machine, and alluded that the the Disney Star Wars Sequel Trilogy was designed by committee and suffered for it. He said he’d only watched The Force Awakens and Rogue One, but had no interest in watching any more because it clearly wasn’t George’s story anymore.
Star Wars had become part of the Hollywood machine that George Lucas despised so much.
Double ouch.
Itchy Bacca, webmaster of Disney Star Wars is Dumb, has more on the current situation here.
Rinzler discusses more about the inexplicable cancellation of his The Making of the Force Awakens book in this episode of The Resistance Broadcast podcast.
“I knew I couldn’t tell George’s version of the story in there. There was no way that could be published. That was not in there. There was nothing in the book that was any way sensational,” Rinzler says.
So will the behind-the-scenes drama surrounding the transition of Lucasfilm into Disney’s hands ever come to light?
Maybe. Someday. But not without good ol’ Mickey putting up a fierce fight.
Pirates & Princesses (PNP) is an independent, opinionated fan-powered news blog that covers Disney and Universal Theme Parks, Themed Entertainment and related Pop Culture from a consumer's point of view. Opinions expressed by our contributors do not necessarily reflect the views of PNP, its editors, affiliates, sponsors or advertisers. PNP is an unofficial news source and has no connection to The Walt Disney Company, NBCUniversal or any other company that we may cover.
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