I love George Lucas. There, I said it. Even though I have to give him a lot of awards these days, it's not so bad 'cause I get to make fun of him in a way that he seems to like. And even the endless commentaries and on-camera interviews for the upcoming DVD release of the Star Wars Trilogy — where they ask me the same questions they've asked me since the dawn of man — don't bother me too much because I think of Star Wars as sort of my alma mater, in the absence of any real college education.

And George is my class president. He's the main one out of the Star Wars group I've maintained a real, live friendship with — even if the nature of that friendship sometimes comes down to me doing the commentary thing for the Star Wars DVDs because he asks me to, and then him talking to me for this magazine because I ask him to. It's the public-figure way of saying, “You're a pal,” while others say it with flowers or Christmas cards or by showing up at birthday parties.

Oh, we do that, too. George lets me interview him, and I give him awards. What better way to demonstrate our loyalty and undying affection than through the bizarre display afforded by public life? So here he is again, scratching my back in the open forum of Sound & Vision . And someday soon, I can only hope I'll be handing him a Lifetime Achievement Award from some highly respected outfit.

I don't think I've ever done a print interview of George before. On camera, yes; on paper, no. But to get him on paper, I first had to capture his voice on tape. Doing that, though, is like capturing a butterfly in a net — the rare butterfly of George Lucas, the über-geek when it comes to Sound & Vision types.

At least that's how I picture it. I see him as S&V's centerfold, with a little speaker in front of his private 1138 parts and a flat screen to cradle his teeming head.

For those of you who read this magazine — well, he's kind of your boy, no? I mean, the inventor of the THX program? C'mon. And who am I? Debbie Reynolds' daughter — barely. I don't even own a $5,000 clicker — excuse me: remote control. (Though George says these new things aren't clickers, they're computers. But I want to point out that my computer cost less than these clicker/computers, and at least I can make friends on it.)

What I am is George Lucas's little friend with the funny hairstyle and the occasionally light-saber-like pen. Who I am is the person delivering George — Mr. Lightspeed — to you today.

S&V gave me a list of questions, because Lord knows I wouldn't even know what to ask George for a magazine like this. So I asked him what movies he'd seen recently that impressed him, and he told me Lost in Translation. Then, because it's S&V, I asked him how he'd seen it

“I saw it at a screening that [director] Sofia [Coppola] had for us up at Skywalker Ranch with her family.”

Then I asked how he usually watches movies: “I watch movies in a movie theater.” I became indignant on behalf of the ma gazine: “You must have a home theater.”

“I do have a home theater,” George res ponded, “but it's a video theater, not film.”

I'm lost. “What does that mean?”

George Lucas: That means I can't show films. I can only show videos — you know, DVDs and stuff. I can't show movies — film — because I don't have a movie projector.

Carrie Fisher: Does anyone have a movie-projector thing anymore?
Well, I don't know. You're in Hollywood — I'm not. I thought everybody down there had that stuff. Obviously, you can't see a new movie unless you have a projector, but I go to movie theaters and watch with real people. I don't have special screenings. I did have one of Lost in Translation because I'm a close friend of Sofia's and her father [Francis Coppola], mother, and brother. I saw it out at the Ranch in a very large theater.

They ask, “What do you think of the movie theater experience in 2004?”
In some cases it's getting better, but in a lot of cases it's the same as it has been. It's very hard to get people to understand that if they would use digital projectors, the quality of the prints — the quality of the film itself — would stay high rather than degenerating over the few weeks it runs in the theater.

Digital projectors?
Digital projectors.

As opposed to film projectors.
As opposed to film projectors. The theaters refuse to use digital projectors a nd the studios refuse to release digital films. So the film becomes all scratchy and torn up and bad. It's great if you see the movie on the very first day it's released, but if you wait even two or three days, it starts to degenerate.

So why do they refuse to do it?
I don't know. You live down there, I don't.

Honey! You keep saying that! I stay at my house.
I stay in my little city up here.

I don't go out there amongst them.
They have this plan that if they wait long enough, they can figure out a way to exploit the situation, but in the end —

Exploit the situation, how?
They're afraid they're going to lose money or lose control, but in the end it's going to happen whether they want it or not.

They're going to use —
Digital projectors. And the quality will be much better.

Are you one of the first people to shoot a movie digitally?
Yeah, a major motion picture. And I'm the first to have shown one digitally.

I didn't know that.
There were some little, independent films shown digitally at festivals, but Phantom Menace was shown digitally in two theaters in New York and two in L.A. Attack of the Clones was shown digitally in a hundred theaters.

See, I don't even understand this stuff. It's like when you said to me that thing wasn't a clicker, it was a computer.
Uh huh.

Excuse me, though — my computer does more than that clicker/computer.
I know, but that remote is a different kind of computer. It's easier to work than a clicker .

Well, it should be for $5,000!
But that's what you're paying for. You're paying for the fact that it's not confusing.

Anyway — here's another question: “What kinds of movies do you watch?”
All kinds. I go to the movies once or twice a week, and I watch them at home — old movies.

You see them over and over, don't you?
No.

You don't? 'Cause I do.
I don't have time. I see lots of document aries — lots of films, but I can't really see them over and over. The most I've ever seen a film was about ten times, and that was Hard Day's Night in film school. Now, if I see a film more than once, it's by accident.

Or it's yours, and you're editing it.
Well, that doesn't count, but if I see a film more than once it's because it's something I've seen that I want my kids to see, or something they've seen they want me to see.

“How have your tastes changed over time?” — not my question, but —
Um, I seem to like younger and younger girls as time goes by. [ Carrie laughs ] It's not that I'm getting older; it's just that they seem to get younger.

They stay the same age!
I know they do.

You don't like younger and younger girls — you like girls who stay at the same age. You're just older.
I still like 35-year-old girls.

Well, did you like 35-year-old girls when you were 18?
No.

Okay. “Have any recent movies had an impact on your work?”
No, not really, because I'm just making the same old movie over and over again.

That's not entirely true, but —
Well, it's kind of true.

“Why are you releasing the Trilogy on DVD now, instead of after the new trilogy is finished, as originally planned?” Was it originally planned that way?
It was supposed to come out later, but piracy being the way it is, it's getting harder and harder to release DVDs. Soon, it's going to be impossible because they'll all be pirated.

Because people film them in the theater ?
No, because they either get copies or make their own copies.

I heard that for people screening films on DVD for the Academy Awards, they're going to send some kind of —
A special player.

Yeah, a player. Is that true?
I guess so. I don't get Academy screeners, so I don't know.

You don't?!
No. I'm not a member of the Academy.

That's hilarious.
[ chuckles ] I'm not part of that world down there — you are.

Say that one more time and I'm coming up there — which means I'll have to see my father [singer Eddie Fisher]. Do you know that after your birthday party, I called my father? I go over to see him and he has a 40-year-old girlfriend — he's 76. I go into the kitchen with him and he takes something out of the freezer. It's a bottle — a vial — with a rubber stopper and something in it for a syringe. I say, “What is that?” — and he says, “It's for sex.” [ George laughs ] I hope that's not in your future.
Yeah, I hope not either.

That's nice for Eddie, but that's not what we're supposed to be talking about, so let's see: “Preparing the Star Wars Trilogy for DVD, did you find your impressions of the films had changed over time?”
Um, no. I still enjoy the films quite a bit. They still hold up for me.

Yeah, me too. For the commentary, I had to watch all three in one morning.
Right. [ laughs ]

And I actually enjoyed them — especially the first two. Let me see: “Does home theater let people experience the Star Wars films the way you intended?”
Ah-ha — well, I didn't intend them to be seen in home theaters, but that's the way the world is today. And if you have a very good system, and you watch them on DVD on a digital projector, then it would obviously be as close as possible to the way I intended them to be. But you have to have a big screen. I mean, Star Wars was meant to be seen —

Yeah, huge . They want to know what type of equipment you have. I love that I have to ask you a question like this.
I'm not sure what we have. Well, the projectors are Texas Instruments derivatives. I don't know who actually makes them. And I have about a 10 x 20-foot screen.

And do you have special sound? Of course you do.
I have THX sound and the whole deal. I also have a Kaleidescape, which is a computerized system that stores all my DVDs.

Reeaally?
Yeeaahh, it's really cool. All I have to do is push a button and any movie in my library comes up on the screen.

Wait, you push a button, like in a jukebox?
Yeah, but it's a huge one. It has 500 films in it.

That's fantastic. But that's not like a normal thing that just anybody can have.
Yeah, you can buy it. They're expensive, but anybody can buy one. [Click to read the Kaleidescape Movie Server . . . — Ed. ]

That's brilliant.
That'll give you something techno to say.

I'll never sound like I'm saying anything technical. “Does it concern you that more and more people watch movies at home?”
No, it's great that people can watch all kinds of movies and not be a victim of what happen s to be playing in a movie theater at any given moment. You can watch movies that ar e 10, 30, or 50 years old and not have to wait for them to come on TV in a bad print or —

With the commercials — or have the deterioration you said happens, which surprises me.
Yeah.

“What impact will home theater have on movie making?”
I think it has already had an effect because DVD had a huge impact.

Because it has those extras?
You can put back your director's cut or put extra material on it. It allows you more freedom ultimately than what you're allowed in a theatrical experience. Sometimes you can't put material in the theatrical version because it makes it too long. There are all kinds of restrictions that go into theatrical filmmaking that don't apply to DVDs.

Virtually no restrictions, right?
Right.

“Your THX program made the home theater movement legitimate” — I didn't know that. “Have you been able to do everything you wanted with it?”
Well, it's now gone on to working on things like digital projection. THX has spent a huge amount of time trying to ensure quality in the theaters as well as at home. It's getting to the point that if you have a good DVD player and a good digital projector and a nice big screen, you can get a better picture than you can in a movie theater.

Because they don't show it digitally.
Yeah, they're showing dirty old prints.

Do you think they'll ever go digital?
Oh yeah, oh yeah. They don't have a choice. They've delayed it for six years, and they may delay it for another six years, but it will definitely happen.

“What do you see as the future of watching movies at home?”
Everything will be pay-per-view. It will all be stored at home on a digital system, and you'll pull up whatever you want whenever you want. And you'll have high-definition digital projectors and large screens, and it will be a very satisfying experience.

Who is responsible for high-definition? I've never looked so old on TV in my life. [ George laughs ] I mean, really.
Use lots of makeup, lots of filters.

It wouldn't matter!
Oh, it does.

This is like the ultimate geek magazine. Listen to this one — you're like their pin-up: “From Industrial Light and Magic to the recent Star Wars films, you've been a pioneer in digital cinema. How do you feel about recent advances like HDTV, digital projectors at home, and high-def DVD?”
It's fantastic because the films were designed under optimum conditions, and I've spent a lo t of time trying to make sure that those conditions exist wherever the films are shown.

But, that high-definition thing — doesn't that make actors look awful?
Well, not really.

If they're young, they don't look awful.
Yeah, if they're young and cute, they look fine .

Well, that's true under any circumstances. “Are you surprised at how sophisticated home systems have become?”
No. It's an inevitable evolutionary process. I expect them to get bigger and better, with more storage. We've already reached the acceptable side of things in terms of image quality.

But you don't think it will ever stop people from going to the movies? They thought TV would stop people from going.
No, people will always go to communal events because humans are social animals. They'll always go to the opera and the ballet, and they'll always go to the movies.

“John Lowry, who restored the Star Wars Trilogy and THX 1138, can transfer films at four times the HDTV standard” — they're like, making me say all this. “Do you think this allows digital technology to finally match the capability of film?”

Well, I think it does anyway. With the films I've shot digitally, it's very hard to tell which is which. In Phantom Menace, I intercut stuff shot on film with stuff shot digitally, and nobody could tell. So, the Lowry process cleans up old, dirty, destroyed prints and gets you the best-quality images — the highest resolution, the least amount of grain, and the best color reproduction. And you can only do that digitally, because it's almost impossible to do on film — especially when a movie is 20 or 30 years old.

You can't fix those things?
You can, but it costs so much money and it's so hard.

Here's this one: “Is film dead, and it's just a matter of quickly phasing it out?”
Well, people will always be shooting on film for one reason or another, but we are definitely in the digital world now, and it would be foolish to do it any other way.

Why did they stop doing four-strip Technicolor?
Because it's just too big and clumsy and expensive.

It was so beautiful, though.
Well, now you can duplicate that digitally.

You can?
Yeah, the look. The great thing about digital is you can make it look like anything.

So you could make something look like The Red Shoes digitally?
Uh huh.

That would be cool.
Yep.

All right, “Do you see releasing the Star Wars Trilogy ” — don't I read this with great inflection? — “and THX 1138 as part of establishing your legacy, since people can now watch high-quality versions over and over at home?”
At least now they can access the films without the gatekeepers of the TV networks and studios and everything. It's great that people can make collections of films from people they admire. Does that answer the question?

Well, there's an “or” — “or will it take high-def DVD to make home viewing as compelling as watching in a theater?”
The thing about the theater is the size of the screen. It's not the resolution.

“With videogames now using orchestras, sophisticated plots, and star-quality vocal talent, can you see yourself creating a game the way you do a movie?”
Yep. I've had a successful videogame company for almost 20 years, and they make games the same way we make movies, pretty much.

But it's interactive.
They're both cinematic experiences, and they both use the same techniques, but one tells a story and the other is a game. One is being directed and the other is open-ended. You don't know what's going to happen.

I've never played those games. Do you?
A little bit.

Just to try them out?
Well, yeah. My son is a big —

Game guy?
Yeah, he loves games.

On what? Like Xbox?
Yeah, all those things.

[ My daughter] Billie wanted one — Billie got one. You didn't grow up with anything like this , did you?
No.

What did you play when you were growing up?
I just played games. I went outside because there was just one movie theater.

This stuff is beyond me. I can't do the clickers; I can't do any of it. Okay, let's see: “Most people know you as the guy who did Star Wars . Do you wish more people associated you with American Graffiti?”
Oh, I don't know. You don't have a choice about things like that. There's nothing I can do. You don't regret Star Wars, so —

That's Mark's job. “How do you rank Graffiti with your Star Wars work?”
I don't know. I like all my work. I like to watch it. It's all different.

It certainly is, Ollie. When do the Star Wars DVDs come out now?
They come out in September, I think.

Who did the commentaries for them?
I don't know.

How can you not know, you big cheese head?
[ laughs ] I don't get involved in all that.

Yes you do, because you called me to have me do it.
Someone else must have called, not me.

No, you called me because I said no, because I did the on-camera interviews .
Oh.

But then I did it, because I do whatever you ask me — that's become our relationship.
Yeah. I like it.

More:
The Empire Strikes Back director: Irvin Kershner
S&V Exclusive!

Restorer of the Star Wars Trilogy and THX 1138: John Lowry
S&V Exclusive!