2005, May 15. It’s the big day for George Lucas. In Cannes, he presents Revenge of the Siththe last film of the saga Star Wars which he made himself, before receiving a trophy celebrating his career on the Queen Mary 2 moored in the bay.
Pathological shyness
George Lucas is a huge filmmaker but not the most expansive man in the galaxy. Despite the film’s triumphant reception that very morning, his pathological shyness seems to serve as a pretext for him to avoid the gaze of the privileged who seek to compliment him. And it’s nice to be a film journalist for 20 minutes, coming across a director of this caliber remains impressive, especially when one is a fan of Star Wars.
At the end of the ceremony, I go all out and slip aboard the canoe which takes the maestro back to dry land. At the stern, George Lucas faces the spray with an air worthy of a ship’s captain in stormy weather. Lost for lost, I throw myself: “You are… the king of the world today! Unexpected chance: this allusion to titanic makes him laugh. “You are right but I am a little sad, confides the filmmaker to me. Today, I am saying goodbye to my children. This is the end of a story for me. ” What ? No ! He can’t do that and you tell him that without even thinking. “Oh, they will continue to exist without me,” he says with a smile before leaving the canoe. And I see him walking away with his trophies trying to avoid the crowd waiting for him on the beach…