Prior to selling his Lucasfilm to Disney for over $4 billion, before crafting Star Wars, and in advance of making his feature debut with THX 1138, George Lucas studied and made films at the University of Southern California where he aspired to tell stories and perhaps make a name for himself. One of his earlier works was the 15-minute science-fiction short Electronic Labyrinth THX 1138 4EB, which takes place in a dystopian future as the government attempt to track down the titular character. It would, of course, go on to be the basis of his debut, which starred Robert Duvall, and we have the full version below.
It’s an interesting juxtaposition with recent comments made from Lucas while recently talking to Charlie Rose. “You’re selling creativity. Raw creativity from talented people. Now, the problem has always been the studios,” Lucas said commenting on today’s Hollywood. ”Although the beginning of the studios, the entrepreneurs who ran the studios were sort of creative guys. They would just take books and turn them into movies and do things like that. Suddenly all these corporations were coming in. They didn’t know anything about the movie business.” He added, “The studios went back to saying, ‘Well we don’t trust you people and we think we know how to make movies.’ The studios change everything all the time. And, unfortunately, they don’t have any imagination and they don’t have any talent.”
Check out the short and a segment of Rose’s interview (via Open Culture/The Wrap) below, and let us know if you agree with his recent comments.
What do you think of Lucas’ short film and his recent comments?