Lucas: Indy is for me, not the critics or fans

George Lucas talks to Empire magazine about Indiana Jones IV:

“We’re basically going to do The Phantom Menace”, says Lucas (stay with him here, he’s making a point). “People’s expectations are way higher than you can deliver. You could just get killed for the whole thing…We would do it for fun and just take the hit with the critics and the fans…But nobody wants to get into it unless they are really happy with it”.

I have to say, in a world where filmmakers frequently go through the motions of pandering to the fans and then fail to deliver a fan-worthy flick — the recent Narnia adaptation comes to mind — there is something almost admirable, even liberating, about a filmmaker saying he doesn’t care what the fans think.

Then again … did he just mention The Phantom Menace!?

Footnote: Last night I received a copy of the latest VIFC program by e-mail, and it says they will be showing a new 35mm print of Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) — on a double-bill with Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975), of all things — in late October. ‘Twould be even nicer in 70mm, but I’ll take what I can get!