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VOA慢速英语2017--George Lucas

时间:2017-10-28 23:48:56

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00:00:02 OPRAH WINFREY: "Hattie Mae, this child is gifted," and I heard that enough that I started to believe it.

00:00:08 ROGER BANNISTER: If you have the opportunity, not a perfect opportunity, and you don't take it, you may never have another chance.

00:00:14 LAURYN HILL: It all was so clear. It was just, like, the picture started to form itself.

00:00:19 DESMOND TUTU: There was no way in which a lie could prevail over the truth, darkness over light, death over life.

00:00:32 CAROL BURNETT (quoting CARRIE HAMILTON): “Every day I wake up and decide, today I'm going to love my life. Decide.”

00:00:35 JOHNNY CASH: My advice is, if they're going to break your leg once when you go in that place, stay out of there.

00:00:40 JAMES MICHENER: And then along come these differential experiences that you don't look for, you don't plan for, but boy, you’d better not miss them.

00:00:51 GEORGE LUCAS: I grew up in a small town in Central California. It was a farming community. We had a couple of movie theaters. You'd go to the movies once in a while. I grew up before television, so I didn't really discover film, or even any interest in film, until I was, like, a junior in college.

00:01:08 ALICE WINKLER: But that, my listening friends, is the guy who created the biggest movie phenomenon of all time. In this episode of What It Takes from the Academy of Achievement, the force behind “the Force” — George Lucas. I’m Alice Winkler.

00:01:40 George Lucas recorded two interviews for the Academy of Achievement’s archive, one in 1995 and one in 1999. I’ll play you excerpts1 from both in this episode, but also a clip from a speech he made to students at an Academy gathering2 in 2014, where he revealed the true meaning of “the dark side” and “the light side.” It will lead you to greater happiness. So listen carefully.

00:02:08 And then, you know, follow us on Twitter @WhatItTakesNow for even more happiness. But this story begins about 20 years before George Lucas dreamed up Darth Vader, before he changed the art of animation3, before he pioneered the transition of film from celluloid to digital. It begins back in Modesto, California, where George Lucas was not watching TV or movies much. His dad ran a stationery4 store, and he fantasized about a much faster life in cars.

00:02:42 GEORGE LUCAS: When I was young, from at least my teenage years, they were completely devoted5 to cars, and that was the most important thing in my life from about the ages of 14 to 20.

00:02:56 ALICE WINKLER: Lucas was, in his own words, a consummate6 underachiever. He didn’t care about school. He had plans to be a mechanic and a racecar driver, but then he got in an accident, a terrible accident.

00:03:10 GEORGE LUCAS: The thing with the auto7 accident, I was a terrible student in high school, and the thing that the auto accident did — and it happened just as I graduated, so I was at this sort of crossroads, but it made me apply myself more because I realized more than anything else what a thin thread we hang on in life, and I really wanted to make something out of my life.

00:03:31 And I was in an accident that, in theory, no one could survive, so it was like, "Well, I'm here, and every day now is an extra day. I've been given an extra day, so I’ve got to make the most of it," and then the next day is, “I've been given two extra days.” And I've sort of — you can't help in that situation but get into a mindset like that, which is, you've been given this gift, and every single day is a gift. And I wanted to make the most of it.

00:04:04 ALICE WINKLER: So he went to a junior college and fell for anthropology8 and sociology, fields that explore why people do what they do. He had always had a talent for art and for building things, and somehow, suddenly, all his likes and all his talents came together in one place, and that place was film. So he transferred to the University of Southern California’s School of Cinematic Arts.

00:04:31 GEORGE LUCAS: When I look back on it now, if I'd have gone to art school or if I'd have gone on to another university that I was planning to go to and, you know, study anthropology, I probably would have ended up back in film. No matter which route I would have taken, I'm almost positive I would have ended up eventually in film. So mostly I just followed my inner feelings and passions and said, "I like this, and I like this," and I just kept going to where it got warmer and warmer until it finally got hot, and then that's where I was.

00:05:01 ALICE WINKLER: Still, when he started to tell the people in his life about his plans, they tried to talk him out of it. He wasn’t related to anyone in the film industry, didn't have any good contacts, and that was the traditional way in back in his day. But as Han Solo would later say, "Never tell me the odds9." Lucas set his sights on getting through film school.

00:05:24 GEORGE LUCAS: And when I was in film school, the big issue was getting to make a movie: "When are we going to get to make a movie?" Well, in my very first class, which was an animation class, they gave us 32 feet of 16-millimeter film, which was exactly one minute of film, and they said, "Here, test the camera. See how it goes up and down and what happens when you move the things around, and learn how to use the camera," this big animation camera. It was a giant crane. And I turned it into a movie. I turned it into a one-minute movie. I put a soundtrack on it. It got entered into a lot of film festivals.

00:05:54 It won zillions of film festivals. It kind of revolutionized a kind of animation of what is — what then was called kinestasis, which is doing fast movements sort of over photographs and that sort of thing. And I said, "This is great," and all the other students said, "Well, how did you do that?" I said, "I just did it. They gave me a little, tiny piece of film. I made a movie out of it." And I kept doing that, and all the other students would sit around the campus saying, "I wish I could make a movie. I wish they'd let me do this in this class. I wish — " You know, if somebody gave me a hundred feet of film, I made a movie out of it.

00:06:27 And the other kids basically didn't. They had the same hundred feet of film. They had the same camera, and they just said, "When am I ever going to get to make a movie?" And I just kept making them.

00:06:37 ALICE WINKLER: As the sage10 Yoda would say, "Do or do not. There is no try." George Lucas realized at film school that he’d found the thing he was really good at and could lose himself in, the kind of thing he could do from nine in the morning until ten at night without glancing even at the clock, and he was not about to be deterred11.

00:07:02 GEORGE LUCAS: You know, it's very important that you find something that you care about, that you have a deep passion for, because you're going to have to devote a lot of your life to it, and you're going to have to really be focused on it. And you're really going to have to overcome a lot of hurdles13, a lot of people saying you can't do it. You're going to have to take a lot of risks, and you have to find something that you love enough to be able to take those risks, to be able to jump over the hurdles, to be able to break through the brick walls, that you're going to — that are always going to be placed in front of you.

00:07:27 If you don't have that kind of feeling for what it is you're doing, you'll stop at the first giant hurdle12. So I think — and you'll never make it unless you persevere14, unless you overcome a lot of very difficult obstacles.

00:07:38 ALICE WINKLER: Put succinctly16 by Qui-Gon Jinn, "Your focus determines your reality."

00:07:45 GEORGE LUCAS: And the secret is just not to give up hope, and it's very hard not to because if you're really doing something worthwhile, I think you will be pushed to the brink17 of hopelessness before you come through the other side. And you just have to hang in through that. When I — well, first of all, when I went into film school, everybody said, you know, "What are you doing? This is kind of a complete dead end for a career," because nobody had ever made it from a film school into the actual film industry.

00:08:16 You just — you know, maybe you go to work for Lockheed or some industrial company to do industrial films, but nobody actually made it into the entertainment business. I had no interest in going into the entertainment business, so I didn't really care. I was more interested in just doing films, going back to San Francisco, doing, you know, experimental films and that sort of thing, and maybe making documentaries and that sort of thing. So I wasn't — I didn't care.

00:08:42 Then I finished school. I went to San Francisco, and everybody said, "Why are you going to San Francisco?" I said, "That's where I live," and they said, "You can't possibly work in the film business living in San Francisco." And I said, "Well, that's — I want to live where I want to live, and I will make films because I love to make films." And I struggled. I mean it took me years to get my first film off the ground, and as I talk to film students now, especially, I say, "The easiest job you'll ever get is to try to make your first film."

00:09:10 Because that's the easy one to get, is the first film, because nobody knows whether you can make a film or not. You've made a bunch of little projects. You've shown off you have talent, and you talk real fast, and you convinced somebody that you should be doing a feature, and they let you do a feature. After you've done that feature, then you really have a heck of a difficult time getting your second film off the ground, because then they look at your first film and they go, "Oh, well, we don't want you anymore."

00:09:37 So I tell struggling kids who think it's very, very difficult to get your first feature off the ground that that's a piece of cake. It's the second one that you have a problem with, and it took me three, four years to get my — from my first film to my second film, of banging on doors, trying to get people to give me a chance. You know, writing, struggling, with no money in the bank, and, you know, working as an editor on the side, working as a cameraman on the side, getting little jobs, eking18 out a living, trying to stay alive, and pushing a script that nobody wanted.

00:10:14 MUSIC: SINCE I DON'T HAVE YOU

00:10:14 I don't have plans and schemes

And I don't have hopes and dreams

00:10:26 GEORGE LUCAS: Finally I managed to get that film made, which was American Graffiti, and then after that was a huge success, it was not as difficult anymore. But, my first six years in the business was hopeless, and there are a lot of times when you sit and you say, "Why am I doing this? I'll never make it. It's just not going to happen. It's just — you know, I should really go out and get a real job and try to survive, and — " You know, because I'd borrowed money from my parents.

00:10:53 I'd borrowed money from my friends. I was sort of — you know, it didn't look like I was ever going to actually be able to pay anybody back, which is part of living. You do have to eat, pay rent, and pay back your friends who are supporting you.

00:11:07 MUSIC: SINCE I DON'T HAVE YOU

00:11:07 I don’t have happiness and I guess

00:11:14 ALICE WINKLER: I want to go through this early filmography for a minute, before Star Wars, before Indiana Jones — let's not forget that one. The first feature film George Lucas made, in 1971, was THX 1138, a dystopian sci-fi tale starring Robert Duvall.

00:11:34 MALE VOICE: You have asked "Are we happy? Are we happy and effective?” Consultation19 with leading experts in the field makes it perfectly20 clear, perfectly clear, that we are all now programmed for perfect happiness, perfect happiness.

00:11:53 ALICE WINKLER: THX 1138 grew out of a student project Lucas had made at USC. It got “meh” reviews and kind of bombed at the box office, which is one of the reasons it took Lucas quite awhile to get the next one made. By the way, THX 1138 did later develop a cult15 following, and here’s one of the important things to know about it. Francis Ford21 Coppola produced it. Coppola also produced Lucas’s next film, American Graffiti. If you haven’t seen it or don’t remember it, American Graffiti is pure nostalgia22, set in 1962 in the teenage, car-obsessed, rock-and-roll culture George Lucas grew up in.

00:12:36 It captures that very American moment just before the Civil Rights Movement and the women’s movement and the Vietnam War, when everything would change, including Hollywood. American Graffiti featured some little-known actors, like Richard Dreyfuss, and Harrison Ford as the out-of-town drag racer in a cowboy hat.

00:12:59 BOB FALFA: Hey, you're supposed to be the fastest thing in the valley, man! But that can't be your car. That must be your momma's car. I feel embarrassed to be this close to you!

00:13:08 JOHN: Yeah, well, I'm not surprised you're driving a field car!

00:13:10 BOB FALFA: Field car? What's a field car?

00:13:13 ALICE WINKLER: The movie is a series of vignettes, really, with great, classic '50s music and not too much plot. George Lucas had a hell of a time getting it written.

00:13:24 GEORGE LUCAS: I was still struggling with my I-don't-want-to-be-a-writer syndrome23.

00:13:27 ALICE WINKLER: His friend and producer Francis Coppola told him, "If you're going to make it in this business and you want to be a director, you're going to have to learn how to write, so you're going to have to write your own script."

00:13:40 GEORGE LUCAS: That was a very dark period for me, so I sat down myself and wrote the screenplay. And the most difficult part was, during the writing of the screenplay, I kept getting phone calls from producers saying, "You know, I hear you're great — " I had made a film called THX, which had no story and no character, really. It was kind of an avant-garde film. And so I had all these producers calling me saying, "I hear you're really good at material that doesn't have a story. I've got a record album I want you to make into a movie."

00:14:07 Or — you know, things like that, and they were offering me a lot of money, and — but they were terrible projects.

00:14:18 ALICE WINKLER: Again, Yoda comes to mind here: "Fear is the path to the dark side."

00:14:24 GEORGE LUCAS: And so I had to constantly turn down vast sums of money, while I was starving, writing a screenplay for free that I didn't like to write because I hated writing; but I did finish it, and I did write the screenplay, and eventually I got a deal to make the movie.

00:14:40 You know, when the times are hard like that you simply have to say, "This is what I want to do. I want to make my movie. I don't want to take the money." And you just walk forward, step by step, and get through it somehow, and I got through. It actually only took me about three weeks to write that script, and I just every day would sit down at eight o’clock in the morning, and I'd write until about eight o’clock at night, and I just said, "I am going to finish this, as painful as it is."

00:15:05 ALICE WINKLER: But despite his resolve, George Lucas said, writing continued to remain the most daunting24 task for him as a filmmaker, but also the most important.

00:15:17 GEORGE LUCAS: Because the whole core of the idea of making a movie starts with the script and starts with the idea, and if you can do that, you are your own studio. Nobody can stop you because all you need is a pencil and a tablet, or a laptop, or whatever, and you're on your way.

00:15:33 ALICE WINKLER: Journalists Gail Eichenthal and Irv Drasnin, who both interviewed Lucas for the Academy of Achievement, tried to get him to describe his process.

00:15:43 GEORGE LUCAS: My struggle is there's a movie there. I can see it, only I can't see it in order, and I can't see it very clearly, and the struggle is to try to — you sort of look through the fog, and suddenly there is a scene or two. Then you put it down, and then you go through, and there's more fog, and you — and pieces aren't always in the right place, and you begin to realize, "Oh, this piece goes over here. That piece goes over there," and you begin to see it as a whole thing.

00:16:10 Also, you might not see it very clearly. In the case of Star Wars, I saw it. I do several drafts, and it became clearer and clearer. There are certain themes and ideas and images that sort of came in and fit, but a lot of the connecting stuff didn't. I couldn't figure out exactly how the story worked. But if you stay at it long enough and work at it hard enough, you can actually see the movie, and once you've got that part done, and you finished the screenplay and you looked at it, the movie — I could run the movie in my head.

00:16:39 And I've already seen the movie, so when I direct the movie, or I go to cut the movie, or anything, I already know what the movie looks like. And the difficulty is, is the real movie doesn't end up as good as the movie in your head, and there's a big — a lot of frustration25 about the compromises you have to make or things that didn't turn out the way they're supposed to turn out. You have to live with a lot of that, and you have to learn — even in writing, you have to learn that once you start writing something, the characters begin to talk back to you.

00:17:07 And once you've set up situations, they start telling you the story, and you can't start telling them what to do because they won't do it. They say, "I am not that character. I don't do that. I do this," and it leads you along a different path. So you get these sort of flashes of images of various scenes and moments and everything, and then you get the characters sort of walking in the scenes, because once the characters become alive, it takes a little while for them to become real enough to have an opinion about things.

00:17:36 But once they have an opinion about things, you sort of sit back and watch the movie, and that's how you get to the final draft of the script.

00:17:43 ALICE WINKLER: Despite the little moments of magic George Lucas is describing here, filmmaking, he says, is not very glamorous26 at all. Mostly, it's just extremely hard work.

00:17:55 GEORGE LUCAS: You know, it's not a matter of how well can you make a movie. It's how well can you make it under the circumstances, because there are always circumstances, and you cannot use that as an excuse. You can't put a title card at the head of the movie and say, "Well, we had a really bad problem. You know, the actor got sick, and it rained this day, and we had a hurricane," and, you know, you can't — "The cameras broke down." You can't do that. You simply have to show them the movie, and it's got to work, and there are no excuses.

00:18:24 ALICE WINKLER: And the logistics aren’t the only hard part, as Lucas often cautions aspiring27 filmmakers who ask him how to get into “the biz.”

00:18:32 GEORGE LUCAS: It always comes up, you know, "What do you do? What do you do?" I say, "Well, learning to make films is very easy. Learning what to make films about is very hard, and what you’ve really got to do is focus on learning as much about life and about the various aspects of it first, and then learn just the techniques of making a movie because that stuff you can pick up pretty quickly, but having a really good understanding of history, literature, psychology28, and sciences is very, very important to actually being able to make movies.”

00:19:08 ALICE WINKLER: Worthwhile ones, anyway. Some of the things George Lucas knew a lot about were anthropology and mythology29, outer space, and fast vehicles. Mm-hmm. Before American Graffiti had even come out, he started planning and writing his next project, a modern mythology for younger audiences. Cue the Star Wars theme.

00:19:42 GEORGE LUCAS: I ended up in a funny situation, where I had written a screenplay, but the screenplay was so big that I couldn't possibly make it into a movie. So I went down, and I said, "Okay, well, I'll get rid of the first two-thirds of it." That's a two — the second two acts, "And I'll just do the first act. I can make that into a movie. That's sort of big enough," but then I had all this other work that I'd done. I'd spent a whole year doing this, and I said, "You know, I'm not going to give this up. I will make all three movies, and I'll make this into three movies. That's the way I'm going to do it."

00:20:11 I won't just put this on the shelf and forget it and say, "Okay, I am doing this movie." And at that point, I made a pact30 with myself that I was going to make all three movies. And in order to do that, as I started to make my deal with 20th Century Fox, I acquired the sequel rights, because I didn’t want them to bury the sequel. I wanted to make these movies, and I was determined31 to make these movies regardless of whether they wanted to or the movie made any money or not.

00:20:38 ALICE WINKLER: Science fiction was not something that did well at the box office, which seems hard to imagine now, since the Star Wars films are woven so tightly into the fabric32 of our culture, but when George Lucas was trying to sell the studios on the idea, he kept hitting brick walls again. Their lack of faith, in the words of Darth Vader, “is disturbing.”

00:21:02 GEORGE LUCAS: You know, the executives could only think in terms of what they’ve seen, and it's hard for them to think in terms of what has never been done before. It dealt with robots and Wookiees and things that, generally, most people — they couldn't read it and say, "I understand what this is all about." They just were completely confused by it.

00:21:26 And really, on top of that, it was aimed at being a young — a film for young people, and most of the studios said, "Look, that's Disney's. Disney does that. The rest of us can't do that, so we don't want to get in that area." So I had so many strikes against me when I did that, I was lucky that I found a studio executive that just believed in me as a filmmaker and just disregarded the material itself.

00:21:51 ALICE WINKLER: Lucas had the confidence of his convictions and a vision for what these films would be, so to make sure he would have the financial means to make all three films, he came up with the “merchandise idea,” as he called it. Until 1977, movies were not released with licensed33 action figures, Happy Meal toys, special edition LEGO kits34; and no matter whether you think of that stuff as trash or treasure, all roads lead to George Lucas. It sounds contrary to logic35, but he came up with the merchandise idea to avoid being commercial, to avoid being beholden to the Hollywood studios.

00:22:32 GEORGE LUCAS: Everything is sort of a struggle, again, to survive, which is, the studio won't put enough money into your movie to get it into the theaters, to do the advertising36, so I said, "Well, I can't — I don't have any money. I don't have any, but I can maybe make a T-shirt deal, and I can maybe make a poster deal, and I can maybe get these out at science fiction conventions and things before the movie comes out and promote the movie." So I did it as sort of self-preservation.

00:22:58 I'm a San Francisco filmmaker. I'm an independent filmmaker. I don't have a lot of resources, so I really have to think about how I'm going to get not only through this movie but hopefully have it make enough money to allow me to get to do the next movie. And as it turned out, the film was so successful we were able to make toy deals, and we began to start the whole idea of action figures, of tie-ins, of toys that go along with movies.

00:23:24 And over the years, that's one of the things that's helped me stay independent, be able to finance my own movies, and stay in business, really.

00:23:32 ALICE WINKLER: "In my experience, there is no such thing as luck." That one from Obi-Wan Kenobi.

00:23:39 GEORGE LUCAS: You know, it's — and I've gotten myself into a position where I can more or less experiment using my own resources, and if I fail, I fail. That's the reason that I've generated the money in the first place, is to be able to try things, and if it doesn't work, it doesn't work. I like making movies. I mean I like the process. I like trying out new ideas.

00:24:00 There's nothing worse than the frustration of having somebody who you feel doesn't get what you're doing trying to turn it into something else. I think for most creative people, they don't like others looking over their shoulder saying, you know, "Why don't you make that green? Why don't you make that blue? Why are you doing this? Why are you doing that? I don't like that. Don't put that in there." You know, I want to — you know, it's sort of like Michelangelo and the pope, in terms of doing the Sistine Chapel37. It's a very irritating thing, and I'm sure Michelangelo was very irritated with the pope.

00:24:35 ALICE WINKLER: Another way that George Lucas was able to maintain his independence as a filmmaker was by having other independent filmmakers as friends. His circle famously included Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola, and Brian De Palma. They came of age, more or less, in the 1960s and were determined to do things in new ways for a new era.

00:24:59 GEORGE LUCAS: I guess the advantage that my generation had is, when we were in film school, and we were starting in the film business, the door was absolutely locked, and it was a very, very high wall, and nobody got in. Therefore, all of us beggars and scroungers down at the front gate decided38 that if we didn't sort of band together, we wouldn't survive, and that if one could make it, that one would help all the others make it, and we would continue to help each other, so we banded together.

00:25:27 I mean that's how cavemen figured it out. Any society begins by realizing that together, by helping39 each other, you can survive better than if you fight each other and compete with each other. And my friends and I, even though we have become successful, part of the reason we became successful is that we were always helping each other. If I got a job, I would help somebody else get a job. If somebody got more successful than me, it was partly my success. I wasn't — my success wasn't based on how I could push down everybody that was around me.

00:25:58 My success was based on how much I could push everybody up, and eventually they — their success was the same way, and in the process they pushed me up, and I pushed them up, and we kept doing that, and we still do that. And even though we all have, in essence, competing companies, the key to it is to have everybody succeed, not to gloat over somebody else's failure. And that's what's helped us along, and we continue to do that, and we do it with younger filmmakers.

00:26:26 And there's no way of getting through any kind of an endeavor without help from friends, and trying to be the number one person, ultimately, is a losing proposition. You never know in life when you're going to need help, and you never know whom you're going to need it from.

00:26:45 ALICE WINKLER: "Somebody has to save our skins," in other words — that one from Princess Leia Organa.

00:26:51 GEORGE LUCAS: I mean it's one of the basic motifs40 of fairy tales, is that you find the poor, unfortunate along the side of the road, and when they beg for help, if you give it to them, you end up succeeding. If you don't give it to them, you end up being turned into a frog or something. And it's not just a kind of public service thing. It's a way of life. It makes — you know, it helps you personally, but it also — you know, it's a good business decision. Let's put it that way.

00:27:19 ALICE WINKLER: A very good business decision, if the careers of Lucas, Spielberg, De Palma, Scorsese and Coppola are any indication, each wildly successful in turn. When George Lucas's number came up, how did he handle it?

00:27:34 GEORGE LUCAS: Success is a very difficult thing. It's much more difficult than one might think, and when I first had a successful movie, which was American Graffiti, fortunately it wasn't — it was huge, but it wasn't so huge in terms of monetary41 things, and it came so slowly that I was able to assimilate it a little bit. Star Wars was much more difficult, and I had a lot of friends who had been very — had become very successful, and they said, "Boy, watch out. Boy, when that one hits, you're really going to be thrown for a loop."

00:28:05 I said, "Oh, no, no. I went through American Graffiti. I can handle this. I know — " But when Star Wars finally — you know, the reality of it hit and all of the attendant things that go on around it hit — psychologically, it's a very, very difficult thing to cope with. And it's hard to explain exactly what happens psychologically, because a lot of the constraints42 that you've had are now gone.

00:28:29 Instead of scrambling43 to find one opportunity somewhere to do something, you suddenly have an endless supply of opportunities to do anything. Yeah! So — because the first thing you do — and I've seen it with a lot of people — is, you know, you go out and you say yes to everything, because it's all wonderful, wonderful things that are offered to you. And here you've spent your whole life just begging and, you know, using every means at your disposal to get one person or two people to say yes to your project or to say, "Yes, I'll do this. Yes!"

00:28:59 And then suddenly everybody says yes. Suddenly everybody wants you to do everything and anything you want, and it's — then you have to start learning how to say no. And tons of opportunities coming your way, wonderful opportunities, and you just — but you can't do them all. If you start doing them all, your life gets very unfocused. You get overwhelmed, and you collapse44, basically.

00:29:23 ALICE WINKLER: Lucas says that the wave of invincibility45 turned into a morass46 of depression. It’s just the price of success, he believes. Everyone thinks they're going to be able to handle it if it happens to them, but they can’t. So here’s what George Lucas figured out that helps him.

00:29:40 GEORGE LUCAS: I've made it a habit, that I still keep, when a movie comes out. I always go off on a beach so I miss all the craziness that goes on, all the — you know, the hoopla and the hype and the success and how much it's making or whether it's doing good or whether it's doing bad. I just miss it all. I just go off on a beach. I don't talk to anybody, and a couple of weeks later I come back and it's all over with. And so, I heard the results, but I didn't have to live through them.

00:30:08 ALICE WINKLER: George Lucas didn’t write or direct the latest Star Wars installment47, The Force Awakens48. He really had little to do with it, in fact. Remember, he sold Lucasfilm to Disney in 2012, giving them the rights to do what they wanted with the saga49, but if you happen to be on a beach vacation during the week Star Wars VII is released, keep your eye out for the man with the thick silver hair and beard who is avoiding the newspapers, the reviews, and the photos of people dressed up in Star Wars regalia, lining50 up around the block to buy tickets.

00:30:43 George Lucas might well be lying on a lounge chair, listening to the waves, happy to avoid the hoopla of the moment, but what he cannot avoid is the hoopla that’s unfolded over his creation for the past 40 years, which brings us to the topic of Lucas's legacy51. Journalists Irv Drasnin and Gail Eichenthal, who interviewed the filmmaker for the Academy of Achievement, asked which of his many contributions he thinks will have the most lasting52 impact.

00:31:15 GEORGE LUCAS: On the professional side, I've helped move cinema from a chemical-based medium to a digital-based medium — I guess that'll be one of the landmarks53. And then I've left these stories, these little tales that have been imprinted54 on the media, you know — I guess it'll be digital by the time it's finished — which, you know, will or will not be of interest to people in the future.

00:31:47 I've done the best I can. They've obviously made a big mark while I'm here, but the interesting thing you find out if you study history is that, you know, you can make a huge mark during your lifetime and, you know, a lifetime later it's forgotten. And you make something that you don't think is very important during your lifetime and you'll — you know, it lasts for a thousand years. So you can't really focus too much on that part of it because you really don't know what history is going to throw at you in terms of what's important and what's not important.

00:32:17 ALICE WINKLER: And one last line from Han Solo: "Great, kid. Don't get cocky." George Lucas hopes that his philanthropic efforts will be part of what history deems important. Lucas is the wealthiest person in the film business, according to Forbes magazine, and he’s also one of the most generous. He has already given away a substantial fortune to educational causes, and he’s pledged to give away the four billion dollars he made in the sale of Lucasfilm to Disney. But among the gifts Lucas has given the world is a modern day mythology with an important lesson for all time.

00:32:57 He laid it out beautifully when he concluded his speech to students at the Academy of Achievement Summit in 2014, so I will end this episode of What It Takes with his words.

00:33:11 GEORGE LUCAS: If you keep your eyes wide open and don't have prejudices about what you're going to do, and you follow your bliss55 or your passion or whatever it is, even if it's stupid, like you can't possibly get a good job there, “I don't wanna go there,” you know, all these kinds of — you know, because in the end, I got — my dad wanted me to go work in his store. He was a guy that did stationery and stuff, and I said, "I'm never going to do that. I'll tell you one thing for sure. I will never run a company, ever."

00:33:46 I'm a filmmaker. I'm a — you know, I'm a creative person. I only want to be creative. And so in the end, I followed all these paths, and because I needed to make sure I controlled the vision, and not have it be deluded56 by a lot of other people, I ended up with a company, and the company was successful, and the movies were successful, and, you know, I ended up running a big, giant company with thousands of people, and — but now I'm still following my thing, and I've sold my company.

00:34:13 I've retired57. I'm doing little — the little art films I was going to do originally, and just putting my own money in it. My friends, they get rich. They buy yachts, and I said, "Well, I'm going to take all the money I would use to buy the yacht, and I'm going to put it in a bank account, and then I'm just going to piss it away on making movies, and nobody will ever see them."

00:34:30 And so I don't have to worry about anybody saying anything. So that's where I am now, and that's how you make it work. You never know where you're going to end up, but you have to be open about it, and you have to follow your passion, and you'll go someplace. And if you're following your passion, you don't have to get rich. I happened to get rich, but that was by accident, and now I have the joy of giving it all away because I didn’t want it in the first place.

00:34:54 So it's like, you get yourself stable, and everything seems to work out. But if you're looking for fame and money and all those things, you'll never find it, and if you do find it, you'll never be happy. The secret, ultimately, which was the bottom line of Star Wars and the other movies, is, there are two kinds of people in the world, compassionate59 people and selfish people. Selfish people live on the dark side. The compassionate people live on the light side.

00:35:23 And if you go to the side of light, you will be happy because compassion58, helping other people, not thinking about yourself, that gives you a joy that you can't get any other way. Being selfish, following your pleasures, always buying things and doing stuff, you're always going to be unhappy. You'll never get to the point. You'll get this little instant shot of pleasure, but it goes away, and then you're stuck where you were before, and the more you do it, the worse it gets.

00:35:53 You finally get everything you want, and you're miserable60 because there's no — there's nothing at the end of that road. Whereas if you are compassionate and you get to the end of the road, you've helped so many people, thousands of people you may have helped, you may have stopped from suffering or anything, that gives you a very warm feeling. Thank you very much.

00:36:17 ALICE WINKLER: George Lucas. This is What It Takes, and our Twitter handle is @WhatItTakesNow. Please make sure to follow us to learn about upcoming episodes and to get great bite-sized bits of info that don't make it into the podcast. Tremendous thanks, as always, to the Catherine B. Reynolds Foundation for making What It Takes possible. I’m Alice Winkler.


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1 excerpts 2decb803173f2e91acdfb31c501d6725     
n.摘录,摘要( excerpt的名词复数 );节选(音乐,电影)片段
参考例句:
  • Some excerpts from a Renaissance mass are spatchcocked into Gluck's pallid Don Juan music. 一些文艺复光时期的弥撒的选节被不适当地加入到了格鲁克平淡无味的唐璜音乐中。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • He is editing together excerpts of some of his films. 他正在将自己制作的一些电影的片断进行剪辑合成。 来自辞典例句
2 gathering ChmxZ     
n.集会,聚会,聚集
参考例句:
  • He called on Mr. White to speak at the gathering.他请怀特先生在集会上讲话。
  • He is on the wing gathering material for his novels.他正忙于为他的小说收集资料。
3 animation UMdyv     
n.活泼,兴奋,卡通片/动画片的制作
参考例句:
  • They are full of animation as they talked about their childhood.当他们谈及童年的往事时都非常兴奋。
  • The animation of China made a great progress.中国的卡通片制作取得很大发展。
4 stationery ku6wb     
n.文具;(配套的)信笺信封
参考例句:
  • She works in the stationery department of a big store.她在一家大商店的文具部工作。
  • There was something very comfortable in having plenty of stationery.文具一多,心里自会觉得踏实。
5 devoted xu9zka     
adj.忠诚的,忠实的,热心的,献身于...的
参考例句:
  • He devoted his life to the educational cause of the motherland.他为祖国的教育事业贡献了一生。
  • We devoted a lengthy and full discussion to this topic.我们对这个题目进行了长时间的充分讨论。
6 consummate BZcyn     
adj.完美的;v.成婚;使完美 [反]baffle
参考例句:
  • The restored jade burial suit fully reveals the consummate skill of the labouring people of ancient China.复原后的金缕玉衣充分显示出中国古代劳动人民的精湛工艺。
  • The actor's acting is consummate and he is loved by the audience.这位演员技艺精湛,深受观众喜爱。
7 auto ZOnyW     
n.(=automobile)(口语)汽车
参考例句:
  • Don't park your auto here.别把你的汽车停在这儿。
  • The auto industry has brought many people to Detroit.汽车工业把许多人吸引到了底特律。
8 anthropology zw2zQ     
n.人类学
参考例句:
  • I believe he has started reading up anthropology.我相信他已开始深入研究人类学。
  • Social anthropology is centrally concerned with the diversity of culture.社会人类学主要关于文化多样性。
9 odds n5czT     
n.让步,机率,可能性,比率;胜败优劣之别
参考例句:
  • The odds are 5 to 1 that she will win.她获胜的机会是五比一。
  • Do you know the odds of winning the lottery once?你知道赢得一次彩票的几率多大吗?
10 sage sCUz2     
n.圣人,哲人;adj.贤明的,明智的
参考例句:
  • I was grateful for the old man's sage advice.我很感激那位老人贤明的忠告。
  • The sage is the instructor of a hundred ages.这位哲人是百代之师。
11 deterred 6509d0c471f59ae1f99439f51e8ea52d     
v.阻止,制止( deter的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句:
  • I told him I wasn't interested, but he wasn't deterred. 我已告诉他我不感兴趣,可他却不罢休。
  • Jeremy was not deterred by this criticism. 杰里米没有因这一批评而却步。 来自辞典例句
12 hurdle T5YyU     
n.跳栏,栏架;障碍,困难;vi.进行跨栏赛
参考例句:
  • The weather will be the biggest hurdle so I have to be ready.天气将会是最大的障碍,所以我必须要作好准备。
  • She clocked 11.6 seconds for the 80 metre hurdle.八十米跳栏赛跑她跑了十一秒六。
13 hurdles ef026c612e29da4e5ffe480a8f65b720     
n.障碍( hurdle的名词复数 );跳栏;(供人或马跳跃的)栏架;跨栏赛
参考例句:
  • In starting a new company, many hurdles must be crossed. 刚开办一个公司时,必须克服许多障碍。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • There are several hurdles to be got over in this project. 在这项工程中有一些困难要克服。 来自辞典例句
14 persevere MMCxH     
v.坚持,坚忍,不屈不挠
参考例句:
  • They are determined to persevere in the fight.他们决心坚持战斗。
  • It is strength of character enabled him to persevere.他那坚强的性格使他能够坚持不懈。
15 cult 3nPzm     
n.异教,邪教;时尚,狂热的崇拜
参考例句:
  • Her books aren't bestsellers,but they have a certain cult following.她的书算不上畅销书,但有一定的崇拜者。
  • The cult of sun worship is probably the most primitive one.太阳崇拜仪式或许是最为原始的一种。
16 succinctly f66431c87ffb688abc727f5e0b3fd74c     
adv.简洁地;简洁地,简便地
参考例句:
  • He writes simply and succinctly, rarely adding too much adornment. 他的写作风格朴实简练,很少添加饰词。 来自互联网
  • No matter what question you are asked, answer it honestly and succinctly. 总之,不管你在面试中被问到什么问题,回答都要诚实而简明。 来自互联网
17 brink OWazM     
n.(悬崖、河流等的)边缘,边沿
参考例句:
  • The tree grew on the brink of the cliff.那棵树生长在峭壁的边缘。
  • The two countries were poised on the brink of war.这两个国家处于交战的边缘。
18 eking 889887d4a1745eb5f0a532255f3d52e5     
v.(靠节省用量)使…的供应持久( eke的现在分词 );节约使用;竭力维持生计;勉强度日
参考例句:
  • He was eking out an existence on a few francs a day. 他每天就靠几法郎勉强度日。 来自辞典例句
  • She is eking out her income by working in the evenings. 她在晚上工作以增加收入。 来自辞典例句
19 consultation VZAyq     
n.咨询;商量;商议;会议
参考例句:
  • The company has promised wide consultation on its expansion plans.该公司允诺就其扩展计划广泛征求意见。
  • The scheme was developed in close consultation with the local community.该计划是在同当地社区密切磋商中逐渐形成的。
20 perfectly 8Mzxb     
adv.完美地,无可非议地,彻底地
参考例句:
  • The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
  • Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。
21 Ford KiIxx     
n.浅滩,水浅可涉处;v.涉水,涉过
参考例句:
  • They were guarding the bridge,so we forded the river.他们驻守在那座桥上,所以我们只能涉水过河。
  • If you decide to ford a stream,be extremely careful.如果已决定要涉过小溪,必须极度小心。
22 nostalgia p5Rzb     
n.怀乡病,留恋过去,怀旧
参考例句:
  • He might be influenced by nostalgia for his happy youth.也许是对年轻时幸福时光的怀恋影响了他。
  • I was filled with nostalgia by hearing my favourite old song.我听到这首喜爱的旧歌,心中充满了怀旧之情。
23 syndrome uqBwu     
n.综合病症;并存特性
参考例句:
  • The Institute says that an unidentified virus is to blame for the syndrome. 该研究所表示,引起这种综合症的是一种尚未确认的病毒。
  • Results indicated that 11 fetuses had Down syndrome. 结果表明有11个胎儿患有唐氏综合征。
24 daunting daunting     
adj.使人畏缩的
参考例句:
  • They were faced with the daunting task of restoring the house.他们面临着修复房子的艰巨任务。
  • Starting a new job can be a daunting prospect.开始一项新工作有时会让人望而却步。
25 frustration 4hTxj     
n.挫折,失败,失效,落空
参考例句:
  • He had to fight back tears of frustration.他不得不强忍住失意的泪水。
  • He beat his hands on the steering wheel in frustration.他沮丧地用手打了几下方向盘。
26 glamorous ezZyZ     
adj.富有魅力的;美丽动人的;令人向往的
参考例句:
  • The south coast is less glamorous but full of clean and attractive hotels.南海岸魅力稍逊,但却有很多干净漂亮的宾馆。
  • It is hard work and not a glamorous job as portrayed by the media.这是份苦差,并非像媒体描绘的那般令人向往。
27 aspiring 3y2zps     
adj.有志气的;有抱负的;高耸的v.渴望;追求
参考例句:
  • Aspiring musicians need hours of practice every day. 想当音乐家就要每天练许多小时。
  • He came from an aspiring working-class background. 他出身于有抱负的工人阶级家庭。 来自辞典例句
28 psychology U0Wze     
n.心理,心理学,心理状态
参考例句:
  • She has a background in child psychology.她受过儿童心理学的教育。
  • He studied philosophy and psychology at Cambridge.他在剑桥大学学习哲学和心理学。
29 mythology I6zzV     
n.神话,神话学,神话集
参考例句:
  • In Greek mythology,Zeus was the ruler of Gods and men.在希腊神话中,宙斯是众神和人类的统治者。
  • He is the hero of Greek mythology.他是希腊民间传说中的英雄。
30 pact ZKUxa     
n.合同,条约,公约,协定
参考例句:
  • The two opposition parties made an electoral pact.那两个反对党订了一个有关选举的协定。
  • The trade pact between those two countries came to an end.那两国的通商协定宣告结束。
31 determined duszmP     
adj.坚定的;有决心的
参考例句:
  • I have determined on going to Tibet after graduation.我已决定毕业后去西藏。
  • He determined to view the rooms behind the office.他决定查看一下办公室后面的房间。
32 fabric 3hezG     
n.织物,织品,布;构造,结构,组织
参考例句:
  • The fabric will spot easily.这种织品很容易玷污。
  • I don't like the pattern on the fabric.我不喜欢那块布料上的图案。
33 licensed ipMzNI     
adj.得到许可的v.许可,颁发执照(license的过去式和过去分词)
参考例句:
  • The new drug has not yet been licensed in the US. 这种新药尚未在美国获得许可。
  • Is that gun licensed? 那支枪有持枪执照吗?
34 kits e16d4ffa0f9467cd8d2db7d706f0a7a5     
衣物和装备( kit的名词复数 ); 成套用品; 配套元件
参考例句:
  • Keep your kits closed and locked when not in use. 不用的话把你的装备都锁好放好。
  • Gifts Articles, Toy and Games, Wooden Toys, Puzzles, Craft Kits. 采购产品礼品,玩具和游戏,木制的玩具,智力玩具,手艺装备。
35 logic j0HxI     
n.逻辑(学);逻辑性
参考例句:
  • What sort of logic is that?这是什么逻辑?
  • I don't follow the logic of your argument.我不明白你的论点逻辑性何在。
36 advertising 1zjzi3     
n.广告业;广告活动 a.广告的;广告业务的
参考例句:
  • Can you give me any advice on getting into advertising? 你能指点我如何涉足广告业吗?
  • The advertising campaign is aimed primarily at young people. 这个广告宣传运动主要是针对年轻人的。
37 chapel UXNzg     
n.小教堂,殡仪馆
参考例句:
  • The nimble hero,skipped into a chapel that stood near.敏捷的英雄跳进近旁的一座小教堂里。
  • She was on the peak that Sunday afternoon when she played in chapel.那个星期天的下午,她在小教堂的演出,可以说是登峰造极。
38 decided lvqzZd     
adj.决定了的,坚决的;明显的,明确的
参考例句:
  • This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
  • There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。
39 helping 2rGzDc     
n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的,辅助的
参考例句:
  • The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
  • By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。
40 motifs ad7b2b52ecff1d960c02db8f14bea812     
n. (文艺作品等的)主题( motif的名词复数 );中心思想;基本模式;基本图案
参考例句:
  • I try to develop beyond the old motifs. 我力求对传统的花纹图案做到推陈出新。 来自辞典例句
  • American Dream is one of the most important motifs of American literature. “美国梦”是美国文学最重要的母题之一。 来自互联网
41 monetary pEkxb     
adj.货币的,钱的;通货的;金融的;财政的
参考例句:
  • The monetary system of some countries used to be based on gold.过去有些国家的货币制度是金本位制的。
  • Education in the wilderness is not a matter of monetary means.荒凉地区的教育不是钱财问题。
42 constraints d178923285d63e9968956a0a4758267e     
强制( constraint的名词复数 ); 限制; 约束
参考例句:
  • Data and constraints can easily be changed to test theories. 信息库中的数据和限制条件可以轻易地改变以检验假设。 来自英汉非文学 - 科学史
  • What are the constraints that each of these imply for any design? 这每种产品的要求和约束对于设计意味着什么? 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓
43 scrambling cfea7454c3a8813b07de2178a1025138     
v.快速爬行( scramble的现在分词 );攀登;争夺;(军事飞机)紧急起飞
参考例句:
  • Scrambling up her hair, she darted out of the house. 她匆忙扎起头发,冲出房去。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
  • She is scrambling eggs. 她正在炒蛋。 来自《简明英汉词典》
44 collapse aWvyE     
vi.累倒;昏倒;倒塌;塌陷
参考例句:
  • The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
  • The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。
45 invincibility invincibility     
n.无敌,绝对不败
参考例句:
  • The myth of his and Nazi invincibility had been completely destroyed. 过去他本人之神奇传说,以及纳粹之不败言论,至此乃完全破灭。 来自辞典例句
  • Our image of invincibility evaporated. 我们战无不胜的形象化为泡影了。 来自辞典例句
46 morass LjRy3     
n.沼泽,困境
参考例句:
  • I tried to drag myself out of the morass of despair.我试图从绝望的困境中走出来。
  • Mathematical knowledge was certain and offered a secure foothold in a morass.数学知识是确定无疑的,它给人们在沼泽地上提供了一个稳妥的立足点。
47 installment 96TxL     
n.(instalment)分期付款;(连载的)一期
参考例句:
  • I shall soon pay the last installment of my debt.不久我将偿付我的最后一期债款。
  • He likes to buy things on the installment plan.他喜欢用分期付款法购买货物。
48 awakens 8f28b6f7db9761a7b3cb138b2d5a123c     
v.(使)醒( awaken的第三人称单数 );(使)觉醒;弄醒;(使)意识到
参考例句:
  • The scene awakens reminiscences of my youth. 这景象唤起我年轻时的往事。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
  • The child awakens early in the morning. 这个小孩早晨醒得早。 来自辞典例句
49 saga aCez4     
n.(尤指中世纪北欧海盗的)故事,英雄传奇
参考例句:
  • The saga of Flight 19 is probably the most repeated story about the Bermuda Triangle.飞行19中队的传说或许是有关百慕大三角最重复的故事。
  • The novel depicts the saga of a family.小说描绘了一个家族的传奇故事。
50 lining kpgzTO     
n.衬里,衬料
参考例句:
  • The lining of my coat is torn.我的外套衬里破了。
  • Moss makes an attractive lining to wire baskets.用苔藓垫在铁丝篮里很漂亮。
51 legacy 59YzD     
n.遗产,遗赠;先人(或过去)留下的东西
参考例句:
  • They are the most precious cultural legacy our forefathers left.它们是我们祖先留下来的最宝贵的文化遗产。
  • He thinks the legacy is a gift from the Gods.他认为这笔遗产是天赐之物。
52 lasting IpCz02     
adj.永久的,永恒的;vbl.持续,维持
参考例句:
  • The lasting war debased the value of the dollar.持久的战争使美元贬值。
  • We hope for a lasting settlement of all these troubles.我们希望这些纠纷能获得永久的解决。
53 landmarks 746a744ae0fc201cc2f97ab777d21b8c     
n.陆标( landmark的名词复数 );目标;(标志重要阶段的)里程碑 ~ (in sth);有历史意义的建筑物(或遗址)
参考例句:
  • The book stands out as one of the notable landmarks in the progress of modern science. 这部著作是现代科学发展史上著名的里程碑之一。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
  • The baby was one of the big landmarks in our relationship. 孩子的出世是我们俩关系中的一个重要转折点。 来自辞典例句
54 imprinted 067f03da98bfd0173442a811075369a0     
v.盖印(imprint的过去式与过去分词形式)
参考例句:
  • The terrible scenes were indelibly imprinted on his mind. 那些恐怖场面深深地铭刻在他的心中。
  • The scene was imprinted on my mind. 那个场面铭刻在我的心中。 来自《简明英汉词典》
55 bliss JtXz4     
n.狂喜,福佑,天赐的福
参考例句:
  • It's sheer bliss to be able to spend the day in bed.整天都可以躺在床上真是幸福。
  • He's in bliss that he's won the Nobel Prize.他非常高兴,因为获得了诺贝尔奖金。
56 deluded 7cff2ff368bbd8757f3c8daaf8eafd7f     
v.欺骗,哄骗( delude的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句:
  • Don't be deluded into thinking that we are out of danger yet. 不要误以为我们已脱离危险。
  • She deluded everyone into following her. 她骗得每个人都听信她的。 来自《简明英汉词典》
57 retired Njhzyv     
adj.隐退的,退休的,退役的
参考例句:
  • The old man retired to the country for rest.这位老人下乡休息去了。
  • Many retired people take up gardening as a hobby.许多退休的人都以从事园艺为嗜好。
58 compassion 3q2zZ     
n.同情,怜悯
参考例句:
  • He could not help having compassion for the poor creature.他情不自禁地怜悯起那个可怜的人来。
  • Her heart was filled with compassion for the motherless children.她对于没有母亲的孩子们充满了怜悯心。
59 compassionate PXPyc     
adj.有同情心的,表示同情的
参考例句:
  • She is a compassionate person.她是一个有同情心的人。
  • The compassionate judge gave the young offender a light sentence.慈悲的法官从轻判处了那个年轻罪犯。
60 miserable g18yk     
adj.悲惨的,痛苦的;可怜的,糟糕的
参考例句:
  • It was miserable of you to make fun of him.你取笑他,这是可耻的。
  • Her past life was miserable.她过去的生活很苦。

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