(MENAFN- Arab Times) LOS ANGELES April 18 (Agencies): George Lucas hasn't seen the new trailer for 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens' he's waiting until he can see the it on a big screen. That's one of the takeaways from the April 17 Tribeca Talk at the Tribeca Film Festival which paired Lucas with fanboy extraordinaire Stephen Colbert. Among the tidbits: Lucas made 'American Graffiti' on a dare Steven Spielberg was one of the only early believers in 'Star Wars' and in a table-turning moment that saw Lucas doing the interviewing Colbert doesn't want to be the guy to take over from John Stewart.
Because Lucas is a bigscreen guy he said he's holding off on watching the new trailer for 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens' until he can watch on it on something other than a phone or a computer. He mentioned the possibility of streaming it to his own bigscreen. 'I hope it's successful. I hope they do a great job' Lucas said when asked about his hopes his 'a new hope' joked Colbert for the new 'Star Wars' films. He said the only thing he regretted about making 'Star Wars' was never getting to see the films for himself with fresh eyes. 'I don't know anything about it' he said of the new movie. 'This time it'll be very thrilling.' In the hour-long talk in front of a packed auditorium in downtown Manhattan Colbert and Lucas both bearded spent as much time discussing Lucas' overall career and his fierce independent streak as they did talking about 'Star Wars.' On that subject the nuggets dropped by Lucas included the fact that when the filmmaker showed a rough cut of his ideas for the film to his closest filmmaking friends including Spielberg Brian De Palma and Martin Scorsese Spielberg 'jumped up and said 'This is gonna be the biggest movie of all time!'' But no one else agreed. 'Brian said 'George what the hell is The Force?'' Lucas remembered. He also mentioned that he made 'American Graffiti' the huge comedy hit because Francis Ford Coppola dared him. To hear Lucas tell it Coppola said to him 'Look do me a favor. No more of these experimental science-fiction movies. I dare you to write a comedy.' So he did. Applause Throughout the conversation Lucas made it clear that he remains the independent-minded artist who started out making experimental films. He still rails against studio types who think they deserve credit for writing a check: 'They refer to it as their movie but they didn't have anything to do with it. The guy who sweats blood and tears to write and direct the movie is the guy who really made the movie' he said drawing a round of applause from the crowd. He thinks of 'Star Wars' as a silent movie 'It really lies in the art of movement' but that sound is just as important as the image onscreen. 'I believe half a movie is the sound' he said. 'The sound is extremely important. But the dialogue is not.' That led comment led Lucas to acknowledge 'I'm notorious for wooden dialogue.' 'It's not wooden' Colbert interjected. 'It's hand-carved.' Toward the end of the talk Lucas took the reins to ask Colbert why the heck he wasn't the guy to take over for Stewart on 'The Daily Show.' 'Um' Colbert deadpanned. Then he went on 'I don't want to be the guy to take over for John Stewart. I worked for John Stewart at that show. My memories will always be of him being the keenest most intelligent most beautifully deconstructive mind the clearest thinker I've ever worked with or for. I would never get underneath his shadow.' As for what Lucas is currently up to he mentioned the word 'retired' although spurred by a question from the audience he did mention he's going back to making experimental films. 'These movies they'll probably never get released' he joked. 'I'm just tinkering around in my garage.' Colbert who replaces David Letterman in September as host of 'The Late Show' on CBS tried to explain. 'Trevor Noah is a very funny guy' he said of Stewart's recently named replacement. Lucas then suggested that Colbert wouldn't need to get out from Stewart's shadow; he could simply 'start jumping on his body and shouting 'I won! I won!'' 'I'll try that' Colbert quipped. The hour-long interview focused mostly on Lucas however and Colbert sporting an ample white beard to match that of Lucas and appearing as himself not as his retired 'Colbert Report' pundit made clear that he's a huge fan. Contest At age 13 he said his world changed when he saw the first 'Star Wars' with friends having won four tickets in a radio station contest in Charleston South Carolina. 'We had no idea what it was going to be' he said. And then the music began and the movie's opening scroll appeared and everything was different. 'We couldn't explain to anyone how the world was different now' Colbert told Lucas. 'We had no vocabulary for what you showed us.' He says he still keeps a button from that screening saying 'May the Force Be With You.' The two men didn't speak much about the much-anticipated new 'Star Wars' trilogy directed by J.J. Abrams with the first installment 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens' opening in December. Lucas who sold the franchise and his Lucasfilm to Disney in 2012 for $4.05 billion said he doesn't know what the film's plot will be but looks forward to seeing it. 'The one thing I regret about having made 'Star Wars' is that I never got to just go and see it' he said. 'I hope it's successful' he said. 'I hope they do a great job.' He added that the original saga was about a father children and grandchildren. 'I'm hoping they take it in a different direction' he said. 'I have no idea what they're doing.' Lucas said one thing is sure: He'll wait to see the movie on a big screen. Asked by Colbert how he feels about people watching movies on their phones he said it didn't anger him as much as it does some other filmmakers. 'They work best on a big screen' he said. 'If you want to see it on a cellphone that's fine with me but it won't be the full experience.' Lucas spoke about the history of his biggest hits starting with the 1973 'American Graffiti.' Studio executives didn't like 'Graffiti' at all at first he said and it ended up being enormously successful: It was made for $700000 he noted and earned $100 million. With 'Star Wars' there were similar trepidations. Showing it to a group of famous filmmaker friends no one liked it and basically said 'Poor George' he recounted except Steven Spielberg who immediately declared it was going to be huge. 'And everyone just said 'Poor Steven'' Lucas quipped. When it opened in 1977 the director went off to Hawaii to lie on a beach wanting to escape the stress. That first weekend he got a call to turn on the TV; Walter Cronkite was on describing how the film had become a phenomenon. 'It's the first time I understood this was going to be a hit' Lucas said.
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