George Lucas defends his “corny” Star Wars prequel dialogue

George Lucas admits that his dialogue for the Star Wars prequels “is pretty corny,” but explains how it’s part of the story’s style. Do we buy it?

The Star Wars franchise has had more than its fair share of questionable dialogue over the years. The prequel trilogy — The Phantom Menace (1999), Attack of the Clones (2002) and Revenge of the Sith (2005) — is particularly infamous for questionable dialogue. And now, creator George Lucas has admitted that his dialogue for the prequels “is pretty corny,” but explains why he decided to write the movies in that style. Need me mention Anakin Skywalker’s infamous “I don’t like sand” monologue from Attack of the Clones?

See also, “Believe me, I wish I could just… wish away my feelings.” There were a lot of lines like this, and they’re all memorable for the wrong reasons.

Star Wars creator George Lucas wrote all three of the prequel movies himself, and it shows. Speaking to Paul Duncan for the new book The Star Wars Archives. 1999–2005, Lucas explained his thinking behind some of these lines, particularly the one where Anakin tells Padmé that he is “haunted by the kiss that you should never have given me.” He admits that the lines are “pretty corny,” but thinks that’s the point. “It is presented very honestly, it isn’t tongue-in-cheek at all, and it’s played to the hilt. But it is consistent, not only with the rest of the movie, but with the overall Star Wars style.”

"Most people don’t understand the style of Star Wars. They don’t get that there’s an underlying motif that is very much like a 1930s Western or Saturday matinee serial. It’s in the more romantic period of making movies and adventure films. And this film is even more of a melodrama than the others."

That may or may not change your opinion on some of the dialogue in the prequels. For Star Wars conversation that doesn’t sound quite so weird in the ear, you can always watch The Mandalorian, currently streaming on Disney+!

If you want to read more of Lucas’ thoughts about all things Star Wars, you can check out The Star Wars Archives. 1999–2005 on Taschen. But be warned, it has a hefty $200 price tag!

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h/t SyFy Wire