Last month Star Wars creator George Lucas celebrated his 81st birthday.
I’ve long said his biography (the one by Brian Jay Jones) is arguably the single most valuable biography I’ve ever read as far as business goes. And it’ll never not be ironic to me how much he absolutely hated writing, put it off as long as he could, struggled with it… getting nothing but mockery & disdain from the critics… yet created arguably some of the most profitable stories ever written.
He also dropped another zinger in an interview with Turner Classic Movies recently.
Specifically about Yoda.
And, even more specifically, why he had Yoda speak backwards.
Yoda was really the make-or-break it part of The Empire Strikes Back. If the puppet didn’t work, if it came off as fake and stupid or silly… if Frank Oz didn’t nail the nuance/voice/personality just right… the entire movie would be a gigantic flop, and his career mostly likely coming to a fast end.
To which Lucas admitted about why he had Yoda speak backwards:
“Because if you speak regular English… people don’t listen that much. But if he had an accent, or it’s really hard to understand what he’s saying, they focus on what he’s saying. . .He was basically the philosopher of the movie. I had to figure out a way to get people to actually listen… especially 12-year-olds”
That could be an entire copywriting seminar unto itself.
Will not explain.
Not here, at least.
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Ben Settle
