"A special effect is a tool, a means of telling a story. A special effect without a story is a pretty boring thing." "The sound and music are 50% of the entertainment in a movie" "The script is what you've dreamed up-this is what it should be. The film is what you end up with. "I am simply trying to struggle through life; trying to do God's bidding." On the making of Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope: "When you're directing, you have to get up at four thirty [A.M], have breakfast at five, leave the hotel at six, drive an hour to location, start shooting at eight, and finish shooting around six. Then you wrap, go to your office, and set up the next day's work. You get back to the hotel about eight or nine, hopefully get a bite to eat, then you go to your room and figure out your homework, how you're going to shoot the next day's scenes, then you go to sleep. The next morning it starts all over again." "I took over control of the merchandising not because I thought it was going to make me rich, but because I wanted to control it. I wanted to make a stand for social, safety, and quality reasons. I didn't want someone using the name 'Star Wars' on a piece of junk." "The object is to try to get the (movie) system to work for you, instead of against you. And the only way you can do it is through success, I'm afraid" "Making a film is like putting out a fire with sieve. There are so many elements, and it gets so complicated" "To be renewed is everything. What more could one ask for than to have one's youth back again?" "He is his own man, he is not a son anymore, he is an equal." - describing Luke Skywalker after his duel with Darth Vader in Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back. "I wanted to make abstract films that are emotional, and I still do." "He is one of the best. He's outwitted the empire on numerous occaisons, and he has made some very fast deals. One of his problems is that he gambles quite heavily and that's where he loses most of his money. He's tough and sharp, but never manages to scrape together enough to get any power...He's slightly self-destructive and he sort of enjoys being on the brink of disaster...You might meet him and he may be worth ten billion dollars and the next time you meet him he's in debt up to his ears." - Describing Han Solo "It's hard work making movies. It's like being a doctor:you work long hours, very hard hours, and it's emotional, tense work. If you don't really love it, then it ain't worth it." "From being a struggling. starving filmmaker to being incredibly successful in a period of a couple of years is quite a powerful experience, and not necessarily a good one." "I've had a very volatile relationship with Francis (Ford Coppola). It's on both sides, like we were married and we got divorced. It's as close a relationship as I've had with anybody." "If you can tune into the fantasy life of an 11-year-old girl, you can make a fortune in this business." Regarding Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith: "Right or wrong this is my movie, this is my decision, and this is my creative vision, and if people don't like it, they don't have to see it." "I am very concerned about our national heritage, and I am very concerned that films that I watched when I was young and the films that I watched throughout my life are preserved, so that my children can see them." (On Gangs of New York) "We showed a print of it at the Skywalker Ranch. I was amazed by what he (Scorsese) did with it and where he went. It was terrific." "The parallels between what we did in Vietnam and what we're doing in Iraq now are unbelievable." I've worked hard enough and earned enough to fail for the rest of my life. And I'm gonna do it!! - About making art films that he admits no one will want to see. [When asked what it was like to watch Steven Spielberg direct] "It's like watching Albert Einstein or Thomas Edison. It's like watching Michael Jordan or Tiger Woods, any genius you can name." "Part of the reason I went back to tell the prequel, of how Anakin Skywalker became Darth Vader, is that it's an interesting story and a fun one to tell. Because it is the story of how a good person turns bad." "I am very concerned about our national heritage, and I am very concerned that the films that I watched when I was young and the films that I watched throughout my life are preserved, so that my children can see them." - expressing concern over the Colorization of black & white films "Thank you. Thank you all. This is a very, very important award for me. Star Wars, oddly enough, doesn't really get that many awards. I'm not a big favorite with the critics, but who listens to them? I'm not a big industry favorite either, but of course they are a bunch of studio executives. The most important people for any filmmaker, the reason that I make films, is for you! The audience rules! Thank you. Thank you very much!" - while receiving the Best Movie award for Revenge Of The Sith at the Peoples Choice Awards. "With film, if you get a million people to see your movie on the first weekend, you've made about $5 million. That basically will not end up on the top-10 chart. You have to get 10 million people on the first weekend. And if you don't do it in two days, you're basically out of the theaters and into the DVD market. There's just an ecology there. If you're a mouse, don't expect to kill a lion, because it ain't gonna happen. If you want to have that kind of power, it's better to be a lion, because the mice are fine - you can have a life and everything - but the lions are the ones out there prowling and scaring the hell out of everybody." Yeah, I have a few dollars, but when you're getting up to the point where the average movie costs $80 million, anything under $20 million is pretty cheap. Anything under $10 million is almost impossible. And anything under $5 million is Roger Corman. [on film critics] "There are a few critics overseas, and occasionally a critic will write an astute analysis of the movie. There is value in reading critics that actually have something intelligent to say, but the journalistic community lives in a world of sound bites and literary commerce: selling newspapers, selling books, and they do that simply by trashing things. They don't criticize or analyze them. They simply trash them for the sake of a headline, or to shock people to get them to buy whatever it is they're selling." [on critics] "You have to have a thick enough skin to cope with the criticism. I'm very self-critical and I have a lot of friends that I trust who are film directors and writers and people in my profession. I trust them to be extremely critical but I trust their opinion; their opinion is thoughtful, knowledgeable. I also know them personally so I know the psychological slant they are putting on it. I know what their tastes are and I can say, "Well that's great for them but that's not great for me." Technical criticism is extremely helpful but you are only going to get that from your peers. " None of the films I've done was designed for a mass audience, except for Indiana Jones. Nobody in their right mind thought American Graffiti or Star Wars would work. [About THX-1138] My first film was a parable about the way we are living our lives today. I realize it was a rather depressing statement. People really weren't interested in a depressing statement. Being a pessimist doesn't seem to accomplish anything. [About the origin of Chewbacca] There was a dog in American Graffiti, but I didn't use Indiana for the part because it was a night scene and I wanted a white dog. My wife was very upset that I didn't put my own dog in the movie; so I said I'd put Indiana's spirit in the next one. And that's how the Wookiee came into being.