I Expect It Will All Fall Apart Next Week

When things are successful, it’s easy to look back and think of them as inevitable. We see the polished finished product and forget the messy, uncertain process that created it. Star Wars, as ubiquitous as it is now, was far from a sure bet when it was being made. In fact, many of studio executives at Fox hated it, certain it was a money loser. Its production was constantly behind schedule and over-budget and the test screenings George Lucas gave didn’t inspire confidence. Here’s how the executives reacted to one of the screenings, as described by Lucas’ co-producer Gary Kurtz:

“The lights came up and they walked out. There was no reaction at all. We looked at each other and said, ‘Uh-oh.’”

Nobody had ever made a movie like this before. Lucas was inventing special effects on the fly because no techniques that currently existed would suit his vision. When something is that new and that ambitious, it can just as easily be an epic fail as an epic success.

But of course, we know how this ended. A New Hope premiered and Star Wars became a cultural landmark, succeeding beyond Lucas’ wildest imagination. What’s most interesting to me though, is his reaction when this impossible dream became real. As people lined up around the block and movie theaters scrambled to add more showings, he viewed it all with skepticism, saying, “I expect it will all fall apart next week.”

He was unattached to success. He didn’t derive meaning from it. Instead, he found meaning in the process. Specifically, editing. He once gave an interview with the New York Times where he said, “I really want to retire and do a lot of experimental work with film that will probably never be seen by anybody.”

He didn’t like working with studio bigwigs. He didn’t like coaxing performances out of actors. He didn’t like filming on location. But he did all those things so that he could edit, so he could cloister himself in a dark room with thousands of hours of raw footage and get to work. As he said, “That’s when I’m going to make my choices.”

If you’re a creative, you’re going to care about something. Either you can care about the finished product (and the acclaim you think it will bring you) or you can care about the process. George Lucas succeeded because he cared about the process more than the finished product. Lines wrapped around the block to see his movie because he didn’t care about the lines. He just wanted to edit. But by losing himself in the process, he ended up creating something of lasting value.