George Lucas has responded to criticism that the Star Wars films were “all white”, countering that “most of the people are aliens”.
Lucas was the executive producer, writer and director of the Star Wars franchise up until Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith in 2005, and also conceived and produced the Indiana Jones film series.
Speaking at the Cannes Film Festival after receiving an honorary Palme d’Or Award, he responded to the accusation directly.
“They would say, ‘It’s all white men’,” he said (via Variety). “Most of the people are aliens!”
“The idea is you’re supposed to accept people for what they are, whether they’re big and furry or whether they’re green or whatever. The idea is all people are equal.”
He went on to argue that if discrimination exists in the universe of the films, then it is designed to be against robots.
“That was a way of saying, you know, people are always discriminating against something and sooner or later, that’s what’s going to happen. I mean, we’re already starting with AI, saying, ‘Well, we can’t trust those robots.’”
Lucas continued by saying that the films did include actors from different racial backgrounds. “In the first one, there were a few Tunisians who were dark, and in the second one I had Billy Williams, and the [prequels], which they were also criticizing, I had Sam Jackson,” he argued. “He wasn’t a scoundrel like Lando. He was one of the top Jedi.”
In April, Lucas was revealed to be the richest celebrity in the world, topping the annual Forbes list of celebrity billionaires. The director, 79, is reported to have accumulated a $5.5billion (£4.3billion) fortune.
His production company Lucasfilm was sold to Disney in 2012 for $4billion, and he has gone on to produce the later films in the Star Wars series, along with other projects.
A filing from the Securities and Exchange Commission earlier this year revealed that Disney has made approximately $12billion (£9.4billion) from the Star Wars franchise, tripling their profit from the purchase.
In his early career, Lucas also wrote and directed the 1973 hit, American Graffiti, for which he received Oscar nominations for Best Director and Best Picture.
In other Star Wars news, a new 50p coin emblazoned with the Millennium Falcon is set to be released this year.