George Lucas Wanted to Direct Three More 'Star Wars' Films

In an interview with CBS Sunday Morning, George Lucas revealed that he gave up directing three more Star Wars films to dedicate himself to the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, which is opening in Los Angeles.

"When I did that, I decided to retire from making films, which was a big deal, because I had three more Star Wars movies to make. But I realized I was running out of time, and I really wanted to build this museum," said Lucas, who is now 82 years old.

The museum cost $1.5 billion and occupies 300,000 square feet on a 13-acre campus, with 35 galleries. The collection includes 1,200 pieces from the filmmaker's private collection, including paintings, photographs, sculptures and props, costumes and original vehicles from the Star Wars films. The idea was announced in 2013, and San Francisco and Chicago were considered before Los Angeles.

Mellody Hobson, Lucas' wife and business partner, said that he was involved in every detail of the project, to the point of taking on meticulous tasks. "Just like with the first Star Wars explanation, when he had to draw to show what it was, we kept trying to explain things that people didn't understand. This happened so many times that he took on more and more of the details." She added: "Now he won't work at that level forever because it almost killed him."

Eventually, after directing the prequel trilogy as it is known, Lucas sold the franchise to Disney in 2012 for $4 billion and ended up making a new trilogy, which was not well received by many fans.