Yesterday I finally went to see ‘Interstellar‘ and damn – what a mess of a movie (but that’s a post for another day). I posted a quick thing on Facebook and said it seemed like Nolan had finally crossed The Lucas Line. Then someone asked “What’s the Lucas Line?”.
The Lucas Line is a small theory I’ve had for a few years, and it’s so named because I first thought of it after having watched the Star Wars Prequels. Now, it’s probably unfair that this is named after George Lucas, but his movies were the first to push this thought into my brain, so … there you have it.
The core of the theory is this; crossing the Line is the point in time when a talented and great director or producer becomes crap because they’ve grown so huge or famous that they no longer need to take creative input from anyone. They’ve basically started believing their own press.
It’s happened to many great directors; Ridley Scott, George Lucas, J. J. Abrams, John Carpenter and Oliver Stone to name a few. And now Christopher Nolan.
Everyone has creative darlings, and sometimes we’re so enamoured with them that we’re unable to see that they’re really crap. Kill your darlings is the greatest advice any creative mind can follow.