According to director Gareth Edwards, George Lucas had good things to say about Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.
Speaking to the press at Skywalker Ranch to promote Rogue One, Edwards reveals that Lucas has recently seen the standalone film. Apparently, his feedback was encouraging.
“I got to speak with [George Lucas] yesterday, and I don’t want to put words into his mouth,” Edwards says, “But I can honestly say that I can die happy now. He really liked the movie, so it meant a lot.”
Laughing, Edwards tells the roomful of journalists that Lucas’ “was the most important review to me, was what George thought of it. You know, you guys are important too, but come on. He’s kind of God when it comes to Star Wars!”
Though the phone call wasn’t the first time Gareth Edwards had occasion to meet George Lucas — the Star Wars creator visited the set of Rogue One — Edwards’ inner fanboy made the occasion special. Employees from Lucasfilm pulled him out of a series of interviews to make the critical phone call, leaving the director in the dark.
“They go, we need to talk to you, we’re going to just go out of the room,” he says. “And I was like what’s going on? Has something bad happened? And we go out of the room, and they say, George wants to speak to you. And they made the call, and I was like, ‘Uhhh!'”
“I will take that conversation to my grave,” he says. “It was a real privilege, and his opinion means the world to me.”
Though never particularly emotive, George Lucas was notably more tepid in his reaction to The Force Awakens. “I think the fans are going to love it,” he remarked before the film’s release. “It’s very much the kind of movie they’ve been looking for.”
Of course, the response to The Force Awakens was largely very positive, and Lucas’ reputation as a tastemaker has become more dubious in the aftermath of the Star Wars prequels.
Related: Here’s Jyn Erso being badass in a new Rogue One clip!
Still, the story of how the Rebel Alliance stole the plans for the Death Star is deeply intwined with Lucas’ original work on A New Hope. Overall, we’d say it’s heartening that Lucas seems to think that the first standalone film complements his galaxy far, far, away.
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story steals into theaters in the U.S. on Dec. 16.