Lucas avslöjade i flera intervjuer vid den tiden att han var trött på att styra.
I 1977, på uppsättningen Star Wars , berättade han American Film :
"I come from the filmmaker's school of doing movies, which means I do everything myself...If I left anything for a day, it would fall apart...Whenever there is a leak in the dam, I have to stick my finger in it. I should learn to say, 'Somebody else go plug it up.'"
1983 sa han:
"I dislike directing. I hate the constant dealing with volatile personalities. Directing is emotional frustration, anger, and tremendously hard work - seven days a week, twelve to sixteen hours a day. For years my wife would ask why we couldn't go out to dinner like other people. But I couldn't turn it off. Eventually, I realized that directing simply wasn't healthy for me."
Han blev tydligen nostalgisk för det, men efter en långvarig frånvaro; i en intervju från 1990 sa han att han ville komma tillbaka till att styra:
"It's not that I prefer producing, that's just where I find myself these days. It wasn't something I did by choice. I was just more effective in the producing area, which is where the opportunities have presented themselves in the last few years...Ultimately, I'm a director. I've done many things, but that's where my heart is...I just want to get back to what I started doing.