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Just south of downtown Los Angeles, there’s something new, something that seems to have come from a galaxy far, far away. No, this is not the next Millennium Falcon; this 300,000-square-foot building is the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, where more than 1,300 pieces of art are on display.
Our tour guides: The co-founders, “Star Wars” creator George Lucas, and his wife, businesswoman Mellody Hobson, give their only interview to CBS News.
“Whatever you look at here, it’s emotional,” Lucas said. “I kept saying, ‘It’s not a ‘Star Wars’ museum, it’s a narrative art museum. It’s about telling stories.” When we finally found a home here in LA, I said, ‘Well, we can’t No it has some “Star Wars” stuff in it, because that’s what drives a certain group of “Star Wars” fans into the museum.'”
According to Hobson, the sci-fi franchise only makes up about seven percent of the art in the museum, “but it packs a punch. It’s beautiful.”
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The other 90-ish percent of the museum focuses on what Lucas and Hobson call “myths,” with 33 galleries organized around themes such as motherhood, work, family and love.
“We use the word legend a lot,” Hobson said. “Myths are things you believe, but are not necessarily true.”
“But you believe them because they are very emotional,” Lucas said.
Is love a myth? “Love is complicated,” Lucas said. “Love is not something that is easy.”
Hobson said, “Most love pictures we see are the happy versions of love. It’s the romantic view of love. Love is heartbreak, pain, pain, but the myth of love is happiness and joy.”
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The journey to building Lucas’ idea took nearly two decades, several obstacles, several proposed locations, and at least $1 billion of Lucas’ own money. And Lucas says that, although Hobson considered putting the project back, he didn’t.
Hobson recalled a very intense moment: “I said, ‘George, let’s just take the art to another museum and, for example, give it a day.’ And he looked at me and said, ‘I’m building this museum!’ And it was like the most intense version I’ve ever seen. We are not for arguing. And I was like,’OK, we’re building a museum.’ I was like, I got it. This is non-negotiable.”
Lucas said the reason was his strong desire to honor photographers: “I did tours of major museums, and the director would say, ‘Well, I hear you’re building a museum. What kind of museum is it?’ I said, ‘It’s narrative art.’ He said, ‘I’ve never heard that.’ I said, “Well, it’s art that tells a story.”
Filmmaker Steven Spielberg has been best friends with Lucas for nearly 60 years, and is on the museum’s board of directors. He said, “George has changed the world with some of his ideas, as he is going to change the world with the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art. Give people a place to go to see photographic art, to see murals, to see comic art, to see children’s art.
Both love not only movies, but also Norman Rockwell. “George has about three times the number [Rockwell] pictures like I have,” said Spielberg. “I think I started collecting Rockwell first, and then George caught up, and then it went beyond me.”
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Around every bend there is something interesting to see: A Rockwell, depicting a museum visitor introducing a Jackson pollack. There’s Batman, a rare Frida Khalo, and the first piece of art Lucas ever collected, an “Ally Oop” comic strip, bought while he was in college for about $35. “It’s the only thing I could afford,” he said.
He can now pay much more. The 82-year-old man is famous not only for big franchises like “Star Wars” and “Indiana Jones”, but his companies started digital editing and turned special effects.
When asked if he sees the museum bearing his name as a legacy, Lucas replied, “I don’t think about legacies. I’m not a big one for awards, I’m not good for fame or legacies or anything.”
“It’s not sentimental,” Hobson said. “There is no nostalgia, zero. We put Lucas on the building to get people to come.”
The museum opens to the public on Tuesday, and Hobson has new hope: “I want them to leave the building and say, everything is possible. It’s a masterpiece. You can create your own masterpieces. Anyone can, we can all do it. We have to be so…”
“Stubborn!” said Lucas.
“… absolutely committed,” Hobson said, “as he has been in this process. And if one child, 10 children, 100,000 children walk out with that vision, we will have done something amazing.”
Amazing, and – true to Luke’s profession – innovative. “I’m a contrarian,” he said. “The opposite is the ones that no one likes, because they think outside the box, and they do things that no one has ever done before, so they always assume that it is wrong.
Lucas Museum of Narrative Art in Los Angeles opens September 22.
WEB EXCLUSIVE: Watch extended interview with George Lucas and Mellody Hobson (Video)
Story produced by Julie Morse Goff and Robert Marston. Editor: Carol Ross.
