From the sounds of it, George Lucas essentially is retired. He has said that he is done with making big, Star Wars-scale blockbusters and wants to focus on smaller films. This is, by all acounts, for the best. As the man who people credit as responsible for the diminished quality of the Star Wars prequel trilogy, as well as the newest relatively dismal Indiana Jones movie, it’s probably a realm that he is well served to keep his distance from. It will be interesting to see if and when he does produce some independent movies the type of quality that comes out of this. It’s a bit of a risk, and may not pay dividends for him. It’s clear that whatever magic touch he had in the 1970s, that’s all but gone. All he can do is wipe away his tears with his millions of dollars.
There are other directors that may be smart to take their leave from the industry, but it’s still possibly too early to tell. Someone like Michael Mann has released some rather disappointing work lately, but could easily return to form in the blink of an eye. Some would say Tim Burton has lost a step. Ron Howard is on and off, and lately, especially with the Dan Brown movies he’s done, it’s been mostly off. Robert Redford keeps working away with some mediocre material, but he has a new one coming out that may be worthwhile.
Then there are directors who you hope never retire, like Martin Scorsese, Woody Allen, Steven Spielberg, Roman Polanski. Sidney Lumet, Robert Altman and Sydney Pollack were doing great work right up until their deaths. It’s tough to say when the best time is for an artist to abandon their craft. Ultimately, even the worst productions may be worth the effort if it gives the director an opportunity to express themselves, especially if they have the potential to produce great work later. In the case of Steven Soderbergh, he’s clearly someone with lots left to say and do, and hopefully his retirement from filmmaking is short-lived.