By George & Josh Bate
You never know what news you’re going to wake up to on a given day.
As George Lucas gears up to launch The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art on September 22 in Los Angeles, the creator of Star Wars has another project releasing this summer that is bound to take everyone by surprise.
As revealed by ABC News, George Lucas has a voice role in the upcoming animated film Minions & Monsters. The new Illumination movie from director and co-writer Pierre Coffin takes place in the 1920s and follows the Minions as they try to make it big in the movie industry.
It is currently unclear who Lucas will play in Minions & Monsters, although it is a safe bet to assume he will voice some kind of movie director or producer given his standing in real life and the plot of the new movie.
Lucas’ cameo will occur in a scene that also features an animated version of Citizen Kane filmmaker Orson Welles.
Illumination CEO Chris Meledandri recently spoke to Collider about asking George Lucas to join the Minions universe and how Lucas is eager to make another Minions movie.
“I had this privilege of meeting George about two years ago, and what led to my meeting him is how much he loves Illumination movies, and specifically Despicable Me, and even more specifically, the Minions,” Meledandri said. “It was such a thrill to learn that and then to share it with the team, because obviously he’s among a very small group of people who the entire studio shares a level of respect for that is just off the charts.”
Meledandri also explained what it was like to approach Lucas for the role. “An idea for a character came up out of the story, and so I said to Pierre [Coffin], who co-wrote the movie with Brian Lynch, and Bill Ryan, who produces with me on the film, and I just said, ‘Well, what if we could get George?’ And they’re like, ‘Are you kidding me?’ I had no idea, but I got such a fast yes,” said Meledandri. “It was incredible. So, we’re thrilled to have him in the film. I saw him recently, and he’s already talking to me about the role he wants to do next in the next Minions movie. So, it’s pretty incredible.”
Lucas’ last acting appearance was in 2007’s Robot Chicken: Star Wars, in which he voiced a fictionalized version of himself. Before that, he made a cameo as Baron Papanoida in Revenge of the Sith, played himself in an episode of The O.C., and had cameos in Men in Black, Beverly Hills Cop III, Hook, and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.