George Lucas on 'Star Wars': 'The first film was really hard. It was painful. It was unpleasant.'

Star Wars will be back on the big screen soon when The Phantom Menace arrives in theaters in 3-D on Feb. 10, and the occasion has got George Lucas reminiscing about his original trilogy, and, specifically, the movie that started it all:Star Wars: Episode IV—A New Hope.
In this exclusive clip from EW.com, the man who recently revealed he was retiring from making any sort of big-budget feature film talks about his influences (mix a dash of Kurosawa with a sprinkle of anthropology and a pinch of mythology) and expectations (“I didn’t expect the film to be successful at all. I don’t think anybody did”). But what’s most revealing are his thoughts on the actual making of the 1977 movie, which are not quite as rosy as you might think. “The first film was really hard,” says Lucas. “It was painful. It was unpleasant. We never had enough time or enough money, and we were always compromising on everything, and it was a difficult experience all the way around.” Just click on the video player below to hear more from Lucas on the struggles of making his landmark film.

Check out the video at EW.com