George Lucas talks 'Strange Magic,' 'Star Wars,'

NEW YORK (WABC) -- The movie "Strange Magic" is George Lucas' return to film since selling his company to Disney back in 2012.

It's hard to measure his legacy to our culture, from his Star Wars empire to movie effects to philanthropy, especially in education.

Eyewitness News sat down with the filmmaker and the star of his latest project to talk about "Strange Magic" and to ask his advice for young filmmakers.

"Strange Magic" is marketed as a film "right out of the mind of George Lucas," and when you're the man behind Star Wars, that is saying something.

The animated musical fairy tale is said to be inspired by William Shakespeare's "A Mid Summer Night's Dream, but make no doubt about it, it is what Lucas wanted to say with his latest movie that is the real inspiration for the film, a project he had been kicking around for 11 years.

"I wanted to make a film, a fairy tale where I took music and used the lyrics from the music that had already been written to tell a story," he said. "And to tell a story for young girls that there's a difference between infatuation and real love."

Lucas has been doing groundbreaking special effects work since he wowed audiences in 1977 with the original "Star Wars."

In "Strange Magic," his animation team looked to raise the bar, in part thanks to star Elijah Kelley, who voices Sunny.

"When my mom saw the trailer, like my family has very keen noses, so she was like, 'Oh, my God, he has our nose,'" Kelley said. "'Our nose is on the cartoon.'"

See the full interview:

Lucas is enjoying a new phase of his career, and he said that while originally working on "Strange Magic," he was also working on Episode VII of Star Wars and had gotten the original cast to agree to return.

However, when he sold the company in 2012, he realized he would have to let his baby go, much like his children growing up and leaving home.

Now, along with smaller film projects, he's focused on education and building a museum dedicated to the narrative art in Chicago.

So what's his advice for aspiring filmmakers who want to be just like him?

"Be persistent," he said. "It all comes down to persistence. Learn your craft, know what you're doing, but you're going to have to be persistent to make it happen."

"Strange Magic" opens Friday. Disney is parent company of WABC-TV, and The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art is set to open in Chicago in 2018.