Los Angeles, Jan 30 (IANS): “Star Wars” director George Lucas, in an assessment of the current state of Hollywood during a panel discussion with actor Robert Redford at the Sundance Film Festival, said that the movies are “more circus without any substance behind it.”

During the discussion Thursday, Lucas hit back at critics who said his role in kicking off “Star Wars” business has melted down cinematic storytelling, reports variety.com.

“If you go into ‘Star Wars’ and see what’s going on there, there’s a lot more substance than circus,” he said.

In its day, “Star Wars” represented a major breakthrough in technology. Today, it is the comic book-based movies and special-effects driven productions that dominate movie screens.

The technology that Lucas helped popularise were all in the service of plot, he further argued.

“All art is technology. That’s the one thing that separates us from animals,” he added.

Redford, who is best known for character-driven films such as “The Way We Were” and “Out of Africa”, praised Lucas’ decision to finance his “Star Wars” films and maintain a tight grip on their creative and commercial future.

“What I admire about what he’s done is he’s been able to control his own universe,” Redford said.