Star Wars speech from President Obama praises George Lucas

'Nearly 40 years after the first Star Destroyer crawled across the screen, we are still obsessed with George's vision of a galaxy far, far away'

Obama readying himself to defeat a Sith Lord (Getty)

It’s pretty much unanimous that large percentage of the world are Star Wars fans. The amount hype surrounding the upcoming The Force Awakens is almost unprecedented at this point, especially when you consider people are already waiting in line to see the film.

Unsurprisingly, the President of the United States is a massive fan of the series. However, it wasn’t known just how geeky Mr Obama really is.

In a speech at a ceremony honouring the creator of the series, George Lucas, he told of how the original story of Luke Skywalker will influence generations to come.

Taking to the Kennedy Centre stage, he said (via People): "Think about how many children have been raised, at least in part, by George Lucas.

“Think about how many young people searching for their place in the universe have thought to themselves, 'If a kid from Tatooine moisture farm can go from bulls-eyeing womp rats in his T-16 to saving the galaxy, then maybe I can be something special too?'

POTUS went on to make a few jokes about the upcoming JJ Abrams-directed flick: "George, I don't know if you've heard, but they might even make a brand-new Star Wars movie soon. It's very low-key, it's not getting a lot of promotion.

“But it's also pretty remarkable that nearly 40 years after the first Star Destroyer crawled across the screen, we are still obsessed with George's vision of a galaxy far, far away. And we'll be raising our children on his stories for a long, long time to come.”

Carrie Fisher, who plays Princess/General Leia, also praised the 71-year-old. Instead of appearing in person, R2D2 rolled on stage to project her image.

She said: ”I wanted to be there to help celebrate your Kennedy Centre honour in person, but hey, since you invented video voicemail, I don't have to be.”

Steven Spielberg was also in attendance, paying tribute to his fellow film-maker and creator of iconic character Indiana Jones.

"He's a pathfinder and a pioneer like Edison and Bell and Tesla and Jobs," said Spielberg. "George Lucas' Star Wars absolutely changed films forever."

In other Star Wars news, Lucas has reportedly seen The Force Awakens and “really liked it”. Abrams has also gone out of his way to rubbish reports that Lupita Nyong’o’s performance was sub-par in the film.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens is out 17 December in the UK.