The technology that George Lucas brought to filmmaking has come back to haunt him.

As a tribute to Lucas began at the Kennedy Center Honors in Washington DC on Sunday, for his contribution to American culture through the arts, the crowd was asked to welcome Carrie Fisher.

But the star of the original Star Wars trilogy and the upcoming Star Wars: The Force Awakens didn’t appear in person. Instead, one of Lucas’ beloved creations, the feisty droid R2-D2, rolled onstage and projected her image.

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Fisher said she wanted to be there in person to honour Lucas, “but since you invented video voicemail, I didn’t have to”.

The Star Wars creator poses with characters R2-D2 and C3PO in 1999. Photo: Getty

Steven Spielberg and Martin Scorsese, fellow directors who along with Lucas brought new energy to American cinema in the 1970s, offered more conventional tributes to the Star Wars creator, hailing him for his technological wizardry and his commitment to storytelling.

Lucas also created the Indiana Jones franchise, directed by Spielberg, and his special-effects company, Industrial Light & Magic, had a part in seven of the top 10 grossing movies of all time.

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

The Force Awakens, the seventh movie in the franchise and the first made without Lucas’ involvement as director, producer or writer, opens in Australia on December 17 and is expected to be one of the highest-grossing films in history.

As the crowd of Washington power brokers and Hollywood celebrities stood and applauded, Lucas waved from a balcony, wearing the honorees’ signature rainbow-coloured garland. Next to him were first lady Michelle Obama and his fellow honorees: singer-songwriter Carole King, actress and singer Rita Morena, conductor Seiji Ozawa and actress Cicely Tyson.

President Barack Obama was a late arrival to the event after delivering a rare televised address in which he said America would overcome the threat posed by Islamic State militants.

-AAP