George Lucas: Star Wars Creator, Unreliable Narrator & Time Travelling Revisionist... — Page 3

Mocata said:

doubleofive said:

Mocata said:

I was trying to find an interview with George that was in Empire magazine somewhere in the early 2000s. THX had just been released on DVD so it was a tie-in piece. So like, let’s say 2004. The interviewer asked him about the new changes to the film and the quote I want to say was something like…

“Oh it’s like Star Wars. There is no original version”.

Of course I could be mistaken and this is probably paraphrasing without remembering the actual question the journalist posed but the answer he gave stuck in my brain. I don’t own any copies of this magazine any more and I don’t think there’s a transcript online.

If you do find, this, let me know.

Edit: Possibly this one https://www.magazinecollectors.co.uk/empire-magazine-185-2004-johnny-depp-cover-p-6973.html

I’ve just bought that issue of Empire on feebay - and will have a look through it in a few days mate.

The following three categories have also recently been added to the original post…

• Who made the Original Trilogy films…?
• The cost of restoring / preserving the Original Trilogy films; by George…
• The cost of restoring / preserving the Original Trilogy films; by the fans…
   

A superb recent find by doubleofive… (living up to his well-earned ‘00’ status 😉)

https://twitter.com/doubleofive/status/1151316503314227205

(taken from a 1999 interview with George Lucas, in Issue 78 of Cinefex)

^ which has been added to Category 15 of this thread; ‘The 1997 Special Editions - George Lucas’ ‘vision’ - was a paid-for experiment and practice for the coming CGI-heavy Prequel Trilogy; as stated by the man himself.’
 

https://twitter.com/StarWarsVisComp
 

Complete Comparison of Special Edition Visual Changes thread in the ‘Theatrical Cuts vs. Subsequent Releases’ section.
 

Mocata said:

doubleofive said:

Mocata said:

I was trying to find an interview with George that was in Empire magazine somewhere in the early 2000s. THX had just been released on DVD so it was a tie-in piece. So like, let’s say 2004. The interviewer asked him about the new changes to the film and the quote I want to say was something like…

“Oh it’s like Star Wars. There is no original version”.

Of course I could be mistaken and this is probably paraphrasing without remembering the actual question the journalist posed but the answer he gave stuck in my brain. I don’t own any copies of this magazine any more and I don’t think there’s a transcript online.

If you do find, this, let me know.

Edit: Possibly this one https://www.magazinecollectors.co.uk/empire-magazine-185-2004-johnny-depp-cover-p-6973.html

On Page 65 of the November 2004 edition of Empire magazine (UK), in an exclusive interview with George Lucas; titled ‘THX 2004’…

Interviewer: First the Star Wars Special Editions, now this… why keep fiddling?

George Lucas: All artists go back and change things, and with film it’s even more so, because you have more constraints. Any of the films I’ve re-worked later on are films that were never really finished. Either due to financial constraints, or time constraints, or technological constraints. I just wasn’t able to get my story out there complete. I always had to settle for less. So what I’ve done is I’ve gone back and said “Now I’m going to make this the way it was supposed to be”.

Interviewer: So only the Special Edition Star Wars films will ever be available?

George Lucas: Yeah, it’s the same thing with THX1138 - there is no original version now.
 

(also in the interview pages is a blown-up quote, in large red lettering, from George - “There is no ‘original version’ of Star Wars or THX 1338 now.”)

later in the interview…
 

Interviewer: Can you finally lay to rest rumours about Episodes VII, VIII & IX?

George Lucas: There is no VII, VIII, IX. There never has been. The story was originally intended to be IV, V & VI. But I had a back story which I found fascinating, and I decided to do the back story, [which] had already been written. So now you’ve got the full story from beginning to end. There really isn’t any more, [so] I’m gonna go and do other kinds of movies, which I’ve been looking forward to for a very long time.

There is more to the interview. I’ll give it a more thorough read through in the next day or so - and will hopefully fire up the old scanner too - and will post it up on here…
 

Edit:-

Page 64…

Page 65…

Page 66…

MikeWW said:

Are there people who don’t like that he opened up Cloud City and showed crowds and stuff?
Or is that change generally liked?

It’d be better if it was consistant. Most of the windows only exist in one shot, then disappear in the next.

From doubleofive’s superb Complete Comparison of Special Edition Visual Changes thread in the Theatrical Cuts vs. Subsequent Releases section…
 

doubleofive said:

Holy crap, I did Greedo Shot First.

https://twitter.com/StarWarsVisComp/status/1168554173136166913

Frame by frame comparisons, GIF’s, the whole nine yards. I conclude that the “new” shot is based on a wide shot of Han shooting Greedo. They took the clarifying shot Lucas claims didn’t exist in the 70’s and changed it so Greedo shoots (at different times with different effects). It’s a fun read, hopefully.

💥 doubleofive knocks it out of the park - yet again! 💥
 

Force-Abel said:

This is a beautiful thread, along with many other pieces of information on here, but are you not worried that Lucasfilm may come after you guys for highlighting some of the topics you discuss here? I hope not, but it must be a concern?

Thank you, mate. It is a collaborative effort and really just compiling many of the already-known sources and info into a centralised thread (with the occasional new or enlightening piece of news or article found - or remembered! 😃)
 

I don’t believe Lucasfilm would ‘come after us’ for this thread - or others similar to it…

The information here is presented with credited and checked sources, and whilst some of it is indeed subjective - it does fall under fair comment. The aim of the thread is to strive for an accurate, revision-free, and authentic record on the history & evolution of Star Wars; and in doing so highlighting some of the myths, inconsistencies, revisionism, or simply changes of view, made over time.
 

They are certainly aware of this place, and despite the underground nature of it - along with some of the preservations, fan edits, and other projects on here for over 16 years now - we’re still here. We are strict on the rules regarding having to own the official retail release for projects - afterall… ’We ❤️ Star Wars and give it all the moneys.'. I personally think they acknowledge this place exists out of our desire to preserve and ‘fight for what we love - not because we hate’ (apologies for the butchering of Irvin Kershner’s quote whilst filming Empire Strikes Back) - though there are likely many different interpretations & views on this…
 

The more digging you do: the more you scratch your head, tear your hair out and simply say: WHY?

Why the constant rewriting of history? Why the need to downplay other’s contributions? Why the shift in focus away from making films and telling stories?

The biggest eyeopener is reading Zombie’s Secret History book that agonizingly traces the route the telling and retelling and rewriting has taken over the years.

And to be honest I have no answer. I STILL can’t figure it out. Kubrick put it best in an old interview: “If I made as much money as George Lucas, I would not decide to become a studio mogul. I cannot understand why he doesn’t want to direct films anymore, because American Graffiti and even Star Wars were very good.”

As for the SEs originally being prep for the Prequels in terms of acting as a tech demo: Absolutely right. However Coppola got into the same scenario and that ended up as AN Redux-Yet he and everyone involved has NEVER removed the original superior version from circulation and in the newly completed restoration includes both versions along with a third newer cut.
Whereas it seems George was like: oh hey now I can finally fix this thing…and this…and this…and oh that’s nice…

Which is totally fine so long as you don’t try to actually hide away the original works and even perpetuate claims that they no longer exist. That’s the problem and has always been the issue. The exact same thing happened to THX-1138 and since it is a cult film practically no one speaks of it.

For me to hear that Sk actually at least liked Star Wars was enough as a kid to make me ecstatic. It’s nice to remember he was a normal guy like us too. He even liked The Jerk!

I honestly don’t know for sure. It doesn’t seem like it-merely that they made the new cleaned up version for Redux and then used it on all subsequent masters. The new 4K Final Cut is from a complete restoration and all materials were scanned from negatives so it’s completely from scratch-then all three versions were done from there.

He did call Steve up and had him over to play chess as well.

I’m currently reading the newish George (the title is Lucas: A Life) biography and it’s nice to have everything lined up in one place chronologically. So far I’ve only gotten to the ROTJ period but it doesn’t sugarcoat stuff and the SW section does cover some similar ground to Zombie but of course in far less detail.
I’ll be interested to see how the rest goes. Again it does refute the on and off revisionism in a lot of places and for once its a book that describes how all of the film school buddies were on and off again-especially detailing the George/Francis relationship which no one ever seems to go into all that much.
Admittedly It is SO much better than the older “everything was great” style bios.

Has anyone else here read it?