Lucas was often asked about the original versions and Kennedy has been asked about further changes to the movies, but Kennedy has never been asked about the original versions.
“Fine, I’ll do it myself.”
I’m not really that much of a movie purist. I really should’ve thought my name out a bit more.
I know the only other person asked was JJ Abrams. Dave Filoni might have been asked too.
One day we will have properly restored versions of the Original Unaltered Trilogy (OUT); or 1977, 1980, 1983 Theatrical released versions (Like 4K77,4K80 and 4K83); including Prequels. So that future generations can enjoy these historic films that changed cinema forever.
Yoda: Try not, do or do not, there is no try.
She gave her answer in an interview at Celebration 2017.
https://movieweb.com/star-wars-classic-trilogy-disney-wont-alter-restore/
“Heroes come in all sizes, and you don’t have to be a giant hero. You can be a very small hero. It’s just as important to understand that accepting self-responsibility for the things you do, having good manners, caring about other people - these are heroic acts. Everybody has the choice of being a hero or not being a hero every day of their lives.” - George Lucas
She gave her answer in an interview at Celebration 2017.
https://movieweb.com/star-wars-classic-trilogy-disney-wont-alter-restore/
No she didn’t.
Kennedy said she wouldn’t make more changes to the films, and nothing at all about the unaltered theatrical versions.
It was presented as what you allude to and others in the lazy clickbait media, as that awful movieweb article did, but when you actually take the time to read Kennedy’s quotes from the interview it is obvious that is not what she was referring to.
Interviewer: “A lot has been said about the pass over to Disney, but Star Wars is film of changes… it has evolved over time. Uh, is there like, a contractual or a handshake agreement that the films are locked in their current form?”.
Kathleen Kennedy: “No, there is no-one actually locking us into anything. In fact, the beauty of this relationship with The Walt Disney Company is they have been absolutely fantastic at standing back and pretty much letting us do what we want.”
Interviewer: “Sorry, I mean like the… the vision of George’s final cut of the film that he left us with? Like whether that might be altered over time?”
Kathleen Kennedy: “You mean the themes and ideas in the six movies he has made?”
Interviewer: “Just the Edits… he has changed over time… like the Special Editions and that sort of thing…”
Kathleen Kennedy: “Oh! I haven’t touched those. (laughs) You kidding? Those will always remain his.”
The 2017 interview with Kathleen Kennedy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZO0_yYvmxo
Lucas was often asked about the original versions and Kennedy has been asked about further changes to the movies, but Kennedy has never been asked about the original versions.
Somebody really should, or others high up at Lucasfilm or Disney. Fans probably can’t get get near anyone to ask the question, though journalists should be able to, but for some reason never ask the question.
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Interviewer: “Sorry, I mean like the… the vision of George’s final cut of the film that he left us with? Like whether that might be altered over time?”
Kathleen Kennedy: “You mean the themes and ideas in the six movies he has made?”
Interviewer: “Just the Edits… he has changed over time… like the Special Editions and that sort of thing…”
Kathleen Kennedy: “Oh! I haven’t touched those. (laughs) You kidding? Those will always remain his.”
It’s good to see full context after like you said a clickbait website misrepresented what was said to an extent but this part of the exchange I quoted I find is key to the whole discussion as the interviewer asked about the edits and clarified for her to give an answer. Like she said she hasn’t touched them as they remain George’s and they’ll always remain his. This I think alludes to changing them back to the unaltered state. I wouldn’t put it pass them after the whole Sequel Trilogy fiasco and adding part of the Holiday Special to Disney+ but I don’t think it will happen either. If anything not mentioning Jason Wingreen in their Boba Fett special proves they have no intentions to release them.
“Heroes come in all sizes, and you don’t have to be a giant hero. You can be a very small hero. It’s just as important to understand that accepting self-responsibility for the things you do, having good manners, caring about other people - these are heroic acts. Everybody has the choice of being a hero or not being a hero every day of their lives.” - George Lucas
Interviewer: “Sorry, I mean like the… the vision of George’s final cut of the film that he left us with? Like whether that might be altered over time?”
Kathleen Kennedy: “You mean the themes and ideas in the six movies he has made?”
Interviewer: “Just the Edits… he has changed over time… like the Special Editions and that sort of thing…”
Kathleen Kennedy: “Oh! I haven’t touched those. (laughs) You kidding? Those will always remain his.”
It’s good to see full context after like you said a clickbait website misrepresented what was said to an extent but this part of the exchange I quoted I find is key to the whole discussion as the interviewer asked about the edits and clarified for her to give an answer. Like she said she hasn’t touched them as they remain George’s and they’ll always remain his. This I think alludes to changing them back to the unaltered state. I wouldn’t put it pass them after the whole Sequel Trilogy fiasco and adding part of the Holiday Special to Disney+ but I don’t think it will happen either. If anything not mentioning Jason Wingreen in their Boba Fett special proves they have no intentions to release them.
Again:
Kennedy said she wouldn’t make more changes to the films, and nothing at all about the unaltered theatrical versions.
She gave her answer in an interview at Celebration 2017.
So, no. Kennedy did not give her answer to the OP’s question as you claimed.
If you want to now take Kennedy’s comments from that 2017 interview to somehow now be “alluding to changing them back to the unaltered state” then that is up to you, but you likely shouldn’t misinform others like that, especially with the facts at hand.
The Secret History of Star Wars | Star Wars Visual Comparisons | George Lucas: Star Wars Creator, Unreliable Narrator & Time-Travelling Revisionist
Especially when the subject was never about “changing them back”.
I hope journalists will ask Kathleen Kennedy or other people high up in Lucasfilm or at Disney if they will release the original versions. The 1997 versions on 4K, blu ray, or Disney+ as well.
It is baffling why more journalists, do not ask such questions, as it is part of their job to do so.
Or that fans do not also ask people in power at Lucasfilm or Disney at Celebration 2022, if there is an opportunity to do so?
The Imperial need for control is so desperate because it is so unnatural. Tyranny requires constant effort. It breaks, it leaks. Authority is brittle. Oppression is the mask of fear.
She tactfully diverted the question so that she could answer it another way, which is part of being an executive with that kind of responsibility. Elsewhere Pablo Hidalgo basically told everyone what we already guessed right? On Twitter somewhere iirc. In reality it’s only something that can be answered probably someone higher up at Disney rather than LFL.
“Fine, I’ll do it myself.”
Where is the “Well, we’re waiting” meme when you need it? 😉
It is Celebration 2023 soon, and also the 40th anniversary of ROTJ so there should be a 40th Panel there with some higher ups or people who worked on the film. It would be good to see this question answered by Kathleen Kennedy or the oldROTJ crew on a live stream or in the media interview lines afterwards.
Doesn’t George legally have final cut on the 6 films? If so it is up to him if the originals are released. He clearly doesn’t want them out there.
I mean it is strange because he didn’t direct Empire or Jedi. Even if by a certain point of view he George Lucas or Rick McCallum directed the Special Editions.
George Lucas: “A director, and nobody else, should be allowed to make changes to their film.”
Also George Lucas: came out with no less than five different edits of Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, which he did not direct
“Producer, director. They’re interchangeable, right? Just like ‘year’ and ‘generation’.”
“The Anarchists are right in everything; in the negation of the existing order and in the assertion that, without Authority there could not be worse violence than that of Authority under existing conditions. They are mistaken only in thinking that anarchy can be instituted by a violent revolution… There can be only one permanent revolution — a moral one: the regeneration of the inner man. How is this revolution to take place? Nobody knows how it will take place in humanity, but every man feels it clearly in himself. And yet in our world everybody thinks of changing humanity, and nobody thinks of changing himself.”
― Leo Tolstoy
George Lucas: “A director, and nobody else, should be allowed to make changes to their film.”
Also George Lucas: came out with no less than five different edits of Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, which he did not direct
That is a very good point.
You probably don’t recognize me because of the red arm.
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Interviewer: “Sorry, I mean like the… the vision of George’s final cut of the film that he left us with? Like whether that might be altered over time?”
Kathleen Kennedy: “You mean the themes and ideas in the six movies he has made?”
Interviewer: “Just the Edits… he has changed over time… like the Special Editions and that sort of thing…”
Kathleen Kennedy: “Oh! I haven’t touched those. (laughs) You kidding? Those will always remain his.”
It’s good to see full context after like you said a clickbait website misrepresented what was said to an extent but this part of the exchange I quoted I find is key to the whole discussion as the interviewer asked about the edits and clarified for her to give an answer. Like she said she hasn’t touched them as they remain George’s and they’ll always remain his. This I think alludes to changing them back to the unaltered state. I wouldn’t put it pass them after the whole Sequel Trilogy fiasco and adding part of the Holiday Special to Disney+ but I don’t think it will happen either. If anything not mentioning Jason Wingreen in their Boba Fett special proves they have no intentions to release them.
Again:
Kennedy said she wouldn’t make more changes to the films, and nothing at all about the unaltered theatrical versions.
She gave her answer in an interview at Celebration 2017.
So, no. Kennedy did not give her answer to the OP’s question as you claimed.
If you want to now take Kennedy’s comments from that 2017 interview to somehow now be “alluding to changing them back to the unaltered state” then that is up to you, but you likely shouldn’t misinform others like that, especially with the facts at hand.
It depends on how you interpret her words. If she means, that by not having touched those, that any changes to the final cuts of the films are out of the question, even changes to revert the final cuts back to the theatrical cuts, then she did answer the question. It is the fans who insist, that the unaltered versions carry some special kind of reference point status, and any changes should be viewed in relation to that reference point. However, to Lucas his final cuts are the reference point.