Are there going to juicy details in the Icon’s Unearthed book?
I still haven’t seen the full Kurtz and Dale Pollock interviews from The People VS George Lucas.
The comments on yes men from Kazanjian on the prequels, and that Kurtz did not know he was fired in the documentary was mindboggling. The prequel was that bad.
Rewatching it I was thinking of How Jon Knoll fought for Clone Troopers in suits over cgi and Lucas put his foot down. Was that the sole non yes men moment.
And its always like people want to say something about Rick McCallum, but they never really go there. What was so bad about his producing style. Was he scary or a tyrant what? The guy controlling the production and budget.
There really needs to be a McCallum book from his side. As well as one about Gary Kurtz from his family. They need to correct the record on Gary, the guy who got fired from Star Wars. As if that was his only contribution to film. And no credit given to how important he was to Lucasfilm itself. How he busted his ass to get the first film made, never mind American Graffiti. I think George owes him a debt of gratitude. No matter how he feels like he was betrayed by the English crew, Gil Taylor and let down by John Dykstra. John winning an Oscar but not asked to return for Empire, let go after SW 1977.
George also punishing David Prowse for alleged leaking which I think he was not guilty of. The way he was treated on Return of the Jedi is insane. The lack of crediting all the work Charley Lippincott did on the original film and its marketing. At least Light and Magic exists so Rose Duignan is now getting credit. But Bunny Alsop you wouldn’t even know she existed if not for Skywalking.
Robert Watts practically being unsung on Star Wars and the Indiana Jones series. Thanks to Jamie Benning for highlighting his contributions.
I don’t want to dispute icons unearthed but some of it is opinion, I think. The way Richard Marquand is portrayed is sort of amazing. He was a very capable director, but this doc makes him sound like an imbecile. The film was saved in the editing and reshoots. And I truly did not want to believe the yes men stuff about the prequels. I thought that was concocted by Red Letter media, but Kazanjian is a respectable guy with a long career producing and a friend of Lucas. Why would he lie? Some of the actors did not care for how Richard directed them, Carrie Fisher and Tony Daniels?
Its too bad Gary Kurtz is not around to interview to find out the original story for Return he spoke about. Was that written down? the one where Leia becomes Queen of her people and Luke walks away into the sunset, and Han dies. Everyone ends up either dead or on separate paths. Both Luke and Leia end up alone. Han is toast. I guess George thought that would not sell action figures, kids don’t beg their parents for dead Han toys. In this version Leia was not Luke’s sister.