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New Gary Kurtz interview! — Page 3

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I wouldn't even say that. He does his job. The end. That's what everyone else who works for George, or anybody else does. Period. And maybe he is a bit "fond" of George and a lot of his crazy ideas, but he does seem to be very professional about what his task is.

There is no lingerie in space…

C3PX said: Gaffer is like that hot girl in high school that you think you have a chance with even though she is way out of your league because she is sweet and not a stuck up bitch who pretends you don’t exist… then one day you spot her making out with some skinny twerp, only on second glance you realize it is the goth girl who always sits in the back of class; at that moment it dawns on you why she is never seen hanging off the arm of any of the jocks… and you realize, damn, she really is unobtainable after all. Not that that is going to stop you from dreaming… Only in this case, Gaffer is actually a guy.

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Originally posted by: Gaffer Tape
And maybe he is a bit "fond" of George


Now THAT'S an understatement!
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I think you guys are misunderstanding the role of a producer, especially when it comes to independant filmmaking where the director is the money-fronter. Kurtz coincidentally worked with Lucas when the content was good, and McCallum when the content was not as good.

Kurtz' claim of a "mutual parting" is a way of putting it--after he goofed up on Star Wars Lucas gave him a second chance and it almost destroyed him! Lucas is either just too diplomatic to say "i fired his ass" or Kutz actually doesnt realise what he did wrong (which was obviously since he continued the same screw ups he made on the SW films in his post-SW career).
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lucas could say that kurtz almost destroyed him, why doesnt he then? because star wars and empire are the most heralded star wars movies maybe might have something to do with it?
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Originally posted by: MeBeJedi
"Damn it, I thought it was a real Gary Kurtz interview."

LOL...are you guys kidding me? This was totally made up! Hence my comment that you would get a good laugh out of it. ROTFLMAO!


I KNOW it was made up as soon as I read the first line. I thought it was a real interview when I saw the thread topic.

“Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country.” — Nazi Reich Marshal Hermann Goering
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Whats interesting is that Kurtz claims he "parted" with Lucas because Lucas changed the story to ROTJ--but the reason that Lucas nixed the Sequel Trilogy was because ESB was such a fiasco that he lost all motivation to make four more films. And ESB was a fiasco because of Kurtz. So Kurtz killed the Sequel Trilogy! He's so thick-skulled that he cant even realise it--"oh yeah, George was changing his story so i left". Yeah, maybe if he had done his job Lucas wouldnt be so worn out that the story needed changing!

So really, either way you look at it, the fault still trickles back to Kurtz. If ROTJ feels contrived its because it was an unnatural conclusion to the saga, and the main fault for this points back to Kurtz. Rick McCallum at least had a career before Star Wars, and should he finally venture outside of Lucasfilm im sure he will have just as successful a career. Kurtz' career began and ended with Lucas, and he stumbled every step of the way of his tag-along. I just think its so wrong that Kurtz is so upheld and Lucas and McCallum so dispised. Oh, but ANH and ESB are good movies--yeah, they are good movies, IN SPITE of the gross production mishandling.
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I don't think we'll ever really know why Lucas condensed the sequel trilogy to ROTJ, and I think it there are more reasons than just the split between Lucas & Kurtz.

As I said in my post above, I think Kurtz gets way too much credit sometimes. As for McCallum, on whether he is a good producer, from a financial point of view in the PT, he is a big success. But SW goes further than that if you look at each movie.

The original SW was almost a disaster, and if I were on the set in 1976, I probably would have thought this movie was a bomb waiting to happen. I give Lucas major credit for the success of the original, and I think he deserves everything he earned for the original, cause that was his vision, his directing, his writing.

ESB was definitely more collaborative and that is its greatest strength. I feel if Lucas wrote and directed ESB it would have not been as good as Kershners ESB. Now that isn't a slight at Lucas, but Kershner put a different touch on the movie, it feels like a totally different movie than the other 5 SW movies. Now I still love the original more than ESB, but ESB is still a classic, and I also feel the other 4 SW films have not even come close to the first two in quality.

What I am getting at is ESB is the only movie where Lucas kind of let someone else take his SW vision and make it their way. Mostly cause Lucas was starting this huge business, and really didn't know if people were going to turn out like the original SW. But to everyones suprise, alot of people liked it more than the original, except the kiddies like myself. At 8 years old, I did not love ESB like the original, but in 1983, I loved ROTJ! 20 years later, I still love the original and now love ESB, and think ROTJ is good enough to end the trilogy.

After ESB was a success, Lucas knew he had a fanbase that was loyal, and that is when he stopped taking chances. I give the Jerry Maguire analogy whenever I go to a SW movie whether it is a good movie or a piece of crap like TPM, "George, you had me at the opening crawl!"

After ESB & Raiders of the Lost Ark, I think Lucas, who probably had this grand vision of this huge movie saga of SW, didn't feel like doing it for the rest of his life. ROTJ was a basic sequel, no chances, recycled death star, the heroes all win in the end, and everyone lives happily after.

I believe Kurtz when he says Lucas condensed everything from 7,8,9 to ROTJ, but that also tells me all they had were rough notes. To me I think they ran out of story with ROTJ, cause the only new interesting plot point was the Vader/Emperor/Luke conflict in the last 30 minutes, everything else in the movie is either recycled or going through the motions to end the series.

Should Kurtz get all the credit for ANH & ESB, or even more than Lucas? No, I don't think so, cause every movie is Lucas's vision, and his story in the end. But what makes ESB one of the few sequels in the history of movies that is as good or better than the original, is there were other people leading the charge on it, while Lucas was in the backround, and that is why it feels different.

Personally, I don't think Lucas liked the way ESB turned out, it didn't have that B-movie 30's style feel to it, in which ROTJ, TPM, AOTC, and ROTS definitely do. The original SW had that, but it was able to conjure up movie magic and such a basic story and great characters & pure emotion at the end, that it is a classic despite it trying to be a B-level movie.

The PT has made me realize that ESB was the pinnacle, and sadly, I don't think we were going to see any great movies after that. SW fans like myself, since 1980, have been waiting for the next ESB type movie in the SW series, and unfortunately, it just wasn't going to happen. Lucas hit lightning in a bottle twice with SW & ESB, we should be grateful for that, but after that we had 4 mediocre movies that sold because of the name SW. I don't think we can blame anyone including Kurtz, I just think Lucas never really wanted to make these movies as great as we expected.
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Maybe not '30s B-movie, but it sure did feel like a classic '30s movie to me.

There is no lingerie in space…

C3PX said: Gaffer is like that hot girl in high school that you think you have a chance with even though she is way out of your league because she is sweet and not a stuck up bitch who pretends you don’t exist… then one day you spot her making out with some skinny twerp, only on second glance you realize it is the goth girl who always sits in the back of class; at that moment it dawns on you why she is never seen hanging off the arm of any of the jocks… and you realize, damn, she really is unobtainable after all. Not that that is going to stop you from dreaming… Only in this case, Gaffer is actually a guy.

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btw mccallum produced alot of small english films before he says he 'sold out' to work for lucas so thats where all the ass kissing comes into play.
also irvin kershner is probably more to blame than anybody else. i read he was hard to reign in on alot of movies.
and trying to get yoda to to work was a major problem as well. thats where most of the delays stemmed from
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ESB is Kerhsners film and every once of greatness is due to him and him alone, in my opinion.

CO hit a major point--this was the only time when Lucas took a chance, when he stepped back and let someone else play in his world. For sure, ESB is the only SW film that is different, that FEELS different, that has a distincly personal artistic stamp on it--that is the stamp of Irvin Kershner.

If you read all of Lucas' interviews from 77 and 78 he basically wanted to have a james bond series, where every year a new director would have a go at the continuing stories in the star wars universe. ESB, more or less, was the only time this happened. But because the production was so immensly troubled, nearly a complete failure, and the film so unlike the way Lucas would have directed it, Lucas basically canned this plan and got himself a puppet for ROTJ, which was Richard Marquand. Okay, puppet is too harsh, but he wanted someone who wouldnt oppose his ideas and style the way Kirshner did, and as CO put it, "play it safe".

If you read the interviews, everything is about this massive serial saga that is at least 12 films long--then ESB goes into production and is met with problems every step of the way, nearly destroying Lucas but ultimately being a success. Suddenly the tune changes--ROTJ will end the saga and then "Somewhere down the line, maybe, possibly, one day" there will be a sequel trilogy. ESB was so heartbreaking for Lucas to make that he basically quit. And even then his personal life was in such shambles from making the films that his marriage didnt even last to ROTJ (he may have actually been divorced the month it opened).

Anyway, what i was starting with was that Kershner is definitly NOT to blame, and everything good about the film, everything that sets it apart from the rest, comes from him. The problems on the set all go back to Kurtz, if any one individual is to blame.
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at this point i like kurtz better than lucass
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Originally posted by: zombie84
If you read all of Lucas' interviews from 77 and 78 he basically wanted to have a james bond series, where every year a new director would have a go at the continuing stories in the star wars universe. ESB, more or less, was the only time this happened. But because the production was so immensly troubled, nearly a complete failure, and the film so unlike the way Lucas would have directed it, Lucas basically canned this plan and got himself a puppet for ROTJ, which was Richard Marquand. Okay, puppet is too harsh, but he wanted someone who wouldnt oppose his ideas and style the way Kirshner did, and as CO put it, "play it safe".


Zombie,

Can you provide any info backing this up?

At Celebration 3, Lucas was quoted as saying "This is my last Star Wars movie." This led many to speculate that someone else would be taking up the Star Wars reins. So now I wonder if Lucas will be returning to this bond-esque approach for future Star Wars movies.

You know of the rebellion against the Empire?

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sure thing. there is a really really good Rolling Stone interview from summer 1977 when Star Wars was at its earliest stage in development post-release and Lucas makes some really interesting comments. It has even been posted online again!

A very good read!

ROLLING STONE 1977

And no Lucas wont be returning to this, as after ESB, SW ceased to be a serialesque james bond type thing and became a book-like Dune-esque "Saga", especially seeing at the films are, you know, over and done with. Though i suppose the new tv shows will be serial-like since they are a series.
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Originally posted by: zombie84
Anyway, what i was starting with was that Kershner is definitly NOT to blame, and everything good about the film, everything that sets it apart from the rest, comes from him. The problems on the set all go back to Kurtz, if any one individual is to blame.


i don't agree with you Kurtz was doing his job has a "creative" producer,he gave time to Kershner to shoot and to the actors to improve their perfomances and really work on the script (something that Lucas don't understand) by the time lucas was already becoming a "buisnessman" thinking about making a movie "good enough" for the audience, Lucas wanted it to be "as good as" while Kurtz wanted it to be "better than".

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i dont get why everyone defends lucas after giving us three subpar films, messed up 3 classic films 20 years after the fact, never to release the originals ever again, been proven to be lying about the saga, merchandised the crap out of star wars for the lat 8 or 9 years, and the fact that he even admits now that hes become the empire.
plus did anyone notice the condescending smirk he gave at the peoples choice awards? man what a jerk! lucas and his prequel sycophants make me sick
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Yes, Kurtz allowed Kershner more time to make the film, and for that we should all be greatful, and thats the main reason anyone has any ounce of respect for him. But the fact is that ESB was not conceived, scheduled or budgeted to accomodate that! And Kurtz was the one scheduling and budgeting the film! There simply wasnt the money to make the film that way, at least on that short notice. If they wanted to make the film that way, fine, no problem, but they had a limited amount of time and money set aside for ESB, and once they comitted to that, it couldnt be drastically changed. That is why Lucas had to go to Bank of America to get another loan to complete the production--and we're talking a couple MILLION dollars here. You'd think that'd be a wakeup call to Kurtz. But even THAT loan went overbudget! The film was saved when Fox stepped in and fronted the remaining sum (giving them an even sweeter distribution deal that Lucas loathed).

Its not Kershner's fault the film went overschedule and overbudget. The director doesnt concern himself with those issues, that is the producers job. Yes, it is easy to see WHY Kurtz let the production decompose so much, because he wanted the material to be good--but it was a luxury they literally couldnt afford, and Kurtz was EXTREMELY irresponsible in doing this, especially when you consider it was Lucas' personal funds and he wanted the show to move and be finished. Lucas is lucky that he had more star wars fans than he realised.

In any case, this has nothing to do with Lucas praising or bashing, its simply Kurtz getting creative credit on one of the greatest films ever made when he is one of the worst professional producers i have ever heard of.

And BTW, what the hell are you talking about? Lucas' smug smirk? He seemed very grateful to get the award and i think this vitrolic Lucas bashing gets out of control sometimes like this, being labelled a "smug jerk" and that he makes you sick. What the hell is up with that?

Anyway, you dont have to interpret Kurtz-bashing as Lucas praising. Kurtz at least can objectively be bashed.
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you cant tell me by looking at those photos that lucas doesnt have a 'this is all a joke' look .
btw lucas has been getting on my nerves since at least '97, in interviews and behind the scenes footage with his smirking. all i know is he didnt look that way really pre '97 and seemed quite serious about sar wars and didnt look like he thought it was beneath him or that it was all a joke. if you dont believe me look at some old stills with lucas and compare them now. like night and day
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I can sympathise with battlewars, there are times when I dont find Lucas all that likable and there are sections of Prequel fans around, that I dont like with the attitude they have......