Originally posted by: Go-Mer-Tonic
None of that proves Lucas is lying. He didn't have to write it on the scripts or tell Kurtz about it to have thought it.

I am not discounting what Kurtz said at all.

He says he doesn't understand why Lucas wouldn't have just kept at that shot until he got what he originally wanted. To him they could have spent all week on that. To Lucas, he says they didn't have any time or money to spare, and so he ended up living with it.

Actually, you are (discounting what Kurtz said). Kurtz isn't saying they could have spent all week on it either (though thanks for trying to tell us what he's thinking). I'm sure Kurtz, being the producer, was well aware of how much money and time they had. But here you are, telling us that Lucas is remembering it correctly and Kurtz is not. So what if Kurtz didn't know everything that was going on in Lucas' head.

The point is, Go-Mer, that you're willing to accept Lucas' word over Kurtz's simple because Lucas is giving you a story that fits with the SEs. Is it not at all possible that Lucas changed his mind 20 years later and decided he wanted it the other way? It seems much more plausible and probable that that's what happened rather than that he just couldn't get the shot.

So whether you admit it or not, you are in fact discounting what Kurtz says because it doesn't fit with what Lucas says, even though they were both there and were both very well aware of the money and time issues. If Lucas never mentioned this to Kurtz, it says even more about his inabilities as the Executive Producer/Director than anything else. It doesn't do anyone any good to have a director that won't communicate their thoughts until 20 years later.

EDIT: You're also telling us that Kurtz's memory is not as good as Lucas so he must not be remembering it properly. It's just as possible that it's the other way around. And, as others have said, it's just as possible that Lucas has convinced himself it was suppose to happen differently.