see you auntie said:
Baronlando said:
Apparently Lucas and Christopher Nolan were on a panel last night about important film milestones at the DGA, followed by a screening of Star Wars. Wonder if the issue came up, or if they just showed the CGI version at an event about historical milestones without a trace of irony.
http://www.pajiba.com/film_reviews/george-lucas-and-christopher-nolan-remember-star-wars-episode-iv-a-new-hope-review.php
Some info and typical Lucas revisionism:
the Director’s Guild of America held a screening of Lucas’s A New Hope (yes, for all of you wondering, it was the 2004 director’s cut) with a special, hour-long Q&A with Lucas and Christopher Nolan.
Lucas, as he told Nolan, originally envisioned one film: a bad guy is confronted by his son and earns redemption in the third act. Then, when the script reached 250 pages and Lucas was confronted by a modest budget (initially $8 million dollars which grew to $14), he figured he’d spin the three-act story into three separate films, just like the old Flash Gordon serials.
"Re-watching a film that has defined much of my life — as I am a geek thanks to Batman and Star Wars — through the eyes of a more seasoned moviegoer, I started to notice a few flaws on this masterpiece. Yet, unlike Lucas, I don’t want to shun them or push them away. There’s something endearing about the awkwardness of some of the lines of dialogue (“Ben Kenobi? I don’t think he exists anymore.”) and to Hamill’s over the top, spoiled brat routine in the first act. Sure, it’s hitting the nose on the head when Luke angerly kicks the sand at his feet on Tatooine but then Lucas gives us a perfect moment: Luke, looking at the sunset, the Williams score swelling, and coming to the realization that he is just a small part of the universe. That scene, after nearly thirty-five years since it was shot and, to my knowledge, never digitally altered, still gave me goose bumps and noticing those goose bumps put tears in my eyes. I wanted to tell George Lucas that this is cinephilia, enjoying both the perfect and the imperfect, like one of Shakespeare’s muses (I can never remember which sonnet that is…). Don’t worry about changing it. I respect that, as an artist, you want to strive for a certain vision, for the impossibility of perfection. Yet, it’s easier to love something that feels real and natural, beauty that may even have a wrinkle or two."
It is comments like this one that makes me a little sad, and it sort of proves that Lucas has succeeded. Not everyone is as obsessive as we're on this board, but this is still a huge fan of the film that cannot see any difference between the 2004 transfer and original in this classic shot.
My tears would have been of a different sort.