SilverWook said:
ATMachine said:
Making of ROTJ reveals that Kurtz was indeed replaced during post-production on ESB (in late 1979). According to Howard Kazanjian's recollection, Kurtz showed up one day and Kazanjian had to tell him that he was no longer allowed to work on George's movie.
Which came as a total surprise to Kurtz, apparently. Kazanjian had expected that Lucas would have told Kurtz he was being let go, but apparently Lucas preferred to let Kazanjian do his dirty work for him. (Later, when asked by Kazanjian, Lucas would deny that he had failed to inform Kurtz of his impending dismissal.)
Kurtz accordingly sent in his letter of resignation to Lucasfilm on December 11, 1979.
The purge started a lot earlier than I thought. Lucas' loss, but Jim Henson's gain.
I'm amazed we're getting such an unvarnished look at what must have been a more tumultuous production than even ESB was.
Rinzler's previous book on ESB did state that he was effectively replaced as producer by George Lucas & Howard Kazanjian before the shoot was even finished but it has always been a bit unclear on exactly when it happened.
starwarsaficionado made a great interview with Howard Kazanjian a few years ago where it gets mentioned as well.
http://www.keepandshare.com/doc/6337672/howard-kazanjian-interview-2009-pdf-1-7-meg?da=y
You were involved behind the scenes on THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK (trailing Gary Kurtz?) and then went in to the producer seat for REVENGE (later RETURN) OF THE JEDI. Was it just a case of going straight from GRAFFITI into EMPIRE? When exactly did you start? Were you previously involved in any of the principal photography/critical filming decisions on EMPIRE?
KAZANJIAN: Yes, no, yes. I was very much involved in Empire as it was being developed out of the Universal Studio offices we had. Gary Kurtz and I shared those offices while George would fly down and meet with the conceptual artists – Joe Johnston and Ralph McQuarrie. Kurtz was mostly in London where he had a beautiful home and was working on The Dark Crystal. The company and ILM had not relocated to Marin County as of yet. I was in every meeting with Ralph, Joe and George. We were also waiting for the script of More American Graffiti from writer/director Bill Norton. And we were waiting for a rewrite and developing Radioland Murders that eventually we cancelled.
George had told me to get very involved because I would be producing the third Star Wars film, not Gary Kurtz. Gary, of course did not know this. Problems arose on The Empire Strikes Back that I will not discuss here. George sent me to London to finish the last two weeks of shooting. I worked at ILM that now was located in San Rafael and watched most of the editorial and postproduction progress. I was also at the mix at the then Goldwyn Studios. Gary came back in to Los Angeles for the mix, timing of the picture and release.
The situation also gets mentioned in Empire Building, based on interviews with Kurtz and Alsup (Kurtz's secretary): There was never any official dismissal by Lucas, it was really bitter and messy, and Kurtz felt it was time to move on, as he was sidelined by Lucas and would have no role in ROTJ's production.