From reading Rinzler I got an impression that Marquand wasn’t treated too friendly, and experienced not enough of emotional support on the part of cast and crew. I imagine he was under huge psychological pressure not necessarily direct one: he might known that everyone would compare him with Kershner and that alone could add enormous amount of stress; he witnessed groundbreaking success of Empire and, perhaps, worried a great deal of how to give a splendid account of himself; he had to keep up with the budget and learn aboult great many things; and, sorry, but if someone told me «we are a club and you’re an honorary member. We hope you fit in it»(Carrie) I would get VERY nervous and uncomfortable about the whole thing. Not just that it was impolite, but it could be discouraging for many people. Marquand noticed «a certain note of warning». Not a very uplifting start. They placed themself like an arrogant higher casta vouchsafing graciously him to be enrolled. I think all that such flossing could accomplish is to interpose a gulf between individuals, not make them closer. Why not just be friendly and appreciational to a new man? As for relationship with George impression of mine was ambiguous: on the one hand, «George was good because throughout, he would say,‘Hey, you’re the director,‘shrug and walk away’»(Marquand) on the other - things like «consider the budget!» and «sometimes I felt bad for Richard, because George would ask to see his shot list. A director usually shows up in the morning with a list of shots he needs and, for some, it’s very private»(editor Dunham). That Marquand didn’t feel (or didn’t want ) to be a puppet in hand of Lucas hints indicate where Rinzler describes disagreement over an issue of using multiple cameras which he felt, in the words of Carol Marquand, was «pettifogging».
Kershner was maybe psychologically more self-confident cause not only of George being his former disciple, but of realising his significanse for Lucas and the whole production. Marquand was a SW fan like the rest of us and at the time he, perhaps, stood in awe of Lucas and the whole franchise and felt like touching sanctity. If he showed less veneration and wasn’t bound by this awe, perhaps, Lucas wouldn’t dare to interfere, however it naturally provoked more of participation from him. Would be awesome to learn in detail how did Marquand work on the set but from Rinzler’s account I got onle a vague impression despite many-many pages. It’s unfortunate we don’t have such detailed record as Arnord did with Kershner him having wireless mic attached. I read somewhere in the forum that Richard’s face was stiff as rock and bla-bla-bla, but, seriously, can we judge relying on such a shaky criteria? For me it’s obvious that, taking into account the undeniable fact that director’s personality has the major influence, Kershner was more open, hearty while Marquand was a typical Englishman, indisposed to exaggerated sentiments. But this by no means tells of his indifference or unability to maintain friendly relations with both the actors and the crew. And here’s where the fun begins. Rinzler: «To at least one visiting executive [Reynolds], it was «absolutely clear» that Luvas was calling shots, but allowing Marquand to have the appearance of being the director», «out of respect, he was letting Richard do the directing»(Roffman), «he was a little insecure in his role»(Daniels), «Richard couldn’t grasp it and George was concerned, so he never left»(Watts),«he seemed like a bit of a misfit. He didn’t seem to fit in like Kershner. I think he was kind of discomfited». I suppose this sort of thoughts was intiated by the fact that George simply helped Marquand not that the latter was just an instrument of Lucas. Maybe for someone it looked odd and caused such a misinterpretation. The last quote confirms my assumption that everyone was comparing him with Kersh. But one has to take such observations with a certain grain of salt: even direct witnesses can prove to be inconsistent and inexact especially if emotionally motivated. To continue the subject Hamill felt that «George was more vocal regarding technical matters, such as choice of lenses. All of his input came within the bounds of good tast. He avoided making Richard feel like he wasn’t the captain of the ship - which he was», «it’s so much a creation of George’s that it’s to Richard’s credit that he’s obviously managed to put his bit into it, too»(Watts). All this very interesting but it would be more interesting how Richard himself felt, not to hear just impressions of others. «Richard was so full of enthusiasm. I don’t think he was disgruntled or anything like that»(Carol Marquand). Wikiarticle on ROTJ says that it’s likely Lucas was the director of the second unit while Marquand was doing «the dirty job» and was assisted by Lucas and indeed in all video clips from the shooting scenes with the principals (I refer to an iBook version of the Rinzler’s book) and the mass scenes we hear Marquand’s voice. Additional 30 minutes of lost footage (Luke and Yoda) found recently confirm that Marquand DID direct actively. In George’s own words, «generally, my participation is maybe one-tenth of what it would be if I were directing. People don’t understand why I can be so relaxed at this stage. I can go out to dinner, take weekends off. It’s such a different life when I’m directing a movie». «Actually George was almost a second unit director. I shot second unit with him quite often» (Hamill).
As for relations with the actors there’s a mixed bag: certainly to call them «bad» is oversimplifying. Tony Daniels seemed to enjoy Marquand as did Mark who prefered his working method to Kershner’s and who got on well with him right from the start. Belonging to the younger generation of filmmakers Marquand’s working style was different than Kershner’s in terms of tempo. «Marquand can be fast. He’s certainly not a slow director. He keeps the takes to a fairly low number»(Kazanjian). In this context Carrie and Harrison are the one huge question mark for me. Obviously the former disliked Marquand and the quotes that Rinzler provides speak of her hostility to him. But what’s interesting above all, she spoke not just for herself but for Mark as well and how she wrapped her dissatisfaction looks pretty strange to say the least: «It was like Richard was afraid of Harrison or respected Harrison, but he certainly didn’t respect, as far as I could make out, too many other people He’s [Ford] a movie star in a way that I’m not, in a way that Mark isn’t - and Richard kowtowed to him That was my impression. Maybe I’m wrong». Mark: «I liked Richard very much, he was very personable I was surprised that Carrie had problems. She didn’t share that with me». What the hell? It appears that they even never spoke in privy about impression Marquand made?? Did Carrie never manage to find time to ask her co-stars: «listen, guys, don’t you think our new director is a complete asshole?». If no, then her «revelations» seems to be dubious since «that was my impression, maybe I’m wrong» really exposes something wrong but not with Marquand. Harrison either «enjoyed» or «didn’t take take to Richard at all»(Barton) - unclear... The point is that everyone on any project seaks to put the head of a project in the wrong making the head responsible even for his/her own faults and another one is that even if a director doesn’t get on well with the cast it doesn’t necessarily mean he/she’s responsive for that. Especially concidering how easily offended and unforgiven women can be if something’s going wrong (from their viewpoint). Now what could cause such reaction on the part of Carrie? Maybe this: «everybody knows they were all off the wall at that point, a lot of drink and drugs and partying. She was at a very low ebb»(Barton)? It was like common truth that Carrie hooked on drugs heavily, so maybe it was one of these clashes between her and Marquand when he might call her over the coals regarding the subject, who knows? Maybe she was jealous of the fame and attention Harrison was receiving? And yet, even if she disliked Marquand, I would point out to the place in the book where Rinzler writes about critical and public reaction to the realease of the Jedi, how he defended fervently her and Mark against some harsh attacks. Maybe instead of blaiming Marquand she should have restrained herself and shown more respect to surrounding members of the set as well as worked up a more serious approach to her acting in some takes like this one:
