I haven’t checked in on this thread in a while so I’m afraid to see what’s on the preceding few pages, but I understand there’s been some drama recently.

Let me just clarify a few points:

Legacy will be screened for Fox/Disney executives later this year. At least, that’s the plan, the discussions have started/invitations beginning, and so far, so good. We’ll see.
Legacy uses an absolute shit-ton of references, most of them privately held, to help arrive at an accurate representation of the original photography - and yes, of course I take into account deliberate grading done during production. But I have been provided many references taken from known cameras, on known film stocks with known response curves, often photographed standing 2 feet away from the film camera while shooting concurrently with the live action. In many cases, the stills I’ve seen capture moments from the actual takes which ended up in the film, so these are very useful references which can easily be reverse-engineered to help provide something as close to an accurate reference as possible. Combining that data with the scans from several prints of varying pedigree, and examining original artifacts in the Archives - all of which I’ve done - just build up a huge library of comparative data, and it truly makes all the difference. Ultimately, the look of Legacy is one that tries to maintain the original signal path - I recapture the original photography as far as possible, and then follow the intentional grading done photochemically. The look is neither Technicolor nor Eastman, both of which have idiosyncrasies which color the image in different ways. If I had to describe the final look, it’d be something along the lines of “if Eastman and Tech had a baby,” but not exactly. It’s hard to describe, and it depends on the shot. Final frames will ultimately all be online, and then you can see. Some things just read better on Eastman, and some things read better on Tech, and by “read better” I mean capture what was really on the original negative. But…
It took time. 15 years. Legacy is complete and in a state to be screened. Of course, I still see a billion things I’d like to do to it, still, because that’s always how it is. Even after having gone just berserk and insane on it, still, I will be forever haunted by “what ifs.” Even now, I’m doing some additional R&D on another idea I had recently which might squeeze another percent or two out of things. And of course, I’ll be asking Fox/Disney for a shot at the original materials. That’s the dream.
For all the drama, I just have to say that karma’s a bitch. Stolen scans, ego-driven righteous indignation? That only ends up one place. I have caught more shit in the last however many years for my careful, deliberate, and measured approach to this stuff, and it continues to pay off. But that’s the difference. I care about Star Wars, and not being “the guy who saved Star Wars.” Couldn’t care less about fame or recognition. I married a celebrity once, so I’ve seen all that anyway. I have said many times that the future is uncertain and crazy and we should all just keep the faith. Patience: it is the way of The Force.

Amirite? 😃

_Mike