3 ways Marcia Lucas (then wife of George Lucas) saved Star Wars

http://blastr.com/2011/03/3-ways-george-lucas-wife.php?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

Great article! Come back Mrs Lucas-the-former, all is forgiven!

Mod Edit: a working link to the above article can be found here:-

https://web.archive.org/web/20130219111531/http://blastr.com:80/2011/03/3-ways-george-lucas-wife.php

4th March 2021 Edit: Also of interest…

In Tribute to Marcia Lucas - an article up on the ‘A Secret History of Star Wars’ website, by zombie84

The ‘secret weapon’ behind Star Wars - 2015 article at News•com/au

The secret weapon of ‘Star Wars’ was George Lucas’s ex-wife Marcia - 2021 article at SFGate

How Star Wars was saved in the edit - an 18 minute RocketJump youtube video exploring how Star Wars’ editors recut and rearranged Star Wars (1977) to create the cinematic classic it became.

Darth Cracker: Come back Mrs Lucas-the-former, all is forgiven!

Go read the last link in the article.  This has nothing to do with being forgiven.  George has to ask for her to return.

hey, i've read it before, i know he asked her back (to work in the editing suite, oh George you old romantic, you!)

i was just using "come back, all is forgiven" as a turn of phrase to illustrate how much i would've liked her to return & potentially save the SW franchise...... not as a direct comment on Lucas' personal life ;-)

I stand corrected. Marcia Lucas and Kurtz should be the ones for making SW great, not GL. 

Hey, I wrote that article. :)

There are like a million sites picking up this piece now, my original article has gotten like 2000 hits in the last 12 hours. Finally, people are paying attention.

The Marcia part of the story is just bananas, you couldn't make it up. You wouldn't think it was possible for her contributions to be so minimized. Especially since we know all about every bolt in the Dykstraflex at this point. (And zombie, as the Woodward/Bernstein of Star Wars, has totally added to our understanding of that. It's kind of amazing to step back and realize how the secret history project has slowly seeped in all over the place )

For sure, I am continually amazed how far reaching the stupid thing has gone over the years. It's been a slow trickle, but it's now getting me featured in Wired magazine and university courses and mainstream books. It feels like the whole image of Lucas and Star Wars is starting to shift. Maybe one day in decades to come we'll look back on this time and Secret History will be this interesting but obsolete artifact from an era where it was necessary for redress things that are then more commonly accepted.

This actually makes me want to write to Marcia again. Maybe she will be game for another interview if she knows that lots of people are interested in her work. I haven't spoken with her in a while now.

Yet, this is the general view in a given SW forum:

I have been led to believe, that Lucas won't release the original theatrical versions, because if he does, he will be forced to pay his ex wife Marcia royalties, as she was involved in the editing process, on all three OT films. 

She took half of his wealth when they divorced in 1983 (but left Amanda behind? What a great Mom!) Marcia crippled Lucasfilm and left Lucas broke. He had to build his Empire back up. If that hadn't occurred, we would have gotten the first Star Wars prequel in 1989 (which was the original plan) and we may have even gotten a third trilogy (my speculation here) starting in 1999. 

This is partly why he changed the OT movies for their 20th anniversary; change them just enough and they aren't totally the same movie any more and he wouldn't be under any legal obligation, to feed her any more dollars. He got away with releasing the original cuts on DVD, as they are 'bonus features' If my missus left me and our daughter, for an artist who worked for me and took half of my Empire; I wouldn't [censored] on her, if she were on fire, let alone pay her royalties for a film series, that isn't even hers to begin with. 

If Lucas has personal, petty revenge reasons behind his artistic decisions, then hey, y'know... that's the reason behind it.

Maybe the divorce emotionally traumatized him so he intentionally made the characters in the new films unemotional blankstates to piss on the audience, his old co-workers and his old feelings while making a shitload of money? not a defense of the films, but hey, a pretty cool story as such :D

Btw, Marcia kinda looks like Lucas in that profile shot... `^_^´

Diego said:

Yet, this is the general view in a given SW forum:

 

I have been led to believe, that Lucas won't release the original theatrical versions, because if he does, he will be forced to pay his ex wife Marcia royalties, as she was involved in the editing process, on all three OT films. 

She took half of his wealth when they divorced in 1983 (but left Amanda behind? What a great Mom!) Marcia crippled Lucasfilm and left Lucas broke. He had to build his Empire back up. If that hadn't occurred, we would have gotten the first Star Wars prequel in 1989 (which was the original plan) and we may have even gotten a third trilogy (my speculation here) starting in 1999. 

This is partly why he changed the OT movies for their 20th anniversary; change them just enough and they aren't totally the same movie any more and he wouldn't be under any legal obligation, to feed her any more dollars. He got away with releasing the original cuts on DVD, as they are 'bonus features' If my missus left me and our daughter, for an artist who worked for me and took half of my Empire; I wouldn't [censored] on her, if she were on fire, let alone pay her royalties for a film series, that isn't even hers to begin with. 

 Besides being dumb on all levels, and more than a little mysoginistic... legally this can't hold any water and to think it does is lunacy. It's like saying John Williams wouldn't get his royallty because they cut four seconds of one of the themes.

twooffour said:

Btw, Marcia kinda looks like Lucas in that profile shot... `^_^´

What is this I don't even.

marcia lucas  accepting the academy award for best editing in 1977. I love how they praise gary kurtz as one of the most talanted producers in the buisness too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1dW6bNBzN8

Maybe she lays low because she assumes people just want to dish about GL, but I'm sure others would like to hear about her work methods and anecdotes. Forget Star Wars for a second, it's like her contributions to Taxi Driver have become collateral damage and we don't hear much about that either. There's a blu-ray coming and it would be nice to have her reflections on it.

Yes.

Also, Anchorhead: Yeah, I have to admit I have always had a crush on Marcia. She was and is very cute. Aside from her physical features, I think her fiery temperment "no bullshit" independent personality was the groundwork for both Marion and Princess Leia. The most important person in Lucas' life was a beautiful but take-no-prisoners professional that one-upped her male counterparts. It's no suprise that all the women in his films at the time mimic her personality and in some sense her physical features. Karen Allen bears a vague resemblance to her and isn't so far removed in spirit at least.

Don't you love the way george takes credit for the killing  off obi-wan plot idea  when it was marcias all along?

All jokes aside what has happend to this man? Other than rick pitino I  can not think of one other figure who was once  worshiped and beloved and  is now  looked at  as   a pos  and  untalanted. The worst part is he seems not to care.

Sure kurtz and marica and kasdan help make the OT what it is and they probably  are to thank for it  but  george  did contribute a lot to it back then. Hell I even have one interview where he says and I quote

"What makes star wars stick out among other films in the genre is we are not just looking at them  as if it's just a science fiction or film for children, we are looking at  it    and saying we are going to make the best possible film we can make and  I believe it is that that makes   these films stick out"

Not to mention his once views on revision of history and not touching  old films and changing them and how he use to say  that special effects was just a tool  and the story is what was important.

George at one time GOT IT! He knew  how to make good films and  he surrounded himself with talanted people. Together  they made classics. But you take george by himself and he makes shit. That's not a knock because you can even take someone like micheal jordan. the best bbal player of all time but if he did not surround himself with scotty pipen and other greats as a supporting cast then he would have never been a champion. He would have played on losing teams.  Lucas made loser  films cause he tried to be a one man team.

I am afraid his ego will not permit him to admit to anything like this though  and he will continue to run star wars into the ground just to stick with his current points of view. Rick MCallum to me is  one big piece of the problem. He needs to be fired ASAP. Bring someone in george that is not going to kiss your ass but someone who will sit down with yuo and challenge you to be the best you can be  and  work together  to make the best  film it an possibly be.

It is not too late for george to fix his legacy  and go down in history  as someone who made  some mistakes with the SE and the PT   but redeemed himself  with future  star wars projects  that he has the ability to make.

haljordan28 said:

Don't you love the way george takes credit for the killing  off obi-wan plot idea  when it was marcias all along?

All jokes aside what has happend to this man? Other than rick pitino I  can not think of one other figure who was once  worshiped and beloved and  is now  looked at  as   a pos  and  untalanted. The worst part is he seems not to care.

 

M. Night Shyamalan comes to mind ;)

The Ben's death thing is a funny one. Alec Guiness himself once claimed that it was his idea Lucas agreed to, because he couldn't "stand the mumbo-jumbo" anymore. Was HE being honest, or had he just gotten frustrated by the fame and hype by that point?

I dunno, but somehoe everyone's trying to grab the credit for coming up with that scene ;)

@Frink

The way she looks in that profile kinda reminds me of young Lucas. Not like she looked remotely manly or anything... but... you know...

Er....okay....

Just in that one random photo, though...