Ric Olie said:
Lionel Hutz said:
I watched Attack of the Clones in a bar last night. The sound wasn't on, but I think I got the gist of it.
That's genius right there.
For me - 2005. That's when ROTS was released right? Or does the 70 minute review of TPM count?
I don't think the whole thing about Lucas going "soft" after becoming a father is anything new. In fact I thought that was the general understanding as the reason for certain shifts in focus or tone.
And the whole child psychiatrist thing could be said to go against the whole only Lucas, Kershner and Hamill (I presume Kasdan too) knew about the "revelation".
I now watched the first two thirds of Star Wars de-specialized so I can't comment on the attack on the death star sequence but I'll comment on what I've seen.
I've not yet watched ESB or ROTJ as I have to convert the AVCHD's first. I'll preface that I was only interested in the de-specialized ESB and ROTJ but downloaded SW out of curiosity and to complete the trilogy.
The changes that you've made are well executed but unfortunately for me there still to much SE for me to enjoy the edit. I hope I don't sound critical or unappreciative because your work is really good and I knew exactly what was changed and what wasn't before I downloaded and watched it. I'm also aware this was a project for yourself and your viewing habits that you were kind enough to share with us, so good work considering the source material you have to work with.
I do have a couple of questions.
Did you use any of Adywan's Revisited (which I've not seen) in your edit. The reason I ask is I'm led to believe Adywan painstakingly removed the Ronto that walks in front of the Landspeeder at the Stormtrooper checkpoint and other such things. Did you use these shots?
Also I noticed that the blinking garbage compactor creature and tractor beam display text remain from the 2004 SE's. Is there not HD material from the '97 SE available for these shots?
And the removal of the Han and Jabba confrontation leaves a straight cut rather than the dissolve seen in the '77 theatrical. I assume there's not enough frames available on the ends of either scene to achieve the dissolve.
I should get to the other two films soon and I look forward to them.
Easterhay said:
I have little in common with the fans who make their own edits, I'm afraid. I'm aware of Adywan and while his passion is admirable, I won't be choosing his versions over the ones I currently have. Thanks all the same :)
You stated you'd love to see the changes removed. Adywan has removed them.
Easterhay said:
.... All unecessary and I'd love to see them removed.
http://originaltrilogy.com/forum/topic.cfm/The-Empire-Strikes-Back-1980-Theatrical-version-Reconstruction-Adywan/topic/11544/
;)
xhonzi said:
I still don't get it. How close to Jabba's are they? They're on Tatooine, that's all the painting tells me. Is that what you're saying is "too" close? Or are you assuming they're within miles of the palace? Back to the former, are we supposed to assume that they dropped the Falcon off a couple planets away and took a cab to Tatooine?
I'd assume it's a distance the droids could easily travel.
Thanks for the guardian article.
This is what was written by one of the commenters (GW74) on the guardian website in response to the article:
The Original Trilogy are George Lucas's children, but if they could speak they would have legally emancipated themselves from him long ago. The technoligical constraints are what made the films so exceptional. The broad infinite canvas that technological progress has brought out the worst in lucas. Alas I fear he is too powerful for this message to ever get through to him.
The part in bold had me cracking up. But the whole reply was particualry well written and apt.
Thank you for the clarification. All is right again.
;)
In this hypothetical he'd still have made like a gazillion dollars on Star Wars right?
With that kind of money comes power and he'd still be terribly dissatisfied with the half finished film he made. And if the same film is still incredibly popular with the public they'd still be numerous re-releases and an opportunity for George to update it to satisfy its shortcomings. So things wouldn't be all that different.
Although with only one film to concentrate on you'd think Fox would give it the Blade Runner/ Close Encounters/ Alien treatment when it comes to a dvd/ blu-ray release.
Davnes007 said:
Wanted to impress his girlfriend?
??????
Thanks for the video of Hamill. That was great. I fucking love that he doesn't know the names of planets and the jawa-mobile. Why would he?
If it wasn't part of his dialogue, most stuff wasn't even named in the scripts, why would he even know it then, let alone now. It's very impressive that he still remembers his dialogue so well after 30 odd years.
He knows Tatooine because he had to repeat Tatooine on a bunch of different takes.
I like that he asked the crowd what's the name of the thing he attaches himself to the big walker in ESB like there is a toy made of it, yeah Mark it's called a harpoon. Not everything in the SW universe has a name and a storied background. *internet whispers in my ear* Wait what....!
They jeered Jar Jar Binks. The only acceptable derision officially allowed at an officially sanctioned Lucasfilm event, officially.
TV's Frink said:
Darth Paul?
That whole bottle of whiskey I drank last night was to try and erase from my brain the fact that Darth Maul now has a brother. Even though I'm trying to forget it, he will forever be known as Darth Paul in my mind - well done.
Stewart was funny. Lucas was awkward, seriously hard to stay awake whenever he spoke. Whatever, no one made me watch it. Mark was cool. Carrie was hilarious. The mention of the cut nude scene to get the fanboys all riled up had me chuckling, then the allusion that the Jabba porn scene was all imagined because of the drugs she was on had me out right laughing and worth the hour of my time.
Though out the duration of the interview you can tell Stewart is a big fan of the OT. He 's able to drop more references then George, or at least get them right, which is not all that surprising.
The 2nd last clip can be avoided if you don't watch the Clone Wars series, some rubbish about Darth Maul having a brother. Oh boy.
Jedi Temple34 said:
Nope, I checked before I posted that. But he's an old dude, that's for sure.
The credited DP of Jedi Alan Hume unfortunately died recently. Although the man that took over once Hume was removed during production is still alive.
Collider.com posted an interview with George Lucas by Jon Stewart at Celebration V. I haven't had a chance to watch it yet (it is an hour long) but I'm sure it will be interesting.
http://www.collider.com/2010/08/15/jon-stewart-star-wars-celebration-v-stormtrooper-george-lucas/
Many people questioned Stewart when he didn't ask the hard questions when he interviewed Lucas on the Daily Show in recent times, this is why. You won't get invited to Celebration V and have a action figure made of you.
Not that I'm criticizing Stewart, I love him. And I thought his questions on the Daily Show were fair without outright attacking Lucas and the prequels etc.
http://www.theforce.net/topstory/story/CV_Star_Wars_On_BluRay_133242.asp
"Blu-ray is the absolute best way to experience Star Wars at home – in pristine high definition," said George Lucas, creator of the Star Wars Saga. "The films have never looked or sounded better."
Sorry guy for posting that, it's like kicking you while you're down, but this is getting comical now - at least to me.
Yeah sure the special special editions have probably never looked so good...
This also made me laugh, it's like Mark's responding to the backlash regarding the Blu-ray announcement. A new meme might be in the making.
And I hate to get personal but this is an observation I just had to share - they're some dainty feet ol' George has. I guess there's a reason he's so into sports cars.
edit: And while people are correct in saying that yeah we'll get a proper restoration eventually I assume when it comes to restorations sooner is preferable to later. Godfather was pretty far gone from memory and it's lucky they did the restoration when they did if they wanted to use as many original elements as they did.
It would be nice if Gil Taylor and a whole bunch of the original guys are still around to advise on the project. Probably not going to happen but it would be nice.
Sorry I'm a little late to the discussion.
Zombie I love you (not in a creepy way, hold off on the restraining order) but are you some kind of richist? I'm playing the money card and telling you to not be so close minded when it comes to the wealthy. As for your numerous referrals to Lucas' "uncountable billions" I'm sure his accounts know exactly how much he has, probably down to the last cent even.
Please take that last paragraph with a large does of sarcasm, but there may be a little truth to it. Actually take everything I say in this post with a large dose of sarcasm but I still think it's the truth.
I don't begrudge Lucas for how he made his money and how damn much of it he actually has (I think he kind of deserves it) I only take issue with what he chooses to do with it present day ie not restore Star Wars. Not that I have a say in the matter, or should. One would think and hope any man would choose to do the right thing, not have to be petitioned to.
Film enthusiasts have moaned since the Golden Age of cinema that Hollywood is run by accountants which is why we get the remakes and reboots and the recycling of ideas and cliched rom-coms because they're safe. Most Star Wars fans can identify that Lucas has become what he once hated, just like the Hollywood machine he wanted to escape.
The way I see it every decision Lucas and Lucasfilm makes is in order to protect their investment. That's a huge, pardon the pun, empire to run and it's run like any other company. It's not the dream factory where artists could get away from Hollywood and head north and make their little films away from the system as Lucas once envisioned.
Profits are the bottom line and ever increasing profits are the goal, again like any other company. Slow quarter, slow year. Lay off some staff. Or close an unprofitable department. All things that most companies including Lucasfilm have done in recent times.
It's a sad reality that Lucasfilm isn't that artists retreat that Skywalker Ranch should have been. Can you imagine what the overheads are just to keep that place running each year. Jesus. Vineyards don't maintain themselves. Some how I think most companies don't have those kind of overheads to deal with.
I'd imagine owning Star Wars and having produced Indiana Jones is enough to keep the lights on (ILM is a different beast, they generate their own profits but they're also a different entity, I mean) but is that enough? To break even, to justify your existence. They're running a business there. So they've got to license the shit out of books, comics, toys, bedsheets etc and now with the Clone Wars and potentially the live-action series, they're in the TV game. I fucking hate that this is the reality of what Star Wars has become but it's reality all the same.
It's why there will never be one Star Wars box set that encompasses everything the fans want, because then there isn't a market for further releases and box sets. Got to keep those future revenue streams open. I'm sure because of this we won't get the Indy trilogy on Blu-ray the same year as Star Wars.
So the delay of the live-action show is simply about investment vs return. Not about breaking even or carving out a small profit. If the analysts are saying the tv show is a bit too expensive or not as profitable as first thought, why not let those allocated funds sit in a bank accruing interest and instead sleep in in the a morning.
It's depressingly sad that this is the mentality of a once great artist but that's Lucas. He's always been a businessman at heart and probably a pretty good one. We'll it appears that way to me, contray to his youth and him not wanting to go into his dad's stationary business or whatever.
He negotiated the merchadising rights for SW when merchasining rights were essentialy unheard of. I guess he saw a market there. Even if he thought it would only be for t-shirts and books slightly underestimating the enormity of what was to come, his foresight has to be some what commended.
He also famously had a fit when Kurtz and Kershner were going over budget on Empire. They didn't care they just wanted to make the best movie possible, there's no limitations on art and all that. But Lucas did, it was his money!
Point being that it appears he's pretty much always been this way. I'm not going to shed any tears for an on-hold TV series that doesn't appear to be hugely profitable because ultimately I'm not surprised that when it comes to SW and Lucasfilm money talks...
God I sound like such a capitalist, honestly I'm not.
I always found it kind of interesting when the prequels were done and Lucas announced Star Wars was heading to TV because (I don't have the quote on hand and I'm probably getting it wrong) the current television climate was better than feature films (ie cinema). This was probably while the Sopranos was still on air and before Deadwood was cancelled.
And I'd have to somewhat agree with him there. But I'm not failing to recognise that we also live in a world where the best stuff on TV like Mad Men and Breaking Bad has fuck all of an audience and not all that profitable when compared to insanely popular shit stuff like Two and a Half Men.
Couple that with the fact networks haven't been the sharpest knifes in the draw dealing with advertising versus viewership numbers when it comes to DVR's, online viewing, digital downloads, dvd boxsets etc. So why are Lucasfilm getting into TV? Turns out maybe they shouldn't be.
*Clears throat*
*ROTS Vader Voice* NNnnnooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!
I know how you feel CO. At this point I hardly even care about this and futures releases. While not perfect the fan recreations (in HD and SD) are pretty damned close and pretty damned good. They'll have to suffice and I think I'm ok with that. What other options do I have.
I'm not done with watching Star Wars but I'm done with the fandom and the other bullshit and hope of a legitimate release (please can I buy your product if only you offer it to me - sounds riduclous). Maybe it it wasn't for the community here and the good work they do I'd be done with Star Wars completely.
So thank you the internets and OT.com-ers.
Lucas interview.
http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/08/14/star-wars-films-coming-to-blu-ray-next-year/
‘Star Wars’ Films Coming to Blu-ray Next YearThough nearly 35 years of “Star Wars” fandom have yielded all kinds of memorabilia inspired by George Lucas’s outer-space epic, including light saber lookalikes and wearable replicas of Princess Leia’s slave costume, one holy grail has lately eluded fans: a video version of the “Star Wars” films that takes the fullest advantage of their top-of-the-line home theater systems.
That’s a Death Star-sized void that Lucasfilm plans to fill shortly. On Saturday, the studio is to announce that it will release all six live-action “Star Wars” features on Blu-ray DVD in fall 2011. A boxed set containing the Blu-ray versions of the movies, spanning from 1977’s “Star Wars” through the final 2005 prequel, “Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith,” will mark the first time the films have been offered in a high-definition home format, and will include documentary features and previously unseen footage.
Given Mr. Lucas’s exacting standards for film presentations (he founded the THX company) and Lucasfilm’s embrace of digital movie technology (digital projection was used for the theatrical release of all three “Star Wars” prequels, and the last two prequels were shot digitally), many fans expected that high-definition versions of the “Star Wars” features would soon follow.
But in a telephone interview, Mr. Lucas said he had been waiting to see if the Blu-ray format would be widely accepted by home viewers.
“We’ve been wanting to do it as soon as we possibly could, but we just wanted to do it when enough people would be able to buy it and see it,” Mr. Lucas said on Friday from the Star Wars Celebration V convention in Orlando, Fla.
When the original “Star Wars” movies were released on VHS in the early 1980s (along with other short-lived home video formats), Mr. Lucas said sales were slow to take off at first.
“We came out with ‘Star Wars’ right at the beginning of VHS,” he said, “and we sold 300,000 copies.” Within a few years, he added, “They were selling 1 million, 2 million, 10 million. So we learned from that experience that if you’re too early in the marketplace, there’s just not enough demand for it.”
In the case of Blu-ray, at least the potential for galactic-scale sales exists: a recent report by the media firm DEG: The Digital Entertainment Group said that nearly 2 million Blu-ray players were sold in the first half of 2010, an increase of 103 percent over last year, for a total of 19.4 million such devices in the U.S.
Mr. Lucas said the versions of the first three “Star Wars” films – “Star Wars,” “The Empire Strikes Back” and “Return of the Jedi” – included in the Blu-ray boxed set will be the special-edition releases that were shown theatrically in 1997 and digitally restored for a 2004 standard-definition DVD boxed set.
Perhaps bracing for the reactions of fans who decried some of the changes made to the special-edition films – like, say, an exchange of gunfire between Han Solo and a certain green-skinned bounty hunter – Mr. Lucas said that to release the original versions of these films on Blu-ray was “kind of an oxymoron because the quality of the original is not very good.”
“You have to go through and do a whole restoration on it, and you have to do that digitally,” he added. “It’s a very, very expensive process to do it. So when we did the transfer to digital, we only transferred really the upgraded version.”
And while some viewers might want the “Star Wars” Blu-ray release in time for this year’s Life Day – that is, the Wookiee holiday that roughly coincides with the start of the holiday shopping season – Mr. Lucas said a 2011 release was the earliest possible date. (The boxed set will be distributed by Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment; Lucasfilm did not give pricing information or indicate if the films will also be sold individually.)
That, he said, was partly due to continuing work on the additional Blu-ray features, and partly to factors beyond his control.
“We’ve been working on them for quite a while,” Mr. Lucas said, “but still, there are pipelines. Unfortunately, the recent releases get priority over what we call the classic versions of things.”
SilverWook said:
The deleted scenes will be all over the tubes days after the discs come out anyway.
Fixed: The deleted scenes will be all over the tubes a month before the discs come out anyway.
That's the usual time period for pirates to get their hands on new dvd releases and rip them. They're apparently fair game once the discs are at the manufacturing stage.
I will say that deleted scene was pretty cool. Reading about it over the years was it expected that the scene was this complete? I'm surprised.
But I won't be buying the blu-ray set for some deleted scenes (hey why weren't they on the 2004 box set?) and as for the rest of Lucas' comments - fuck you.
It's a waste of our time even commenting on what lies leave this mans mouth.
There's a private collector that owns a SW print that's in pretty good shape. Lucas' prints (maybe not the o-neg) have to be in at least equal condition. Use them for a restoration you tight bastard.
edit: whoops, after re-reading my post I didn't want to imply that I'll be downloading the pirated discs just that I'll watch the deleted scenes on youtubes when they're inevitably uploaded, prior to the release date I'm sure.
Trailer here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sI_ckeUjonE
Recently it was joked that every time there's a new sticker book released it's reported on, but actual real Star Wars news isn't.
Granted it's not much that Kurtz hasn't said before but it's of great interest, speaking out against Lucas and Lucasfilm and what ROTJ should have been but wasn't because of merchadising, all days before Celebration V. Doesn't he have a scheduled appearance there? Lucasfilm is going to be pissed off.
Any way: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/herocomplex/2010/08/star-wars-was-born-a-long-time-ago-but-not-all-that-far-far-away-in-1972-filmmakers-george-lucas-and-gary-kurtz-wer.html
Did 'Star Wars' become a toy story? Producer Gary Kurtz looks back
“Star Wars” was born a long time ago, but not all that far, far away. In 1972, filmmakers George Lucas and Gary Kurtz were toiling on “American Graffiti” in their San Rafael office when they began daydreaming about a throwback sci-fi adventure that channeled the old “Flash Gordon” serials as opposed to the bleak “message” movies that had taken over the genre.
“We had no idea what we were starting,” said Kurtz, who was the producer of the first two “Star Wars” films and also a second-unit director. “That simple concept changed Hollywood in a way....”
There was a bittersweet tinge to Kurtz’s voice, and it’s no surprise. This year is the 30th anniversary of “The Empire Strikes Back,” the “Star Wars” sequel that many fans consider the pinnacle moment in a franchise that has pulled in $16 billion in box office and merchandising. But 1980 was also the year that Kurtz and Lucas realized the Jedi universe wasn’t big enough for the both of them.
“I could see where things were headed,” Kurtz said. “The toy business began to drive the [Lucasfilm] empire. It’s a shame. They make three times as much on toys as they do on films. It’s natural to make decisions that protect the toy business, but that’s not the best thing for making quality films.”
He added: “The first film and ‘Empire’ were about story and character, but I could see that George’s priorities were changing.”
This weekend, Kurtz steps back into the “Star Wars” galaxy as a special guest at Star Wars Celebration V, a massive convention in Orlando, Fla., organized by Lucasfilm and expected to draw thousands of fans who will come to buy collectibles, attend panels, get cast-member autographs or even visit the event’s themed tattoo parlor or wedding chapel.
Kurtz’s presence speaks to his vital role in the franchise’s history — he is, for instance, the one who came up with the title for “The Empire Strikes Back” — but the Lucasfilm leadership is already fretting about the Jedi galaxy expatriate’s appearance. They may have good reason; during a recent visit to Los Angeles, the filmmaker, who just turned 70, showed a willingness to speak out against the priorities of an old partner.
“The emphasis on the toys, it’s like the cart driving the horse,” Kurtz said. “If it wasn’t for that the films would be done for their own merits. The creative team wouldn’t be looking over their shoulder all the time.”
No fan of conflict, Kurtz has remained relatively quiet through the years but over coffee on a sunny Southern California afternoon he spoke at length about his lightsaber days.
Like many fans, Kurtz — who characterizes his relationship with Lucas as “professional” — was too invested in the “Star Wars” universe to skip the second trilogy: 1999’s “Star Wars: Episode I — The Phantom Menace,” 2002’s “Star Wars: Episode II — Attack of the Clones” and 2005’s “Star Wars: Episode III — Revenge of the Sith.” (Lucas retitled the three original movies as “Star Wars: Episode IV — A New Hope,” “Star Wars: Episode V — The Empire Strikes Back” and “Star Wars: Episode VI — Return of the Jedi.”) But as he sat in the dark with the follow-up “Star Wars” films, he squirmed in his seat.
“I don’t like the idea of prequels, they make the filmmakers back in to material they’ve already covered and it boxes in the story,” Kurtz said. “I think they did a pretty good job with them although I have to admit I never liked Hayden Christensen in the role of Anakin Skywalker. I just wished the stories had been stronger and that the dialogue had been stronger. It gets meek. I’m not sure the characters ever felt real like they did in ‘Empire.’"
A spokeswoman for George Lucas said he was unavailable for comment.
Kurtz’s sentiments speak to a churning pop-culture debate about the enduring legacy of Lucas and the trajectory of his still-unfolding “Star Wars” mythology. The first trilogy of films ended in 1983 with “Return of the Jedi” and the second trilogy brought a whole new generation into the universe but also left many fans of the original feeling sour or disengaged. A seventh feature film, an animated movie called “The Clone Wars,” was released in 2008, which, along with video games and toys, speaks to a young 21st century constituency that may be only vaguely aware of the 1977 film.
The same passion pulling fans to Orlando also stokes the debate about Lucas and his creation. Alexandre Philippe is the director of “The People vs. George Lucas,” a documentary that just had its West Coast premiere at the Los Angeles Film Festival. He says that Kurtz has become a figure of integrity to the fans who believe that Lucas has followed the wrong path.
Philippe said the departure of Kurtz was a major moment in “Star Wars” history and deeply unsettling to all involved. “The cast and crew were crushed when George and Gary went their separate ways,” said Philippe, who added that Mark Hamill, who portrayed Luke Skywalker, later explained it in broken-family terminology. “He said it was like mom and dad getting a divorce. They were both equally loved and respected on the set.”
For Kurtz, the popular notion that “Star Wars” was always planned as a multi-film epic is laughable. He says that he and Lucas, both USC film school grads who met through mutual friend Francis Ford Coppola in the late 1960s, first sought to do a simple adaptation of “Flash Gordon,” the comic-strip hero who had been featured in movie serials that both filmmakers found charming.
“We tried to buy the rights to ‘Flash Gordon’ from King Features but the deal would have been prohibitive,” Kurtz said. “They wanted too much money, too much control, so starting over and creating from scratch was the answer.”
Lucas came up with a sprawling treatment that pulled from “Flash Gordon,” Arthurian legend, “The Hidden Fortress” and other influences. The document would have required a five-hour film but there was a middle portion that could be carved out as a stand-alone movie. Kurtz championed the project in pitch meetings with studios and worked intensely on casting, scouting locations and finding a way to create a believable alien universe on a tight budget.
“Star Wars” opened with a title sequence that announced it as “Episode IV” as a winking nod to the old serials, not a film franchise underway, Kurtz said.
“Our plan was to do ‘Star Wars’ and then make ‘Apocalypse Now’ and do a black comedy in the vein of ‘M*A*S*H*,’" Kurtz said. “Fox insisted on a sequel or maybe two [to ‘Star Wars’]. Francis [Ford Coppola] … had bought the ["Apocalypse Now"] rights so George could make it. He eventually got tired of waiting and did it on his own, of course.”
The team of Lucas and Kurtz would not hold together during their own journey through the jungles of collaborative filmmaking. Kurtz chooses his words carefully on the topic of their split.
After the release of “Empire” (which was shaped by material left over from that first Lucas treatment), talk turned to a third film and after a decade and a half the partners could no longer find a middle ground.
“We had an outline and George changed everything in it," Kurtz said. “Instead of bittersweet and poignant he wanted a euphoric ending with everybody happy. The original idea was that they would recover [the kidnapped] Han Solo in the early part of the story and that he would then die in the middle part of the film in a raid on an Imperial base. George then decided he didn’t want any of the principals killed. By that time there were really big toy sales and that was a reason.”
The discussed ending of the film that Kurtz favored presented the rebel forces in tatters, Leia grappling with her new duties as queen and Luke walking off alone “like Clint Eastwood in the spaghetti westerns,” as Kurtz put it.
Kurtz said that ending would have been a more emotionally nuanced finale to an epic adventure than the forest celebration of the Ewoks that essentially ended the trilogy with a teddy bear luau.
He was especially disdainful of the Lucas idea of a second Death Star, which he felt would be too derivative of the 1977 film. “So we agreed that I should probably leave.”
Kurtz went straight over to “The Dark Crystal,” a three-year project with old friend Jim Henson, whom Kurtz had brought in on the creation of Yoda for “Empire.”
After that he shifted into a lower gear as far as his career and, relocating to England, turned to British television productions. He’s now working on a ramping feature-film project called “Panzer 88” that he says will begin filming later this year and will feature visual effects by Weta, the same New Zealand outfit that populated Middle-earth in the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy.
The producer said that huge films hold little allure for him now and that he is more interested in smaller, more nimble productions that put an emphasis on “human stories.” That might speak to his alienation from the "Star Wars" universe, but when he talks about Lucas and their shared history the stories are still tinted by nostalgia, admiration and affection.
On casting the 1977 film: “We had a lot of people, hundreds, that we saw. It was quick and dirty. You talk to each person, jot down a note or two. Are they a score of five or higher? Do they deserve a callback? On those lists were a lot of interesting people — John Travolta, Sly Stallone — who were great but just not right. I went to New York to do an interview with Jodie Foster, for instance, but she was just too young for Leia. A lot of it comes down to luck and timing.”
On Harrison Ford, who became a Hollywood icon after “Star Wars” but keeps the fervent fandom at arm’s length: “He’s always been somewhat cynical, since the beginning of his career, about everything. In a way he tried not to take notoriety or the fans too seriously. Movies are movies and real life is his ranch.”
On the moment he knew that “Star Wars” was becoming a pop-culture sensation: “On opening day I was on the East Coast and I did the morning-show circuit — ‘Good Morning America’ and ‘Today’ … in the afternoon I did a radio call-in show in Washington and this guy, this caller, was really enthusiastic and talking about the movie in really deep detail. I said, ‘You know a lot abut the film.’ He said, ‘Yeah, yeah, I’ve seen it four times already.’ And that was opening day. I knew something was happening.”
Kurtz isn’t sure what to expect in Orlando but he says that “Empire” may be the shining moment of his career, the confluence of commercial and artistic success. His work as a second-unit director and his hands-on efforts with the visual effects make him especially proud.
“I took a master class with Billy Wilder once and he said that in the first act of a story you put your character up in a tree and the second act you set the tree on fire and then in the third you get him down,” Kurtz said. “ ‘Empire’ was the tree on fire. The first movie was like a comic book, a fantasy, but ‘Empire’ felt darker and more compelling. It’s the one, for me, where everything went right. And it was my goodbye to a big part of my life.”
-- Geoff Boucher
zombie84 said:
I'll have to see if I can find it in the library some time.
If you don't have it on hand that's cool don't worry about it.
I thoroughly approve of this. Great work Zombie. The motivation for the creation of the site (sticker book releases making news) and the poster (Baronlando) that wrote it made me lol :)
Regarding the "don't rock the boat" article, is there any chance of getting the full John Knolls quote from the Tom Shone book? Sounds interesting.
