Star Wars Dweebing SIX: Interviews
EDITOR’S NOTE: WE’VE READ A LOT OF THIS BEFORE, BUT THE MASTER MUST ALWAYS BE QUOTED….
Star man
George Lucas reflects on his early days, becoming successful and the next phase of his career.
By Stephen Galloway
Until he was involved in a 1962 automobile accident, George Lucas dreamed of being a race-car driver -- but that was before he attended film school at USC and became the acclaimed director of 1971's "THX 1138" and 1973's "American Graffiti."
Today, Lucas' reputation stands above all on 1977's "Star Wars" and its sequels and prequels, a franchise that has transformed the entertainment industry.
The American Film Institute's 33rd Life Achievement honoree spoke recently with The Hollywood Reporter's contributing editor Stephen Galloway about "Star Wars" and how he sees his future now that the franchise's final installment, "Episode III -- Revenge of the Sith," has been released.
The Hollywood Reporter: How did you envision your career before the car crash?
George Lucas: I wanted to be a race-car driver or work in cars, (but after the accident,) I decided to go back to school. I went to junior college in Modesto (Calif.) and got very involved in social sciences, (and) I was going to go to San Francisco State to get my degree in anthropology. I was also trying to get into Art Center College of Design (in Pasadena) to become an illustrator and photographer. (Meanwhile,) a friend of mine was going to USC and thought they had a cinematography school; I applied, got in and was surprised to see there was a film school -- I didn't even know there was such a thing. When I got there, I fell in love with film.
THR: How great was your awareness of film before you attended film school?
Lucas: I grew up in Modesto, (but) as soon as I could drive, I would drive up to San Francisco and go to underground film festivals and watch very abstract, avant-garde films. It wasn't until film school that I started seeing historical pieces like (1941's) "Citizen Kane," (and) I was very interested in (Federico) Fellini and (Jean-Luc) Godard. I also liked Richard Lester and (Stanley) Kubrick and (1964's "Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb"). I thought I was going to go into documentary filmmaking, so I had a tendency to like (movies) that were more documentary-oriented, but (Akira) Kurosawa made a very big (impression), especially (the 1956 U.S. release) "The Seven Samurai" -- I was blown away by it. Right from the get-go, I said: "I love this. I've found my passion."
THR: How autobiographical was your second film, "American Graffiti"?
Lucas: I spent a huge amount of time in high school and college cruising the main street of town (because that was) the main source of entertainment, but (the film) also comes from my anthropological interest: I had studied mating rituals and things like that. One thing I found fascinating was that the U.S. was the only place where people used cars (to date members of the opposite sex); usually there was a town square -- that's how people would meet. Here, it was done in cars -- it was a remarkable American tradition that had disappeared by the time I made the movie in 1970, when sex, drugs and free love had taken over. It disappeared after the hippies and came back after the film.
THR: Did you expect "Graffiti" to be such a success?
Lucas: No. It was a very low-budget film, the studio (Universal) was not particularly happy with it, and it took a while for us to convince the studio (to release it) as a theatrical film, not a TV movie. At the time, it was pretty remarkable in being a low-budget movie that made over $100 million (at the domestic boxoffice).
THR: If Universal didn't like "Graffiti," then it was hardly surprising that it passed on "Star Wars." How did it end up at 20th Century Fox?
Lucas: I had a deal at both Universal and United Artists, and they didn't want it. (Fox executive Alan Ladd Jr.) had seen "American Graffiti" and said, "I figure you're a talented guy, (but) I don't understand the story you're trying to tell me." I had this idea about funny robots and kids running around, and they shot laser guns -- not something you would look at and say, "This is a great idea!" I finished the screenplay, and (studio executives) still didn't understand it. Laddie said, "I read the screenplay and it doesn't make any sense to me, but I think you are extremely talented and I want to see this made." EDITOR’S NOTE: BRAVO ALAN LADD JR! (IS HE STILL ALIVE TO TAKE SOME BOWS HERE?)
THR: You have been credited for having enormous prescience in asking for sequel and merchandising rights. Why?
Lucas: The two things I insisted on with "Star Wars" were the sequel rights and the licensing. It wasn't that I just got it outright; we shared it. The other (perception) is that somehow I was smart -- (but) I wasn't. I had written three ("Star Wars") screenplays, and I swore to myself I would get the other two made somehow; the assumption was that the first (movie) would tank and (Fox) would hold up (the sequel rights). In terms of licensing, all I wanted was to get some promotion for the film; (I thought), "I can get some posters and T-shirts and sell them at science fiction conventions." It wasn't until (1980's) "The Empire Strikes Back" that we had a real licensing program, and even then that was really experimental.
THR: When you began in the industry, you were closely associated with a group of filmmakers who seemed to tilt at the studio system, including Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese and Brian De Palma. Do you still identify with that group?
Lucas: Oh yeah. We started out in the industry together, (and) we all helped each other -- and still do. That particular group (is now) called "postmodern" cinema because we were educated (in film), as opposed to growing up in it. We all loved movies; we all know a lot about movies, about the technology of movies. We were the first generation of film students to make it into the industry; of that group, everybody has produced everybody's pictures; it's very incestuous. We've all been able to become independent of the system, (and) even though there are different levels of independence, we all work from our hearts -- there wasn't a "director for hire" from that group.
THR: Do you see similar themes among your movies?
Lucas: No, we're very individual. I couldn't make a Marty Scorsese picture or a Francis (Ford) Coppola picture in a million years if I tried, and they couldn't do "Star Wars" -- well, Steven might, and I might be able to do (1975's) "Jaws," but I don't think I'd want to. Steven, Ron Howard and I are the closest in temperament and aesthetic, but even so, we do have very different aesthetics.
THR: Those other filmmakers have kept on directing, but you chose not to for two decades. Why?
Lucas: I had the 20-year gap because I finished (1983's) "Return of the Jedi" and I had a daughter. I had just gotten divorced, (and) I was raising my daughter and felt that was the most important thing -- and I was going to spend my time raising her. Then I adopted other children and spent 15 years raising them. At the same time, there was another aspect to it: Because of the divorce, (Lucasfilm) was in difficult financial straits. To straighten out the company and get it solid without "Star Wars," without me producing product for them, I basically ended up getting a job where I could go to work at 10 or 11 (a.m.) and come home at 4 or 5 (p.m.).
THR: But your rap is that you do not like directing.
Lucas: It's no secret that I whined about directing because it's hard work, (but that) doesn't mean I didn't like it. I still like to direct -- it's my main interest -- but I do like to experiment with things. Producing is a way of sometimes being able to oversee things and still have a life. When I decided I was going to come back and direct, I had to decide whether I was going to do the prequel to "Star Wars" or my own films. I figured if I didn't do "Star Wars," then I'd probably never do it: I was 50 years old at the time, and it was a 10-year project and I now had the technology to do those projects.
THR: What's next after this "Star Wars" film? Will there be others?
Lucas: No, there won't.
THR: Are you making another "Indiana Jones" installment?
Lucas: We're working on it; the writer (Jeff Nathanson) has just given us a new script. I'm also working on an animated TV series, "Clone Wars," which we've done little bits and pieces of and are going to try and do as a half-hour show. And we're going to do a live-action spinoff TV series of "Star Wars," an hour drama, (but) not with the main characters. I'm also producing a film about African-American fighter pilots called "Red Tails," and then I'm working on my own little personal films -- I have put aside some money to do what I want to do. I am doing that once I have everything else sorted out, which will take a year or 18 months -- not really designed to make money, but for me to enjoy myself.
THR: Do you have your next film in mind?
Lucas: No. Over the years I got probably dozens of them (that) I have to dust off and figure out which ones still inspire me. I have set the money aside ($20 million-$30 million a movie), enough to keep me going for 10 years; if I make a movie a year, it will take me 10 years to get (through it), and then I'll be 70 or something. And if I still have the ambition then, I'll go to a studio
Published June 09, 2005
RICK MCCALLUM SPEAKS
For the last 15 years, Rick McCallum's professional life has been absorbed by George Lucas' productions, including the multi-Emmy Award winning Young Indiana Jones television series, the Star Wars: Special Editions, and of each of the three prequels. His first introduction to the galaxy of Star Wars, however, was far less deliberate, and happened almost completely by accident.
McCallum, who was working his first job in the film industry before college, was headed home from Paramount one Friday night when he saw what he thought was a traffic jam caused by an accident, or by a fire at the APCO station on Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles, California. As his car inched along, McCallum saw thousands of people in a line that started at the neighborhood movie theater.
"The only time I had seen crowds like that was for Jaws," says McCallum. "But this time they went all the way around the block. Nothing like that had ever happened."
McCallum had not heard of Star Wars, the film that was causing the long lines, but that night a friend called and convinced him to attend the 12 o'clock show the next day. McCallum and his friend, who was a second assistant director at the time, could not get in to the 12 o'clock show. They waited for the 2 o'clock and finally were able to get tickets for McCallum's first viewing of Star Wars.
"It was just startling," says McCallum, who claims to have never been a sci-fi fan. "I never thought I'd be able to produce my first film until I was like 40. That's just the way the system was then. And to see somebody who was only 14 years older produce a film - that was pretty remarkable."
On top of professional admiration for young George Lucas, McCallum recalls being blown away by the special effects and the theatrical presentation. Not only had he never seen effects like those in Star Wars, he recalls never having heard a film in stereo before.
"We had just no concept of how he (Lucas) actually made the movie. It was just unthinkable," says McCallum as he recalls the pioneering effects and camera work. "And then for somebody to have done it at that age... was just phenomenal."
McCallum has witnessed many more phenomenal Star Wars moments since coming to produce movies and television for Lucas in 1990. He remembers one particularly moving day in Sydney, Australia while filming Revenge of the Sith. Hayden Christensen, who portrays Anakin Skywalker, came on to the set for the first time in his Darth Vader costume.
"Every single person at the studio, all of our suppliers, had gotten on to the lot and they were waiting outside," says McCallum. "We opened up the stage doors and we let about 600 people in. There were about 1500 people there."
"It was this classic, seminal moment," he recalls. "It was the first time anyone had seen him. They just went ape."
As Star Wars has been central to McCallum's career for fifteen years, what is it like for the producer to know that the end of the big screen chapter of the saga is here? "I feel past relief, and also incredible," he says. "It's like when you write an article and you spend months on it and you research... and you go take that weekend off and you just collapse. And normally that's what happens when you finish a movie - it's so intense. But we've never had that opportunity because this has been going on for 12 years. The minute we finished Episode II, the next day we started prep on Episode III. But this one I can feel... May 20... beach... fantastic! Brilliant! Actually I'll be in Cannes. So I'll take a boat out somewhere and jump off." EDITOR’S NOTE: SO IS HE STILL GOING TO WORK FOR UNCLE G OR IS HE MOVING ON TO OTHER THINGS?
EDITOR'S NOTE: FROM PLAYBOY…CONSIDER THE SOURCE…..
A HITCHHIKER’S GUIDE TO STAR WARS
A COMPENDIUM OF LORE, TRIVIA, AND OFF-THE-WALL INFO ABOUT THE GREATEST ENTERTAINMENT, CULTURAL, AND REVENUE-GENERATING FORCE SINCE SHAKESPEARE
BY SCOTT ALEXANDER AND JOSH ROBERTSON
The 2002 movie Reign of Fire depicts a time in the near future when gigantic fire-breathing dragons have conquered the world and the few human survivors struggle to stay alive. In one scene a couple of adults, bereft of modern entertainments, seek to amuse the children by reenacting Star Wars.
It is a smart choice.
The Star Wars saga has entertained hundreds of millions, rewritten the way Hollywood makes movies and generated billions of dollars. More important, it has become a modern myth, a tale that will be as emblematic of our era as Hamlet was of Shakespeare's. EDITOR’S NOTE: SAME FAMILY PSYCHO-TRAUMAS, BUT WITH A LOT LESS TALKING.
With the release of Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, George Lucas completes his labors.
Here, as a kind of tribute, we share this we share this trove of information that all Star Wars fans, casual or zealous, really ought to know.
THE MAN: Lucas is many things -- enfant terrible, drag racer, überdork, USC film school graduate, shaper of modern myths, launcher of a thousand Gungan raiding parties, audiophile, FXophile, Francis Ford Coppola familiar, Steven Spielberg producer, Hollywood outsider, Thalberg award winner, renegade, dreamer, entrepreneur -- but he is not a great director. In artistic terms he isn't in the same league with Coppola, Spielberg, Scorsese or any of the giants of his generation, but in cultural currency he has surpassed them all. Without Lucas there is no Harrison Ford, no Darth Vader, no American Graffiti, no Pixar, no Jurassic Park dinosaurs, no exploding Death Star. The opposite of most directors, Lucas values background more than foreground, texture more than taste.
The operative lesson here: If you can convince people they're on another planet, they'll listen to what you have to say if they think you can get them a ride home.
THE KEY INFLUENCE Joseph Campbell was a master of comparative mythology who explored common elements of the myths held by cultures across the globe. These components, discussed in Campbell's 1949 book The Hero With a Thousand Faces, heavily affected Lucas's conception of the Star Wars story. Among the key elements: the call to adventure (Leia's message to Obi-Wan), supernatural aid (the Force, Obi-Wan), temptation away from the true path (the dark side), the meeting with the goddess (Leia) and atonement with the father (Anakin and Luke's reunion).
THE DARK SIDE Okay. We have universal myth and bushido influences. What's missing? How about Nazi imagery? Consider how the high-collared gray uniforms worn by Imperial officers resemble those of the SS. Note how the flared bottom edge of Vader's helmet resembles the Wehrmacht's distinctive headgear. Geez, the term storm trooper itself comes from Sturmtruppen, as members of the Nazi militia Sturmabteilung (storm division), or SA, were called. Even the good guys find themselves touched by a Nazi: Episode IV's final scene, the ceremony in which Luke and Han are honored for their heroics, uncomfortably recalls some of the Nuremberg rally footage in Leni Riefenstahl's 1935 Nazi propaganda film Triumph of the Will.
THE MOST VALUBLE PLAYER The key to the original movie's success resided in Alec Guinness's restrained, nuanced performance. His mere presence brought this juvenile science-fiction film credibility. After all, what's more credible than a British Oscar winner? And his performance infused the story with an underlying seriousness. With the pups around him doing dinner theater, Guinness played Chekhov, breathing subtlety, sadness and grace into his portrayal of an aging remnant of a dying order. His surprising death gave the film sudden depth, yet Lucas reportedly claims he killed off Obi-Wan only because there was nothing for him to do in the second half. EDITOR’S NOTE: I THINK THIS IS THE MUCH-SHORTENED VERSION OF THE STORY?
SUNG HERO John Williams's theme for the original film is at once stirring, uplifting, hummable and campy. It proved so durable, it has survived middle-school orchestra concerts, a disco version and Bill Murray's immortal lyricization on Saturday Night Live ("Star wars/ Nothin' but Star wars...").
ATTENTION TO DETAIL The breadth of Lucas's imagination is astonishing; the depth seems to suggest a neurosis that psychology has yet to name. EDITOR’S NOTE: GIVE THEM TIME.
In the series's various group scenes Lucas actually took pains to name the many background figures who have few or no lines. So let's raise a glass to Yarael Poof, Plo Koon and Saesee Tiin (members of Episode I's Jedi Council); to Shu Mai, Po Nudo and Passel Argente (Episode II's separatist leaders); to Ponda Baba (Walrus Man), Momaw Nadon (Hammerhead) and Dr. Evazan (all cantina creeps in Episode IV); to 4-LOM, Dengar and Zuckuss (Episode V's also-ran bounty hunters); and to Droopy McCool and Max Rebo (Jabba's entourage in Episode VI). EDITOR’S NOTE: RAISE YOUR HANDS IF YOU KNEW WHO ALL THOSE FOLKS WERE, WITHOUT THE CLIFF-NOTES IDS? YOUR QOTD IS SO VERY PROUD OF YOU!
Guys, without you, the Star Wars saga would just be Daddy Dearest with lasers.
WHAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN Reading for a role in Star Wars seems to have been a rite of passage for actors of the era. Competition was stiff. But for a wiggle in the Force, Luke might have been Robby Benson (Ice Castles), William Katt (The Greatest American Hero) or Andrew Stevens (The Bastard). Leia could have been Cindy Williams, Amy Irving or Berlin lead singer Terri Nunn. And Han might have been Kurt Russell, Frederic Forrest (Chef from Apocalypse Now) or Perry King, who ended up playing Han on the radio.
AN EVEN NEARER MISS Editing, man -- it's a bitch. Young British actress Koo Stark might have hoped great things would come from her days spent on the set in Tunisia, playing Camie, a friend of Luke's who calls him Wormie. But Lucas left Camie on the cutting-room floor, and Stark was left to find fame via other avenues -- performing in super-soft-core movies, then dating Prince Andrew. That combo finally, if briefly, got her name in the headlines. EDITOR’S NOTE: WASN’T SHE ALREADY SOFT-CORING IT BEFORE HER CUT-SCENE WAS FILMED?
BUT WOULD IT HAVE MATTERED Harrison Ford, of course, achieved stardom. The others? Mark Hamill has become a voice-over actor. Carrie Fisher writes semiautobiographical novels and gets cameos in movies that need the boost only a Carrie Fisher cameo can provide. Billy Dee Williams pitched malt liquor. Even Lucas fizzled, making Howard the Duck and abandoning directing until he revived the franchise. One theory is that Ford won everyone else's career in a poker game. But how do you account for his past six films? EDITOR’S NOTE: SENILITY?
CAN YOU GO HOME AGAIN After a 16-year gap Lucas resumed the Star Wars saga in 1999. Although the two films that followed did well, he may have waited too long. The new movies suffer from a certain solemnity and CGI coldness. Worse, Lucas siphoned the poetry from the concept at the heart of his universe. Instead of leaving the Force as an inchoate mystery, Lucas got all CSI: Tatooine and revealed that there are tiny creatures called midi-chlorians that live in our blood. The more you have, the more magic you can perform. In Jungian terms, he turned the Force from a symbol (an archetypal expression that can mean many things to many people) into a sign (a closely defined concept). It was better when we didn't think the Jedi had some form of galactic scabies. EDITOR’S NOTE: IF WE HAVE TO EXPLAIN IT, YOU WON’T GET IT ANYWAY…..(POETRY AND SCIENCE ARE NOT MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE, HMM?)
INSOLENCE IS THE HIGHEST FORM OF FLATTERY Spaceballs may not be Mel Brooks's best movie, but it is the best Star Wars parody. It pits space bandit Lone Starr, cranky Princess Vespa and elf Yogurt against Pizza the Hutt and the evil Dark Helmet. "So, Lone Starr, now you see that evil will always triumph," says Helmet, "because good is dumb." Brooks's commentary on the new DVD version is hilarious. EDITOR’S NOTE: OOOO…I MUST GET DVD TO HEAR BROOKS!
RED GALAXIES, BLUE GALAXIES Democrats like Star Wars, but Republicans speak it. Ronald Reagan was first. He copied the title for his missile defense system, described the Soviet Union as an "evil empire" and dispatched space shuttle astronauts by saying, "May the Force be with them." Others have emulated: "I'm Luke Skywalker trying to get out of the Death Star," said John McCain, campaigning in 2000. "We also have to work, though, sort of the dark side," said Dick Cheney about our intelligence agencies. EDITOR’S NOTE: THEY MIGHT SPEAK IT, BUT THE WORDS ARE MISAPPROPRIATED, MISUNDERSTOOD, AND ILL-FITTING TO THEIR NASTY LITTLE MOUTHS. (OOOPS….INSIDE VOICE/ OUTSIDE VOICE).
HIS CREATION The Star Wars saga is a six-part movie serial whose final installment (the third in the cycle) opened May 19. Over the years the films have grossed $3.4 billion, and the revenue from ancillary products has reached $9 billion. Lucas's personal fortune has been estimated at $3 billion, good for 194th place among the Forbes 400.
IN THE BEGINNING Lucas's original text-cum-sketch of what he then called "The Star Wars" involved two Jedi -- Luke Skywalker and Annikin Starkiller -- who help rebel princess Leia of Aquilae escape Darth Vader with the aid of their "lazerswords." In reading this crazy blenderized version of themes, characters and places from what would become the Star Wars saga, we see the series's roots in the flamboyant Saturday-matinee science-fiction tradition.
MUTLICULTI SPICE Lucas also borrowed heavily from Asian myth in his construction of the Jedi order, with particular analogues to samurai culture in the master-apprentice relationship, the importance of mental discipline, nonviolent warriors, an emphasis on swordplay and an all-pervading mystic force that can be accessed through intense training
BUT WHAT’S IT ABOUT At the climax of The Empire Strikes Back Vader utters the line that connects the lasers and Wookiees to living rooms around the world: "I am your father." Once Vader (father in Dutch, by the way) gurgles this shocking revelation, the saga is exposed as a traditional father-son generation-gap story. Vader wants Luke to join the family business. Luke refuses to sacrifice his youthful idealistic values ("I'll never join you!"). Vader is frustrated with Luke's inability to understand that Death Stars, TIE fighters and fawning minions all cost money and that you can't support a family, let alone an empire, on what you're paid to be a monastic hippie space cop. For his part, Luke's rejection masks his anger that Vader never dropped by with offers to rule the galaxy when Luke was lubing droids on Tatooine. Then Luke tries to kill Vader. Is Dr. Freud in the house? EDITOR’S NOTE: SEE….THIS IS HOW YOU SNARK. LOVINGLY!
UNSUNG HEROES For a generation raised on Sesame Street, the obvious puppetry at work in the first three films was nothing new. Sure, Yoda's bobbing gait is very Kermit the Frog, and Jabba's pal Salacious Crumb flaps about like a forgotten cousin from Emmet Otter's Jug Band Christmas. EDITOR’S NOTE: ANYONE WHO REFERENCES EMMET OTTER HAS TO MARRY ME IMMEDIATELY. (RULES IS RULES).
But in retrospect it's clear these foam rubber creations (brought to life by many of the same people who performed the Muppets) provided a volume and texture sadly missing in The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones, in which Lucas opted for the computer-generated imaging of the day EDITOR’S NOTE: TRUE, TO A POINT. BUT WHEN YOU PUSH THE ENVELLOPE, SOMETIMES IT PUSHES BACK FOR A BIT, HMM? (EACH MOVIE GOT PROGRESSIVELY BETTER IN ITS INTEGRATION OF CG, BUT WOULDN’T HAVE HAD IT NOT HAD ITS PREDECESSOR).
REVISIONIST THINKING Luke seems just as intrepid as he did on first viewing, and Han just as dashing. For some reason, though, what now stands out about Leia is how much of a ballbuster she is. EDITORS’ NOTE: LEIA ROCKS!
It's one thing to hail the nefarious Governor Tarkin by saying, "I recognized your foul stench when I was brought on board." But why is she so cranky with Han? "Why, you stuck-up, half-witted, scruffy-looking nerf herder," she says. She's harsh when he (correctly) suggests she's attracted to him ("Captain, being held by you isn't quite enough to get me excited"), when he suggests a smooch ("I'd just as soon kiss a Wookiee") and when he (absolutely correctly) suggests she loves him ("I don't know where you get your delusions, laser brain"). Han looks happy to be going off with her at the end of Return of the Jedi, but after a decade or so of wedded bliss she'll have worn him down to a nub. EDITOR’S NOTE: AND A DECADE AFTER THAT, SHE’LL BE SPOON-FEEDING THE OLD GEEZER GRUEL. (HE’S A BIT OLDER, AND SHE IS SCARED. THE WRITER IS CLEARLY SUCH A GUY!)
INTESTING KINK The budding romance between Luke and Leia in Episode IV and Episode V provided many young filmgoers with their introduction to the subject of incest.
EVERYBODY WANTS TO GET INTO THE ACT Undoubtedly the most egregious, exploitative and obscure Star Wars entertainment is 1978's Star Wars Holiday Special. EDITOR’S NOTE: EVERY TIME THE TITLE APPEARS IN PRINT, AN ANGEL FALLS FROM THE SKY IN A MUSHY PUDDLE.
In it Han tries to get Chewie home for the queasily saccharine Life Day, but that's irrelevant. The point is that this youth-oriented smash film was turned into an exhausted 1970s variety show featuring such warhorses as Beatrice Arthur and Harvey Korman. The low point? Five minutes of Wookiee-to-Wookiee dialogue -- without subtitles. EDITOR’S NOTE: NO SUBTITLES WAS THE GOOD PART. THEY WERE LIKELY COMPLAINING ABOUT THE WEAK-KNEE’D WOOKIEE UNION THAT COULDN’T KEEP THEM OUT OF THE HORRID SHOW.
FANS WAIT The saga has inspired many people to lay their life on the line, literally. Devotees have camped out for months for tickets to early screenings. Jeff Tweiten of Seattle waited since January 1, 2005 for the opening of Revenge of the Sith. And yes, he blogged it (at waitingforstarwars.blogspot.com).
CREATE The saga has spawned a film festival's worth of fan tribute movies. Among the best is one of the first, Kevin Rubio's 1997 Troops, a Cops-style ride-along with storm troopers on Tatooine. Luke's Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru, it turns out, are prone to domestic violence, particularly when she drinks. See these films at theforce.net/fanfilms.
AND ACCUMULATE Star Wars, the film series: big. Star Wars, the licensing deal: phenomenal. Inevitably, however, scarcities emerge. The original rarity is Blue Snaggletooth, the action figure for a minor character in the cantina scene. The Kenner toy company sculpted it with only a head shot for reference. Left to guess the rest, it gave him a regular body, blue suit and silver boots. As it turned out, Snaggletooth wears a red suit, goes barefoot and is short. Kenner swiftly issued an accurate version. A blue Snaggletooth now costs $80.
The rarest figures are Vader and Obi-Wan with "double telescoping" light-saber action. According to Gus Lopez of ToysRGus.com, fewer than 50 are known to exist, and on the rare occasion that one becomes available, it can command several thousand dollars.
I HAVE A BAD FEELING ABOUT THIS Menace and Clones have interesting plot movement and thrilling action sequences, but the volume of twaddle (Jar Jar, the Anakin-Padmé romance) makes them nearly unwatchable. EDITOR’S NOTE: THOUGH THE QOTD DOESN’T ORDINARILY BEG….I BEG TO DIFFER.
You may think Lucas pulled off something special with Sith. But if not, just go home, slip in a DVD of the original, and play Luke's Death Star run on an endless loop.
Star man
George Lucas reflects on his early days, becoming successful and the next phase of his career.
By Stephen Galloway
Until he was involved in a 1962 automobile accident, George Lucas dreamed of being a race-car driver -- but that was before he attended film school at USC and became the acclaimed director of 1971's "THX 1138" and 1973's "American Graffiti."
Today, Lucas' reputation stands above all on 1977's "Star Wars" and its sequels and prequels, a franchise that has transformed the entertainment industry.
The American Film Institute's 33rd Life Achievement honoree spoke recently with The Hollywood Reporter's contributing editor Stephen Galloway about "Star Wars" and how he sees his future now that the franchise's final installment, "Episode III -- Revenge of the Sith," has been released.
The Hollywood Reporter: How did you envision your career before the car crash?
George Lucas: I wanted to be a race-car driver or work in cars, (but after the accident,) I decided to go back to school. I went to junior college in Modesto (Calif.) and got very involved in social sciences, (and) I was going to go to San Francisco State to get my degree in anthropology. I was also trying to get into Art Center College of Design (in Pasadena) to become an illustrator and photographer. (Meanwhile,) a friend of mine was going to USC and thought they had a cinematography school; I applied, got in and was surprised to see there was a film school -- I didn't even know there was such a thing. When I got there, I fell in love with film.
THR: How great was your awareness of film before you attended film school?
Lucas: I grew up in Modesto, (but) as soon as I could drive, I would drive up to San Francisco and go to underground film festivals and watch very abstract, avant-garde films. It wasn't until film school that I started seeing historical pieces like (1941's) "Citizen Kane," (and) I was very interested in (Federico) Fellini and (Jean-Luc) Godard. I also liked Richard Lester and (Stanley) Kubrick and (1964's "Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb"). I thought I was going to go into documentary filmmaking, so I had a tendency to like (movies) that were more documentary-oriented, but (Akira) Kurosawa made a very big (impression), especially (the 1956 U.S. release) "The Seven Samurai" -- I was blown away by it. Right from the get-go, I said: "I love this. I've found my passion."
THR: How autobiographical was your second film, "American Graffiti"?
Lucas: I spent a huge amount of time in high school and college cruising the main street of town (because that was) the main source of entertainment, but (the film) also comes from my anthropological interest: I had studied mating rituals and things like that. One thing I found fascinating was that the U.S. was the only place where people used cars (to date members of the opposite sex); usually there was a town square -- that's how people would meet. Here, it was done in cars -- it was a remarkable American tradition that had disappeared by the time I made the movie in 1970, when sex, drugs and free love had taken over. It disappeared after the hippies and came back after the film.
THR: Did you expect "Graffiti" to be such a success?
Lucas: No. It was a very low-budget film, the studio (Universal) was not particularly happy with it, and it took a while for us to convince the studio (to release it) as a theatrical film, not a TV movie. At the time, it was pretty remarkable in being a low-budget movie that made over $100 million (at the domestic boxoffice).
THR: If Universal didn't like "Graffiti," then it was hardly surprising that it passed on "Star Wars." How did it end up at 20th Century Fox?
Lucas: I had a deal at both Universal and United Artists, and they didn't want it. (Fox executive Alan Ladd Jr.) had seen "American Graffiti" and said, "I figure you're a talented guy, (but) I don't understand the story you're trying to tell me." I had this idea about funny robots and kids running around, and they shot laser guns -- not something you would look at and say, "This is a great idea!" I finished the screenplay, and (studio executives) still didn't understand it. Laddie said, "I read the screenplay and it doesn't make any sense to me, but I think you are extremely talented and I want to see this made." EDITOR’S NOTE: BRAVO ALAN LADD JR! (IS HE STILL ALIVE TO TAKE SOME BOWS HERE?)
THR: You have been credited for having enormous prescience in asking for sequel and merchandising rights. Why?
Lucas: The two things I insisted on with "Star Wars" were the sequel rights and the licensing. It wasn't that I just got it outright; we shared it. The other (perception) is that somehow I was smart -- (but) I wasn't. I had written three ("Star Wars") screenplays, and I swore to myself I would get the other two made somehow; the assumption was that the first (movie) would tank and (Fox) would hold up (the sequel rights). In terms of licensing, all I wanted was to get some promotion for the film; (I thought), "I can get some posters and T-shirts and sell them at science fiction conventions." It wasn't until (1980's) "The Empire Strikes Back" that we had a real licensing program, and even then that was really experimental.
THR: When you began in the industry, you were closely associated with a group of filmmakers who seemed to tilt at the studio system, including Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese and Brian De Palma. Do you still identify with that group?
Lucas: Oh yeah. We started out in the industry together, (and) we all helped each other -- and still do. That particular group (is now) called "postmodern" cinema because we were educated (in film), as opposed to growing up in it. We all loved movies; we all know a lot about movies, about the technology of movies. We were the first generation of film students to make it into the industry; of that group, everybody has produced everybody's pictures; it's very incestuous. We've all been able to become independent of the system, (and) even though there are different levels of independence, we all work from our hearts -- there wasn't a "director for hire" from that group.
THR: Do you see similar themes among your movies?
Lucas: No, we're very individual. I couldn't make a Marty Scorsese picture or a Francis (Ford) Coppola picture in a million years if I tried, and they couldn't do "Star Wars" -- well, Steven might, and I might be able to do (1975's) "Jaws," but I don't think I'd want to. Steven, Ron Howard and I are the closest in temperament and aesthetic, but even so, we do have very different aesthetics.
THR: Those other filmmakers have kept on directing, but you chose not to for two decades. Why?
Lucas: I had the 20-year gap because I finished (1983's) "Return of the Jedi" and I had a daughter. I had just gotten divorced, (and) I was raising my daughter and felt that was the most important thing -- and I was going to spend my time raising her. Then I adopted other children and spent 15 years raising them. At the same time, there was another aspect to it: Because of the divorce, (Lucasfilm) was in difficult financial straits. To straighten out the company and get it solid without "Star Wars," without me producing product for them, I basically ended up getting a job where I could go to work at 10 or 11 (a.m.) and come home at 4 or 5 (p.m.).
THR: But your rap is that you do not like directing.
Lucas: It's no secret that I whined about directing because it's hard work, (but that) doesn't mean I didn't like it. I still like to direct -- it's my main interest -- but I do like to experiment with things. Producing is a way of sometimes being able to oversee things and still have a life. When I decided I was going to come back and direct, I had to decide whether I was going to do the prequel to "Star Wars" or my own films. I figured if I didn't do "Star Wars," then I'd probably never do it: I was 50 years old at the time, and it was a 10-year project and I now had the technology to do those projects.
THR: What's next after this "Star Wars" film? Will there be others?
Lucas: No, there won't.
THR: Are you making another "Indiana Jones" installment?
Lucas: We're working on it; the writer (Jeff Nathanson) has just given us a new script. I'm also working on an animated TV series, "Clone Wars," which we've done little bits and pieces of and are going to try and do as a half-hour show. And we're going to do a live-action spinoff TV series of "Star Wars," an hour drama, (but) not with the main characters. I'm also producing a film about African-American fighter pilots called "Red Tails," and then I'm working on my own little personal films -- I have put aside some money to do what I want to do. I am doing that once I have everything else sorted out, which will take a year or 18 months -- not really designed to make money, but for me to enjoy myself.
THR: Do you have your next film in mind?
Lucas: No. Over the years I got probably dozens of them (that) I have to dust off and figure out which ones still inspire me. I have set the money aside ($20 million-$30 million a movie), enough to keep me going for 10 years; if I make a movie a year, it will take me 10 years to get (through it), and then I'll be 70 or something. And if I still have the ambition then, I'll go to a studio
Published June 09, 2005
RICK MCCALLUM SPEAKS
For the last 15 years, Rick McCallum's professional life has been absorbed by George Lucas' productions, including the multi-Emmy Award winning Young Indiana Jones television series, the Star Wars: Special Editions, and of each of the three prequels. His first introduction to the galaxy of Star Wars, however, was far less deliberate, and happened almost completely by accident.
McCallum, who was working his first job in the film industry before college, was headed home from Paramount one Friday night when he saw what he thought was a traffic jam caused by an accident, or by a fire at the APCO station on Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles, California. As his car inched along, McCallum saw thousands of people in a line that started at the neighborhood movie theater.
"The only time I had seen crowds like that was for Jaws," says McCallum. "But this time they went all the way around the block. Nothing like that had ever happened."
McCallum had not heard of Star Wars, the film that was causing the long lines, but that night a friend called and convinced him to attend the 12 o'clock show the next day. McCallum and his friend, who was a second assistant director at the time, could not get in to the 12 o'clock show. They waited for the 2 o'clock and finally were able to get tickets for McCallum's first viewing of Star Wars.
"It was just startling," says McCallum, who claims to have never been a sci-fi fan. "I never thought I'd be able to produce my first film until I was like 40. That's just the way the system was then. And to see somebody who was only 14 years older produce a film - that was pretty remarkable."
On top of professional admiration for young George Lucas, McCallum recalls being blown away by the special effects and the theatrical presentation. Not only had he never seen effects like those in Star Wars, he recalls never having heard a film in stereo before.
"We had just no concept of how he (Lucas) actually made the movie. It was just unthinkable," says McCallum as he recalls the pioneering effects and camera work. "And then for somebody to have done it at that age... was just phenomenal."
McCallum has witnessed many more phenomenal Star Wars moments since coming to produce movies and television for Lucas in 1990. He remembers one particularly moving day in Sydney, Australia while filming Revenge of the Sith. Hayden Christensen, who portrays Anakin Skywalker, came on to the set for the first time in his Darth Vader costume.
"Every single person at the studio, all of our suppliers, had gotten on to the lot and they were waiting outside," says McCallum. "We opened up the stage doors and we let about 600 people in. There were about 1500 people there."
"It was this classic, seminal moment," he recalls. "It was the first time anyone had seen him. They just went ape."
As Star Wars has been central to McCallum's career for fifteen years, what is it like for the producer to know that the end of the big screen chapter of the saga is here? "I feel past relief, and also incredible," he says. "It's like when you write an article and you spend months on it and you research... and you go take that weekend off and you just collapse. And normally that's what happens when you finish a movie - it's so intense. But we've never had that opportunity because this has been going on for 12 years. The minute we finished Episode II, the next day we started prep on Episode III. But this one I can feel... May 20... beach... fantastic! Brilliant! Actually I'll be in Cannes. So I'll take a boat out somewhere and jump off." EDITOR’S NOTE: SO IS HE STILL GOING TO WORK FOR UNCLE G OR IS HE MOVING ON TO OTHER THINGS?
EDITOR'S NOTE: FROM PLAYBOY…CONSIDER THE SOURCE…..
A HITCHHIKER’S GUIDE TO STAR WARS
A COMPENDIUM OF LORE, TRIVIA, AND OFF-THE-WALL INFO ABOUT THE GREATEST ENTERTAINMENT, CULTURAL, AND REVENUE-GENERATING FORCE SINCE SHAKESPEARE
BY SCOTT ALEXANDER AND JOSH ROBERTSON
The 2002 movie Reign of Fire depicts a time in the near future when gigantic fire-breathing dragons have conquered the world and the few human survivors struggle to stay alive. In one scene a couple of adults, bereft of modern entertainments, seek to amuse the children by reenacting Star Wars.
It is a smart choice.
The Star Wars saga has entertained hundreds of millions, rewritten the way Hollywood makes movies and generated billions of dollars. More important, it has become a modern myth, a tale that will be as emblematic of our era as Hamlet was of Shakespeare's. EDITOR’S NOTE: SAME FAMILY PSYCHO-TRAUMAS, BUT WITH A LOT LESS TALKING.
With the release of Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, George Lucas completes his labors.
Here, as a kind of tribute, we share this we share this trove of information that all Star Wars fans, casual or zealous, really ought to know.
THE MAN: Lucas is many things -- enfant terrible, drag racer, überdork, USC film school graduate, shaper of modern myths, launcher of a thousand Gungan raiding parties, audiophile, FXophile, Francis Ford Coppola familiar, Steven Spielberg producer, Hollywood outsider, Thalberg award winner, renegade, dreamer, entrepreneur -- but he is not a great director. In artistic terms he isn't in the same league with Coppola, Spielberg, Scorsese or any of the giants of his generation, but in cultural currency he has surpassed them all. Without Lucas there is no Harrison Ford, no Darth Vader, no American Graffiti, no Pixar, no Jurassic Park dinosaurs, no exploding Death Star. The opposite of most directors, Lucas values background more than foreground, texture more than taste.
The operative lesson here: If you can convince people they're on another planet, they'll listen to what you have to say if they think you can get them a ride home.
THE KEY INFLUENCE Joseph Campbell was a master of comparative mythology who explored common elements of the myths held by cultures across the globe. These components, discussed in Campbell's 1949 book The Hero With a Thousand Faces, heavily affected Lucas's conception of the Star Wars story. Among the key elements: the call to adventure (Leia's message to Obi-Wan), supernatural aid (the Force, Obi-Wan), temptation away from the true path (the dark side), the meeting with the goddess (Leia) and atonement with the father (Anakin and Luke's reunion).
THE DARK SIDE Okay. We have universal myth and bushido influences. What's missing? How about Nazi imagery? Consider how the high-collared gray uniforms worn by Imperial officers resemble those of the SS. Note how the flared bottom edge of Vader's helmet resembles the Wehrmacht's distinctive headgear. Geez, the term storm trooper itself comes from Sturmtruppen, as members of the Nazi militia Sturmabteilung (storm division), or SA, were called. Even the good guys find themselves touched by a Nazi: Episode IV's final scene, the ceremony in which Luke and Han are honored for their heroics, uncomfortably recalls some of the Nuremberg rally footage in Leni Riefenstahl's 1935 Nazi propaganda film Triumph of the Will.
THE MOST VALUBLE PLAYER The key to the original movie's success resided in Alec Guinness's restrained, nuanced performance. His mere presence brought this juvenile science-fiction film credibility. After all, what's more credible than a British Oscar winner? And his performance infused the story with an underlying seriousness. With the pups around him doing dinner theater, Guinness played Chekhov, breathing subtlety, sadness and grace into his portrayal of an aging remnant of a dying order. His surprising death gave the film sudden depth, yet Lucas reportedly claims he killed off Obi-Wan only because there was nothing for him to do in the second half. EDITOR’S NOTE: I THINK THIS IS THE MUCH-SHORTENED VERSION OF THE STORY?
SUNG HERO John Williams's theme for the original film is at once stirring, uplifting, hummable and campy. It proved so durable, it has survived middle-school orchestra concerts, a disco version and Bill Murray's immortal lyricization on Saturday Night Live ("Star wars/ Nothin' but Star wars...").
ATTENTION TO DETAIL The breadth of Lucas's imagination is astonishing; the depth seems to suggest a neurosis that psychology has yet to name. EDITOR’S NOTE: GIVE THEM TIME.
In the series's various group scenes Lucas actually took pains to name the many background figures who have few or no lines. So let's raise a glass to Yarael Poof, Plo Koon and Saesee Tiin (members of Episode I's Jedi Council); to Shu Mai, Po Nudo and Passel Argente (Episode II's separatist leaders); to Ponda Baba (Walrus Man), Momaw Nadon (Hammerhead) and Dr. Evazan (all cantina creeps in Episode IV); to 4-LOM, Dengar and Zuckuss (Episode V's also-ran bounty hunters); and to Droopy McCool and Max Rebo (Jabba's entourage in Episode VI). EDITOR’S NOTE: RAISE YOUR HANDS IF YOU KNEW WHO ALL THOSE FOLKS WERE, WITHOUT THE CLIFF-NOTES IDS? YOUR QOTD IS SO VERY PROUD OF YOU!
Guys, without you, the Star Wars saga would just be Daddy Dearest with lasers.
WHAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN Reading for a role in Star Wars seems to have been a rite of passage for actors of the era. Competition was stiff. But for a wiggle in the Force, Luke might have been Robby Benson (Ice Castles), William Katt (The Greatest American Hero) or Andrew Stevens (The Bastard). Leia could have been Cindy Williams, Amy Irving or Berlin lead singer Terri Nunn. And Han might have been Kurt Russell, Frederic Forrest (Chef from Apocalypse Now) or Perry King, who ended up playing Han on the radio.
AN EVEN NEARER MISS Editing, man -- it's a bitch. Young British actress Koo Stark might have hoped great things would come from her days spent on the set in Tunisia, playing Camie, a friend of Luke's who calls him Wormie. But Lucas left Camie on the cutting-room floor, and Stark was left to find fame via other avenues -- performing in super-soft-core movies, then dating Prince Andrew. That combo finally, if briefly, got her name in the headlines. EDITOR’S NOTE: WASN’T SHE ALREADY SOFT-CORING IT BEFORE HER CUT-SCENE WAS FILMED?
BUT WOULD IT HAVE MATTERED Harrison Ford, of course, achieved stardom. The others? Mark Hamill has become a voice-over actor. Carrie Fisher writes semiautobiographical novels and gets cameos in movies that need the boost only a Carrie Fisher cameo can provide. Billy Dee Williams pitched malt liquor. Even Lucas fizzled, making Howard the Duck and abandoning directing until he revived the franchise. One theory is that Ford won everyone else's career in a poker game. But how do you account for his past six films? EDITOR’S NOTE: SENILITY?
CAN YOU GO HOME AGAIN After a 16-year gap Lucas resumed the Star Wars saga in 1999. Although the two films that followed did well, he may have waited too long. The new movies suffer from a certain solemnity and CGI coldness. Worse, Lucas siphoned the poetry from the concept at the heart of his universe. Instead of leaving the Force as an inchoate mystery, Lucas got all CSI: Tatooine and revealed that there are tiny creatures called midi-chlorians that live in our blood. The more you have, the more magic you can perform. In Jungian terms, he turned the Force from a symbol (an archetypal expression that can mean many things to many people) into a sign (a closely defined concept). It was better when we didn't think the Jedi had some form of galactic scabies. EDITOR’S NOTE: IF WE HAVE TO EXPLAIN IT, YOU WON’T GET IT ANYWAY…..(POETRY AND SCIENCE ARE NOT MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE, HMM?)
INSOLENCE IS THE HIGHEST FORM OF FLATTERY Spaceballs may not be Mel Brooks's best movie, but it is the best Star Wars parody. It pits space bandit Lone Starr, cranky Princess Vespa and elf Yogurt against Pizza the Hutt and the evil Dark Helmet. "So, Lone Starr, now you see that evil will always triumph," says Helmet, "because good is dumb." Brooks's commentary on the new DVD version is hilarious. EDITOR’S NOTE: OOOO…I MUST GET DVD TO HEAR BROOKS!
RED GALAXIES, BLUE GALAXIES Democrats like Star Wars, but Republicans speak it. Ronald Reagan was first. He copied the title for his missile defense system, described the Soviet Union as an "evil empire" and dispatched space shuttle astronauts by saying, "May the Force be with them." Others have emulated: "I'm Luke Skywalker trying to get out of the Death Star," said John McCain, campaigning in 2000. "We also have to work, though, sort of the dark side," said Dick Cheney about our intelligence agencies. EDITOR’S NOTE: THEY MIGHT SPEAK IT, BUT THE WORDS ARE MISAPPROPRIATED, MISUNDERSTOOD, AND ILL-FITTING TO THEIR NASTY LITTLE MOUTHS. (OOOPS….INSIDE VOICE/ OUTSIDE VOICE).
HIS CREATION The Star Wars saga is a six-part movie serial whose final installment (the third in the cycle) opened May 19. Over the years the films have grossed $3.4 billion, and the revenue from ancillary products has reached $9 billion. Lucas's personal fortune has been estimated at $3 billion, good for 194th place among the Forbes 400.
IN THE BEGINNING Lucas's original text-cum-sketch of what he then called "The Star Wars" involved two Jedi -- Luke Skywalker and Annikin Starkiller -- who help rebel princess Leia of Aquilae escape Darth Vader with the aid of their "lazerswords." In reading this crazy blenderized version of themes, characters and places from what would become the Star Wars saga, we see the series's roots in the flamboyant Saturday-matinee science-fiction tradition.
MUTLICULTI SPICE Lucas also borrowed heavily from Asian myth in his construction of the Jedi order, with particular analogues to samurai culture in the master-apprentice relationship, the importance of mental discipline, nonviolent warriors, an emphasis on swordplay and an all-pervading mystic force that can be accessed through intense training
BUT WHAT’S IT ABOUT At the climax of The Empire Strikes Back Vader utters the line that connects the lasers and Wookiees to living rooms around the world: "I am your father." Once Vader (father in Dutch, by the way) gurgles this shocking revelation, the saga is exposed as a traditional father-son generation-gap story. Vader wants Luke to join the family business. Luke refuses to sacrifice his youthful idealistic values ("I'll never join you!"). Vader is frustrated with Luke's inability to understand that Death Stars, TIE fighters and fawning minions all cost money and that you can't support a family, let alone an empire, on what you're paid to be a monastic hippie space cop. For his part, Luke's rejection masks his anger that Vader never dropped by with offers to rule the galaxy when Luke was lubing droids on Tatooine. Then Luke tries to kill Vader. Is Dr. Freud in the house? EDITOR’S NOTE: SEE….THIS IS HOW YOU SNARK. LOVINGLY!
UNSUNG HEROES For a generation raised on Sesame Street, the obvious puppetry at work in the first three films was nothing new. Sure, Yoda's bobbing gait is very Kermit the Frog, and Jabba's pal Salacious Crumb flaps about like a forgotten cousin from Emmet Otter's Jug Band Christmas. EDITOR’S NOTE: ANYONE WHO REFERENCES EMMET OTTER HAS TO MARRY ME IMMEDIATELY. (RULES IS RULES).
But in retrospect it's clear these foam rubber creations (brought to life by many of the same people who performed the Muppets) provided a volume and texture sadly missing in The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones, in which Lucas opted for the computer-generated imaging of the day EDITOR’S NOTE: TRUE, TO A POINT. BUT WHEN YOU PUSH THE ENVELLOPE, SOMETIMES IT PUSHES BACK FOR A BIT, HMM? (EACH MOVIE GOT PROGRESSIVELY BETTER IN ITS INTEGRATION OF CG, BUT WOULDN’T HAVE HAD IT NOT HAD ITS PREDECESSOR).
REVISIONIST THINKING Luke seems just as intrepid as he did on first viewing, and Han just as dashing. For some reason, though, what now stands out about Leia is how much of a ballbuster she is. EDITORS’ NOTE: LEIA ROCKS!
It's one thing to hail the nefarious Governor Tarkin by saying, "I recognized your foul stench when I was brought on board." But why is she so cranky with Han? "Why, you stuck-up, half-witted, scruffy-looking nerf herder," she says. She's harsh when he (correctly) suggests she's attracted to him ("Captain, being held by you isn't quite enough to get me excited"), when he suggests a smooch ("I'd just as soon kiss a Wookiee") and when he (absolutely correctly) suggests she loves him ("I don't know where you get your delusions, laser brain"). Han looks happy to be going off with her at the end of Return of the Jedi, but after a decade or so of wedded bliss she'll have worn him down to a nub. EDITOR’S NOTE: AND A DECADE AFTER THAT, SHE’LL BE SPOON-FEEDING THE OLD GEEZER GRUEL. (HE’S A BIT OLDER, AND SHE IS SCARED. THE WRITER IS CLEARLY SUCH A GUY!)
INTESTING KINK The budding romance between Luke and Leia in Episode IV and Episode V provided many young filmgoers with their introduction to the subject of incest.
EVERYBODY WANTS TO GET INTO THE ACT Undoubtedly the most egregious, exploitative and obscure Star Wars entertainment is 1978's Star Wars Holiday Special. EDITOR’S NOTE: EVERY TIME THE TITLE APPEARS IN PRINT, AN ANGEL FALLS FROM THE SKY IN A MUSHY PUDDLE.
In it Han tries to get Chewie home for the queasily saccharine Life Day, but that's irrelevant. The point is that this youth-oriented smash film was turned into an exhausted 1970s variety show featuring such warhorses as Beatrice Arthur and Harvey Korman. The low point? Five minutes of Wookiee-to-Wookiee dialogue -- without subtitles. EDITOR’S NOTE: NO SUBTITLES WAS THE GOOD PART. THEY WERE LIKELY COMPLAINING ABOUT THE WEAK-KNEE’D WOOKIEE UNION THAT COULDN’T KEEP THEM OUT OF THE HORRID SHOW.
FANS WAIT The saga has inspired many people to lay their life on the line, literally. Devotees have camped out for months for tickets to early screenings. Jeff Tweiten of Seattle waited since January 1, 2005 for the opening of Revenge of the Sith. And yes, he blogged it (at waitingforstarwars.blogspot.com).
CREATE The saga has spawned a film festival's worth of fan tribute movies. Among the best is one of the first, Kevin Rubio's 1997 Troops, a Cops-style ride-along with storm troopers on Tatooine. Luke's Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru, it turns out, are prone to domestic violence, particularly when she drinks. See these films at theforce.net/fanfilms.
AND ACCUMULATE Star Wars, the film series: big. Star Wars, the licensing deal: phenomenal. Inevitably, however, scarcities emerge. The original rarity is Blue Snaggletooth, the action figure for a minor character in the cantina scene. The Kenner toy company sculpted it with only a head shot for reference. Left to guess the rest, it gave him a regular body, blue suit and silver boots. As it turned out, Snaggletooth wears a red suit, goes barefoot and is short. Kenner swiftly issued an accurate version. A blue Snaggletooth now costs $80.
The rarest figures are Vader and Obi-Wan with "double telescoping" light-saber action. According to Gus Lopez of ToysRGus.com, fewer than 50 are known to exist, and on the rare occasion that one becomes available, it can command several thousand dollars.
I HAVE A BAD FEELING ABOUT THIS Menace and Clones have interesting plot movement and thrilling action sequences, but the volume of twaddle (Jar Jar, the Anakin-Padmé romance) makes them nearly unwatchable. EDITOR’S NOTE: THOUGH THE QOTD DOESN’T ORDINARILY BEG….I BEG TO DIFFER.
You may think Lucas pulled off something special with Sith. But if not, just go home, slip in a DVD of the original, and play Luke's Death Star run on an endless loop.
posted by QOTD (the Queen of the Dweebs) at 9:46 AM
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