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Star Wars, the Lost Interviews
smooth wombat writes "Coinciding with the 30th anniversary of the Release of Star Wars, Ballantine Books is publishing J.W. Rinzler's "The Making of Star Wars", which bills itself as "The Definitive Story Behind the Original Film." The book is the result of Rinzler's discovery of interviews that Charles Lippincott, Lucasfilm's VP marketing and merchandising in the mid-'70s, conducted with the film's principals between 1975 and 1978."
In the book, Lippincott admits that he actually fired first ...
Bark less. Wag more.
These are not the interviews you're looking for. Move along.
I wonder which version will be screened, the original or "enhanced" version?
Your delivery could use some work, but I agree this is just another money grab. The "lost interviews" reveal shocking secrets such as the fact that the original Star Wars was made on a shoestring budget! Amazing! And I thought the effects in the original were so incredible, and looked so expensive, including the totally not obviously drawn-in light sabers and the totally convincing cuts during the scene where Obi Wan gets killed. Oh, and the acrobatics during the light saber duel! It totally didn't look anything like a couple of arthritic old farts hitting each others' walkers, it was totally fast-paced edge-of-your-seat stuff. I was convinced that no expense was spared.
Oh, and hey, they had issues getting the special effects to look right! And Lucas wasn't sure that the film was going to be a success! Unbelievable!
Everyone already knew all of this stuff. The people involved have said this sort of thing countless times. Now, we have period interviews that say pretty much the same stuff that they said in later interviews.
What acrobatics? Did we watch the same movie?
Anonymous Cowards suck.
Archived interview with studio janitor:
Ho, I tol' dat Missah Lucas dat dey chould be' funnay guy in nex' movie! Meesah told him dat! Woo!
But he nevah reeplyy, how wude!
You can't talk about Wikipedia's flaws on Wikipedia
What acrobatics? Did we watch the same movie?
Thats the problem with editing. When he uttered his famous line, Admiral Akbar really said "It's a trapeze!". He then wowed the crowed with his death-defying acrobatics without a net.
Where does the school board find them and why do they keep sending them to ME?
Some photos and text up at: http://www.wired.com/entertainment/hollywood/mult
This is a book about Star-Wrs sans the latter myths.
From a cinima history perspective, this could be interesting.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
Back when Star Wars first came out, Starlog magazine spent an entire issue devoted to Stars Wars. They mentioned somewhere that Charles Lippincott was writing a book called "The Making of Star Wars", inspired by "The Making of Star Trek" book, but it never appeared.
I'm really glad to see that some of this material is finally seeing the light of day.
www.lucernesys.comHorizon: Calendar-based personal finance
the sfx in star wars were nothing short of staggering for the time. you are clearly about 18 years old and didnt see the original theatrical release. as such you have fuck all perspective on it.
I just can't help but think about the fact that Obi Wan totally F***ed up Darth Vader in Episide III and left him for dead, not knowing that (years later) Darth Vader would haunt him again and ultimately take Obi Wan's life.
The interesting thing about it is, Obi Wan was Darth Vader's teacher and (#1) somehow Darth Vader became more powerful than his teacher. But, the real surprise is, (#2) if Annikin is so much more powerful, HOW did he get his ass beat so badly in the Mustafar system???
All I know is, if I were Obi Wan, I would have made sure Lord Vader was indeed dead on Mustafar!
"I HAVE THE HIGHER GROUND!!!!" haha
I am glad I was old enough to enjoy Star Wars when it was first released. I knew little about it other than it was supposed to be great. Saw it in a large theater. Like any great movie, in my opinion, it grabbed me right off and I knew this is something special. I always will remember the boarding scene with Darth and the storm troopers, right there you knew this was going to be good. Or to paraphase Bette Davis, "Hang on tight, it's going to be a great ride..." While special effects are good they don't hold a candle to the barroom scene where you need to see it several times to take in all that is going on.
The effects were good for the time considering the budget they had to work with. It was obvious that it was made on the cheap in a lot of ways. The film editing alone could tell you that. I'm not trying to say it's a terrible movie or anything like that, but it's pretty clear that it was budget constrained. Just compare the original movie's effects with the quality of the effects in the Empire Strikes Back, which was released just 3 years later. That is the difference having a real budget can make.
zarth didnt take obi wan's life.
remember the end of episode 3. yoda said to obiwan that there has been a way discovered to communicate from the afterlife, and the discoverer was qui gonn, his former teacher. and qui gonn contacted yoda. yoda said to obi wan about exile in tatooine, and there was training involved in it too. basically qui gonn taught obi wan about matters afterlife, how to come back to commune with the physical and such. obi wan have let vader "kill" himself, though, killing needs to mean more than just plain old evaporating into thin air.
lore aside, what i most enjoyed from episode 3 and obi wan kicking vader's ass was the fact that all those vader/darth wannabees who scoured the games (swg, kotor, online offline any game), communities and etc babbling about how dark was more powerful, oooh how cool it was, darth maul was such and such, (he looks more like a punk, prodigy, hence bambinos envy him more, not vader) and how light side was just pathetically weak, ho ho ho, this and that, have their mouth shut up tight after obi wan kicking vader's butt in episode 3. then we have started to see quite a many obi wan avatars, toons, nickname variations in games and around the internet.
Read radical news here
Nope, next comes the exclusive interviews with the lead gaffer and the boom guy, with the real inside scoop. Also, there is an exclusive excerpt from Carrie Fishers hairdressers upcoming book,"Cinnabuns and Laserguns"
to bring us this information.
said things he later denied saying (e.g. there's going to be 9 films, etc).
What should become obvious to anyone who has seen the prequels, Lucas set the original Star Wars as "Episode IV" mainly because it meant that he could drop people into an established setting without really explaining how it came to be; had Lucas made it "Episode 1" most of the movie would be an attempt to explain how the empire came to be. Claiming that it was supposed to be 9 films (probably knowing he couldn't produce more than 3) gave him the ability to leave a lot of loose strings at the end.
I honestly think the biggest mistake George Lucas made was he attempted to make his lies true; had he just left the movies as-is and claimed that it was too late to produce the prequels, and that it would be impossible to cast the sequels Star Wars would still be the greatest movie series ever created.
^^^ PROOF! You do NOT want to piss off a Star Wars fan! They will adolescent the HELL out of you!
I've seen an advance galley proof of the book, and let me tell you, it's filled with fascinating material. Here's some nuggets:
Q: George, there are rumors going around that Luke and Leia are related in some way.
GL: (Laughs) Charlie, I can assure the fans that they are not related. Look at the chemistry between Carrie [Fisher] and Mark [Hamill] on screen! Everyone would feel ill if they turned out to be brother and sister or something like that.
Q: Fans seem to be fascinatated by Darth Vader. What do you think about him has captured everyone's imagination?
GL: People love mysteries. They always have. I learned that a long time before USC. Vader is full of them. Perhaps some of peoples' questions will be answered over time, but I think anyone who expects to get all the answers on things like who he (Is "he" even the right word?) is, what's his name, does he have a family, is or was he ever married, those sorts of things may be disappointed.
Q: What about the Force? Is it magic? Telekinesis? A God-given gift? Illusions?
GL: All of them. None of them. What I can say is that the Force is certainly not something that can be pinned down to anything physical or tangible. If we were to find out that magicians need an extra gland or anything else unusual in their bodies to do their stage tricks we'd all be disappointed, because that means they wouldn't be human any more. We couldn't relate to them. If there's anything the Jedi are, it's that they are as 100% human as you or me.
Q: The Negro community—
GL: Isn't the word "black" nowadays?
Q: —sorry, the black community—some have complained that there aren't any black people in the Star Wars world. What's your response?
GL: Charlie, I want to say that I have the utmost respect for black culture and Negr--blacks' contributions to American society. While, of course, there are no black Americans per se "a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away," I can assure fans that anyone who looks black, or sounds black, will be portrayed in a completely-dignified fashion. I won't stoop to using demeaning cultural stereotypes of any kind in my work.
Q: Here's another question from a fan: "Do people in Star Wars use money?"
GL: Charlie, with all due respect to the fan, I want to emphasize how I am trying my best to depict on screen a completely new society. A completely new world. One of the many things different about this world is that it's moved beyond things like "money." Why, one might as well ask whether people will still be talking about "free trade" and "trade cartels"! I mean, come on! Talk about losing the audience! (Laughs)
Q: Speaking of money, what's your take on tie-in products? Toys, games, that sort of thing.
GL: I don't like them. As much as I love and admire Steve[n Spielberg], one thing I found distasteful about Jaws was all the commercialism around [the movie]. I mean, come on! A Jaws lunchbox? A book? Does a shark movie really need a novelization? Mark my words, you're not going to see anything like that for Star Wars. Well, maybe a toy or two for the little kids. But that's it.
Ray Harryhausen's effects were good for their time too. Or so my Granpa told me.
It's true I tell you, feller at work's next door neighbour read it in the paper.
...in OTHER news, the janitor of a well-known movie studio was found dead today in his apartment on Gungan drive in Downtown Naboo...
I'm pushing 30 years old and did not see the movies in the theater either, but doesn't mean I didn't enjoy the films as much as anyone else. They were a huge part of my childhood from the toys I played with to the imaginary star wars themed worlds I explored in my head. With that said, I'm absolutely sick of Star Wars. It's the perfect example of the Law of Diminishing Marginal Utility. They've absolutely saturated "the product", which I hate to call it that but that's exactly what it has become. Maybe had the new versions been anything other than film feces my opinion might be different. No, probably not... I would still be sick of Star Wars.
I'm tempted to buy this latest DVD incarnation with the 1977 version, but I've read that the quality is poor. Plus I'd hate to buy this installment if a restored version appears shortly. Should I retire the laserdiscs or not?
-Dave
I would like to suggest that Spiderman do a broadway play including the cast of characters from Star Wars! This would be far more exciting.. imagine all of the things flying around the stage! I am sure there will be an "accidental" beheading! Ever seen that movie Ghost Ship where the teather wire snaps and the recoil slices everyone in half! Just like that! If there ever were a Broadway play (parody of sorts) that actually followed this premise they might want Borat to join the fun! We can have Steve Martin as "The Jerk" replace Jar Jar and then the children from his later movies can disembowel him like a Gallagher performance! It is a whole new genre called derived from "composite play-writing". We all know that carbon fiber with epoxies can yield amazing strength to weight ratios... how about amazing shock to amusement ratios! This would be beatiful and appauling. Just like Evil Dead was! Bruce Campbell pulled it off.. and inspiration was born.
Perhaps we would have seen Penny Marshall play Chewbacca, with a cursive 'L' emblazoned on that furry chest.
Well, nobody can say what was on his mind when he said that, but he certainly could have made 9 films in 30 years (and he's not dead yet). I think he should have stuck to another plan he once talked about: letting other directors do the other episodes with the possible exception of the last one. Of course, having different writers as well would not only have been more efficient but would have resulted in higher quality scripts (e.g. avoiding lines like: "your skin is so soft, not like this sand").
If he really wants to get into it, how about "George Lucas didn't make the original with either sequels or prequels in mind," or "Luke and Leia and Han were originally supposed to be a love triangle," or "Lucas cut the Jabba scene because it was awkward and poorly-acted, not because of FX limitations." Hell, even a "There was a disturbing connection between SW and Disco in those early years" would be more interesting than what they're selling so far.
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
And yet, they were still better than anyone had ever seen before...
The special effects in that movie were beyond groundbreaking at the time. Very few movies in the 70's even HAD special effects. 20th century fox disbanded their special effects department.
Case in point: In 1976 the special effects academy award winner was Logan's Run. That movie was absolutely pathetic in comparison, and yet was considered to be the best special effects for its day.
Thanks,
Mike
My understanding was that during the three years you mention, ILM was revolutionizing some of the special effects techniques used later by everyone. So comparing it to ESB, isn't just a matter of budget. But perhaps I am wrong and you can convince me by naming some movies during that time that had better effects than SW and bigger budgets. I know Close Encounters came out somewhere soon after SW. That was Douglas Trumbull SFX and lots of lights which is pretty different from the effects in SW. Still it looked good. I just don't remember many SF movies even trying to do effects like SW until after SW came out and was a huge hit.
Plus you say it was "budget constrained", but at the time I thought it was a big budget for an SF film.
"Contrarily the lookaside buffer might not be the panacea... "
the sfx in star wars were nothing short of staggering for the time.
You can only really say that in context with the number of special effects. Close Encounters came out the same year and if you were to put two snippets of both films side by side Close Encounters would win hands down. The effects in CEOTTK are clearly better. Superman came out a year later and the same could be said for it in the same context of doing more with the effects but simply having less of them. Ultimately it's an argument that has no clear winner aside from pointing to the budget of the film. Even then it's hard to win the argument that SW had "staggering" effects.
you are clearly about 18 years old and didnt see the original theatrical release.
Talk about an argument that got really old about two decades ago. Not everyone who walks that planet who was alive to see the originals (myself include, FYI) in 1977 latched onto Star Wars and held it high like a gift from God. Methinks that much of the wonderlust that still trails on from the original trilogy is more the smoke and mirrors of time over anything truely magical about these films. If you love it, you love it. I won't say that you're wrong. But to assume that because there are those of us (yes, I do mean myself included) who don't really go crazy over Star Wars are too young to recall the glory of Lucas is about as insightful as the Matrix fanbois who ran around for years shouting "If you didn't like the Matrix it's because you didn't understand the Matrix". It's annoying, it's petty elitism at it's worst and it's utterly false.
as such you have fuck all perspective on it.
Fantastic conclusion. What you're basically saying is that if you don't hold Star Wars on high as God's gift to sci-fi circa 1977 that you were either too young to experience it or that you have no appreciation for special effects? Does that mean that those 30-somethings today that may have just been old enough to remember Jedi in the theaters are saved from your self-righteous wrath? What does it say about those of us who did see it in the theaters who just weren't amazed by it to the point that 30 years later we can take it or leave it for what it is?
Get over it fanboi. The glory days of Lucas seem to have come to a screeching halt. The "staggering" effects of your little lovechild here lack the luster that you claim from movies made in the same couple of years. It's fine to be a fanboi on some levels but at some other point you have to turn around and understand that just because something is important to you doesn't mean it was the pinnacle of achievement.
"And I wonder, oh yes I wonder, will Elvis* take the place of Jesus in a thousand years..." -The Dead Kennedys
* Feel free to substitute "Lucas" for "Elvis".
Dedicated Cthulhu Cultist since 4523 BC.
I have the original Star Wars LP's (Those are Long Play vinyl records, for the youngsters on /.) and the covers also state that Lucas intended on making nine movies total.
Well, you know, we disn't exactly SAY we were going to have nine, you know, and Clinton dodn't have "SEX" with that woman. I mean, it depends on the meaning of IT.
...will see.
You know? So anyway, afer the sixth we decided that there wasn't any more to tell, and, you know, we all got bored with the deal. Plus we all have more money than we know what to do with it so we're going to concenmtrate on making movies that SUCK, you know? Movies nobody but film snobs who liked that gay cowboy film, you know?
No, we weren't going to make 9. You saw that paper upside down, it's 6. Honest!
-George
It's fine to be a hater on some levels but at some other point you have to turn around and understand that just because something isn't important to you doesn't mean it wasn't the pinnacle of achievement.
"But this one goes to 11!"
Many Ballantines died to bring you this information.
Lucas messed up big time by not making Jar Jar Binks turn out to be a dark lord of the Sith.
With a heart rending performance by Jango Fett, singing the classic, "Send in the Clones"!
Just because you can mod me down, doesn't mean you're right. Shoes for industry!
Indeed! the venue would be an exciting one - Carrie Fisher could wear here Jaba the Hut slave gear and sing "What's New Pussycat" as Tom Jones is frozen into a solid piece of carbon! People will pay just to see that! Perhaps Captain America can show up with the girl that won his 80's comic competition (Boy George) and they could sing YMCA! To really delve deep into the basement of bizzarre... BatBoy needs a role. Batboy can play Lando C. in the Air City and sing "Lonely" ... I'm so lonely.. I have nobody...to call my own...
Meanwhile Darth Vader has found his talent on american Idol as the "human beat-box".
I wonder what it would have been like if he had started making the prequels in the '80s, before he went (completely) mad...
Does it make you happy you're so strange?
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On the subject of revisionist, the poll seems to have disappeared!
09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0
It certainly doesn't make one a hater either. Too bad so many on here can't take it for what it is and as far as it being a pinnacle of achievement I still stand being my remarks about Close Encounters.
Dedicated Cthulhu Cultist since 4523 BC.
The true story of TK-421 will be brought to light.
"TK-421, why aren't you at your post?"
Hey, Aneee! Yousa big-time guy iffa youse come ovah ta Darkside! Meesa promiss!
*Okay, now I feel really, really dirty.
You can't talk about Wikipedia's flaws on Wikipedia
I know, and really I was just trying to play devil's advocate with your own words to point out the converse of what you said. Close Encounters was good also, but I think there were far fewer effects than in Star Wars. Great music in both films (Thanks John Williams!)
P.S. DK rocks! Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables was their best IMHO.
"But this one goes to 11!"
Watch 2001 again. The effects still look great and it came out 9 years before StarWars. Don't get me wrong though, the opening scene with the star destroyer going past blew me away then.
"He's lost in a 'floyd hole"
Blade Runner makes remarkably little sense and is a lot less meaningful without any of the context. In that context, it's pretty much just a bad action movie wildly overhyped by fen. There's a lot less to Star Wars so it doesn't suffer as much from this situation.
A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.
2001 Did have a lot of groundbreaking effects... very true... but they didn't have to deal with alien dogfights, "laser" weapons, and explosions, either. 2001 was certainly one of a kind, as well. Nothing came close to it until Lucas' Star Wars came around.
Thanks,
Mike
Everytime anyone discripes Lucus and star wars his vision is always difinitive? why? I think goeoge write his own reviews yeah star wars way like the greatest movie before lord of the rings, but all he did was make another space opera the only one that was good yes but still he is not a difinitive genius like every freakin' reveiw makes him out to be or he would stop messing with all his oringal movies.... he said once in an interview, which made it's way onto the speical edition's bonus features "that movies are never finished they are only abbonded." This in my option which of corse only matters never is that you have made enough money off the franchise...... ok done ranting....
Those 'excerpts' are a fucking JOKE! It's HUMOR!!! Or is this a clever troll you are doing to act that FUCKING DUMB?!?
Star Wars & The Lost interviews !! At the same time ...
I wonder if the Lost crew are Star Wars fans ....
I'm content with the fact that it was Jar-Jar who effectively damned the Republic by motioning for Palpatine's emergency powers.
Xenon, where's my money? -Borno
TK-421, why aren't you at your post? He was hanging out with TK-420. hyuck hyuck hyuck.
I think I was 9 when I saw ANH (or just 'Star Wars', as it was known then) for the first time. I can say that the special-effects were very important to it's success. You have pointed out 2001 and CEOTTK as better examples. They are both great FX films, and I saw them at around the same age. CEOTTK seemed boring by comparison. Those FX, which are perhaps more elegant than in ANH didn't make up for frustration at the lack of any great visual revelation in the film. You don't get to see stuff in the same detail as with ANH (and yes, I include the end sequence in that). 2001 is a great FX film too, but the FX in that are really based mostly on good prop design, rather than visual effects themselves. The end-sequence there is very visual, of course, but it is hallucinatory, rather than attempting to show a technological reality.
The fast and complex movements of the spaceships and in space explosions etc were the great achievement of ANH - other films of the time that tried to have FX like that were nowhere close. Check out Battle Beyond the Stars sometime!
http://secrethistoryofstarwars.com/
"The Secret History of Star Wars is a new full-length e-book exploring the writing and creation of the Star Wars saga. Culled from over 400 sources and filled with quotes from people such as George Lucas, Gary Kurtz and Mark Hamill, The Secret History of Star Wars traces all the way back to 1973 to examine how the first 14-page treatment that began the series came to be and was slowly built, draft by draft, year by year and movie by movie. Covering a period of over four decades, you will discover how George Lucas got his ideas for the original film, how Darth Vader was made into Luke Skywalker's father in 1978 and forever altered the arc of the story, what happened to the infamous third trilogy in the series and how the prequel stories came to be. The book also reveals the style and method of Lucas himself and how his personal life affected and shaped the story, for better and worse. This is a book which challenges many legends surrounding the series and places the films in a new light. For the more casual fan this will be a mesmerising read and for those who think they know everything about the series, prepare to be surprised! "
Interview with the author here -- http://www.starwars.com/episode-iv/bts/article/f20 070423/index.html
MTFBWY
IANAL but write like a drunk one.