Kurtz on Star Wars
Posts: 2558
  • Posted On: Aug 13 2010 3:59am
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

An interesting read.

After reading what he would've done with RotJ, it would've been far more interesting. Probably less compelling to the small child me, but far more interesting.
Posts: 4195
  • Posted On: Aug 13 2010 10:31pm
Interesting read.
Posts: 2
  • Posted On: Aug 13 2010 11:32pm
Very good read.
Posts: 30
  • Posted On: Aug 14 2010 3:46am
Wow. Very interesting read. Thanks for sharing it.
Posts: 2558
  • Posted On: Aug 16 2010 12:34am
Posts: 3599
  • Posted On: Aug 16 2010 12:50pm
Wow.

Hit the nail on the head for me, perhaps it does help explain a few things.

“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.’"


“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.
That sounds awesome, far better than what we did get IMHO.

teddy bear luau.
Spot on.

I always felt that George had too many 'yes-men' around him, perhaps things would have been different had Mr Kurtz still been around.

Maybe just maybe one of these conversations would have taken place...


"Yeah, Hayden Christensen he's the one"

"No George, he's really not"


or

"Hey I have this idea for a character, called Jar Jar"

"No George, just no"


or...


"Ewoks?.."

"NO"



or even better...


"Lets go back and redub a New Zealand accent onto Boba Fett, simply because we just happen to pick an entirely different actor..."

"NO George, NO"



or better still...


"Lets set the film so far back we can see Anakin pod-race and fly fighter-craft all at the age of 9"

"What? you're not listening George"



...or my personal favourite...


"I've just thought of way of explaining the force, for absolutely no reason"

"NO George, No No NO!"




Ah...

What could have been...

Nvm, we do still have Empire.





Thanks for posting that up 'Gro, an interesting read. ;)
Posts: 1584
  • Posted On: Aug 16 2010 9:38pm
Nice, Seth.
Posts: 5711
  • Posted On: Aug 17 2010 3:46am
Leaving aside the prequels...

Most of us TRF'ers aren't even old enough to have been around when the original trilogy was showing in theaters, but we still love those films passionately. It's easy to look back and say, "If we'd done this thing differently it would have been better." But such postulation leaves aside the adage, We-Are-What-We-Eat and in this case what that means is, sure, maybe things could have been done differently and it might have been a better film... but then again, it might not have and those changes for the so-called better could have utterly changed the history of Star Wars to such a degree that we, TRF'ers, might never have come together because the legacy of Star Wars might never have been born. It is impossible to say.

Maybe if someone had shot Adolf Hitler in the brain back in '35 we'd never have had a World War II and millions of people might never have died. Or, maybe, something far worse would have taken place.

We, as humans, readily criticize the past often failing to realize that the past is responsible for the present.

However; I would gladly suffer those possible changes, had someone been at George's side during the prequel days, slapping him with a tuna every time he did something stupid...

So, there's that.
Posts: 3599
  • Posted On: Aug 17 2010 11:29am
Very true Beff, very true.

However , I just can't understand how GL could get it so right, and then get it so wrong.

But thats just my opinion of course.

Bottom line is, I love the OT regardless and it will always remain a part of my childhood.

STOP RUINING MY CHILDHOOD!
Posts: 5711
  • Posted On: Aug 17 2010 4:04pm
STOP RUINING MY CHILDHOOD!


... said the altar boy to the priest.