Star Wars
04-03-11, 07:35 PM
#826
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04-03-11, 08:04 PM
#827
DVD Talk Legend
re: Star Wars
From:
http://secrethistoryofstarwars.com/marcialucas.html
The rest of the article is an interesting read, and informative for anyone who wants to weigh the impact Marcia Lucas had on the Star Wars saga.
http://secrethistoryofstarwars.com/marcialucas.html
Perhaps it is the painful memories of the final unhealthy years of their marriage, during which Marcia finally left Lucas for another man and got a large cash settlement, that has prompted him to essentially never speak of her again.
Given the state of the Lucases' marriage and the emotional state of Marcia, this is not surprising. Despite having finally adopted a baby, her marriage was in ruins, and Marcia seems to have been in a state of depression. Yet at the same time, she knew she had obligations to George and their daughter as well and stayed with George for the meanwhile. Marcia swore to me, though, that while she was attracted to Rodrigues and later married him, she never had a physical affair with him when she was still with George. Even still, the event shocked George.
Marcia tried to do something to save the marriage--she suggested they go to a marriage counsellor to try to work things out. George said no to the suggestion. Marcia then suggested that they have a trial separation, but again George refused (attitudes Marcia surmises were picked up from his conservative father).
04-03-11, 08:14 PM
#828
DVD Talk Legend
re: Star Wars
What, she was unfaithful and divorced him? As if that doesn't happen to 60% of marriages in this country. If George had been the unfaithful party that caused the dissolution of their marriage, no one would think twice about it. That's just accepted, especially among "creative" types.
Here's the real evidence you need to look at: Marcia Lucas edits Star Wars and it's a great movie. George Lucas later re-edits Star Wars his own way, and turns it into a big crap heap.
I say he can't possibly pay her enough for her contribution.
Here's the real evidence you need to look at: Marcia Lucas edits Star Wars and it's a great movie. George Lucas later re-edits Star Wars his own way, and turns it into a big crap heap.
I say he can't possibly pay her enough for her contribution.
04-03-11, 08:18 PM
#829
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re: Star Wars
Thank you, Jay G. The interesting thing here is that it really adds a deeply personal reason for Lucas to avoid the unaltered OT. I'm just guessing here but it makes sense he would have a bad association with them through his complicated relationship with his ex-wife, not to mention all the other things he wanted to accomplish but lacked the money/time/tech to do so.
Does it make sense that by editing/changing the movies a secondary benefit is that he distances them from any claims Marcia could make? This is not rhetorical - I'm just curious to see what others think. I didn't read the entire article as it's very long...
p.s. - I liked the part about Marcia's influence on the end of Raiders. I can't possibly imagine the ending without Marion involved somewhere. If that represents her contributions to George's movies, that's a hell of a contribution.
Does it make sense that by editing/changing the movies a secondary benefit is that he distances them from any claims Marcia could make? This is not rhetorical - I'm just curious to see what others think. I didn't read the entire article as it's very long...
p.s. - I liked the part about Marcia's influence on the end of Raiders. I can't possibly imagine the ending without Marion involved somewhere. If that represents her contributions to George's movies, that's a hell of a contribution.
04-03-11, 08:42 PM
#831
re: Star Wars
I just read that he hired others to punch up the editing after her job for the original release. Plus...I dunno man for all intents and purposes, the editing for Ep. IV is pretty much the same. Sure it was re-edited to fit in one or two extra scenes, but i the overall "flow" of the movie is still there.
04-03-11, 09:52 PM
#832
DVD Talk Legend
re: Star Wars
Thank you, Jay G. The interesting thing here is that it really adds a deeply personal reason for Lucas to avoid the unaltered OT. I'm just guessing here but it makes sense he would have a bad association with them through his complicated relationship with his ex-wife, not to mention all the other things he wanted to accomplish but lacked the money/time/tech to do so.
p.s. - I liked the part about Marcia's influence on the end of Raiders. I can't possibly imagine the ending without Marion involved somewhere. If that represents her contributions to George's movies, that's a hell of a contribution.
From:
http://secrethistoryofstarwars.com/marcialucas.html
"[George] asked Marcia to work on the final battle sequence, so ILM could start, but he needed someone else to start at the beginning," says Richard Chew... [who] was hired not long after Marcia began cutting.
Paul Hirsch, whom Lucas knew from De Palma's Carrie, was later hired since there was so much to do. "Marcia Lucas called me," Hirsch recalls. "And she said, 'Things are going a lot slower than we had hoped; our editor in England didn't work out and we're having to recut everything. We've got Richard Chew on the picture--but we're not getting enough done!'"
The Death Star trench run was originally scripted entirely different, with Luke having two runs at the exhaust port; Marcia had re-ordered the shots almost from the ground up, trying to build tension lacking in the original scripted sequence, which was why this one was the most complicated (Deleted Magic has a faithful reproduction of the original assembly, which is surprisingly unsatisfying). She warned George, "If the audience doesn't cheer when Han Solo comes in at the last second in the Millennium Falcon to help Luke when he's being chased by Darth Vader, the picture doesn't work."
By October or November 1976, the editing team had prepared a new rough cut; in the final crunch, the three editors began to trade off scenes as a trio. "We put it all together and spent about three or four days as a tag team," Hirsch says. "George, Richard, Marcia and I would sit at the machine each for a couple of hours, taking turns and making suggestions."
As Marcia continued to re-work sequences as late as December of 1976, Martin Scorsese called her up--his editor of New York, New York had died, and he needed her to finish the film.
Paul Hirsch and Richard Chew finished the edit after Marcia left but she stopped by and helped her husband out when she could as George raced to the finishing line. Marcia, meanwhile, was busy finishing up New York, New York. Marcia and Scorsese invited Lucas to take a look at the movie in the editing room, and he recommended that if the lovers had a happy ending the film would make millions more...
04-03-11, 10:33 PM
#833
DVD Talk Legend
re: Star Wars
If the big 9 disc set contains a ton of examples of these differently cut scenes, that might make me bite. I'd also love to see the "fast" cut of Empire Strikes Back that Lucas had done in case he needed something quick and dirty to get his money back.
04-03-11, 11:29 PM
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04-04-11, 11:41 AM
#835
re: Star Wars
That stuff about the editing is fascinating and I never knew any of it. Of course, none of it's gonna get covered on the Blu-Rays if Lucas really hates her that much.
04-04-11, 12:09 PM
#836
DVD Talk Limited Edition
re: Star Wars
I remember 'The Empire of Dreams' talked about the editing process (Hirsch and Chew) and how they are pretty much started over and made a totally different movie from the first cut. It has been a while since I watched it, but I believe the rough cut had longer scenes and was a bit more slow-going. The new cut had shorter scenes, and the movie flowed alot better.
04-04-11, 12:26 PM
#837
DVD Talk Legend
re: Star Wars
http://secrethistoryofstarwars.com/marcialucas.html
In the documentary Empire of Dreams, she is barely even mentioned in passing, except when the narration states that she edited the film and Lucas says he "got divorced as Jedi was complete" in the last two minutes of the supposedly-definitive documentary. Other products fare not much better, since many of them are published through Lucasfilm; her entire existence has nearly been ignored.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1dW6bNBzN8
04-04-11, 12:46 PM
#838
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re: Star Wars
Regarding editing, Marcia Lucas, the OOT, and points.
I often wondered if the changes made to Star Wars (from adding scenes, to officially changing the title to Episode IV: A New Hope) were some kind of attempt to "redefine" the film so as to cheat his wife (and others) out of their profit participation "points". I've come to the conclusion that this is not the case and that even with all the changes to the film the points sharing has not changed.
Marcia Lucas did (and as far as I know still does) hold points on the film. Lucas awarded points participation to the heads of every department. He also traded points with Spielberg and bestowed points to USC and other institutions. If altering the film changed the points there would have been a lawsuit by now from angry profit participants.
I don't think Lucas holds enough of a grudge against his ex to try something so radical. The man she left him for was the artist who designed all the stained glass at Skywalker Ranch. If he really loathed her as much as suggested I would imagine he would have had that glass removed long ago.
I often wondered if the changes made to Star Wars (from adding scenes, to officially changing the title to Episode IV: A New Hope) were some kind of attempt to "redefine" the film so as to cheat his wife (and others) out of their profit participation "points". I've come to the conclusion that this is not the case and that even with all the changes to the film the points sharing has not changed.
Marcia Lucas did (and as far as I know still does) hold points on the film. Lucas awarded points participation to the heads of every department. He also traded points with Spielberg and bestowed points to USC and other institutions. If altering the film changed the points there would have been a lawsuit by now from angry profit participants.
I don't think Lucas holds enough of a grudge against his ex to try something so radical. The man she left him for was the artist who designed all the stained glass at Skywalker Ranch. If he really loathed her as much as suggested I would imagine he would have had that glass removed long ago.
04-04-11, 06:26 PM
#839
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re: Star Wars
I don't think Lucas tinkered with the OT to screw his wife over, but I do think that he has a "bad association". I'm not saying this is the sole or most important reason for changing some things, but certainly I think it has a deeper influence. Lucas never felt the OT movies were complete and he probably felt more motivated to add the modifications as a result of his distressing divorce.
04-04-11, 07:53 PM
#840
DVD Talk Legend
re: Star Wars
I don't think Lucas tinkered with the OT to screw his wife over, but I do think that he has a "bad association". I'm not saying this is the sole or most important reason for changing some things, but certainly I think it has a deeper influence. Lucas never felt the OT movies were complete and he probably felt more motivated to add the modifications as a result of his distressing divorce.
04-04-11, 08:18 PM
#842
DVD Talk Hero
re: Star Wars
No, he wanted to prove to Fox that Episode 1 was viable. That there was still a demand for Star Wars. The restoration is not the result of 20 years of tools being inadequate.
04-04-11, 08:43 PM
#843
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re: Star Wars
We are both correct. Lucas did have to wait until he could use the CGI tech to make a new SW trilogy. He tested this on the Special Editions while also making changes he always wished to see.
He took out 2 birds with one CGI stone.
He took out 2 birds with one CGI stone.
04-04-11, 09:42 PM
#844
DVD Talk Legend
re: Star Wars
In fact, George has always tinkered with Star Wars. While making ESB, Star Wars was re-released with the "Episode IV: A New Hope" subtitle. After ESB, George toyed with the idea of superimposing a bipedal stop-motion Jabba over the deleted footage from Star Wars. There was even the tiny tweak on later video versions of Star Wars placing R2D2's abduction by the Jawas at twilight. This was all pre-SE, and some pre-divorce.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...pecial_Edition
http://secrethistoryofstarwars.com/jabba.html
If anything, it was the other way around. Fox ponied up the money for the restoration and the added effects (this was back when they still owned the original Star Wars film). Lucas used this as an opportunity to test techniques that would be used in the upcoming prequels.
http://secrethistoryofstarwars.com/savingstarwars.html
..Since Fox was paying for it all, it was looked at as free R&D for ILM to use for the prequels Lucas was also planning.
The Special Edition of Star Wars was frequently reported in the media as costing as much as $20 million to enhance and restore, though some sources claimed as low as $10 million. [35] In any case, the film's restoration and enhancement cost more than the original production itself--all of it being paid for by Twentieth Century Fox. At the time, spending upwards of $20 million on a decades-old film that, back then, was only to be a limited release, was a very big gamble. Many speculated that they did so in order to win Lucas' favor and get a chance at distributing the Star Wars prequels that went to camera a few months later.
04-04-11, 11:21 PM
#845
DVD Talk Legend
Thread Starter
re: Star Wars
Did Lucas get ownership of ANH when he made the prequel distribution deal with Fox? Thought I remember that being part of the deal....
04-05-11, 06:39 AM
#846
DVD Talk Legend
re: Star Wars
http://secrethistoryofstarwars.com/buyingstarwars.html
It has never been reported, but I believe that Lucasfilm offered Fox distribution rights [to the prequels] only if they would hand over the rights to the original Star Wars. Fox obviously agreed to this at some point--when the SE was released in 1997, the prints, posters and video boxes said that Empire and Jedi were copyright Lucasfilm but that Star Wars was copyright Fox. The next time the films were released was in 2000 on VHS, where Empire and Jedi were copyright Lucasfilm--but now Star Wars was copyright Lucasfilm as well. Its no coincidence that between that time a deal was hammered out between the two mega-corporations to give Fox distribution of Lucasfilm's prequels.
04-05-11, 10:34 AM
#847
DVD Talk Ultimate Edition
re: Star Wars
It sounds like she was a good influence on the story aspects of the movies. REALLY makes me wonder how the prequels would have turned out if she had still been around. =/
04-05-11, 02:03 PM
#848
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04-05-11, 02:30 PM
#849
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04-05-11, 02:35 PM
#850
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re: Star Wars
But I've never been one of those who cared which version of Star Wars I was watching, if the director wants me to watch the SE's instead of the original versions I'm fine with it as long as I get to watch ANY Star Wars on bluray. I know that's wrong of me but that's how I roll.
