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Star Wars Prequels Media Movies

Star Wars, the Lost Interviews 133

Posted by CmdrTaco from the i-should-get-screenwriter-credits-this-time dept.
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."
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Star Wars, the Lost Interviews More

Star Wars, the Lost Interviews

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  • Unearthed information! (Score:5, Funny)

    by ubrgeek ( 679399 ) on Monday April 23, 2007 @11:32AM (#18841761)
    In the book, Lippincott admits that he actually fired first ...

  • Interviews (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 23, 2007 @11:34AM (#18841795)
    These are not the interviews you're looking for. Move along.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by SeaFox ( 739806 )

      These are not the interviews you're looking for. Move along.

      They could be the interviews I'm looking for! They were done a long time ago in a location far, far away from me.

  • Which Version Will They Show (Score:3, Interesting)

    by warmgun ( 669556 ) on Monday April 23, 2007 @11:40AM (#18841869)

    As the movie celebrates its 30th anniversary, George Lucas will be joined by many of his collaborators at a special screening at the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences' Goldwyn Theater on Monday.

    I wonder which version will be screened, the original or "enhanced" version?

    • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

      by Khisanth Magus ( 1090101 )
      Do you really have to ask? It will be the "enhanced" version of course. Lucas wants to pretend that the original versions never existed.

      • Re:Which Version Will They Show (Score:5, Insightful)

        by rblancarte ( 213492 ) on Monday April 23, 2007 @12:31PM (#18842533) Homepage
        And this is why he fails...

        Ok, enough of that.

        Seriously, for him to completely forget the original production of the trilogy is exactly why I won't give another red cent to the man. The fact is that all he has done is bastardize the original three movies with these new editions that were "the original vision". And worse, he has given us the new trilogy that, while telling of a story, was sorely lacking. I mean, I think there are some good elements, but all in all, as a whole, they sucked.

        It is really too bad that Lucas has missed the boat with celebrating the original versions of his films, which were highly revolutionary and landmarks of their time.

        RonB

        • Re: (Score:1)

          by morari ( 1080535 )
          The original trilogy was entertaining enough, but that's all it was; entertainment. It wasn't real science fiction, just a candy-coated fairy tale set in space. Nothing too imaginative to be found and watching his revised editions and new installments only goes further to prove that...
          • ... and how do you define "real" science fiction??

            further - what makes you the authority on what "real" science fiction is... it's easy to be an armchair quarterback, isn't it...

            • Re: (Score:1)

              by morari ( 1080535 )
              Real science fiction tends to explore the dilemmas of what makes up humanity. It involves thought, usually leaning toward some sort of message concerning our current society's trends. I'm not saying that Star Wars is awful for NOT being that, but I find it frustrating that this rabid cult of persons would spring up around something that is little more than a "rescue the princess, save the world from evil" scenario with lightsabers instead of swords. It's no different than the slew of action films that are r

              • Real science fiction tends to explore the dilemmas of what makes up humanity. It involves thought, usually leaning toward some sort of message concerning our current society's trends.
                Star Wars does address philosophical issues such as facing one's destiny and the nature of evil. I don't see why it has to address "current society's trends," unless you like your science fiction to seem hilariously dated in 30 years.

                • Re: (Score:1)

                  by morari ( 1080535 )
                  I'd hardly consider what Star Wars does as "addressing philosophical issues". What it does is throw around the word fate and evil then comes to an utterly cliche decision as to how to deal with it. Fate wins out by way of some magical force, a princess is saved, evil is vanquished and the world (galaxy?) is saved. Now, when I mentioned trends, I'm not talking about fashion or the hip new word of the week. I mean socio and political climates. Rarely has good science fiction felt dated, except for perhaps in

          • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

            by dakwatson ( 1092123 )
            I don't think Star Wars was ever considered by anyone, George Lucas included, to be real science fiction. It's chief influences (westerns, space operas, Akira Kurosawa's The Hidden Fortress) aren't sf. It is an adventure story, it's roots in Joseph Campbell's ideas about mythology, and should be judged as such. It shouldn't be criticized for not being something it's not supposed to be.

            • Re: (Score:1)

              by adona1 ( 1078711 )
              Were I to indulge in genre-wank (which I'm about to), I'd call it space fantasy or something along that nature. Princess Leia's bikini fits the bill there, all right ;)
          • Who is claiming it is anything but entertainment? And who cares? If it is entertaing it is entertaining. I agree it isn't "hard SciFi" but do we really need to get caught up in labels? Oh wait, this is Slashdot.

            labels:haha, yes, no, fud

      • Do you really have to ask? It will be the "enhanced" version of course. Lucas wants to pretend that the original versions never existed.


        That's nothing. I could have sworn there was an article about a Macbook being "hacked" at a security convention on the front page, but now it's not there any more. Talk about revisionist history.

        • Re:Which Version Will They Show (Score:4, Funny)

          by badboy_tw2002 ( 524611 ) on Monday April 23, 2007 @01:08PM (#18843007)
          Its still exists [slashdot.org], but digitally inserted into Saturday's stories because that's where the editors originally wanted it, they just didn't have the story written or the technology exploit that made the story possible. You should consider this new version of Saturday's stories as "original" and forget about the flawed earlier version you saw.
      • Yes - he wants to ignore the original versions so badly that he re-released them last December [slashdot.org].

  • It's gonna be $75... (Score:4, Informative)

    by Control-Z ( 321144 ) on Monday April 23, 2007 @11:57AM (#18842103)

    Some photos and text up at: http://www.wired.com/entertainment/hollywood/multi media/2007/04/gallery_starwars [wired.com]

  • I Remember This! (Score:5, Informative)

    by tb3 ( 313150 ) on Monday April 23, 2007 @12:00PM (#18842151) Homepage
    Back when Star Wars first came out, Starlog [wikipedia.org] 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.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Pope ( 17780 )
      I had a copy of "The Making Of Star Trek" as a kid. I tried to keep track of all the episodes I had seen, but the list in the back only had the first 2 seasons! I started writing all of the "unknown" episodes that I saw but ran out of room.

    • Re:I Remember This! (Score:5, Funny)

      by Pollardito ( 781263 ) on Monday April 23, 2007 @12:51PM (#18842753)

      Back when Star Wars first came out, Starlog [wikipedia.org] 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.
      you're going to have to wait a little longer for some of it, this is actually going to be a book about the middle part of the making of Star Wars. he plans to make a prequel to this book telling about the first part of making Star Wars, and then he'll round out the series with a sequel some time down the road (though that might possibly be a different author or take the form of a cartoon)

  • One of the great movie experiences of my life (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Jeff1946 ( 944062 ) on Monday April 23, 2007 @12:08PM (#18842227) Journal
    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.
    • Yep, I saw it too before the hype machine cranked up and all I knew going into the theater was what I'd heard at lunch in school. I was in the 7th grade and I saw it for the first time through the afro on the guy sitting in front of me (no stadium seating back in the day). It was still the coolest thing I'd ever seen.

  • I doubt this will include interviews where Lucas (Score:3, Insightful)

    by ClosedSource ( 238333 ) on Monday April 23, 2007 @12:25PM (#18842457)
    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

      • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

        by ClosedSource ( 238333 )
        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").

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Kenshin ( 43036 )
        I wonder what it would have been like if he had started making the prequels in the '80s, before he went (completely) mad...

      • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

        by Flamerule ( 467257 )

        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.

        No. Did Ridley Scott have to spend most of Blade Runner explaining how that world came to be? The original Star Wars was titled Star Wars; Lucas invented the "Episode IV" [wikipedia.org]

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by jedidiah ( 1196 )
          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.

  • Some excerpts (Score:5, Funny)

    by Yeechang Lee ( 3429 ) on Monday April 23, 2007 @12:46PM (#18842707)
    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.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Vexor ( 947598 )

      Well, maybe a toy or two for the little kids. But that's it.
      Well, maybe a toy or two *cough cough billion cough* for the little kids. But that's it.
    • 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.

      ...

      Wow.

      Apparently Lucas would

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by Moofie ( 22272 )
        Wow, you didn't see the fishhook? It was the size of a small moon...
        • Don't get me wrong, the question is definitely a trap. But there's a difference between playing down your plans for movie merchandising and claiming you only have plans for a toy or two and then starting an international multi-billion dollar merchandising empire the likes of which the world has never seen.

          • Re: (Score:2, Funny)

            by LMacG ( 118321 )
            OK, my ASCII art ability is non-existent, so just imagine in this space the classic Slashdot "joke/arrow over stick figure/you" response.

            • Re:Some excerpts (Score:4, Informative)

              by Cervantes ( 612861 ) on Monday April 23, 2007 @02:08PM (#18843871) Journal
              "OK, my ASCII art ability is non-existent, so just imagine in this space the classic Slashdot "joke/arrow over stick figure/you" response."

              Joke:   ->
              You:     O
                      /|\
                      / \

              Keep a copy in your notepad, change posting type to code, and enjoy as appropriate.
              Also, reread the GP until you can sense the sarcasm. Your powers are weak, young padawan...
              HTH, HAND
          • Well, you never know. He may not have had merchandising plans in the beginning, but Star Wars grew beyond anyone's initial expectations. As I begged my parents for Star Wars toys back then, I'm sure the toy companies begged Lucas and promised him billions. At that point it would've been more cruel to deny the kids from having any Star Wars toys.

            Of course, after the initial burst, the marketing strategy got significantly darker. ;-)
    • I like your Universe a lot. Can I come over for a weekend?

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Stormie ( 708 )

      some have complained that there aren't any black people in the Star Wars world. What's your response?
      Hey, Lando Calrissian was black, and he got to fly the Millenium Falcon!
  • 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?
    • The version on DVD is the laserdisc version. So, if you want your LDs on DVD, pick them up.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by WMD_88 ( 843388 )
      They look more detailed than the laserdiscs, but are also grainier. If you can stand film grain, by all means. I don't imagine a restored version any time...ever.
  • 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
    • With a heart rending performance by Jango Fett, singing the classic, "Send in the Clones"!

      • Re: (Score:2, Funny)

        by modelmaker10 ( 1092109 )
        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 nobod
  • Perhaps we would have seen Penny Marshall play Chewbacca, with a cursive 'L' emblazoned on that furry chest.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Deagol ( 323173 )
      Bad idea. They would have somehow worked in a product placement for Pepsi and milk. Hey! Maybe that's what that blue-ish milk that Aunt Beru is always serving?
  • Many Ballantines died to bring you this information.
  • The true story of TK-421 will be brought to light.
  • 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

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