Empire of Dreams SW documentary
#1
Posted 13 September 2004 - 02:13 PM
Ok first, a story that will add fuel to the fire of people who say Lucas is untalented. During the scene in ESB when Han is put into carbonite, Lucas originally had scripted Leia saying, "I love you," and Han saying "I love you too." Harrison Ford didn't think they were taking advantage of Han's character, he would never give in and say I love you too. Kershner has him do all these different takes saying I love you too, but it never sounds right. So finally, Kershner tells Han, don't say I love you too, just react and say whatever comes to mind, and then immediately calls action. Harrison, of course, says "I know", which became the line. Now I love you too isn't a terrible line, but it does show that Lucas, when left unchecked, will write something like that. If he has a "no" man, I'm sure he can write very well, because he has shown he does write good dialogue even if he hates writing. But with all these yes men like McCallum around them, and with Lucas's ego being inflated all these years since '83, he is left unchecked, and that kind of dialogue compounds into what we see in the prequels.
On another note, there was some great footage of Yoda between takes, where they're trying to get the eyes right and the body moving correctly, and it really showed how amazingly difficult it was to get Yoda a real, living, breathing character. Hamill also "fondly" recalls being the only human on the set for months, along with many snakes, gila monsters, lizards, smoke machines, and other things. One scene shows him getting bitten by a snake that was inside the X-Wing.
They showed Ralph McQuarrie's conceptual drawings of the original Star Wars's scenes, and they were absolutely gorgeous. They were needed actually to convince the studio to make Star Wars, or they would dump it, and I can see why they convinced the board of directors at Fox. They looked almost exactly like the movie, and were just beautiful.
They also said that it was actually because of ESB that Lucas had to quite the director's guild, writer's guild, and MPA because of some ridiculously nitpicky things like putting credits at the end of the movie instead of the beginning (they allowed it for the original Star Wars, but they fined him a crapload of money for ESB). They said the Guild also fined Kershner more than a quarter of a million dollars, which Lucas paid for him (if there's one good thing you can say for Lucas, it is that he has always been extremely generous to and protective of his people, and I can understand why Kershner seemed to be on good terms with him). They said Spielberg was going to direct ROTJ, but because Lucas had to quit the guild, he wasn't able to hire Spielberg, and had to get Marquand (I'm sure Spielberg would have made at least a bit of a difference in ROTJ).
The original screen tests were pretty funny. Some of the people they showed just overacted tremendously, because the lines were so ridiculous (Hamill recalled one line he had to say, which he actually delivered pretty well, that is just so unbelieveably stupid that it has stuck with him all these years). It showed Kurt Russel screen testing for Han (he was actually pretty good) along with Ford's, Hamill's, and Fisher's original tests, which they all did very well.
They also joked about how David Prowse would actually say his lines in his scenes, and since nobody knew yet what Vader really sounded like, they were afraid that Prowse's voice would actually be used, and that this Dark Lord had a soft Scottish accent that was just hilarious and terrifying at the same time. And though I knew this before, I still think it's amazing that James Earl Jones stuttered as a kid.
There are tons more that I forgot, but it was very entertaining and enlightening. And what's funny is, I came out of it with more respect for 2 things. One was George Lucas, who I still contend isn't the evil untalented money-hungry monster we make him out to be, though he certainly is an asshole for fucking with us multiple times. The second, believe it or not, was The Empire Strikes Back. They really played up Empire in the documentary, and I'm almost starting to come around to Civ's and JYAMG's side about it compared to Jedi, and I found myself wishing that Jedi was done a little differently. But, I'm still not there yet, I still think Jedi's a great movie, and probably always will, but I'm really beginning to like ESB much, much more, so because of that, anyone who believes the decline of Star Wars started with ROTJ should be fairly pleased. Warwick Davis was cool talking about the Ewoks though, and Kasdan defends them too (though he did say that he, along with Ford, had a major disagreement with Lucas because they thought someone, preferably Han, should die, and while I see their point, I still do believe that not killing him or anyone else was the proper decision, it would have made it just too real and less of the fantasy/fairy tale it's supposed to be). But it doesn't matter, the point is it is a very good documentary, so see if it's going to be on TV again because you should catch it.
#2
Posted 13 September 2004 - 06:36 PM
#3
Posted 13 September 2004 - 06:37 PM
I think it's a testament to the power of the light side of the force (the CT) that a documentary about it can muster up such feelings in a viewer. Try this with the PT (dark side) in twenty years, and noone here is going to get the least bit misty; not even jariten.
Glad to hear you're turning around on EMPIRE, VWING. I sense there is still some good in you.
This post has been edited by civilian_number_two: 13 September 2004 - 06:37 PM
#4
Posted 13 September 2004 - 06:50 PM
Oh and I just really like Hamill, whenever he speaks he just makes me like him. If you're looking for the Yoda impression, though, it's VERY brief, he says only 4 or 5 words like Yoda when they're talking about filming the Yoda scenes on Dagobah, but it's brilliant (which makes sense, considering that he has made a career out of voice acting for cartoons, and I still contend that his Joker in the Batman Animated Series is better than Nicholson's). And he also takes part in a discussion about how one of the major things the studio was worrying about during the original Star Wars was, get this, whether or not Chewie was going to wear pants. He says, they're worrying about just getting this thing done in time, and the studio's worrying about whether Chewie is going to wear pants!
#5
Posted 14 September 2004 - 02:25 AM
It must have been great to see so many of the people who played a role in creating this special part of our childhoods.
I'm amazed that some of the participants managed to sway your view (even if only slightly) over Return of the Jedi and The Empire Strikes Back. After endless debates on this forum, we couldn't even make you budge. This documentary must have been compelling stuff.
I also would have loved to have heard all the stories that took place while making these films.
You obviously enjoyed it a lot, Vwing. It really comes across in your wonderful, heartfelt review. Thank you for sharing that with us. I will see it myself someday if I should ever get the chance.
#6
Posted 14 September 2004 - 08:05 AM
Anyone ever see "From Star Wars to Jedi"? It was boxed with the Star Wars trilogy that was released on VHS in 1990. I liked that documentary quite a bit.
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#7
Posted 14 September 2004 - 11:34 AM
When I bought the THX Laserdiscs (last chance to see the series without the changes!) in 1998, I gave that box set away to a friend, but I kept the documentary.
#8
Posted 14 September 2004 - 08:12 PM
Damn... you're so LUCKY! I wish I had those so I could transfer them to DVD.
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#9
Posted 14 September 2004 - 08:41 PM
#10
Posted 14 September 2004 - 09:10 PM
that is funny. I've done that too. Kind of like Dr. Nick studying up for open heart surgery on Homer and his how-to tape does the same thing. consider it better than a Lucas enhancement.
The ebay boxset I have has those annoying Leo Malten Lucus suck-up interviews at the beginning of each film, with Q&A about the corresponding flick.