OK besides this below and DEVO coming out of the Kent State massacre, what are other facts you have about the evolution of art / music /etc that wouldn't be obvious if you didn't know but, retroactively, explain and/or illuminate a LOT ?
Reminds me of how almost all the French dadaists and surrealists were WWI veterans of the trenches seriously exploring alternatives to conventional thought and language.
George Lucas REALLY wanted to impress Spielberg, Coppola, et al, but the first time he showed them Star Wars they laughed him out of their little boys’ club. He then gave it to his ex-wife to edit, and she is the only reason it became a hit.
She did not work on the prequels. Take it as you will.
I don’t believe this is true for EMPIRE. It’s said she worked on the prequels, which is why she’s on the commentary tracks for them. Regardless, she was a prolific and well-compensated script doctor, back when that was a thing, and almost never credited for her work due to the nature of that biz.
There was a viral online post a few years back professing to show her handwritten rewrites on an ESB script and I don’t believe that panned out, it was Kershner’s notes or something.
Hmm. I’m seeing several different versions. I do like, regardless of the circumstances, the writer telling Lucas “you can type this shit but you can’t say it”. If only more people told him that.
The legend is that Harrison Ford told him such on the ANH set. Which has layers to it because he was brought in to read the early scripts against the ACTUAL actor hopefuls 😂
Hey here’s one for the OP: CARRIE and STAR WARS had a shared casting call for the leads!
Legend goes he was building something expensive (carpentry) at the studio and he asked to read, and Lucas was like hey, why not?
And now Harrison Ford sneezes fame and oozes grumpy old man charisma
So, that's actually how he got hired for Lucas' previous film, American Graffiti! He was doing carpentry at Lucas' house and got hired. Lucas didn't want him for Han Solo because he didn't like working with the same actors across different projects, but was persuaded.
Harrison Ford had acted in one George Lucas film & two Coppola films by the time of Star Wars. Maybe that story is about how he got American Graffiti or something?
So, that's actually how he got hired for Lucas' previous film, American Graffiti! He was doing carpentry at Lucas' house and got hired. Lucas didn't want him for Han Solo because he didn't like working with the same actors across different projects, but was persuaded.
Version I heard was it was Hamill. If I recall, Hamill's said they all complained about it to one another, so it's plausible more than one of them said it. (If that experience inspired Carrie to be a screenwriter, it's a win.)
