Gary Kurtz on Return of the Jedi
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 27 ก.ค. 2024
- Gary Kurtz, the producer of Star Wars (1977) and The Empire strikes back (1980) talks about his departure from Lucasfilm, George Lucas working with other directors and the original outline for Return of the Jedi.
I do not own this material and i'm not going to make any money out of it. This is purely for entertainment purposes. - ภาพยนตร์และแอนิเมชัน
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Very classy and respectful Gary. You are/will be missed. RIP
I'm glad Kirshner did things his own way on Empire - best movie in the whole series, bar none.
George still had veto power.
Empire was at another plateau, artistically.
I think ROTJ is a great blend of Star Wars and Empire.
Rest in Peace Gary Kurtz, a truly brilliant film maker and a wonderful gentleman, husband, father and grandfather.
R.I.P. Gary Kurtz...
Great guy, classy, the differences with George obvioulsly were great, but BOTH of them are respectfull with the other. You do not see that anymore.
After 1980's The Empire Strikes Back, Gary Kurtz went on to be the producer of Jim Henson's The Dark Crystal in 1982 and Irvin Kershner directed the unofficial Sean Connery James Bond film Never Say Never Again in 1983.
Gary worked on some damn fine movies. American Graffiti-Star Wars-Empire Strikes back-
True Star Wars: George Lucas AND Gary Kurtz
He will never be forgotten.
MAY THE FORCE BE WITH YOU ALWAYS. YOU WILL BE MISSED
Amazing to think how different Jedi could have been.
I'm so accustomed to seeing archival pics of Gary Kurtz with his beard, I thought it was Michael McKean in the thumbnail for a split second, until my eyes registered the title.
I think they coulda compromised a little, have conclusions to everything and try and do something a little different for the ending and nor retread but at the same time I think the arc that played out was pretty good, the DS2 did look different than the first one so that's good, the forest was a smart move IMO just for visuals, having Luke be far more powerful was also good.....
and Han honestly I'm glad he survived but I do kinda agree with the idea that someone had to die just to raise the stakes a little....but again I like what we got....
rest in peace Gary Kurtz, thanks for your contributions to cinema....
We had a Death Star battle in _Star Wars_ and a land battle in _The Empire Strikes Back,_ so a fleet battle would have been the next different thing. We kind of got that with the Death Star 2. A bit ridiculous to have the Millennium Falcon enter the Death Star, though, unless they were nearly out of fighters. Lando should have been the one to lure the enemy fighters out, not those smaller ships.
Imagine if Gary Kurtz worked on the prequels..
Also imagine if Marcia Lucas edited them.
@@pacman5698 I had to come to terms that the prequels are not good movies. Revenge of the Sith is really the best out of the three but has its problems, at least ROTS has a good structure, the acting improved and the Cgi I think look ok by today's standards. I grew up with the prequels and the TCW cartoon has really made them better to watch, but I view the prequel movies as nuggets to the Clone Wars cartoon.
Marcia was the brains behind Lucas. Lucas has ideas, he just wanders and gets lost in his idea. Marcia I think grounded him.
@Robert 0077 An argument can be made Lucas did "pure shit" too. The prequels were considered the biggest betrayal of a movie series for so many years. And they still are in many sects of fan discourse.
@Robert 0077 >Still saying "SJW" in the year 2020.
Lol, K.
And yeah, only now it is completely sunk as the horrors of TLJ becoming the best reviewed movie since Empire and launching Rian Johnson's directing career into new heights. And if you think George Lucas is a God, I hope you're not a fan of the Expanded Universe. You won't like what he has to say about it.
@Robert 0077 Fascinating world salad their I must say. Though it's always important to remember that if you're getting all your info about the franchise from Geeks + Gamers, you're getting your info from the wrong place.
Also, according to the logic that George is a God of Star Wars, no it isn't. Lucas admitted several times he never read it and that it's not part of his universe because all Star Wars is to him is the tale of Darth Vader.
Sounds like the sequels tried to do the exact story he describes, Han dies in a raid, Leia is leader of the Rebellion and Luke is off on his own.
It's so odd to see how Luke's portrayal pissed off people in TLJ when some of the original creators of the first trilogy wanted to give him a bittersweet ending where he breaks off from the group. According to some reports, Kasdan was more drawn to the ending where he left as a nod to old western endings, while the happily ever after was a Lucas idea.
@@pacman5698 The reason Luke was supposed to ride off into the sunset was because he was going to go look for his sister (who was not Leia originally). This is a problem for the sequel trilogy, since they could not come up with a good motive for why Luke was missing.
Tom Davies After
@@pacman5698 Because, the Last Jedi is a mess. Its execution is hamfisted and really poor.
@@pacman5698 The sequels in general are a dumpster fire but, if you want try and act like the Last Jedi wasn't the final nail in the coffin, by all means be my guest.
I do remember reading that Lucas offered the directing job (for RoTJ) to Kirshner but he turned it down. Later he said that after watching the movie he regretted turning it down.
Marquand was probably a more amenable director to Lucas ideas, he still made a great movie, but it's interesting to think what it might have been like with Kirshner in the directors seat.
Another reason why Kershner turned down directing ROTJ was that you have to commit three years of your life doing a Star Wars movie from developing the script, pre-production, principal photography, post production and so on. He did not want to go through that a second time.
Not a YES MAN, like the bootlickers that followed...and the results speak for themselves.
Thank you Gary.
Actually, he WAS a bit of a yes man himself.
He was always afraid of challenging others. He was even afraid of challenging Kershner too.
Kurtz wasn't a yes man but Lucas always had control over his films, including Empire which he had trusted Kershner with, but the end product was still edited how he wanted. Lucas even ended up filming additional scenes for Empire, such as a last minute change to the ending.
Nuff said.
Interesting to imagine, but I think the action-packed, climactic (and, ultimately, happy) finale we got was a better way to end the series.
RIP
Unfortunately perfection is always impossible to achieve.
Not always. It was achieved with the first 2.
Muskateering and 6 really underrated
@@Muskateering you mean all 6 off them
@@Replica_Films2000 No just the first 2.
@@Muskateering i agree the first 6 are almost petfect
Well as a kid aged 7 in 1983 I loved Jedi and didn't have any other version in mind I thought could improve on it, so that's all that matters thanks.
Same for me, but then I rewatched it as an adult and realized how mediocre it was compared to its predecessors.
What is this interview taken from? I can't seem to find a full version (assuming one even exists).
Kurtz was never fired he just left because he didn't like how the script was going. You should read leigh bracket who is in the credit of empire her total version of what empire was going to be the lucas didn't like vader wasn't originally going to be lukes father his father was going to be a jedi appearing as a ghost like obi wan did. Also production of both films gary kurtz produced due to reasons. First film didn't get much support from fox at the time and only left them with 12 million to spend. Empire had to deal with weather problems in Norway when shooting hoth and Leigh bracket who is credited in the screenplay part of the credit along with John barry known for production design on superman 1 and 2 and the first star wars was brought in at second unit director on empire both died during production barry died on the set while filming a scene in London.
Amccfilms Mcclellan
Damn wtf. How'd they die exactly?
John barry died while on set of empire in London of meningitis and bracket died of cancer.
Kurtz was fired because Empire ran out of money and Lucas had to take out a loan. Howard Kazanjian was brought on toward the end of production to take over Kurtz' responsibilities.
listen you believe what you want . But I bet you ever ask lucas himself he will tell you your wrong.Kurtz has worked with lucas on other things before star wars came about and kurtz helped with the design of characters. I am pretty sure lucas didn't mind taking out a loan cause he had too for the first one along with jedi . things happen sometimes that you can't control the good thing was the movies were a big success no matter what
He also wanted to fire Kurtz on the first star wars, for refusing to fire Gil Taylor. The man responsible for star wars cinematography. I have no idea who he thought he could replace him with.
After Return of the Jedi was recently selected for preservation in the National Film Registry, it makes me wonder if Gary Kurtz were still alive, what he’d think of the Library of Congress’ decision to preserve it; even if he didn’t work on it and wasn’t a fan of the new ideas and changes George did to the story after working together on the original outline.
He'd probably say something petty.
He likes to say stuff like, "the ending was going to be darker and cooler" just to boost his image.
He walked away for good reason. Still love ROTJ but I’m sure the original intended direction would have been much better.
How very true.
personally i prefer happy endings for the end of the trilogy, but for the first 2 i prefer "empire endings"
While killing Han in Jedi would’ve been emotionally impactful, I’ve never been sold on the idea/beat’s longevity or overall service to the story. And as Gary says, the film wouldve become a more bittersweet conclusion to this rousing three part serial/Saturday morning matinee, rather than a heroic winning of the day. I reckon it would’ve been a really hard moment for the film to recover from.
Of course, as Gary also explains, if that was the film which was made we’d have known nothing different…
Kurtz’s overall involvement as producer for Star Wars and Empire Strikes Back is overemphasized. However, I believe his greatest contribution was preventing Lucas from meddling in Kirshner’s film while making Empire Strikes Back. When Kirshner and Lucas negotiated the director’s contract for the movie, Kirshner insisted that he be allowed to make his movie his way. And he wanted the credits to clearly stipulate that it was an “Irvin Kirshner Film” (which it does). Lucas agreed so long as it kept him out of the director’s chair. Lucas set the schedule and budget for the movie without Kirshner’s input. He therefore expected Kirshner to work within it. Kirshner had other ides. He was an artist as a director. He would spend hours setting up a single shot with multiple cameras. Lucas had no talent as a director. He would shot a scene with one camera and do it as quickly as possible. As the work went over budget and behind schedule, Lucas who was afraid of confrontation with Kirshner actually had Kurtz fly back to California from England in the middle of filming to scream at him and demand that he tell Kirshner to finish up within a week. Kurtz who was once a sergeant in the Marine Corps wasn’t fazed by the idiot that was Lucas. He told him that he’s been watching Kirshner work and Empire was going to be an absolutely amazing movie; probably better than the original. Lucas went nuclear. Kurtz remained unfazed and let Kirshner finish the movie his way. The end result was the best film in the entire Star Wars saga. Lucas was wrong (again) and Kurtz and Kirshner were right.
Do you have a source for this?
"Lucas had no talent as a director"
Correct - although Kurtz didn’t admit to being fired by Lucas in favor of Kazanjian, that was a direct result of Lucas’ dissatisfaction with Kurtz going over budget on Empire.
"Lucas has no talent as a director" wow what a take
@@disma4191it’s a clown tale🤡
ROTJ is my favourive SW movie. Yet, I found the idea of Princess Leia's character arc interesting, but killing Han wouldn't do it. We've the best possible ending leaving our beloved characters on a high note, and it's the only right way to go for a trilogy that revolves around hope.
Gary was right with everything. ROTJ is already the beginning of the end of Star Wars. The prequels showed us that Lucas has no clue of how to make Star Wars work and the sequels were the nail in the coffin. The spin-offs are just the flys hovering over its dead body looking for something to eat.
The prequels required better writing, true, but the premise was great, they were supposed to be different from the OT. I hate that Red Letter Media argument that it was basically bad for not being like the originals. That's just dumb.
@@emzonik8851nice prequel cope
@@bryanc7094 What's wrong about it? You can't deny most of the first generation would bash the prequels no matter their actual quality. It's purely on the baisis of nostalgia and a desire for familiarity.
I prefer the original line Return of the Jedi was written, probably the original title of the movie was different too. Return of the Jedi almost reduced Star Wars idea in a parody excepted for the dark side proposition.
LOL. George Lucas not around during the best Star Wars film of all time. Makes sense after seeing the prequels.
but Rots is like the best movie off all time.
@Robert 0077 if only Disney used George Lucas story treatments for the sequels that was there one job but instead told him to fuck off and hired 2 hacks
Let's not kid ourselves. The original trilogy had no plan either. That is, unless you think it was planned that Vader would start off as a henchman, even taking crap from a one-off Imperial character at the beginning of the movie and taking orders from Tarkin, before graduating to the Emperor's right hand man (and suddenly Luke's father) in the second movie. Or the love triangle that was set up in Empire that was then dashed to bits in Jedi because Leia was suddenly Luke's sister, but she'd "always known", even when she kissed him throughout the previous movie. Hell, the Emperor's plan doesn't even make sense, so they couldn't even fake knowing what a plan is.
Oh well, I see the term "SJW" was used so I shouldn't have even bothered.
@@DamienDrake yes, George Lucas is the king of retcons. TESB retcons SW, ROTJ retcons TESB, prequels retcon the OT... But that's not the problem. Empire and Jedi are still great and exciting movies with interesting stories and good scripts. And they don't sh*t on characters and the Force fantasy lore. Prequels on the other hand... So a retcon is not a problem as long as it improves the story, not breaks it.
@@mishynaofficialприквели теж хороші фільми з цікавим сюжетом. Я можу погодитись з тим, що вони гірші за ОТ і що вони мають певні недоліки (як от слабка любовна лінія, місцями недолугі діалоги або комп'ютерна графіка, що в деяких сценах не витримує перевірку часом). Але плюсів у них набагато більше: круті актори, нові класні персонажі, що вже стали культовими серед фанів (Дарт Мол, граф Дуку, Мейс Вінду, Квай-Гон), найкращі бої на світлових мечах, найкраща музика тощо. Ну і найголовніше - основна тема цих фільмів, падіння демократії та становлення диктатури. Приквели дуже правдоподібно показали, що буває, коли люди добровільно відмовляються від своїх прав і свобод задля умовних "мира и порядочка". Повторюсь, ці фільми неідеальні, але і на ненависть вони теж не заслуговують
ROTJ had the fist signs of George Lucas forgetting how to make good films.
ROTJ was good, did you see it in theaters in 1983?? I did, it's a bit different than the SE
1 the song lapti Nek is played in jabba's palace when Oola's dancing
2 Sarlacc didn't have a beak
3 at the end Sebastian Shaw was the ghost of Anakin Skywalker
4 as the film closes out there was no scenery of the galaxy celebrating the fall of the empire
I might be forgetting a few elements but generally I feel like the film was fine before the special edition.....
th-cam.com/video/2zghC6UgcV4/w-d-xo.html
ROTJ had a regrettable silliness to some of its pieces. But the theater experience was awesome. I remember the first time I saw lightning erupt from the Emperor's hands. It was frightening.
At the time in 1983 Return Of The Jedi's release was lauded by fans and the public. It's only years later after the lackluster prequel trilogy that a certain revisionism has crept in and certain fans see Return Of The Jedi as the beginning of where George Lucas started to lose his good judgement. This isn't the case at all and Return Of The Jedi remains superlative entertainment and ends the original trilogy in a satisfying way. The prequels are where Lucas lost his sound judgement and Return Of The Jedi towers over them in every conceivable way.
ROTJ has some truly great moments. The scenes with Luke, Vader and the emperor are some of the greatest moments in cinema. But overall, the film is a mess. The Jabba scenes were good to begin with but it was dragged out for too long, there is way too much exposission, Han was boring and it was clear that Harrison Ford was phoning it in, making Luke and Leia siblings was unnecessary, the humour was slightly too childish and of course the Ewoks. Fuck the Ewoks!
W-James and killing Boba Fett off in such a slapstick way was unforgivable!
All this makes Lucas insisting on directing all three prequels all the more mystifying. An energetic director would have made a huge difference in the quality of those films even with the subpar scripts. Was it an ego thing?
no it was just an you cant pay attention kind off thing.
Lucas didn't insist on directing the prequels. Far from it. He initially approached Ron Howard, Robert Zemekis and Steven Speilberg to direct Episode 1, but they didn't want the weight if continuing George's story and insisted that Lucas directed it because it was his baby and he knew what he wanted and what he was doing better than each of them. Eventually Lucas did manage to persuade Speilberg to come back amd direct parts of ROTS, those being the wheel-bike chase sequence on Utapau, and much if the Mustafar duel sequence. This is all explained in the behind the scenes documentaries.
To me, after hearing this, it doesn't even matter how good or bad "Rise of Skywalker" turned out.
It was never possible for it to be a fun experience, because regardless of whether or not it was good fans had to go and ruin it for anybody and everybody.
Someone once said that no one hates Star Wars more than Star Wars fans. I tend to agree anymore, unfortunately.
I liked _The Dark Crystal_ but the prequel series had the cloud of genocide bringing it down.
George "selling toys" Lucas
Clown🤡
History shows Kurtz was really the genius behind Star Wars and once he left it went to heII
@Chris-tf2bm then explain why the two best movies were done with Kurtz?
@Chris-tf2bm I don't think you understand creative process. Someone can up with an amazing concept but not execute it correctly without the right people around them. If Kurtz didn't play a part, explain to me how every other Star Wars he wasn't involved with were inferior and many cases sucked?
@Chris-tf2bm If you think that, our conversation is over.
The prequel trilogy is the greatest Star Wars trilogy, the best Star Wars trilogy, the richest, the most accomplished, the most complete, the most exciting, the most fleshed-out, everything is superb, exciting and exceptional, it's an extremely rich masterpiece, It's an extremely rich, magnificent, exciting masterpiece, made with passion, exploring a much richer, fleshed-out, concrete and extended universe than James Cameron's Avatar, a superb, phenomenal cult trilogy that we can still watch over 30 times and rediscover new things: the deepening of the Star Wars universe and its narrative elements are superb and exciting, and it explores in detail the period of the Clone Wars, a crucial moment in Star Wars history 🔥😍 a fundamental and exciting pivotal period with the best stakes 🔥💥🔥 the best period of the entire Star Wars saga ❤️🤗🔥💥🥳
The fascinating plot that develops throughout the films. The rise to power of Palpatine, Darth Sidious, is masterfully depicted, he advances his pawns with each episode 🥰 His behind-the-scenes shenanigans to undermine the Galactic Republic and bring the galaxy under his control are meticulously presented. His manipulation to form a huge clone army and eradicate the Jedi with Order 66 is central to the story, explaining how the Galactic Empire took shape, the fall of the Republic, the beginnings of war, and how Anakin Skywalker switched to the dark side of the force in order to become Darth Vader, Palpatine manipulating Anakin by flattering him, he's delightfully detestable 🔥💖💥🔥 Anakin Skywalker's transformation into Darth Vader is a superb, memorable and breathtaking scene 😍💥 the link with the original trilogy is superbly done, the prequel trilogy perfectly complements the original trilogy, making it even better on many points. Anakin's internal conflict between his loyalty to the Jedi order and his desire to save those he loves makes his story deep and tragic 🔥🔥 His passage to the dark side, with key moments such as his confrontation with Count Dooku and his heartbreaking final duel with Obi-Wan Kenobi on Mustafar, the death of his mentor, the only one who believed in him, the death of his mother, the fear of losing Padmé as he lost his mother 💥🔥
The prequel trilogy also brought an invaluable richness to the Star Wars universe, a detailed insight into the Jedi order, Padawan training, the Sith, mastery of combat and Jedi teachings 💖💥🔥 The focus on the Sith and their philosophy reinforced the dark side of the Force, adding depth and complexity to the saga.
Jedi mythology, the monks of the Republic, guardians of peace and justice in the Republic.
The political aspect of the prelogy adds a new dimension to the Star Wars universe, Palpatine's machinations in the Galactic Senate and the growing tensions between planetary systems, creating a richer context for the later events of the Original trilogy, the rise of the Empire, the fall of the Republic, the extinction of the Jedi and the tragic story of Anakin Skywalker 💥🔥
The expansion of the universe is also awesome and extremely rich, stratospheric and extremely diverse. New planets, races and cultures are introduced, the dugs, the gungans, the toydarians, the kaminoians, the aquatic city, the queen's palace, the galactic senate, the cloning factory, the gungans' aquatic city, the galactic senate, helping to create a larger and more diverse world, a real grandeur, a real great feeling of traveling and exploring a much richer, concrete, exciting and fleshed-out universe, a greater expansion of diversity, of the richness, universe, world building and lore of Star Wars 💥🔥 Iconic locations such as Kamino, Geonosis, Kashyyk, Utapau, Felucia and Mustafar provide visually captivating backdrops for action scenes, development and key plot moments, these are extraordinary planets in the Star Wars universe 😍🥰💖💥 Cult and iconic characters, Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Padmé Amidala, Qui-Gon Jinn. Mace Windu, General Grievous, Jango Fett, Watto, Sebulba...❤️🔥🔥
The action scenes and lightsaber battles are among the saga's most memorable. Epic battles such as the Battle of Geonosis, the Pod Race on Tatooine, the Battle of Naboo and the Battle Over Coruscant are highly memorable and emblematic of the saga, they are not only visually impressive, superbly well-realized, they are also emotionally charged, with characters we've grown to love in danger ❤️🔥 Lightsaber duels between iconic characters such as Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker, Darth Maul and Yoda are executed with exceptional choreography, adding a visceral dimension to the story, the battle on Naboo, the confrontation with Count Dooku, the duel at the top of the Senate between Yoda and Darth Sidious, the fight against Darth Maul and the fratricidal duel between Obi-Wan and Anakin... 🔥🔥
The prequel also enriches the Star Wars lore with new charismatic, cult and endearing characters, iconic figures from the history of cinema, Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Padmé Amidala, Mace Windu, Yoda, Qui-Gon Jinn, unforgettable music, "Duel of the Fates", "Across the Stars", "Battle of the Heroes", a super-rich, exciting and comprehensive lore and a cast of talented actors, Ewan McGregor, Natalie Portman, Samuel L. Jackson and Liam Neeson 💖💥😍🔥
Natalie Portman is superb, gorgeous, sweet, sensual and charismatic, giving her character of Padmé Amidala queen and senator of Naboo exemplary strength, determination and courage, political power and a funny, endearing personality, a true perfect queen with perfect poise and a true perfect queenly voice that commands respect. Her evolution from a queen to a senator, to a badass, elegant and determined woman, is a central feature of the trilogy, an important character, participating in both the creation of the Galactic Empire, the fall of the Republic, the creation of Darth Vader, and the birth of Luke and Leia 🔥💖💥
Ewan McGregor and Liam Neeson bring memorable class and presence to the screen. Their dynamic as Jedi masters is palpable, and they convey a wisdom and determination that anchors the story in Jedi heritage, they're charming, engaging, have charisma, and perfect class. What's more, Christopher Lee's presence as Count Dooku adds a touch of class, elegance and charisma, amplified by his perfect and magnificent Shakespearean speech.
The prequel trilogy was the revival of the Star Wars saga, bringing real drama, real political context, real stakes, superb new characters, iconic action scenes and a much richer universe, a more developed, more diversified universe, and a much more expansive universe, it has fleshed out the Lore of the saga, and perfectly complements the original trilogy by being inseparable from it, and it's a great and extraordinary cult trilogy 🥳🥰😍💖✨🤗💥
The Star Wars prequel trilogy is a masterpiece and the Star Wars trilogy is a masterpiece and form an incredible whole, one great story of exceptional galactic epic 🔥💥🔥🤗 and the technological advance towards digital to create new worlds, new stratospheric world building, so immense, beautiful and detailed, new peoples, new planets, new creatures, shaping a much richer, more believable, more vivid universe, really giving the impression of traveling and exploring a much more varied, more complete, more fleshed-out universe, and building the extraordinary story of the Star Wars prequel trilogy 😍🔥🤩🥰💥🤗💖🥳
The first 6 movies in the Star Wars saga are the best, richest, most cult, exciting and extraordinary movies of all time 😍🤗💥💖🤩🔥🥰✨🥳👍
Your opinion is stupid nonsense.
Yeah, nice little fable he's telling here. Truth is Kurtz was let go for going way over budget and way beyond schedule on The Empire Strikes Back, forcing Lucas to take out a loan to finish the movie, and then go and beg Fox to vouch for him. Something that he wanted to avoid at all costs. It's well documented.
Kurtz later faced exactly the same problems on The Dark Crystal and Return to Oz, with Disney wanting to fire him for the same reasons. It's Lucas in person who intervened and saved his neck.
That being said, yes, there were indeed creative differences between the 2 men, with Kurtz thinking that Lucas was veering dangerously towards popcorn movies and light entertainment where action and humor are more important than plot and character development. But that was about Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark, not Return of the Jedi!
Kurtz merely supported the director of ESB, namely Irvin Kershner. It was his directorial style to do a more slower and in-depth approach to shot a movie - and it shows. The grandeur of ESB is the supporting pillar of the entire saga. And it is one of the prime examples in movie history of a sequel being equal or even better as the previous movie.
About that loan: Lucas had to ask to FOX about more money because the new bank chairman was simply an idiot. He thought giving a bigger loan to the sequel of the (at that time) most successful movie of all time would be a ... risk.
As for ROTJ: Well, the success of RAIDERS could have motivated Lucas to favor action scenes rather than following the character development stuff initiated by ESB.
Really glad they didn’t kill Solo. Why the hell was that such an obsession for Kurtz and that punk Kasdan? Sick sick sickos
@@danielb5549 in this fairy tale story about the hero's Journey mede to be uplifting and mada for kids. Yeah this guy kurtz is bullshit
Gary Kurtz is making it all up. There was NO plan to kill Han Solo. There's no way he would have known if there was, because Kutz was given the boot months before Lucas began writing Jedi's outline in 1980. George Lucas never wanted him work on Jedi to begin with.
The original ending was still going to have the dancing Ewok celebration, and Anakin and Obi-wan were going to come back to life. And Yoda was going to be alive too and join the party.
It's true Harison Ford wanted Han to die, but Lucas denied it because he wanted Episode 6 to be an uplifting story. And KAsden actually didn't want Han to die either, KAsden actually wanted Luke to die because he didn't care for the character.
@@lloydshanahan154 >KAsden actually wanted Luke to die
WHAT? (c) Is he for real?
@@mishynaofficial It's in both Rinzler's Making of Return of the Jedi and Paul Duncan's first Star Wars Archives books. Even Skywalking mentions the conversation. Check it out for yourself if you don't believe me.
@@lloydshanahan154 I believe you, I just don’t get who would be the main main character instead and where the story would go.
Biggest missed opportunity in history
What is this guy talking about? Han dies in a raid? Really? Literally Abrams gave Han a more tasteful death. And Leia goes off with her people and leaves Luke alone who rides off into the sunset and does whatever. Neither of them are going to restore any sort of republic or Jedi order? Damn Kurtz your version of SW sucks.
Kurtz just remembers the 3rd act story beats from Lucas' first ROTJ outline. There were no further detailed nor dramaturgic scene compositions at this point. Thats why 'Han gets killed in a raid' sounds rather boring at first. Fun fact: Lucas' first screenplay description of the 'epic' Ani VS Obi lightsaber duel in ROTS reads as: 'They fight.' Does that sound exciting?
@@gordongecko1975 I still don’t understand why Kurtz thinks these are “natural conclusions.” So Lando promises Leia that he’ll save Han but Han is just going to die in some unspecified raid? And I get that Leia would feel sympathetic to her people, but Empire hardly develops that and there’s more development of Leia’s connection to Luke so why is it natural that Leia would have to leave Luke? Also having Anakin and Obi-Wan fight is a much more exciting idea than having Luke ride off into the sunset like Clint Eastwood.
No disrespect to him but... Gary Kurtz is Lying in this video. He's making it all made up.
People need to understand that Kurtz did NOT leave because he didn't agree with the story. he was terminated from Lucasfilm because he caused the Empire's production to get chaotic and company almost went bankrupt. And Lucas didn't want Kutz on Jedi to begin with, he was planning to replace Kurtz with Kazanjian as early as 1977 and the only reason Kurtz stayed as producer was because he begged (with a capitol B) to stay as producer.
There was also no plan to kill off Han Solo.
That was something Harison Ford wanted for the character, and when Jedi was in pre-production no one was certain if Harison would even return (especially George Lucas) and that whole Jaba's Palace thing was made at the last minute just to bring Han Back. There's no way Kurtz would have known What Jedi's story was going to be back in 1981 because he resigned from his position on December 11th 1979 and Lucas granted his resignation in February of 1980 and Jedi wasn't greenlit for production a month afterwords. Plus George Lucas didn't start writing the original outline for Jedi until the summer of 1980. Kutz never saw the original script and he was not there for the story meeting in 1981, because he was already long gone by that point.
For those of you who are curious, Return of the Jedi was not originally meant to end on a darker note. No Han Dying and Luke riding into the sunset or Luke turning to the dark side and putting on Vader's mask (that last one was actually a joke Lucas told and Kasden thought he was being serious). Jedi was originally going with the dancing Ewok (Ewak as they were first called) celebration anyway and it going to have Obi-Wan and Anakin coming back to life in the flesh. And Yoda was going to join the party too, also alive in the flesh. Jedi's original ending if anything was going to be more sugar coated then the ending we got.
As far as these story concepts he brings up are concerned, they are really just his opinion not actually written documents. From what I can tell from this interview is that he didn't care for the redemption of Vader that Lucas cooked up and cared more for the Leia love triangle and wanted the movie to focus more on that.
And I for one disagree with him. I think these concepts of the story would have made the film lose focus.
Return of the Jedi had a fine balance of Character driven substance and action as is.
All and all, Gary Kurtz is not a trustworthy source when it comes to the history of Star Wars. Gary Kurtz is actually a fraud. Read John Rinzler and Paul Duncan's books if you want the real history of Star Wars.
Ewoks. Not just another death star, but goddam ewoks...
Gary Kurtz is jealous because he was fired after The Empire Strikes Back went over budget, interfered with and delayed the shooting schedule.
Return of the Jedi is a masterpiece and literally one of the best Star Wars movies ever made, behind the prequels movies of course.
It's the perfect ending and conclusion to the original 6 movies, the story of Anakin, the story of Palpatine and the story of the Empire.
The true ending is Anakin sacrificing himself to save his son, killing the Emperor and eventually bringing balance back to the Force, the fall of the Empire, and Anakin returning to the light side of the Force, coming full circle.
The sequel trilogy is lame, disappointing, boring, forgettable and completely dispensable, bringing nothing new, no story, no universe, no music and uninteresting characters played by unknown actors with no charisma.
The best movies of all time are the first 6 movies in the Star Wars saga, absolute masterpieces, exciting and expansive, delivering infinite possibilities in every way.
He was also fired for letting things going over budget
First and foremost Kurtz let the production of 'Empire' run over budget because he supported Irvin Kershners style of directing. Both were concerned with the artistic quality of the movie. Lucas just saw 'Empire' as a mere tool that would help funding his Skywalker ranch. "The ranch is the only thing that counts," Lucas told Lucasfilm president Charles Weber in 1980. Lucas infamously once said to Kurtz: "We could have made just as much money if the film hadn't been quite so good, and you hadn't spent so much time." Kurtz' answer: "But it was worth it." And you know what? Kurtz is right. 'Empire' was and is still the supporting pillar of the Star Wars saga.
Ok that’s not true. Kershner and Robert Watts were both critical of Gary Kurtz. Read the making of Empire by Jw Rinzler. It’s the most objective account of what happened. The movie was getting made and Lucas had to fly down and help Kershner towards the end.
Also Kurtz admitted in an interview with Chris Taylor that there was no set in stone outline for Jedi at the point. And he was let go long before Jedi was written
Mike North makes total sense. „Fire“ the guy that just made you tons of money with a massive critically acclaimed success. Lucas was crazy if he fired Kurtz for overruns on what was one of the biggest box office and critical successes of all time. So I think what you are saying is that. Lucas is objectively crazy, which I believe given how poorly the story and script were for the prequels that he directed. The proof is in the pudding. So I would believe Gary Kurtz, who was producer on the strongest films , critically unarguable, of the entire series over what you are saying any day.
Kurtz was fired during filming of Empire. Lucas co-wrote, storyboarded, and directed all the special effects shots. Kershner and Robert Watts were both critical of Kurtz. Read the Rinzler books to get your facts straight.
Amazing to think how different Jedi could have been.
Amazing to think how different Jedi could have been.