How Steven Spielberg and Brian De Palma Helped Save ‘Star Wars’

The big picture

• An early cut of
  War of the galaxies
  it was criticized by Brian De Palma and Steven Spielberg, who made crucial contributions.
• George Lucas was part of New Hollywood directors like Spielberg and De Palma, but he took a different creative path.
• Despite initial skepticism, De Palma and Spielberg played an important role in the formation
  War of the galaxies
  in a cultural phenomenon.

Everyone knows it War of the galaxies, and almost everyone has some connection to the franchise. It is synonymous with entertainment banking franchises. The brand itself is the best marketing tool a studio can have. However, there was a time when George LucasThe space opera was a hard sell to the studios, and even to his closest collaborators and friends. An early screening of War of the galaxies (now known as Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope) in 1977, before it was released in theaters and became a towering cultural phenomenon, contained a lost cut of the film, and if it's up to Lucas, this version will probably be lost forever. The original cut of the film drew an uninspired response, to say the least, from 20th Century Fox executives and fellow directors, Brian De Palma i Steven Spielberg. Luckily, these two wanted the best for their friend and made pivotal contributions to the film that launched the saga that changed pop culture forever.

George Lucas was part of a vibrant group of new Hollywood filmmakers in the 1970s

The period of filmmaking in the late 1960s and early 1970s, known as New Hollywood, broke with the conventions of the classic studio system by telling raw, unflinching personal stories about deeply complex anti-heroes and aggressive, politically charged thrillers. This wave of cinema, headed by Bonnie and Clyde, The Graduate, Easy Rider, the godfatheri taxi driver, it made classic Hollywood movies seem tame. The movement practiced Andrew Sarris' auteurism theory, which defended the director as the author of a film. of course, the stars of this era were a bunch of “movie brats,“Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Scorsese, Brian De Palma, Steven Spielberg and George Lucas. Lucas' career took a major left turn relative to the career paths of his contemporaries. He was busy with a little space opera that no one could understand.

A prodigious introvert and creative, Lucas stood out from his peers as an artist. In Peter Biskindthe revealing book of New Hollywood, Easy Riders, Raging Bulls, Lucas cites that he was raised on television, and movies didn't shape him in the same obsessive way that Coppola or Scorsese did. Where New Hollywood embraced the ambivalent morality of everyday life, Lucas he undertook to create a fantasy world that pitted good against evil. After the success of American graffitihis coming-of-age drama about the last days of innocence for teenagers in 1962, Lucas wanted to make “a children's film that … would introduce some sort of basic morality. Everybody has forgotten tell kids, “Hey, this is right and this is wrong.” graffiti provided Lucas with the cachet to realize his highly inspired space opera Flash Gordon series Bravely, Lucas demanded the sequel and merchandising rights, which was seen as a laughable effort.

The New Hollywood company often collaborated, giving notes to improve each other's films. Coppola produced American graffiti for Lucas, and backed Scorsese as a potential candidate to direct The Godfather: Part II. Decades later, Spielberg volunteered to help Scorsese direct a scene The Wolf of Wall Street. Biskind wrote that Lucas suffered a bout of depression when writing War of the galaxies. In this period of crisis, George's wife, War of the galaxies publisher Marcia Lucas, she called her husband's friend, Brian De Palma, and asked him to cheer her up. During production, Lucas struggled to shoot action pieces, and Spielberg offered to shoot second unit footage. Lucas turned him down. Spielberg remembered that Lucas had a competitive streak in him, as he did so with determination War of the galaxies was going to dethrone jaws as the all-time box office winner.

The initial screening of 'Star Wars' was criticized by Brian De Palma

By early 1977, Lucas was ready to project War of the galaxies for a limited audience. At the screening with George and Marcia it was Alan Laddpresident of Fox, De Palma, Spielberg, Willard Huyck i Gloria KatzLucas's uncredited screenplay doctor War of the galaxiesi Jay Cocks, screenwriter and critic best known for his collaborations with Scorsese. Scorsese, anxious for the post-production of New York, New York, was supposed to be there, but canceled at the last minute. When the movie ended, “There was no applause, just an embarrassed silence,” Biskind wrote. The hardest red flag was the special effects, or lack thereof. Because the effects were sketchy, Lucas replaced the combat scenes with black-and-white dogfights from World War II films. watching War of the galaxies without special effects is almost unimaginable.

When it was time for De Palma to consider the rough cut of War of the galaxies, pulled no punches. The legend says that De Palma has grilled Lucas for every detail. He was puzzled by the young man, wizard of oz-like a tone, and mocked the concept of the Force. De Palma was announced as the next Alfred Hitchcock thanks to a couple of scary thrillers sisters i Carrie, so Lucas' desire to make a kid-friendly space odyssey with such an insular worldview was confusing. On a practical level, De Palma found the story incomprehensible. “The first act, where are we? Who are these fuzzy guys? Who are these guys dressed as the Tin Man from oz? What kind of movie are you making here?” asked a puzzled De Palma. In this lost cut of the original 1977 film, the tracking was there, but it was verbose, with De Palma saying during his roast of Lucas : “This goes on forever. It's gibberish.”In the podcast, Light the fusestated the director he and Cocks rewrote the crawl to make it concise.

How Brian De Palma and Steven Spielberg Helped Improve 'Star Wars'

Behind-the-scenes drama in Hollywood is full of legends. In many cases, stories about a movie or industry figure are all hearsay. Peter Biskind's book, which helped shape the landscape of New Hollywood, has been criticized for portraying legend rather than fact. When De Palma appeared in the podcast dedicated to the mission impossible series (who directed the first in the franchise), Light the fusethe widespread belief was that De Palma hated it War of the galaxies. “We all saw it as a great thing that George had done,” he said, clarifying that he understood the reasoning behind the lack of special effects. However, he did confirm that he ridiculed the Force, mainly because of its vague name. De Palma's biggest point of contention was the narrative that Spielberg was the only supporting voice in the room. The legend of the initial War of the galaxies The projection also claims that Spielberg was Lucas' only friend amid the firestorm of criticism thrown at him. “The fact that Steven says that only he saw the possibilities War of the galaxiesthat's not true.” De Palma said Light the fuse.

Spielberg's reaction to seeing War of the galaxies for the first time, as shown in Easy Riders, Raging Bulls, is that of an overly supportive father who trains his son in sports. “George, he's great. He's going to make $100 million,” he told Lucas. That night, Alan Ladd called Spielberg about the potential of this project, and the director, who apparently created the blockbuster with jaws, insisted that War of the galaxies would be “a great success.” 45 years later, Spielberg would clarify his initial reaction to the film Light and magic, the Disney Plus documentary about Lucas' visual effects company, Industrial Light & Magic. “To say it wasn't finished is an understatement,” Spielberg said War of the galaxies' raw cut in the documentary series.

Spielberg also shared De Palma's confusion about the context of the story. “What is this make-believe zoo, George, that you've invited us to see and break!?” he exclaimed. Spielberg's account of the initial War of the galaxies The projection depicts him as much more skeptical of Lucas' vision. However, he was still supportive, stating that only he and Alan Ladd “loved” the film in its raw state. More than his support for the first screening, Spielberg's greatest contribution to the War of the galaxies the franchise was introducing Lucas to the great John Williams. Williams had previously worked jaws, with its minimalistic score that has made everyone afraid to go into the ocean for years. The entire franchise and galaxy far, far away would be a shell of itself without the orchestral wonder and adventure of Williams' score.

Justifying their harsh criticism, Brian De Palma and Steven Spielberg made invaluable contributions to War of the galaxies that have remained a staple of the franchise nearly 50 years later: the opening crawl and John Williams' introduction to George Lucas. De Palma and Spielberg brought textual and emotional clarity, respectively. By all accounts, the uninspiring reaction to the rough cut of War of the galaxies he was in dire need of help. Every successful film story has humble beginnings, and for War of the galaxies, Lucas' space opera conception seemed dead on arrival. Fortunately, Lucas had at his disposal some ingenious filmmaker friends.

Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope is available to stream on Disney+ in the US

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