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George Lucas’Star Warsbecame a cultural phenomenon in no time. There might only be a handful who do know something or the other about the franchise.Star Warshas a vast and loyal fanbase that somehow remembers all the minute details shown in the films and the television series. This is how much the fans loveStar Warsand why wouldn’t they? After all, George Lucas poured his heart and soul into it.
However, beforeStar Wars(1977) made waves in the film industry, the director met a roadblock on his way when he decided to screen the film for some of the most renowned personalities in Hollywood. This included Brian De Palma, Alan Ladd, and Steven Spielberg. Unfortunately, his film was not met with applause but luckily, his friends were there to help him out of the mess.
George Lucas’ Initial Screening Was Met with Silence
Steven Spielberg,Brian De Palma, Alan Ladd, and a few others attended the very first screening ofStar WarsakaStar Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope,and were left shocked. Not in a good way, though. In his novel titledEasy Riders, Raging Bulls, Peter Biskind wrote that“there was no applause, just an embarrassed silence.”(viaCollider)
Clearly,George Lucashad not cracked the code just yet. The attendees criticized the film for the lack of visual effects, something which the franchise heavily relies on. Biskind stated that Lucas had held the film together with dogfights from World War II films.
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While the audience members each had their opinions about the early cut, Spielberg seemed to be the only one who saw the potential in it. As per Collider, theJawsdirector told his friend,“George, it’s great. It’s gonna make $100 million.”
In a clip from theLight and Magicdocuseries (viaCinema Blend), 45 years later, Spielberg was seen clarifying his original stance stating,
“To say it was not finished is a kindness! He didn’t have the effects yet. There was a great deal of debate about context because there were only a couple of effects shots in there. Where are we? Who are we? Who are they? Do we need ‘they’? What is this menagerie of imagination, George, that you’ve invited us to see and tear apart!?”
Out of the lot, De Palma was the one who didn’t think it was necessary to sugarcoat the truth for Lucas and gave him his honest reviews which were, let’s just say, harsh.
George Lucas Benefited from His Friends’ Help
De Palma’s biggestcontributiontoStar Warswas the opening crawl at the very beginning of the film. He rightfully believed that an introduction was necessary before the film started as the audience would’ve been left confused otherwise. He also shortened the crawl from six paragraphs to three.
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Spielberg, on the other hand,recommendedJohn Williams to Lucas who was on the lookout for a composer. Williams then went on to create an original score for the film and there’s no doubt to the fact thatStar Warswould’ve been incomplete without it.
However, according to Biskind’s book, Lucas originally refused to accept Spielberg’s help when it came to shooting action set pieces during production. When his friend offered his help, Lucas turned him down because of his competitive personality and the fact that he wantedStar Warsto beatJawsand become the all-time box office earner.
Luckily, Lucas didn’t mind taking Spielberg’s help later on and thus, he and De Palma were able to help the filmmaker bring out the best in his film.
You can streamStar Warson Disney+.
Mishkaat Khan
Senior Writer
Articles Published :2257
A connoisseur of all things horror, fantasy, and the occasional chick flick, Mishkaat has been penning pieces for FandomWire since 2022. She started off as an intern and has worked her way up to a Senior Writer with over 2000 articles to her name.Outside of entertainment, she has also written well-researched medical content as a freelance writer and has experience in social media management.When not writing, you can find her relaxing with a romance novel and a tall glass of iced coffee in her hand or watching re-runs of ‘Supernatural’ and ‘The Office.’
