Secrets of the Force

by Edward Gross

  BRIAN JAY JONES

  The midi-chlorians absolutely ruin it for me. That’s the big antithesis of the Force as Lucas himself articulated it. Having a biological foundation for the Force really bothered me and my wife is like, “You need to get over that; I don’t want to listen to you bitch about that anymore.” But I really hate that. This is a little off the reservation, but that’s why I really liked what Rian Johnson was starting to do with it in The Last Jedi. When Luke is saying to Rey, “All that stuff you’ve heard about the Jedi Knights, forget all that. The Force doesn’t belong to them. The Force belongs to everybody. It’s not a royal blood thing. Anybody can tap into it.” That’s the way I want the Force to be. I want Han Solo to be able to be “forceful” if he wants, not because he has the right blood count.

  PETER HOLMSTROM

  (cohost, The Rebel & the Rogue podcast)

  Obi-Wan’s description of the Force in A New Hope: “The Force is what gives a Jedi his power. It’s an energy field created by all living things. It surrounds us and penetrates us; it binds the galaxy together.” Qui-Gon Jinn’s description of midi-chlorians: “Midi-chlorians are a microscopic life-form that resides within all living cells, and we are symbiotes with them. Creatures living together for mutual advantage. Without the midi-chlorians, life could not exist, and we would have no knowledge of the Force. They continually speak to us, telling us the will of the Force.” Where’s the problem? Midi-chlorians are not the Force. They have never been described as the Force. They’re symbiotic life-forms that bind all living things to the Force. The Force has always had wills and desires and an agenda of its own ever since the beginning. So the Force having more interest in one person over another, would naturally mean they would have more midi-chlorians within them.

  Also, again, it’s meant to be a plot point. The Jedi have their temple in a major metropolis, and care more about the inner political machinations than their own spiritual growth—they’re measuring things on science, and kidnapping children at the age of two to be Jedi—this dogmatic approach to spirituality is something Lucas wanted to highlight, because he’s saying the Jedi are flawed. This isn’t Good Guys versus Bad Guys—again, this is meant to be Vietnam in space, and we’re seeing the seeds of that highlighted here, to be explored later.

  RAY MORTON

  The other thing about The Phantom Menace are some of the new characters. Jar Jar Binks is a dreadful character. Many people have attacked the floppy-eared Gungan for being what they perceived as a racist, Stepin Fetchit–style caricature. Those complaints are certainly understandable, but equally offensive is just how stupid the character is, both in conception and in presentation. As the Ewoks in Return of the Jedi demonstrated, Lucas seems to have an affinity for broad, overly cutesy characters who perpetrate ridiculous slapstick antics. I suppose such characters and behavior have their place in the appropriate type of movie, but in my opinion, they have no business being in the “serious” fantasy of a Star Wars movie. The hyperactive Jar Jar, who speaks in a hard-to-understand dialect with an annoying high-pitched voice, is a thoroughly irritating creation and his omnipresence in the movie makes him unbearable. The supposedly comedic bit in which he steps in (bantha?) poop is arguably the nadir of the entire series.

  JONATHAN RINZLER

  My daughter loved Jar Jar—it was made for kids. They didn’t know it was going to be interpreted the way it was going to be interpreted.

  RICK MCCALLUM

  For kids, there is no doubt that Jar Jar is their favorite character [of the prequel trilogy]. This is something that we not only saw in research, but in exit polls. People love Jar Jar! I think there was too much criticism of him. There were even racist accusations about Jar Jar. That is ridiculous. Jar Jar was created with great care and affection and was meant to be a lovable, innocent character. To read anything more into his creation is ridiculous and absurd.

  SAMUEL L. JACKSON

  (actor, “Mace Windu”)

  Jar Jar wasn’t racist. That was Ahmed’s [actor Ahmed Best] interpretation of who he was, and it was what George wanted. It’s stupid to say, “Okay, that’s like Stepin Fetchit and he talks that way.” I can watch Stepin Fetchit, Willie Best, and all those other guys do what they did. It was their job at the time. If you want to feel that way about something, you can. If you watch Jack Benny, even if you think Rochester is his manservant, watch it really closely and you’ll see that Rochester is the smart guy. He’s the one in charge. Jack Benny kind of defers to him. But you don’t need to do that in a Star Wars movie.

  DAN MADSEN

  Claims of racism in the prequel films were just ridiculous accusations. George Lucas doesn’t have a racist bone in his body. I always was really offended by that accusation that went out there. Not even Ahmed Best—he poo-poo’d that—he said the same thing, that that’s just ridiculous. There’s no truth to that whatsoever.

  FRANK OZ

  (puppeteer, voice of “Yoda”)

  I love Jar Jar Binks. I don’t know what the whole flak was about. When I read the script, I thought, “Oh, Jar Jar is going to be a terrific character.” I was surprised at the bizarre reaction to him. I love Jar Jar. He’s hysterical.

  GEORGE LUCAS

  In The Phantom Menace there was the whole issue of two symbiotic societies living next to each other, but not cooperating. Jar Jar was the key element in tying these societies together. He was a bumbling, fumbling outcast, and his purpose plot-wise was to bring the Jedi to these two societies and bring them together. As a plot device, Jar Jar was very important to the film. He wasn’t just comic relief.

  AHMED BEST

  (actor, “Jar Jar Binks”)

  Most adults are taking it too seriously. When people slag on The Phantom Menace, it’s like, “What do they expect? What are you looking for?” Jar Jar is for the kids. He was created to balance Darth Maul. Darth Maul and Jar Jar are probably the two extremes in the movie. I know many adults want to pick it apart, but if they’re doing that, then they’re missing the point. I don’t take it personally as a criticism of my performance. I performed to the best of my ability. Overall, the film is George’s vision. I have a certain amount of distance from it. I can remove myself from it. The kind of person I am, though, I really don’t listen to what other people have to say … unless it’s good.

  PETER HOLMSTROM

  I never had a problem with Jar Jar as a kid. He’s fun, and has a poignant story. If the original trilogy was Cowboys versus Indians, where the Indians win—the prequel trilogy is Cowboys versus Indians, where the Indians are corrupted by the white man, and destroyed. Sadly, more true to real life. And Jar Jar represents that. He’s the innocent corrupted and turned into an unknowing agent of evil. Objectively, I can see he’s not the comedic character Lucas meant him to be. I think the problem is he didn’t have a steady straight-man to play off of. He keeps jumping around in the role of sidekick, from Qui-Gon to Anakin to Padmé to being on his own—so there’s no rise in comedic pressure that’s needed for slapstick roles. But look at his role in The Clone Wars—he’s hilarious! Nothing’s better than Jar Jar and Mace Windu on a mission together. He’s not as funny as he was meant to be in Episode I, but you know what? Most Will Ferrell movies don’t work either, but no one’s out there saying, “Will Ferrell raped my childhood,” because of Holmes & Watson.

  GLEN OLIVER

  (pop culture commentator)

  The merchandising of action figures and vehicles can sometimes be interesting indicators of which characters and devices will find popularity over the long haul. One instance of this I witnessed during a late-night opening of Toys “R” Us. They were unleashing Phantom Menace merchandise for the first time, so it was a pretty big deal all around. [Toys “R” Us] had dumped huge quantities of action figures into baby pools—the hordes of fans had to kneel or squat to fuss through which figures they wanted to get. I saw a dude—I think he was probably in his midthirties—topple into a baby pool full of action figures. People were half-heart
edly trying to help him, but they were generally more concerned with getting their own action figures before someone else did. This guy flopped around in a baby pool of Phantom Menace figures. After a few moments, I realized I should probably try to help the poor bastard—to preserve the packaging of the figures he was squishing, if nothing else. When I moved over to him, I quickly realized that this baby pool had already been stripped clean by the Geeky Locusts and that the only figures left behind in the pool—the figures in which this guy was flailing about in—were exclusively Jar Jar Binks.

  RAY MORTON

  Qui-Gon Jinn, on the other hand, is a very cool character—the perfect embodiment of what we expect a Jedi in his prime to be. Unfortunately, his presence severely weakens Obi-Wan’s character and his role in the story. To begin with, introducing Qui-Gon contradicts an important story point established in The Empire Strikes Back, namely that Yoda was the Jedi Master who trained Obi-Wan. In Menace, Qui-Gon is Obi-Wan’s teacher, which dilutes the close connection between Obi-Wan and Yoda that is so vital to Empire and Return of the Jedi. It also dilutes the connection between Ben and Anakin. In Star Wars, Obi-Wan describes Anakin as having been his “good friend.” In Jedi, Obi-Wan explains that when he first met Anakin, he was struck by how strong Anakin was with the Force and so undertook to train him to become a Jedi, only to eventually lose him to the dark side. These speeches establish that Obi-Wan is the character who sets Anakin’s story in motion and then must deal with the fallout when things go awry.

  However, in Menace, Obi-Wan is not the character that sets Anakin’s story in motion—Qui-Gon is. Qui-Gon is the one who first meets Anakin, who senses his power and decides to train him. Obi-Wan isn’t even present when all this happens. He is eventually introduced to Anakin by Qui-Gon, but has no meaningful connection with him (and in fact feels—along with the Jedi Council—that Anakin is actually dangerous). It is only after Qui-Gon is killed that Obi-Wan agrees to take Anakin on as his apprentice and only because Qui-Gon asks him to, not because he has any personal interest in the boy or his potential. This waters down the drama of what happens later on in the trilogy, because when Obi-Wan finally confronts the now evil Anakin in Revenge of the Sith, it is to rectify Qui-Gon’s tragic error (of choosing Anakin) rather than his own. Finally, having Qui-Gon be the one who discovers Anakin and chooses to train him leaves Obi-Wan with next to nothing to do in this particular movie—if he wasn’t in the film it would make almost no difference at all to the final product.

  * * *

  All of which has to do with the evolution of the story and the screenplay, which needed to be ready for a production start date of June 1997. But even before then, McCallum was tasked with getting things into development, starting in April 1994. Needless to say, an unorthodox way to make a movie. But any behind the scenes look at the making of the prequel trilogy has to begin with a look at Rick McCallum, who was essentially filling the role that Gary Kurtz had on the original trilogy.

  Born August 22, 1954, in Heidelberg, West Germany, McCallum would come to collaborate on and oversee The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, then produce Lucasfilm’s Radioland Murders (1994), and was privately informed by Lucas that he was planning on making the prequel trilogy and wanted him to be a part of it. Lucas noted that they would test the technology they’d be using on the Special Editions. Needless to say, McCallum decided to stick around, establishing a solid working relationship with Lucas.

  RICK MCCALLUM

  Every summer I used to work in a perfume factory when I was a kid. Even though I have a huge nose, I found out it wasn’t right for me. A friend of mine was working for a news show and asked me if I wanted to come over. They were doing an interview with Henry Kissinger the day I was there. I stood in for one of the camera assistants who got sick and at the end of the day I thought it was fun. When I got back to New York to finish college, I met a wonderful group of filmmakers, including James Ivory, and then I was hooked.

  Later, I did a film called Dreamchild. I was shooting at Elstree Studios in England. It was a tiny film; there were only about twelve of us working on it and we had a budget of only one million pounds. We had to shoot it in three weeks. This was back in 1984. Jim Henson had agreed to make the creatures for us. It was his first [outside] film other than working on Yoda for The Empire Strikes Back. Our film was about Alice in Wonderland and the complex relationship between the author who wrote the book and the little girl he based Alice on. It was a really fun picture to do. We had huge sets, but they were all made out of cloth and were painted. We had virtually no money. One day, producer Robert Watts, who has worked on many Lucasfilm projects, came on the set. I met him and we started talking and he loved the idea that twelve people could actually make a movie. Robert was working on the film Return to Oz at the time. So we met at that time and basically connected. Robert went back and told everybody that we were making a film that looked big, but only had twelve people behind the scenes and I think that kind of stuck in George’s head. You have to remember, George comes from a tradition of making small, independent films. That’s where his heart really is, not to the huge blockbusters that he is so associated with.

  * * *

  In 1989, Lucas had the idea for The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles. Following the completion of Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Watts wanted to pursue his own projects, so there was an amicable split between him and Lucasfilm. He called McCallum and told him they were trying to get a group of people together for the series and introduced him to Lucas.

  RICK MCCALLUM

  I thought the series sounded fun and it was more than fun. It was brilliant. It was one of the most enjoyable times of my career. In fact, oddly enough, I hardly saw my family during the four years that we were making the show. I would see them once every couple of months, but it was long periods between those times. My wife could deal with it, though, because she knew it was a special moment in everybody’s life.

  It’s very interesting the relationship directors and producers have, especially when they last a long time. I believe that the job of a producer is to enable a director and the writer to do whatever they want to do within the limits of the money and the schedule that you have. Our job is to make it happen for those guys. When it works, it works beautifully. It’s all about the dynamics in the relationship between the producer and director. I’ve spent almost my entire career working exclusively for writer/directors. So, it’s just two people who set up the movie. The director’s job is to make sure his story comes out the way he wants it while mine is to spend all the money, resources, the tools to make sure the movie is the way the director has in mind. That’s how it really works. When it doesn’t work, when you look at people’s careers and they haven’t worked with the same people, it usually means they haven’t found someone they can get along with.

  * * *

  Is there someone you can get along with too well? That’s the feeling that some critics have had regarding McCallum as producer, particularly in comparison to Gary Kurtz. It’s similar to the difference between the direction of Irvin Kershner on The Empire Strikes Back and Richard Marquand on Return of the Jedi. The former knew when he had to push back and would, while the latter usually acquiesced to everything Lucas wanted.

  BRIAN JAY JONES

  Gary Kurtz was a good collaborator for Lucas, because they had worked together on American Graffiti. The big difference between the first two films and then once the prequels come along is that Gary Kurtz is the one guy who’s willing to get in Lucas’s face and tell him, “No!” That’s the strength of your line producer. Kurtz is the guy who’s like, “Whatever you need, George, I’m going to get it. I’ll go back to the studio, I’ll go in on bended knee and I’ll ask for the money you need to reshoot this,” and then he’d have to come back to Lucas and say, “They’re only going to give us twenty grand or forty grand or whatever it is, so you can get your cantina scene. I’m sorry. I know it’s not what you…,” and he has to disappoint Lucas.

  DALE POLLO
CK

  (author, Skywalking: The Life and Films of George Lucas)

  As much as George wanted his independence, he needed somebody to say no; to argue with him. His best work came when he was married to Marcia Lucas and she was that person. She was the one who pushed him on American Graffiti. She pushed him on Star Wars. She pushed him on Empire Strikes Back, but they split up by Return of the Jedi, which is where you begin to see the bad filmmaking start. Obviously, he didn’t direct that, but he was all over the back of Richard Marquand, who he could control. Irvin Kershner didn’t want to hear it, and that was a very unpleasant experience for Lucas, even though Empire is still the best one. The prequels would not have been the same had she been around. There was nobody there he would either listen to or respect enough to listen to.

  BRIAN JAY JONES

  Kurtz is the one who’s kind of willing to be the reality check, that is going to bust his ass to try to get Lucas everything he needs, but when it doesn’t work, he’s going to tell Lucas, “You know what? No.” And even going through a script, he’s the one that’s able to tell him, “This isn’t going to work. You probably need to have somebody come in and punch this up.” That’s the difference, I think, between the original films and the prequels. The prequels were Lucas putting everything into it and nobody’s going to tell him that he can’t do it that way.