The Making of Star Wars: Return of the Jedi (Enhanced Edition)

by Rinzler, J. W.

  The telex relaying the Oscar nomination information neglected to mention another Special Academy Award, for an innovative device that removed the jerkiness usually seen in stop-motion photography (called the Motion Picture Figure Mover)—given to Dennis Muren and Stuart Irwin Ziff, “he of the harassed look, vivid imagination, and weakness for telexes,” writes Peecher.

  Any euphoria didn’t last long, however, as the business of moviemaking wore on, as did its ancillary activities. By this time Lucasfilm had roughly 40 US licensees and 67 foreign licensees in various industries, from food and apparel to toiletries and toys. Top executives from Kenner Products, Fundimensions, Parker Brothers, and the Bibb Company visited the sets. “Lead time is crucial in the toy and merchandising industry, so the merchandisers were given a general briefing by Kazanjian,” Peecher notes. “Then those few who had been cleared to read the sanitized version of the screenplay did so at one sitting, locked together in Kazanjian’s office.”

  The confluence of toys and filmmaking resulted in at least one impromptu makeup change when Dermot Crowley arrived. “The very first morning I was presented with this beard,” he would say. “People were quite insistent, so we went with the beard.” Apparently Kenner had already begun preproduction on his character, General Madine, and the toy had a beard, so Crowley had to match.

  Fortunately, the toy makers did not witness Daniels’ second breakdown on the stifling barge set. “For some odd reason, I also suffered from claustrophobia,” he says. “It was frightening. I didn’t even have the whole suit on. I was lying on the floor, with the camera very close to me and Salacious Crumb, the wonderful Salacious Crumb, pulling out my eye … waah, waah, waah! But something went, in my mind—I didn’t catch a breath or something—and suddenly I could feel panic absorbing into my body. I said, ‘Get me out, get me out, get me out, get me out …!’ I kept repeating it until they managed to whiz the head off.”

  “There is video content at this location that is not currently supported for your eReading device. The caption for this content is displayed below.”

  Printed dailies from February 11, 1982, of Salacious Crumb chewing on C-3PO’s eye. (0:39)

  REPORT NOS. 25–28: FRIDAY–WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 12–17; STAGE 5—INT. H.Q. FRIGATE—MAIN BRIEFING ROOM/REBEL STARCRUISER BRIDGE, SCS. 54 [DEBRIEFING], 85 [JUMP TO HYPERSPACE], 101 [“IT’S A TRAP!”], 113, 117 [“WE WON’T LAST LONG AGAINST THOSE STAR DESTROYERS …”], 121, 125 [SHIELD DOWN]; STAGE 7—INT. DUNGEON CELL CORRIDOR, SCS. 9 [HOLDING CELLS], 12 [CHEWIE ROARS AT TENTACLE]; SECOND UNIT: STAGE 9, INT. JABBA’S BARGE, SCS. 23, 31, 34

  Main unit next moved to Stage 5 and the rebel briefing room, which meant first days for Blakiston, Crowley, and Tim Rose (Ackbar, or, sometimes, “Ernie” Ackbar, on the Progress Reports). In wide shots, Ackbar was a man in a suit; in closeup, a puppeteer would manipulate his facial movements from below. Although still “immersed” in Poltergeist, Richard Edlund arrived to oversee the VistaVision shots on that set because, in postproduction, a hologram of the Death Star was to be added by the Computer Division.

  The briefing room and Admiral Ackbar’s bridge had at one time been two separate sets, until Lucas combined them to save costs. The briefing room was thus built on the ground level, and the frigate’s bridge on a kind of mezzanine. Some of the cast and crew were surprised when they first arrived to see the set covered with great sheets of plastic, until they realized it was protection against pigeons that had taken up residence in the rafters. To complicate matters, Stage 5, usually used as a storage shed, was far from ideal for shooting, with walls and roof not soundproofed. It was noisy and it was cold.

  “There is video content at this location that is not currently supported for your eReading device. The caption for this content is displayed below.”

  On the briefing room set, makeup and creature designer Phil Tippett helps dress Tim Rose in his Admiral Ackbar costume, which is having audio problems (first assistant director David Tomblin can be heard on the megaphone asking people to get a move on), circa February 25, 1982. (1:21)

  “To do a film like this, you have to have a sense of the ridiculous,” Daniels says. “I was on this beautiful white, alien set, totally antiseptic, with stunning machinery—and on one of the consoles right in the middle of it, there’s a great pile of pigeon shit.”

  The first setup of the day was a handheld camera shot following the rebels down a corridor into the briefing room. Then Marquand had to deal with another crowd scene, as rebel commanders debriefed the troops. As usual, two cameras were used—in this case one for the master shot and another to pick out actors and extras for reactions.

  “The hardest thing was putting the actors in the right places,” Marquand says. “It was difficult to get them to look casual. What we were striving for was reality and you want to make them look as though they are just a bunch of people in a World War II movie, just sitting there, slightly American if you like, and it does take a while to get that.”

  “Richard Marquand was very good, because he shot Harrison first, and various other members of the cast who had already been working on the movie, so to give us time to get used to the whole setup,” Crowley would say. “Because it was quite nerve-racking walking onto it, particularly as both of us had quite difficult speeches to give.”

  “The text I had learned was changed when I arrived on set,” Blakiston would say. “So that took plenty of determination.” (Additional third-draft revisions were also completed at this time, altering several scenes, including Vader’s arrival, Han’s reunion with Chewbacca, and Leia’s reaction to the explosion of the Death Star, during which she uses the Force to sense Luke’s survival.)

  “There is video content at this location that is not currently supported for your eReading device. The caption for this content is displayed below.”

  Mark Hamill talks with Kenny Baker (R2-D2); director Richard Marquand goes over his shots for the day with producer Howard Kazanjian; Marquand then blocks out a scene with Ford, Fisher, Hamill, and Mayhew, as director of photography Alan Hume takes measurements, circa February 25, 1982. (2:45)

  On Monday, Blakiston finished her role as Mon Mothma, after two days worked, while Hamill had a fight rehearsal with Peter Diamond, stuntman Colin Skeaping, and Bob Anderson. Frank Oz met with Stuart Freeborn and Robert Watts, as concern about the new Yoda puppet was mounting.

  “Finally, Frank had received the script and now was the first meeting with Stuart, who did not have the Yoda ready yet,” says Kazanjian. “We were talking about the controls and just refreshing everybody’s mind about Yoda, making some changes—and noting the deadline.”

  Marquand directs Ford on the rebel briefing room set, February 25, 1982.

  Tippett helps Admiral Ackbar (Tim Rose) cool down by using a hair dryer to blow air into his mask between takes.

  Costume reference continuity Polaroids of female rebel technicians and a rebel dignitary.

  Marquand directs Caroline Blakiston (Mon Mothma) and Dermot Crowley (General Madine) on the rebel briefing room set, February 25, 1982.

  A circular board stands in for later postproduction effects to be supplied by the Computer Division at Lucasfilm of the second Death Star.

  DIRECTOR AND EXECUTIVE CREATOR

  Main unit finished the briefing room and bridge scenes on Wednesday, February 17. “And what eventually happened is George went back in with the VistaVision camera and shot a lot of it,” says Kazanjian. “Because only he knew what was going to be out there in space and how Admiral Ackbar would react to what only George had in his mind.”

  Indeed, 28 days into the shoot, Lucas had now experienced what Marquand could absorb from him and what he could expect from his director, while cast and crew had observed both.

  “Richard was looking very white and washed out, always, so I think it was a heavy load for him,” Roger Christian would say. “George has that ability to set the exact tone that he wants for his films, so it’s really hard for him when he isn’t directing a
nd it’s through somebody else. Richard was very accomplished with actors and things, but I don’t know that he had the right tone that George needed, which was the Star Wars tone.”

  “It’s never fun,” Marquand says. “Maybe other directors have a great time and a lot of laughs; I must hang around their set some time. When we are working, I don’t drink. So I used to get up at 5:30 AM, go to the gym and be at the studio at 7 AM; we’d then work solidly until 9 PM just trying to get the damn thing done. I’d have a snack and be in bed at 10:30. Within that you obviously have a good time, because you’re doing something so wonderful. But it’s not a bundle of laughs.”

  “Dad was absolutely exhausted, but he used to say that he’d direct in his sleep,” James Marquand, who spent his winter break in London, would say. “He’d go to bed and spend the whole night thinking he was still making the film. He was that engrossed in it, but extremely positive.”

  Marquand was most comfortable working directly with his camera operators, commonly known as the “British system,” which placed more responsibility on the cinematographer and camera operator. “Working on Jedi became a job of trying to dig into George’s mind, walking around the sets to see how he wanted them to look,” says Hume. “He has got very definite ideas, and, after all, he is Mr. Star Wars. Although I always make it my business to work for the director rather than the producer, on this occasion the producer—even Richard would agree with this—was very much ‘part director.’ ”

  “It’s mostly the itch to move things along,” says Lucas of watching things on set. “Occasionally, there are problems because I’ve worked with these crews a lot and they have a tendency to ask me questions instead of the director, so things get a little confused once in a while. And the special effects are really more my domain than anything else, because I’ve had so much more experience at it.”

  “George was good because throughout, he would say, ‘Hey, you’re the director,’ shrug and walk away,” Marquand says. “That is a very, very good and supportive thing that he does.”

  “George was more vocal regarding technical matters, such as the choice of lenses,” Hamill says. “Occasionally he would come up with a more economical way to shoot something. All of his input came within the bounds of good taste. He avoided making Richard feel like he wasn’t the captain of the ship—which he was. Actually George was almost a second unit director. I shot second unit with him quite often.”

  “When I was trying to do everything myself, and everything was always going wrong, it was killing me to drag everybody along and get the movie made,” Lucas says. “I was absolutely responsible for the vision. And now—I’m not. Generally, my participation is maybe one-tenth of what it would be if I were directing. People don’t understand why I can be so relaxed at this stage. I can go out to dinner, take weekends off. It’s such a different life from when I’m directing a movie.”

  Perhaps because Marquand had similar roots, he confided in Norman Reynolds. “He was intimidated by George,” Reynolds would say. “What added to the tension was the fact that Empire had gone over budget and over schedule, and George was determined that the third one would not. So he was on the set all the time and whatever Richard did, he, in a way, had to run it by George. Because we had a good relationship and I liked Richard—he was a good chap—I said to him, ‘You just have to get through this and you’ll be famous; you’ll have made it, really. The film will be a huge success, so just consider yourself to be fortunate in that regard.’ ”

  “George was on the set all the time,” says Daniels. “And it was confusing, sometimes, because we have a director, but I think he was a little insecure in his role. It can’t be easy to direct somebody else’s brainchild. So I worked out who I needed to speak to, to get the kind of information that I needed to play the role.”

  “Only once did I get conflicting directions,” says Fisher. “When I came into Jabba’s throne room disguised as a man, Richard told me to stand like an English sentry. Then George walked in and said, ‘Carrie, you’re standing like an English sentry; you want to be more swashbuckling.’ ”

  “Marquand can be fast,” says Kazanjian. “He’s certainly not a slow director. He keeps the takes to a fairly low number.”

  “Jedi was more of a return to the smash-and-grab technique, which I think works very well in Star Wars and Raiders,” says Hamill, who preferred that method to Kershner’s slower pace on set. “You make do with what you have and a certain kinetic energy emerges, which sets up a rhythm that works.”

  “Jedi was different again from the first two,” Watts says. “In the first place, we had an English director—something we hadn’t had on any of the others. And I think Richard took on a heavy task coming into this show. It is so much a creation of George’s that it’s to Richard’s credit that he’s obviously managed to put his bit into it, too.”

  Decades later Watts would add, “George came and he never left; Richard couldn’t grasp it and George was concerned, so he never left. I wish Richard had asked me for help. He never did. The first day of shooting I went into his office before we went on the set and I said, ‘Don’t forget, Richard, we’re all here to help you.’ But it’s quite possible he felt too vulnerable. It’s a tricky one to be in, particularly as a director, because I can remember Richard was ducking and diving, if you see what I mean, trying to take in what George said and make it sound like it was his idea as well.”

  “He did the wrong thing when trying to become one of the members of the club,” Fisher would say. “He would try to assert himself, but certainly not ingratiate himself, so then it would be like, ‘I’ll show you who’s boss.’ He would be sort of grand and very British and very grand.”

  “I liked Richard very much, he was very personable,” Hamill would say. “He had that certain type of English attitude that is delightful to an American; he was erudite, knowledgeable. I was surprised that Carrie had problems. She didn’t share that with me. He might’ve been someone who wasn’t giving Carrie enough information. Maybe one of the reasons we got on so well was that I’m a real big Beatles aficionado. There was that as a starting point.”

  “George was on his shoulder the whole time,” Kit West would say. “And Richard, many times, had to save face and sort of put his foot down a bit because he saw himself as, you know, ‘the director.’ But it’s nothing unusual, believe you me.”

  “We gave him everything that he would need, an assistant and anything that he could possibly want, but, sadly, it wasn’t quite the same as the previous two had been, but then nothing ever is, is it?” one manager would say. “He seemed like a bit of a misfit. He didn’t seem to fit in like Kershner. I think he was kind of discomfited with the whole thing and wasn’t reacting from the point of view of someone who understood the way the organization worked, the kind of closeness that we had on the other films. It was like he was out on his own, so I think it was hard for him.”

  “I don’t think any of that is true,” Carol Marquand would say of the more negative reports. “Richard was so full of enthusiasm. I don’t think he was disgruntled or anything like that.”

  “My patience isn’t bad, but there are two things I can’t stand,” Marquand says. “One is if people don’t tell me beforehand when they know things are going wrong. Everything else you can forgive. Then the other thing that really does drive me crazy is when people don’t do what I tell them to do! But on the whole, that didn’t happen very much.”

  “These movies are George’s movies and we all are just instruments in making them,” editor Duwayne Dunham would say. “But sometimes I felt bad for Richard, because George would ask to see his shot list. A director usually shows up in the morning with a list of shots he needs and, for some, it’s very private.”

  “You take a director who’d only done Eye of the Needle, still a young guy who came out of TV, and I think that he was overwhelmed with what he was stepping into,” Bloom would say. “I remember that feeling of his being overwhelmed, being at ILM, in the meeti
ngs, around George, learning, but not being the kind of director who could step in and direct the movie. Kersh, on the other hand, was a very different director. Kersh was an old pro. He had done lots of movies with lots of big actors and had been around the studio system and had worked with really big-time producers. Kersh just said, ‘Yeah, yeah, been there, done that. I know what to do. I’m going to go make a movie. And if I don’t understand the visual effects, I’ve got these great guys at ILM.’ ”

  “I actually had a great time working with Richard,” Lucas would say. “We had a cooperative relationship, so if I just said, ‘Do it like this and don’t worry about it’ he was curious about what was going to happen. But we didn’t spend a lot of time trying to reinvent the wheel. Films like this operate on a lot of faith. In this case, the director had to have a lot of faith that all the missing pieces would miraculously appear in postproduction.”

  In fact Lucas had the same problem, at times, with Marquand as he’d had with Kershner—in that he wanted, above all, coverage: He wanted a good scene shot with multiple cameras in a master shot, medium shots, and closeups, generally. If he asked to see a director’s shot list it was, apart from visual effect concerns, because Lucas wanted to verify that he was going to get that coverage—and not be locked into a single-camera style of setups that could be cut together in only one way. Lucas’s “ace in the hole” was editing and he wasn’t about to give that up, particularly with so much at stake.

  “George wanted coverage because George was terrified—and I understand it,” Sean Barton would say. “When you’ve got these huge sets, very expensive, and they’re coming down as soon as you finish shooting on them, there’s no going back if you missed a shot.”