Star Wars Insider – July 2019

STAR WARS INSIDER / 37

INTERVIEW: GARY KURTZ

adit notbeen
forGaryKurtz’s
serviceasa
photographer
intheMarines
inVietnam,his
mostfamousmoviecollaboration
mightneverhavehappened.
DirectorFrancisFordCoppolawas
lookingforsomeonewithmilitary
experiencetoproduceApocalypse
Now(eventuallyreleasedin1979),
andit wasKurtzwhoheturnedto.
“I’dworkedwithFrancisonhis
firstfilm,Dementia 13 (1963),”
Kurtz,toldStarWarsInsider. “He
rangmeuponedayandsaid:‘I’ve
gotthisprojectaboutVietnam
thatJohnMiliuswrote,butthere’s
nobodyaroundmeonmyteam
withanyknowledgeofthemilitary
whatsoever.’SoI wentuptoSan
Franciscototalkwithhimabout
ApocalypseNow, andthat’showI
metGeorgeLucas.Hewasediting
THX 1138 at AmericanZoetrope
(theindependentproduction
companyCoppolaandLucashad
establishedin1969),andFrancis
introducedus,”recalledKurtz.
Coppolasuggestedthatthe
pairshouldmakeApocalypseNow
together,whichhadinitiallybeen
writtenbyLucas.“Wetalkedabout
it,”Kurtzrevealed,“andI spenta
lotoftimeresearchingit.Weput
a plantogetherwithColumbiato
financeit,butin 1971 theypulled
out.Thewarwasstillgoingon,
andthestudiotoldus,‘Audiences
don’twanttoseea comedy,evena
blackcomedy,aboutVietnamwhile
peoplearedyingoverthereevery
day.’Theywereprobablyright.”
However,Lucasalsohadanother
ideainmindabouta rockandroll
highschoolmusicalthatwould
eventuallybecomeAmerican
Graffiti. “Theideawastogoand
doGraffitianda secondpicture,
whichwecalledour‘Unidentified
Science-FictionProject,’at the
time,”Kurtzrevealed.“Weplanned
tomakethoseandthengobackto
ApocalypseNowlater.”
Eventually,however,Coppola
decidedtomakethemoviehimself,
freeingLucasandKurtztofocus
ontheirspace-fantasyfilm,which

H

would ultimately be released in

the summer of 1977.

Birth of an Empire

Star Wars: A New Hope (1977)

was a huge hit and the media were

hungry for word on a sequel but, as

Kurtz embarked on a world tour to

promote the fi rst Star Wars, he and

Lucas hadn’t had time to consider

a title for the recently announced

follow up.

“Because Star Wars opened

around the world some six to eight

months after it did in the U.S.,

Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill, and I

went on this promotional tour, and

a journalist asked me about the

next fi lm,” Kurtz recalled. “He said,

‘What’s the title?’ And I said, ‘I don’t

know yet, we don’t even have a

script. Right now, the working title

is Star Wars II, but that’s not what

it’s going to be, because we don’t

like numbers.’”

Both Lucas and Kurtz were fans

of the Buster Crabbe Flash Gordon

serials, which had been one of the

inspirations behind A New Hope,

and their exotic chapter titles helped

inform their choice for the Star Wars

sequel’s name. With The Empire

Strikes Back script marking a tonal

shift from A New Hope, adding

a darker twist to the story, there

were also changes made behind

the scenes. For one, Lucas decided

not to direct the sequel, bringing in

his old USC college instructor, the

acclaimed Irvin Kershner, to sit in

the big chair.

“Kershner was an actor’s

director,” explained Kurtz. “He

worked very hard with our main

people, to add depth to their parts,

and they really responded to that.

George spent time on the casting

of each role. He wants people in

real life to be very much like the

characters they’re portraying in the

story. George’s theory was, if they

behaved as they are, then the story

works. In American Graffi ti, the

story worked really well because

the actors were themselves. I think

it’s a style, a technique. Half of the

character you show onscreen is who

the actor is, what he or she looks

like, how they behave.”