Linked List: August 15, 2010

Sunday, 15 August 2010

Deleted Opening Scene of ‘Return of the Jedi’ ★

Speaking of Return of the Jedi, George Lucas showed the legendary deleted opening scene, with Vader reaching out to Luke via the Force, while Luke finishes constructing his new lightsaber on Tatooine. I remember reading about this in a magazine when I was 10; now it’s on YouTube. Amazing.

Luke Skywalker, ‘Walking Off Alone “Like Clint Eastwood in the Spaghetti Westerns”’ ★

Gary Kurtz, who produced the first two Star Wars films with George Lucas, on the original vision for Return of the Jedi:

“We had an outline and George changed everything in it,” Kurtz said. “Instead of bittersweet and poignant he wanted a euphoric ending with everybody happy. The original idea was that they would recover [the kidnapped] Han Solo in the early part of the story and that he would then die in the middle part of the film in a raid on an Imperial base. George then decided he didn’t want any of the principals killed. By that time there were really big toy sales and that was a reason.”

The discussed ending of the film that Kurtz favored presented the rebel forces in tatters, Leia grappling with her new duties as queen and Luke walking off alone “like Clint Eastwood in the spaghetti westerns,” as Kurtz put it.

Bad ass.