Film Comment Magazine: July/August 2002

From Fancy Math, by Greg Solman:

The fansâ disappointment with The Phantom Menace may have been engendered by the fact that theyâve grown up. Star Wars was something they used to feel - but now theyâve started to think about it. Jar Jar is no more tonally disruptive than the teddy bear Ewoks of Episode VI (Return of the Jedi), whose victory celebration at the end is a truly horrible milestone in offending adult tastes. And Jake Lloydâs Anakin the Mannequin is, finally, a fitting father for that future whining stiff Luke Skywalker.

From Gavin Smith's interview with George Lucas:

Film Comment: When you originally started writing, was there a particular moment when you turned a corner and things began to click?

George Lucas: It was only on the fourth or fifth draft that I actually came up with the current idea. When I did that script, I said, I've got to do this. But it was a four-and-a-half hour movie when I figured it out. Originally it started with Luke out on the desert and it ended with Vader killing the Emperor. But there was no way for me to do it, so I split it into three parts. I decided to do all three, no matter what. Everybody says, Oh God, what a genius, but my assumption was they were going to be failures and that I had to get the licensing and the sequel rights in order to make sure the studio didn't keep the other two from getting made. I wanted to advertise, I figured they weren't going to advertise the movie, so I'd do T-shirts and posters and everything - I had no idea that that stuff was going to be valuable and neither did the studio, that's why they gave them to me.

STAR WARS
A closer look at the Star Wars phenomenon: its digital promise, a fanâs notes, and George Lucas interviewed.
GREGORY SOLMAN, KEVIN SMITH, GAVIN SMITH PHILIP BROPHY, MICHAEL KORESKY, PAUL ARTHUR; with sidebars by EDWARD E. CROUSE, PHILIP BROPHY, MICHAEL KORESKY, PAUL ARTHUR
CANNES
The critics are back from the sunny Mediterranean after their annual two-week stay in dark movie theaters.
KENT JONES, GAVIN SMITH, AMY TAUBIN, MARY CORLISS, RICHARD PEÑA

JACQUES TOURNEUR
The director of classic genre flicks like Cat People, I Walked with a Zombie, and Out of the Past was perfectly content to be considered a workaday artisan. He was raised in the industry and could toss off films with the nonchalance of an assemblyline worker. How is it, then, that the work remains so beautifully elusive and enduringly enigmatic?
GEOFFREY O'BRIEN

MINORITY REPORT
Steven Spielberg, who baffled the mainstream with his last film, A.I., continues to make movies exactly the way he wants to. Even with the star power of Tom Cruise, some people are wondering if heâs trying to go over the heads of his audience. If so, itâs their loss. CHRIS CHANG

DIRTY HARRY
If you think Clint Eastwoodâs signature role as the loose-cannon lawman offers nothing more than wall-to-wall violence, think again. RICHARD COMBS

SERGE DANEY
If you havenât heard of the late, great French critic, hereâs a crash-course introduction to his life and work. Plus a new translation of one of his most important essays in which he discusses the ever-evolving÷and sometimes mutating÷relationship between spectator and screen, as well as the increasingly blurred lines between commercial cinema and just plain commercials.
CHRIS DARKE

BRUCE CONNER
The release of a new compilation DVD by the avant provocateur is cause for celebration. HOWARD HAMPTON

BIGGIE & TUPAC
Nick Broomfield investigates the murders of two notorious rap icons. AMY TAUBIN