Afterwards I think that guy was doing his best to not tell everyone to 'tighten up' the greedy jewie-ness of the character

Or greedy arab

wait, same thing

I never really saw him as a stereotype any more than Jar Jar when I first saw the movie until people told me that it was racist. It was just something that people did: Indiana Jones had to eat monkey brains which was gross and this was a flying guy that wanted money which was funny. But he was never a Shylock to me anymore than I thought people ate monkey brains in the middle east. It was just funny.

ha ha, I was referring to how he was saying they can basically direct a shot to death now, unlike the old days.

But yeah, Nute Gunray is a close runner-up to this guy in terms of Lucasian "race-ism"

I liked the guy who played Nute Gunray! Him, the JarJar guy, and Ewan too, they could have all been used to so much better effect.

What are your thoughts on 47:50, fedex? I take it you don't approve of this approach to editing?

The pre-digital age of film was actually more difficult than stealing a DVD; I remember getting Indiana Jones 4 at my theatre and they had time-coded passlocks on the canisters, which opened at midnight, meaning I got to start building at 2AM central time. LIke anybody fucking working at the theatre cared about that point about whatever the fuck that shit was about and then decide to record it to flip a profit because we made the least amount of money in the movie industry. Trust me, we hated the movies as much as we hated the customers.

But I do think I recall a few video leaks from this movie on alt.nets and stuff from disgruntled staff, but it's so long ago now.. Maybe Abrams had a better snack bar or something so some pissed off gaffer didn't go around telling all.

Jar Jar is the key to everything.

I'm also surprised at the early-90s-looking computer! This came out in the Dude You're Getting a Dell Days did it not?

yeah we did most of the CG work at ILM on SGI 02's except for the Rebel Mac dept and a few others that used Mac or Windows. last time I ever used an SGI in production

Every time I see one of those O2's at Weird Stuff I'm tempted to buy it just because I always wanted one. This despite the fact that the cheap commodity-parts computer I have now could whip it to shreds in any measure you'd care to throw at it.

Plus there's that whole issue of functional software.

But they're still so neat looking!

By far and away, the most telling moment in any of these behind the scenes things is after they screen the film and you can tell the entire production crew thinks the film is a complete disaster, but no one challenges Lucas and eventually he starts ret-conning his own disaster as some kind of visionary approach to telling the story.

The problem with Lucas, as is becoming VERY apparent now with his reaction to Force Awakens, is that he seems to think doing things that are different and technically "better" than the older SW films is, by default, bold and unique just by virtue of things being a little different or fancier, regardless of the actual quality of what he's doing.

It's funny, back in the day it seemed like directors bringing people down was a virtue, like when Shelly Long talks about how she'd never work with Kubrick and stuff again after The Shining, but you don't really get that vibe anymore from directors. They might talk about putting their actors through hell, but flailing your arms in the snow in front of a CGI bear isn't exactly hell. Lucas might have grown up in that little gap where you had to go to school to know what a Kurosawa or a Kurbick was and applied the same "I'm an auteur" dick-tatorship over his non-acting staff in the same way.

Yeah, the tension is hard to miss! Granted, the gentleman directing this behind-the-scenes feature has an agenda, and that agenda is clearly to paint George in a bad light; the editing of shots and what footage he chose to use vs what footage he might have left out, obviously play a role in shaping our perception of poor Mr Lucas. However, I think the director's intended narrative is spot-on: there's obviously a lot of tension, frustration, even fear, whenever George is in the room. When George is nowhere to be seen, the cast and crew seem very relaxed and happy, but the moment he shows up, everyone gets this "oh god, what is he going to fuck up this time?" look on their faces.

IZ - Herzog trying to get Kinski murdered by Amazonian tribesmen...!

Ha I didn't even think about Herzog. He would've liked to surprise Kinski by telling hin he was going to get mauled by a man in a bearsuit when really it was a real one.

About the Death Star/Starkiller Base, at first I was a bit confused why they actually blew it up by the end of the film, but more and more I am glad it did. The whole movie to me seems purpose made to be a balm for the wounds left by the prequels- all the good stuff you remember, old characters and some new ones. Part of that old magic is the fighting the Death Star, the trench flying with X Wings, etc etc. But had it been merely disabled, then the whole next movie would be again about destroying a Death Star. I think they had it to have it, and got it out of the system. I'd like to think how indifferent Snoke was at the end hints that whatever the First Order is up to is much bigger than even a planet sized weapon, and the next film(s) will forge their own path rather than just be Empire 2017. I hope anyway, they seem to have people who give a shit this time around, so I am giving them the benefit of the doubt.

Well, Jake Lloyd is trying, but he's a wee kid, and you can't expect him to understand what's going on at all. It's a real shame this movie got placed on his shoulders like it did.

The other two boys that didnt make cut mist feel pretty lucky.

Frank Oz was on NPR Wait Wait Don't Tell Me, they were so happy to be talking to him, and he was dry and humorless and sounded like he wanted to be anywhere else. Segal playfully asked if he would do a voice for them- no. They talked about how important his characters are to so many generations- he doesn't think about it. Would he ever do a voice for a small child to make their day and blow their minds- no. Every line of softball questioning on a comedy quiz show just hit a brick wall.

Actually, I think he sounds delightful. My kind of guy!

Was it this one?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Ia_8sDzpSI

Yeah, Frank Oz is a weird dude. I remember watching some Behind the Scenes thing for Empire Strikes Back when that movie came out, and Oz kinda appeared on the periphery of the doc a couple times until they finally cornered him & forced him into the spotlight because Yoda was so wildly popular. And the entire time he seemed to be hate-staring everyone and everything around him, while saying as little as possible.

I understand how a person can be a crying comedian. But a surly puppeteer who specializes in quirky & endearing characters? I'm baffled.

For better or for worse, Frank Oz is definitely one of a kind.

Yeah that's the episode.

He doesn't really like being a puppeteer or at least being known as one, he's said before he never really wanted to be one in the first place and would much rather direct or something like that. When the recent Muppet movie was in the works, he said the script wasn't respectful to the characters. After it came out, he said it was too safe and similar to the old stuff. Its like he fell into a career he was a natural for by just being around Henson and loathes when people bring that huge chunk of his life up or something.