According to Star Wars legend, George Lucas invited his filmmaking buddies to his house to watch an early cut of the classic film that would go on to spawn a multi-billionaire franchise and a merchandising juggernaut. Among that group was longtime Lucas buddy Steven Spielberg, as well as Francis Ford Coppola and Brian De Palma. As the story goes, only Spielberg got what was Lucas trying to accomplish, a throwback to old Buck Rogers serials with a dash of Akira Kurosawa’s samurai films. Over the years, Spielberg also told people that De Palma was particularly critical, and now, De Palma is finally setting the record straight.
During a recent appearance on the Light the Fuse podcast, De Palma shot down Spielberg’s version of events, and made it clear that he definitely saw the potential in Star Wars. Via The Wrap:
“They always portray me as the guy that says the worst thing that drives everybody crazy, but if you’re gonna show me something, I’m gonna tell you what I think about it,” De Palma continued. “Why am I there unless I’m gonna give an honest appraisal of what I’ve seen? And in this case, the fact that Steven says that only he saw the possibilities of ‘Star Wars,’ that’s not really true.”
According to De Palma, “we all saw it as a terrific thing that George had done.” However, he does admit that he did offer some feedback that Lucas wisely ignored. Specifically, that “The Force” wasn’t the best name for the Jedi’s power. “Needless to say, I had a lot to say about The Force, which obviously I was terribly wrong about.”
(Via The Wrap)
