Of all the changes George Lucas the Hutt made to the beloved STAR WARS movies in recent years, none has caused more controversy than fiddling with Han Solo and Greedo’s cantina showdown. Whilst purists liked the idea of Han as a loveable rogue – shooting Greedo before the bounty hunter had a chance to do so himself – in a recent interview Lucas has just revealed that this was never the case:
‘The controversy over who shot first, Greedo or Han Solo, in Episode IV, what I did was try to clean up the confusion, but obviously it upset people because they wanted Solo [who seemed to be the one who shot first in the original] to be a cold-blooded killer, but he actually isn’t. It had been done in all close-ups and it was confusing about who did what to whom. I put a little wider shot in there that made it clear that Greedo is the one who shot first, but everyone wanted to think that Han shot first, because they wanted to think that he actually just gunned him down.’
Greedo must have been a pretty bad marksman to miss from that distance. In hindsight, a change of occupation is recommended.
Lucas is now notorious for tinkering with the original movies, and pretty much every digital change alteration is a bone of contention for many fans. For the current re-release of THE PHANTOM MENACE 3D, Lucas has refrained from making any changes (aside from the extra dimension, obviously). The versions coming to theatres now are the same as those currently available on Blu-ray – which pretty much means prequels remain the same whilst the originals have been tampered with significantly. However, Lucas has defended his tinkering ways, assuring us that it’s common practice in the biz:
‘Changes are not unusual — I mean, most movies when they release them they make changes. But somehow, when I make the slightest change, everybody thinks it’s the end of the world… My job is to try to make the best possible movie it can be.’
Lucas further defends himself by pointing out that other cult movies have seen similar alterations, specifically BLADE RUNNER:
‘It’s been cut sixteen ways from Sunday and there are all kinds of different versions of it. Star Wars, there’s basically one version — it just keeps getting improved a little bit as we move forward.’
Fans with shelves that creak under the weight of STAR WARS various releases may dispute whether there’s ‘one version’ or not. Regardless of the cynicism, there’s no doubt we keep coming back for more.
Lucas also hinted that he was still keen to return to another beloved series – INDIANA JONES. Apparently, he’s working on the fifth instalment now, almost beckoning another onslaught from angered fanboys…
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
