Joe1138 wrote:
Never heard those stories. If you've got any sources online for these I'd love to give 'em a read.
I think the biggest problem people have with McCallum was the he wasn't Gary Kurtz and in age when anything Star Wars post-Empire is seen by the most vocal critics as an ultra commercial cash-grab, that's a liability.
I honestly don't get the hate either. He was an integral part of Lucasfilm for the better part of two decades and his leaving is bound to affect the product as we've known it since 1997 (special editions) in one way, shape or form.
McCallum wrote:
Do you think we’ll ever get the original trilogy and the prequels without any changes on Blu-ray, or is it never gonna happen?
McCallum: I would have to answer that officially it’s never gonna happen, but you never know with George. It’s one of the constant things that—let’s put it this way, it changes always. You never know.
Yeah I mean personally, as I’ve said many times on the site I have no problems with George changing the films, I just think it would be great if he would release the originals and that way everyone could have it, but that’s just me.
McCallum: I know, but I understand that completely. It’s just a question I can’t answer. Obviously I have my own personally feelings, I hope that he does it, but I don’t have major arguments with him about it. I think that’s a decision he has to come to on his own as time comes by.
http://collider.com/rick-mccallum-red-t ... ore-138426McCallum is a company man. I really can't blame him for that. He wasn't going to sit there and smack-talk the boss and he had a product to promote. Was he supposed to go out there and tell everybody TPM is the biggest piece of shit since Breakin' 2 and that people should avoid it? There's no chance in hell any of us would sabotage on our own careers like that so why should he? He's a production manager. I don't love him and I don't hate him; I think he's just a guy who did his job to the best of his abilities.
As to the Kurtz stuff, I obviously have no gripe with the man but an entire segment of the fanbase is way too far up that guy's ass. You'd think the only worthwhile Star Wars ideas up through 1980 came from him. And that may even be true but that's just not the way I understand how things went.
And going back to the Collider interview...
McCallum wrote:
McCallum: There are two things that I’ve been able to do, thank God, because of the gift that George has given me the last twenty years is I don’t do meetings. We have discussions usually while we’re walking. I don’t have to do emails, I don’t have to protect myself about anything, I don’t have any chain of command. My job is just to try and give everybody the tools that they need to express themselves. The average film has eight or ten producers on it. That is just in a world that would be unthinkable to me, because to me, to really be a producer of a film, you have to be a line producer. That’s the person who’s on the job every single minute, on the floor every minute giving the director and the crew all the tools that they need but doing it in a fiscally responsible way and being part of the actual day to day making of the film.
