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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 4, 1982)
QaSuj, Kuntg, fioastbl piosn 'Sta/i tyJate! to- ^ba/th. G^uyitaJ! by Steven Ginsberg 1 Remember that movie where Luke Skvwalker battles the A. V forces of evil? Has lots of tors named after it now? The biggest movie moneymaker of all time? Star Wars' (Oh yeah). Gary Kurtz produced that. Remember the sequel three years later? Where Luke Skvwalker battles the forces of evil? Also made lots of money? The fourth biggest movie ever? The Empire Strikes Hack1 (That's right). Gary Kurtz produced that. .And remember four years before Star Wars there was that film about California high school kids cruising cars down the boulevard? Aside from Ron Howard it starred two unknowns named Cindy W illiams and Richard Drey fuss Also had un discovered actors named Suzanne Sommers, Mackenzie Phillips and Paul LeMat in smaller roles? Aineri can llraffiti? (How could we forget?) Gary Kurtz co produced that too. Hut sitting in a small Los Angeles coffee shop on a recent Friday morning Kurtz, -»l, hardly fits the stereotype of the tough sounding Hollywood producer He is shy but friendly He talks slowly and pre ciselv. carefully explaining! his opinions like a concerned college professor rather than a -.lick hy]X' ster He is serious alxnit his work hut apix'ars equal l\ interested in the quality of his life t,he relocated to England five years ago and lives in the countryside with his wife and children’! He even orders oatmeal for breakfast His latest is an adventure fantasy, coproduced with Moppets creator Inn Henson, called 7>v Park levs ml. a film that has no human ac tors, onlv an elaborate world of foam rubber creatures. Hie Viir Wars pictures were wonderful but each one took three years out of tm life. Kurt/ reflects. 'It's nice to have new people come in and work on them (.the next Star VVitrs saga, AVreuge of the ftxh. will be at theaters next June) But I have a lot of my own projects I want to work on, and l simply don't have time to do both It was while working on The H.rnptn• Strikes Hack five years ago that Kurtz first became involved w ith The Park Crystal He had con tacted Henson and his associate Frank Or for advice on how lx*st to create the film’s mini-hero, Yoda, when Henson explained an idea he had for a picture that would go one ■-top furxher than the- Muppets or Star Vi.trs The worid of the dark crystal" would lx1 a mythical place where plants and trees talk, moan tains and rocks move and water murmurs music Placed in this set tieiji would tie the perennial voung last Kittling pvh.it else?) tlx* forces ot evil But like everything in the film he would he the creation of a team of conceptual artists and film technicians No live actors would lx* ust\l Of course, when The l\irk ins till is released to theaters this Christmas there will also lx* a vari etv of K>oks and pnxluct tie ins to acquaint audiences with the dif ficulties of the filmmaking process and the visual world the film creates. lw>k for /he lkirk Crystal figures at your local tin store, a $25 coffee table art ixH>k with the work of conceptual designer Brian Proud, plus museum exhibits in New York, lets Angeles, and Lon don There will even lx* a limited line of The Dark Crystal adult de signer clothes (125 pieces in all) on sale at expensive specialty stores in New York, Texas, California and London. Many people, particularly those in the film business, fail to see the potential value of a picture before it is made In the early Seventies Kurtz and Lucas wanted the film executives at United Artists to pro duce American Graffiti, but the studio rejected the picture. It was finally made at Universal, where it became one of the most successful low-budget movies ever produced. Then Kurtz and Lucas wanted Uni versal to produce Star Wars but, like United Artists, the studio is sued another reject ansi lost the biggest moneymaker in the htstorv of the business Did those experiences teach Kurtz anvthing> Yes." he answers It taught me you have to make the films that you want to see You can’t second guess the studio or the audience And it you don't find an audience for your film you can't get depressed about it There will tie another " Easy for Kurtz to say, since pro ducing films has made him more than a millionaire and given him clout in Hollywood. Still, it was not that long ago that he graduated from him ->chool at the University of Southern California and worked on low budget movies as every thing from sound editor, costumer, makeup man, and editor to cameraman, production manager and, sometimes, director. It was also during that time that he met Lucas, w ho was just completing his first feature, TUX 1138, and the pair went to work on getting Amer ican Graffiti off the ground. That's why, w'hen lecturing at colleges, Kurtz says he makes a special point to advise fledgling film students to do as much work as they can on as many projects as they can in preparation for what s to come in “the real world." But that advice, he adds, is not always done in his most encouraging tone. “When 1 talk to students 1 go out of my way to do one thing,” he admits. “To be negative. If they’re dedicated it won’t matter what I say. They'll ignore me. And those are the ones who will get ahead.” J A WHOLE NEW BREED OF CAT IS GONNA PRODUCED BY STRAY CATS, HEIN HOVEN, DAVE EDMUNDS. 1982 EMI AMERICA RECORDS a division 61 Capitol Records. Inc All Rights Reserved STRAY CATS BUILT FOR SPEED FEATURES THE HITS "STRAY CAT STRUT" ROCK THIS TOWN" im • y s <.r* 0 / fa‘ J Iff*
