8 People More Important Than George Lucas In Making Star Wars Great

3. Gary Kurtz Kept The Focus On Story Over Toys

There are several moments that could be said to be the start of George Lucas turning to the Dark Side: first seeing the CGI in Jurassic Park; looking for inspiration for Anakin's turn and seeing his pre-teen son; thinking Star Wars needed politics and a goofy rabbit amphibian. But, when you break it down, the real start was when Gary Kurtz left the pre-production of Return Of The Jedi. Kurtz had been Lucas' producer since American Graffiti, working with him through the first two Star Wars movies and battling the many problems - from uncooperative crew to uncooperative weather - that came about during production. His biggest impact, however, was a deep understanding of what Star Wars was as a story, something that eventually led to a divide between him and Lucas; in development for Episode VI, George restructured the planned film to make it more spectacle driven and lean into merchandising, eventually forcing Kurtz to quit. And we all know what happened next; Star Wars diverged sharply from its early ethos after his departure, only highlighting what a sure hand he had as a producer - Return Of The Jedi, for all its successes, wasn't as keen on breaking new ground as the previous two films, while producer Rick McCallum's work on the prequels amounted to saying "Yes" a lot. A proper unseen presence, it's just sad that the impact of Kurtz's hard work could only be fully felt by his absence.