Gary Kurtz (born July 27 1940 in Los Angeles, California) is a two time Academy Award nominated film producer whose list of credits include American Graffiti, Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back. He went on to produce The Dark Crystal and Return to Oz after departing from the Star Wars series.
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Collaboration with George Lucas
Kurtz and Lucas first collaborated on the 1973 film American Graffiti, which became a huge box office hit. Kurtz then became producer of Star Wars, released in 1977, and its sequel, The Empire Strikes Back released in 1980. Kurtz has claimed that he and George Lucas clashed over how to progress the Star Wars series. Kurtz recalled after Raiders of the Lost Ark in 1981, Lucas became convinced that audiences no longer cared about the story; they were simply there for thrills and entertainment, and he began to deviate from the original nine-episode bible starting with Return of the Jedi, at which point Kurtz quit the series. In interviews Kurtz has expressed his dissatisfaction with Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi and Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace . Other sources have suggested that Kurtz was removed from the franchise by Lucas after he had allowed production on The Empire Strikes Back to run seriously over-schedule and over-budget. It is a matter of public record that Kurtz's final collaboration with Lucas, Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back, was an expensive and fraught shoot. Records at Elstree indicate that the movie took 175 shooting days having been budgeted at 100, which forced Lucas to borrow $10 million to complete the film. Kurtz had to help direct[1] along with David Tomblin, Irvin Kershner, Harley Cokeliss and John Barry (who died during production of meningitis) to bring the film in on even this revised schedule and budget. Lucas visited the set in London only a couple of times.[1] There are photos published of Lucas on the "bog" set consulting the production, but Kershner directed all the scenes on that set. Kurtz's wife, Meredith, planned the films 'wrap party' in late August 1979 and the Kurtzes hosted the affair. The actual completion of photography was a month later.[1] [2] Kurtz did not leave the movie before its completion and was actively involved from post production through its release in theatres in the U.S. and the UK. He was replaced by Howard Kazanjian for Return of the Jedi. Kurtz also co-produced the 1989 low-budget science fiction film Slipstream, which reunited him with Star Wars star Mark Hamill.
Filmography
- Two-Lane Blacktop, Associate Producer
- Chandler, Associate Producer
- American Graffiti, Co-Producer
- Star Wars, Producer
- The Empire Strikes Back, Producer
- The Dark Crystal
- Return to Oz
- Nemo aka Little Nemo aka Little Nemo Adventures in Slumberland
- Slipstream
- various projects for BBC
Incomplete Projects
- The Spirit with Will Eisner, Jerry Reese, Brad Bird
- Teefr with Edward Summer
- Once aka The Thief and the Cobbler
- Nemo
- A New Atlantis with Edward Summer, Richard Edlund
