“美国风情画”后期制♥作♥接近尾声…
Toward the end of the postproduction on American Graffiiti…
我们在旧金山的北角电影院组织了一次放映
we organized a screening at the Northpoint Cinema in San Francisco.
我们觉得这部电影反响不错
We felt the reaction to the film was quite positive.
但环球影业的内德•塔宁却不赞同
But Ned Tanen, from Universal, was very upset.
“这部作品还不成熟 不该把它公之于众”
”You shouldn’t be showing it to an audience at this stage. ”
我们都大吃一惊
We were flabbergasted.
我的第一部电影他们看不懂 拍完后还乱改
My first film they didn’t understand and meddled with it after it was finished.
第二部电影也是如此
Same with my second film.
公♥司♥插手…
The corporate entity came in…
然后偷工减料 减了五分钟
and jerry-rigged with it, cut five minutes out.
不过在”美国风情画”发行之前…
But even before the release of American Graffiti…
乔治•卢卡斯将目光放在了星空
George Lucas’s imagination was pointed at the stars.
在这段时间里 他一直在谈一件事…
All during this time, he was talking about the fact…
他想做一部像”飞侠哥顿”的太空歌♥剧
that he would like to do a Flash Gordon kind of 1930s space opera.
他开始认真研究这件事
He started working on that in earnest.
有人问: 那么多题材 为什么要选择这个?
People said, ”Of all things to pick, why in the world would you do that?”
我觉得为年轻人制♥作♥电影很有趣
I said, ”It’s fun to make films for young people.
这是给他们留下影响的好机会
It’s a chance to make an impression on them.
我想这么做”
I wanna do this.”
他的银河童话…
With his galactic fairy tale…
卢卡斯希望重塑经典风格
Lucas hoped to reinvent a classic genre.
在神话学家…
Among his influences…
约瑟夫•坎贝尔著作的影响下…
were the writings of scholar and educatorJoseph Campbell…
在书中 他探究了神话和世界宗教的起源
in which he explored the origins of myth and world religions.
卢卡斯写”星球大战”的时候…
When Lucas was writing the script of Star Wars…
他对约瑟夫•坎贝尔非常着迷
he was heavily interested in Joseph Campbell.
约瑟夫•坎贝尔想知道…
What Joseph Campbell was interested in…
不同文化神话之间的联♥系♥
was to see the connections between the myths of different cultures…
试图抽丝剥茧
to try to find out what were the threads…
通过线索将它们联♥系♥在一起
that tied all these very disparate cultures together.
我通过研究 试图提取并把它们…
I did research to try to distill everything…
变成普世的主题
down into motifs that would be universal.
我把大部分成功归因于心理学说
I attribute most of the success to the psychological underpinnings…
已经存在了几千年…
which had been around for thousands of years…
人们对这些故事的反应仍然和以前一样
and the people still react the same way to the stories as they always have.
乔治是个很好的记者
George is nothing if not a good reporter.
当他开始工作的时候…
And when he sets out to do his work…
通过甄别最可靠的信息来书写报告
he starts reporting from the best sources he can gather.
他请坎贝尔帮忙看看
He brought Campbell into the process…
方兴未艾的”星球大战”…
of looking at his work on Star Wars…
问这样对吗? 可以写下来吗?
and saying, ”Is this right? Am I getting it down?
会不会写的太过了? 角色合适吗?
Is this the right emphasis? Is this the right character?”
约瑟夫•坎贝尔对我说他最好的学生是乔治•卢卡斯
Joseph Campbell said to me the best student he ever had was George Lucas.
就像”奥德赛”这样的史诗…
Like such epics as The Odyssey…
“贝奥武夫”…
Beowulf…
亚瑟王传说…
and The Legend of King Arthur…
“星球大战”借鉴了众多神话原型
Star Wars drew from a shared pool of mythic archetypes.
你可以认出那些正在冒险的青年
You have the youth who’s on the adventure that you can identify with.
那些亡命之徒
You have the swashbuckler.
或者这个姑娘
And you have the damsel.
她或许不拘一格…
She may not have the reactions that are conventional…
却正处于痛苦之中
however she is in distress.
被告知去寻求智者的帮助
And you have the wise old man, who you go and you find him.
还有逗乐的角色
And you have the funnier characters.
我是说它确实严格遵循这种形式
I mean, it really adheres strictly to that form.
这是一个传统的 仪式性的成长故事
It’s the traditional, ritualistic coming-of-age story.
当我进入到神话方面的创作阶段…
When I went into the mythological side of what I wanted to do…
这是英雄的关键因素
that’s a key factor with heroes.
到1973年夏天…
By the summer of 1973…
乔治•卢卡斯准备拿作品去试试
George Lucas had created a treatment that he felt was ready to shop around.
是否有人买♥♥账 那就是另一回事了
Whether anyone would be interested, that was another story.
当时最成功的科幻电影是”2001”
The most successful science fiction film up to that point was 2001 .
当时最成功的电影赚了2400万美元
Successful then was that it made about $24 million.
大多数热门科幻电影的票房♥都在1600万美元左右
Most hit science fiction films would make about $ 16 million…
比如”人猿星球”之类的电影
which was the Planet of the Apes films, and that sort of thing.
但大多数科幻电影的票房♥不到1000万美元
But most science fiction films would make under $ 10 million.
没有理由认为它会有什么不同
There’s no reason to think that it would do any different.
“星球大战”更像是太空幻想 而不是科幻小说
Star Wars was more space fantasy than science fiction…
但在1973年 它的银河背景让人难以接受
but its galactic setting made it a tough sell in 1973.
当我推销这部电影的时候 我只有一个14页的故事处理
When I was pitching the film, all I had was a 1 4-page story treatment.
它非常模糊 他说那是上世纪30年代…
It was very vague. Said it was kind of a 1930s…
动作冒险 周六下午系列…
action adventure, Saturday afternoon serial…
类似飞侠哥顿 巴克•罗杰斯那种漫画书里的未来
based on the kind of Flash Gordon, Buck Rogers kind of comic book future.
这就是可知道的一切
And that’s about all they knew about it.
在70年代 科幻小说似乎…
In the ’70s, science fiction seemed to be…
都是讲述关于世界末日 死亡和毁灭
all about apocalyptic societies and death and destruction.
不是很鼓舞人心
Not very inspiring.
当时我们为这个题材做艰难的游说
We were fighting an uphill battle with a science fiction project.
卢卡斯寻求环球影业 联美公♥司♥给”星球大战”投资
George Lucas brought Star Wars to Universal and United Artists.
但两家制片厂都拒绝了
Both studios passed on the project.
但这位雄心勃勃的年轻人却暗自庆幸
But the ambitious young filmmaker was secretly relieved.
他希望把这个梦想项目交付给对的人
The last thing he wanted was to hand his dream project to the wrong people.
他不喜欢制片场体制
He didn’t care for the studio system.
之所以用它是因为别无选择
He used it because there was no other way of doing what he needed to do.
他毫不气馁 把”星战”送给了艾伦•拉德二世….
Undaunted, Lucas presented Star Wars to Alan Ladd,Jr….
20世纪福克斯公♥司♥创意事务的新主管
the new head of creative affairs at 20th Century Fox.
拉德做过制片人 通过电影作品使他发现了
Ladd, a former producer, was able to recognize potential in the filmmaker…
卢卡斯的潜力
if not necessarily the film.
我们开了个会 乔治说…
We had a meeting, and George said…
我一直在弄这个叫”星球大战”的东西
”I’ve been thinking about this thing called Star Wars.”
然后他推荐给我
And he told me about it.
我说:”听起来太棒了”
I said, ”That sounds terrific.”
电影的技术部分我完全不懂
The technology part of the whole thing was completely over my head.
但他的才能令我放心
But I just believed in him and his genius.
我从”美国风情画”中看出来的…
I sort of recognized from American Graffiti…
我只需和这位天才一同放手去干
that he really was a genius, so I just flew with it.
他真是慧眼识英
He understood what talent was.
尊重人才 他可以说是…
He respected talent and he was able to say…
“我觉得这家伙很有才华 我想要投资他”
”I think this guy’s talented. I think we’re gonna invest in him. ”
就这样 艾伦•拉德二世投资了
So, Alan Ladd,Jr. invested in me.
投资这部电影非常值
He did not invest in the movie. And it paid off.
1973年 拉德证明他赌对了
In 1973, Ladd’s investment in George Lucas provedjustified.
“美国风情画”一经发行好评如潮
American Graffiti was finally released to rave reviews…
成为了当年票房♥第三高的影片
and became the third-highest grossing picture of the year.
该片在全球的票房♥收入超过1亿美元
It went on to earn more than $ 100 million worldwide.
这部电影展现了美国生活和人文精神…
American Graffiti showed a very human center and a huge heart…
也是乔治一直都有的
that George has always had.
我想这让很多人感到惊讶
I think that surprised a lot of people.
有了”星球大战”的初步协议…
With a preliminary deal for Star Wars in place…
卢卡斯在1997年开始写剧本
Lucas began writing his screenplay in 1974.
事实证明 这比最初的时候更雄心勃勃
It proved more ambitious than he had first imagined.
这位导演能够提炼出构想的精髓
The filmmaker was able to distill his idea down to its essence–
英勇的叛军联盟和邪恶的银河帝国
an epic battle between a heroic Rebel Alliance…
之间的史诗般战斗
and an evil Galactic Empire.
大反派达斯•维达构思之初就有了
The chief villain, Darth Vader, was there practically from the start.
但英雄人物的塑造构思是很费时间的
But it took time to come up with Star Wars’s three main heroes–
勇敢的年轻公主莱娅•奥加纳
a plucky young princess named Leia Organa…
无畏的科瑞利亚走私贩汉•索罗
the fearless Corellian smuggler known as Han Solo…
最重要的 一个理想主义的农场男孩…
and most important, an idealistic farm boy…
原来的名字是卢克•斯塔克
whose original name was Luke Starkiller.
在他的冒险过程中…
Over the course ofhis adventure…
卢克训练成为绝地武士…
Luke trains to become a Jedi knight…
他的力量来自一种被称为”原力”的神秘能量
deriving his power from a mystical energy known as ”the Force. ”
但在此过程中 剧本发生了根本性的变化
But along the way, the script went through radical changes.
卢克曾经是一位60岁的将军
At one point, Luke was a 60-year-old general…
汉•索罗的皮肤和腮都是绿色的
and Han Solo had green skin and gills.
甚至连原力的概念也尚未完成
Even the concept of the Force had yet to be fully realized.
取而代之的是凯布尔水晶…
Instead, there was the Kaiburr Crystal…
一种银河圣杯
a sort of galactic Holy Grail.
原力的概念在故事中很重要
The concept of the Force was an important one in the story.

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