Marcia Lucas | |
|---|---|
| Born | Marcia Lou Griffin (1945-10-04)October 4, 1945 (age 80) Modesto, California, U.S. |
| Other names | Marcia Lucas Rodrigues |
| Occupation | Film editor |
| Years active | 1968–1983; 1996–1998 |
| Known for | Star Wars |
| Spouses | |
| Children | 2, includingAmanda Lucas |
Marcia Lou Lucas (néeGriffin; born October 4, 1945)[1] is an American film editor. She is best known for her work editing theStar Wars trilogy (1977–1983) as well as other films by her then-husbandGeorge Lucas:THX 1138 (1971) andAmerican Graffiti (1973). She also editedMartin Scorsese'sAlice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974),Taxi Driver (1976), andNew York, New York (1977).
Lucas won theAcademy Award for Best Film Editing in 1977 forStar Wars (1977).[2][3] She was previously nominated for an Academy Award for her film editing onAmerican Graffiti and for aBAFTA Award for Best Editing for her work onTaxi Driver. After a career gap while raising her family, Lucas produced two films in the 1990s.
Marcia Lou Griffin was born inModesto, California. Her father was an Air Force officer stationed inStockton, California, during World War II. Her parents divorced when she was two.[4] Her mother, Mae Griffin, relocated the family toNorth Hollywood, California, to live with her parents.[2] When Marcia's grandfather died, her mother moved to an apartment nearby, and she found work as a clerk at an insurance agency.[2] When she was a teenager, her father reentered her life, but he had remarried and was stationed in Florida.[2] Marcia lived with her stepfamily for two years and then moved back to Hollywood.[2] She returned to North Hollywood to finish high school and enrolled in chemistry courses atLos Angeles City College while working in a mortgage-banking firm.[5][6][2]
In 1964, Marcia's then-boyfriend worked for a Hollywood museum and wanted to hire her as a librarian to catalog all the donated movie memorabilia. They sent her to apply for the job at aCalifornia State Employment office.[2] Since she had no experience, the Employment office sent her to Sandler Films who needed an apprentice film librarian with no experience.[2] Marcia was eventually promoted to being an assistant editor by the time she was twenty.[2] She was in aMotion Picture Editors Guild apprenticeship of eight years, leading to becoming a Guild film editor.[2][7] She edited promotional films and trailers.[2][8]
In 1967,Verna Fields, one of the few respected female film editors in the industry at that time, asked Sandler Films to send her an assistant editor to help on aUnited States Information Agency documentary, aboutLyndon B. Johnson's 21–23 December 1967Asia trip, later titledJourney to the Pacific (1968).[9][10][2] Fields had also hiredUniversity of Southern California students as assistant editors, includingGeorge Lucas.[2] The following spring, the newly engaged Marcia moved in with Lucas at his hilltop apartment on Portola Drive in Beverly Hills[2][11] and returned to editing commercials as George Lucas accompaniedFrancis Ford Coppola to scout filming locations forThe Rain People (1968) atLong Island,New York.[12] When principal photography began onThe Rain People, Lucas simultaneously begun shooting a behind-the-scenes documentary short titledFilmmaker (1968).
Back in California, Marcia had accepted an offer to work onMedium Cool (1969) when George had recommended her as an assistant editor forBarry Malkin onThe Rain People. Fortunately, the shooting schedule forMedium Cool was delayed, which allowed for her to work on both films.[13] Following this assignment, she and George returned to their Portola Drive residence to editFilmmaker.[14] Shortly after, Coppola had established a multi-picture deal with his production companyAmerican Zoetrope andWarner Bros. Their first project wasTHX 1138 (1971) for which Marcia served as an assistant editor. Reflecting on the film's commercial failure, Marcia stated: "I never cared forTHX because it left me cold. When the studio didn't like the film, I wasn't surprised. But George just said to me I was stupid and knew nothing. Because I was just aValley Girl. He was the intellectual."[15]
When principal photography had wrapped onAmerican Graffiti (1973), George had wanted Marcia to edit the film, but Universal Pictures executive Ned Tanen insisted on hiringVerna Fields, who had just finished editingSteven Spielberg'sThe Sugarland Express (1974). However, Fields worked on the rough cut of the film and then left to resume work onWhat's Up, Doc? (1972).[16] For the next six months, Marcia editedAmerican Graffiti alongside her husband and sound editorWalter Murch to its contractual runtime of 110 minutes.[2][17] In 1974, Marcia Lucas and Fields were nominated for theAcademy Award for Best Film Editing for their work onAmerican Graffiti.
AfterAmerican Graffiti was released,Martin Scorsese asked Marcia to editAlice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974), his first studio film.Sandra Weintraub recalled: "We knew her, and we liked her, and she was in the union. It was good for her to get away from George and his house. Here she was, a wonderful editor working on her husband's films. I don't think she got taken seriously."[18] As Marcia was editing the film in Los Angeles, George joined her and sequestered himself in a hotel room as he wrote the first draft forStar Wars (1977).[19] In his fourth draft ofStar Wars, George originally had written forObi-Wan Kenobi to survive his lightsaber duel withDarth Vader by retreating through a blast door that would slam shut behind him. However, Marcia suggested to her husband that he should kill off Kenobi and have him act as a spiritual guide toLuke. Although, it had been an idea George was already considering.[20][21]
BeforeStar Wars entered post-production, George did not consider that Marcia would work on it as she expected to give birth after editingTaxi Driver (1976), but the pregnancy was unsuccessful. Instead, George hired British union editorJohn Jympson to cut the film while they were in England. Horrified by the first rough cut, George fired Jympson and replaced him with Marcia and together they edited the film.[22] She was tasked to edit theBattle of Yavin sequence, in which she diverted somewhat from the originally scripted shot sequence.[23] George estimated that "it took her eight weeks to cut that battle. It was extremely complex, and we had 40,000 feet of dialogue footage of pilots saying this and that. And she had to cull through all that, and put in all the fighting as well."[20] While editing the sequence, she warned George: "If the audience doesn't cheer whenHan Solo comes in at the last second in theMillennium Falcon to help Luke when he's being chased by Darth Vader, the picture doesn't work."[2]
As Marcia edited theDeath Star assault, Lucas brought in editorRichard Chew to help restructure the rough cut. As the workload grew too burdensome, Lucas hiredPaul Hirsch as the film's third editor and whom from January 1976 until production wrapped was the only editor.[24][25] Around Thanksgiving of 1976, Marcia leftStar Wars to work on Scorsese's musical dramaNew York, New York (1977) becauseIrving Lerner had died before he finished editing the film.[22][26] At the50th Academy Awards, Lucas won the 1977Academy Award for Best Film Editing with Chew and Hirsch.[27]
Following the success ofStar Wars, Marcia decided to place her career on hold in order to raise a family.[28] In the meantime, she helped with supervising the completion of the interior design and decoration ofSkywalker Ranch. After viewing the rough cut ofRaiders of the Lost Ark (1981), she stated that there was no emotional closure becauseMarion did not appear at the ending that was originally scripted. As a result, George shot the final scene with her andIndiana Jones.[29] In 1982, Marcia came on boardReturn of the Jedi as the film's third editor alongsideDuwayne Dunham and Sean Barton.[30] When asked of her contributions to the film, George described the scenes she helped edit as the emotional "dying and crying" scenes.[31] Marcia's last film credit was as executive producer of 1996'sNo Easy Way.[32]
In 1967, Marcia met George Lucas while he was attending film school at the University of Southern California when they both served as apprentice editors onJourney to the Pacific under Verna Fields. On February 22, 1969, they were married.[33] They adopted one daughter,Amanda Lucas, who was born in 1981. Due to her husband's commitments to theStar Wars films andRaiders of the Lost Ark, Marcia grew impatient in her marriage as she blamed his workaholism and emotional blockage.[34] In mid-1982, she asked for a divorce, but in order to maintain a positive public image, George asked her to wait until after the release ofReturn of the Jedi to go public with the decision.[35] On June 13, 1983, George formally announced at Skywalker Ranch that he and Marcia were divorcing; the couple would share custody of their daughter while Marcia would relocate to Los Angeles.[36][37] When the divorce was finalized, she reportedly received $50 million from the settlement.[34]
Marcia later married Tom Rodrigues, a stained glass artist who worked as a production manager at Skywalker Ranch from 1980 to 1983, whom she met before divorcing George.[34] In 1985, the couple had a daughter, Amy Rodrigues.[38] Lucas and Rodrigues divorced in 1993.[2]
In an interview,Mark Hamill cited Marcia for her contributions toStar Wars.[39] InMythmaker: The Life and Work of George Lucas, filmmakerJohn Milius described Marcia's contributions to Milius's own films and those of George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, and Martin Scorsese, calling her one of the best editors he knew.[2]: 38–39 In 2021,SFGate published an article calling Marcia the "secret weapon ofStar Wars", further stating that: "Considering the reaction to theStar Warsprequels and George's distance from the franchise now, it's not a stretch to say that Marcia was actually the glue that kept the galaxy far, far away together. Or, at the very least, helped repair it when it needed to be fixed."[40] Some have called George the "head" ofStar Wars and Marcia the "heart," though Marcia commented: "I wouldn't think so. I definitely made scenes work. I made the end battle work, I definitely had a lot to do with making it work, but I wasn't the writer and I wasn't the director, and I didn't come up with the creative names, Darth Vader, Luke Skywalker. All those names are classics. George came up with all of it using his amazing imagination."[41]
InJ. W. Rinzler's posthumous final book,Howard Kazanjian: A Producer's Life, Lucas criticized the laterStar Wars films. She revealed that upon seeingThe Phantom Menace, she "cried because [she] didn't think it was very good," particularly criticizing the age gap between romantic leads Anakin Skywalker andPadmé Amidala.[42] About thesequel trilogy, she stated thatKathleen Kennedy andJ. J. Abrams "don't get it," saying that she was furious at the deaths ofHan Solo andLuke Skywalker, as well as the lack of an explanation forRey's powers.[43]
| Year | Film | Editor | Director | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1968 | Filmmaker | Uncredited | George Lucas | documentary short film |
| The New Cinema | Assist. | Gary Young | television documentary film | |
| 1969 | The Rain People | Assist. | Francis Ford Coppola | |
| Medium Cool | Assist. | Haskell Wexler | ||
| 1971 | THX 1138 | Assist. | George Lucas | |
| 1972 | The Candidate | Assist. | Michael Ritchie | |
| 1973 | American Graffiti | Yes | George Lucas | |
| 1974 | Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore | Yes | Martin Scorsese | |
| 1976 | Taxi Driver | Supervising | ||
| 1977 | New York, New York | Supervising | ||
| Star Wars | Yes | George Lucas | ||
| 1979 | More American Graffiti | Uncredited | Bill L. Norton | |
| 1983 | Return of the Jedi | Yes | Richard Marquand |
Work as a producer
Special thanks credit for
| Year | Award | Category | Title | Results | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1973 | Academy Awards | Best Film Editing | American Graffiti | Nominated | [44] |
| 1976 | British Academy Film Award | Best Editing | Taxi Driver | Nominated | |
| 1977 | Academy Award | Best Film Editing | Star Wars | Won | [27] |
| BAFTA Award | Best Editing | Nominated | |||
| Saturn Award | Best Editing | Won |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
