Ralph McQuarrie | |
|---|---|
 McQuarrie visitingILM in 2008 | |
| Born | (1929-06-13)June 13, 1929 Gary, Indiana, U.S. |
| Died | March 3, 2012(2012-03-03) (aged 82) Berkeley, California, U.S. |
| Alma mater | Art Center College of Design |
| Occupations | Illustrator, designer |
| Notable work | |
| Spouse | |
| Awards | Academy Award for Best Visual Effects (1985) |
| Website | www.ralphmcquarrie.com |
Ralph Angus McQuarrie (/məˈkwɒriː/; June 13, 1929 – March 3, 2012) was an Americanconcept artist who worked in film and television. His career included work on the originalStar Wars trilogy, the originalBattlestar Galactica television series, the filmE.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, and the filmCocoon, for which he won anAcademy Award.
Ralph McQuarrie was born on June 13, 1929, inGary, Indiana, and was raised on a farm nearBillings, Montana.[1] He served in theUnited States Army during theKorean War, surviving a shot to the head.[1] After returning from the war, McQuarrie moved toCalifornia in the 1960s,[2] studying at theArt Center School,[1] then in downtownLos Angeles.
McQuarrie initially worked for a dentistry firm, illustrating teeth and equipment,[1] before working as an Artist and Preliminary Design Illustrator for theBoeing Company, where he drew diagrams for a manual on constructing the747 Jumbo Jet, as well as designing film posters and animatingCBS News' coverage of theApollo space program at the three-man company Reel Three.[2][3] While there, McQuarrie was asked byHal Barwood to produce some illustrations for a film project he andMatthew Robbins were starting.[2][3]
I just did my best to depict what I thought the film should look like, I really liked the idea. I didn't think the film would ever get made. My impression was it was too expensive. There wouldn't be enough of an audience. It's just too complicated. But George knew a lot of things that I didn't know.
The young filmmakerGeorge Lucas was impressed by McQuarrie's work and met with him to discuss his plans for a space-fantasy film,Star Wars. Lucas sought visual reference material to support his pitch to film studios and purchased pieces of science fiction artwork byJohn Berkey.[4] In 1975, Lucas commissioned McQuarrie to illustrate several scenes from the script of the film. McQuarrie may have been inspired by some of Berkey's works, in particular a painting of a rocket-plane diving down through space towards a gigantic mechanical planet (the image had been used as cover art for the 1972 reprint of the short story anthologyStar Science Fiction Stories No.4).[5]
McQuarrie's concept paintings were instrumental in helping Lucas to win approval from20th Century Fox; armed with vivid illustrations of his planned movie, Lucas was able to convince Fox executives to take a gamble and fund hisStar Wars project. Despite their scepticism, it became a huge success upon release in 1977.[1][2][3][6] Among McQuarrie'sStar Wars portfolio were concept paintings depicting scenes on the planetTatooine, inside theMos Eisley cantina, inside theDeath Star and on the moon ofYavin. During filming, Lucas ensured that many shots reproduced McQuarrie's paintings exactly, such was his esteem for McQuarrie's work.[7] McQuarrie has said of his work onStar Wars, "I thought I had the best job that an artist ever had on a film, and I had never worked on a feature film before. ... I still get fan mail — people wondering if I worked onEpisode I or just wanting to have my autograph."[3]
McQuarrie designed many of the film's characters, includingDarth Vader,Chewbacca,R2-D2 andC-3PO[8][9] and drew many concepts for the film's sets.[2] His production painting of R2-D2 and C-3PO wandering in the desert on the planetTatooine was the first to be completed. His early concept for C-3PO was visibly inspired by theArt DecoMaschinenmensch robot fromFritz Lang's 1927 filmMetropolis.[10][11] The painting had a particular impact on actorAnthony Daniels, who was about to turn down the part of C-3PO;"He had painted a face and a figure that had a very wistful, rather yearning, rather bereft quality, which I found very appealing," stated Daniels, and the appeal of McQuarrie's image convinced him to accept the role.[12][13]
At Lucas' suggestion, McQuarrie designed abreathing apparatus for Darth Vader to wear.[14] In an interview withStar Wars Insider Magazine, McQuarrie stated that Lucas' artistic direction was to portray a malevolent figure in a cape withsamurai armour."For Darth Vader, George [Lucas] just said he would like to have a very tall, dark fluttering figure that had a spooky feeling like it came in on the wind." McQuarrie noted that the script indicated that Vader would travel between spaceships and needed tosurvive in the vacuum of space, and he proposed that Vader should wear some sort ofspace suit. Lucas agreed, and McQuarrie combined a full-face breathing mask with asamurai helmet, thus creating one of the most iconic designs of space fantasy cinema.[12][15] A 1975 production painting of Darth Vader engaged in alightsaber duel with Deak Starkiller (a character prototype forLuke Skywalker) depicts Vader wearing black armour, a flowing cape and an elongated, skull-like mask and helmet. Its similarity to the final design of Vader's costume demonstrates that McQuarrie's earliest conception of Vader was so successful that very little needed to be changed for production.[10] Working from McQuarrie's artwork, thecostume designerJohn Mollo devised a costume that could be worn by an actor on-screen using a combination ofclerical robes, amotorcycle suit, aGerman military helmet and agas mask.[16] The prop sculptorBrian Muir created the helmet and armour used in the film from McQuarrie's designs.[17]
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While McQuarrie was working on visualisation work for Lucas, he was also commissioned by an executive ofBallantine Books,Judy-Lynn del Rey, to produce thecover art of the forthcomingnovelization ofStar Wars. The first edition ofStar Wars: From the Adventures of Luke Skywalker went to press in 1976 featuring McQuarrie's version of Darth Vader's helmet on the cover. Like the film, the book was a runaway success, and McQuarrie began a long relationship with the publisher, producing the artwork for 22 further titles forDel Rey Books between 1978 and 1987.[7]
Around the time that McQuarrie was completing his work onStar Wars, he was brought on board the design team for a planned cinematic production based onGene Roddenberry's science fiction television series,Star Trek. TitledStar Trek: Planet of the Titans, the film was to feature a redesignedUSSEnterprise starship, and McQuarrie was recruited to provide the visualizations. His triangular ship design has been likened to the appearance of theStar Destroyers featured inStar Wars.Star Trek: Planet of the Titans did not make it past the pre-production phase and the project was cancelled in 1977.[18] The design was later used in 2017'sStar Trek: Discovery as the basis of the titular ship.[19]
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When Lucas began work on his sequel toStar Wars,The Empire Strikes Back (1980), McQuarrie was once again brought in to supplyprevisualization artwork. His sketches and production paintings established the appearance of some of the saga's most enduring elements, such as the giganticAT-AT Walkers in the battle on the ice planetHoth and the wizened elf creatureYoda. McQuarrie's design forCloud City, afloating city in the clouds, actually originated from his early sketches forStar Wars from 1975, when he was illustrating a concept for the planetAlderaan, as described in Lucas' 1975 draft script,Adventures of the Starkiller as taken from the Journal of the Whills, Saga I: The Star Wars.[7] McQuarrie made an uncreditedcameo appearance inThe Empire Strikes Back, when he appeared in the film's opening sequence in theRebel base on Hoth as a character named General Pharl McQuarrie.[1] In 2007, McQuarrie became part of theStar Wars action figure range when an action figure in his likeness as "General McQuarrie" was produced for theStar Wars 30th anniversary in 2007.[1][9] Action figures were also produced based on McQuarrie's concept art, including conceptual versions of theImperial Stormtrooper, Chewbacca, R2-D2 and C-3PO, Darth Vader,Han Solo,Boba Fett,Obi-Wan Kenobi,Yoda and other characters.[20]
By the time McQuarrie was engaged on Lucas' thirdStar Wars picture,Return of the Jedi (1983), he had begun to experience creative fatigue. "It became less fun as time went on. I had done the best part already and I was just rehashing everything. I kept meeting myself in my thinking. It became more and more difficult to keep my enthusiasm up," McQuarrie has said. Despite his earlier success, fewer of his design ideas were included in the final cut of the film.[21]
McQuarrie designed the alien ships inSteven Spielberg's filmsClose Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) andE.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982),[3] while his work as the concept artist on the 1985 filmCocoon earned him theAcademy Award for Visual Effects.[9][22] He also worked on the 1978 TV seriesBattlestar Galactica,[9] and the filmsRaiders of the Lost Ark,Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home andBatteries Not Included.[6]
In 1989,Isaac Asimov commissioned McQuarrie to create art for Asimov's collection of essays and short stories titledRobot Visions. McQuarrie provided illustrations for both the cover and individual stories withinRobot Visions. The book is a companion to Asimov's 1986 collectionRobot Dreams, for which McQuarrie also provided illustrations and cover art; in fact, thetitle story ofRobot Dreams was inspired by McQuarrie's art, rather than the other way around.
Rick McCallum offered McQuarrie a role as designer for theStar Wars prequel trilogy, but he declined, noting he had "run out of steam" andIndustrial Light & Magic animatorDoug Chiang was appointed instead. McQuarrie retired and hisStar Wars concept paintings were subsequently displayed in art exhibitions, including the 1999Star Wars: The Magic of Myth.[3] Several of McQuarrie's unused designs from the original trilogy were utilized for theStar Wars: The Clone Wars andStar Wars Rebels animated TV series,[23] including the planet Orto Plutonia, which was based on McQuarrie's original design of Hoth,[24] and the characters Zeb Orrelios and Chopper, based on his original designs forChewbacca andR2-D2, respectively.[25][26]
McQuarrie married Joan Benjamin in 1983 and stayed married until his death at age 82 on March 3, 2012, in his Berkeley, CA home.[27] McQuarrie died from complications ofParkinson's disease.[1][6][9]
Christian Blauvelt ofEntertainment Weekly praised McQuarrie's works as "pioneering of the 'used future' aesthetic" which unlike other science-fiction, "imagined a lived-in galaxy that was gritty, dirty, and in advance states of decay." He described McQuarrie's style as "strongly geometric subjects rendered in muted colors against a flat, purposefully compressed backdrop. A McQuarrieStar Wars design looks like what would have resulted ifSalvador Dalí had sketched concepts for Universal's 1936Flash Gordon serial by way ofSergio Leone's Old West."[24]
Neil Kendricks ofThe San Diego Union-Tribune emphasised McQuarrie's importance to theStar Wars franchise, saying that the artist "holds a unique position when it comes to defining much of the look of the "Star Wars" universe."[3]
After McQuarrie's death, George Lucas said: "His genial contribution, in the form of unequalled production paintings, propelled and inspired all of the cast and crew of the originalStar Wars trilogy. When words could not convey my ideas, I could always point to one of Ralph's fabulous illustrations and say, 'do it like this'."[28]
The current Lucasfilm creative team is employing parts of McQuarrie's original unused concept art from the seventies and eighties in the development of newStar Wars-related media.[29]
ForStar Wars Day in 2023,Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga released a free DLC character named Luke Starkiller, based on McQuarrie's design.[30]
McQuarrie'sprevisualization artwork, production sketches and paintings, andmatte paintings feature prominently in the first three volumes ofThe Art of Star Wars book series.
