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THE INTERVIEW
At the Wizard World Chicago presentation from Lucasfilm, I was lucky
enough to be granted an exclusive interview with Steve Sansweet on
Friday morning. In the aftermath of the summer of Sith, we are all
wondering, “What is the future of Star Wars?” Steve was kind enough
to give us all a little fuel for our collective fires…
How rewarding was it to see the success of
Revenge of the Sith, not only at the box office but with sky high
fan approval, did you really think it would be such a blockbuster?
I was very excited to see the kind of reception we got
for Revenge of the Sith. I know the fan community was very mixed,
especially on Episode I. People liked Episode II a lot better but
even in the fan community there was some grumbling. When I first saw
the script for EIII and some of the bits as it was being filmed, I
started with a high degree of confidence by going out and saying
this is the movie you’ve all been waiting for, this is the movie you
want to see while not trying set them up. It was a case of saying,
“Hey guys this movie really delivers”, and that has proven to be
true. It’s really nice to go out like that.
So you knew way ahead of time it was going
to be big?
Well, you never really know until you see the final reel
of the finished film, but in this case it’s digital. I guess we’re
going to have to find a new way to discuss cinema. I had a really
good feeling; I thought the script really delivered. As it went
along George went and changed things and edited while making the
film; which is why we have this built in time to go back and put
additional footage in. I thought overall the movie was great.
I don’t think any of us could have
anticipated the way we would feel after EIII. I personally remember
feeling very sad. Do you think the film was maybe too dark?
I don’t think it was too dark at all. It needed to be like that and
I felt the same way. There is a scene or two in there that really
brings a tear to my eye. Part of it is a tear of frustration because
here you have seen this young character, you’ve seen him grow up and
begin to learn his powers and then the guy makes a fairly conscious
decision to be bad, to turn to the dark side and get more power.
Being a Jedi wasn’t good enough, in his mind it was to save Padme,
but who knew what else was going on there. It is a film that leaves
you with mixed feelings about the characters.
Now that the new Lucas HQ has been set up
in San Francisco, can we really expect to never see another film?
The new Presidio headquarters is a goal George has had for quite
some time. It was essential to get all of his companies in one
place. There are still things that are going to be happening at
Skywalker Ranch, the pre-production/post production, Skywalker Sound
is still there. Having ILM, Lucasarts and Lucasfilm HQ companies all
in one place is ultimately going to lead to a much-overused word of
Synergy among the companies. As for your question about another Star
Wars film: I don’t think George could have been any clearer on that;
He’s not going to make another Star Wars film and he has said very
clearly he will not let anyone else make a Star Wars film. He
doesn’t want someone else writing, directing it. Star Wars is
George, he is the creator. He said “Look, this is the story I had to
tell, I’ve told it, I’m happy and we now move on to other things.”
We're set up for television, but also have other goals of feature
film animation. That will happen and we are starting to begin work
on that now.
So TV shows will be the medium in which
fans will get their Star Wars fix?
I would say probably not only TV but interactive through Lucasarts,
online through Hyperspace. I think certainly the Expanded Universe
will continue, that’s been very, very popular among our fans. Who
knows what the next medium will be, perhaps when high definition
discs come out, and other types of interactive games with
combinations of discs with the Internet, I think we’ll be there. I
think Lucasfilm has been frustrated over the years by the inability
to get the whole company in one place. Lucasfilm owns one thousand
acres in Marin County in Lucas Valley (not named after George) it’s
very difficult to develop anything in Marin County. It took 8-10
years of process, not building, but just to get the approval to
build Big Rock Ranch, which was on the property he’s owned since the
mid eighties. After you go through that and you struggle with
everything it takes to get something like that built in a city that
was really the birthplace of movies in the U.S., not LA or
Hollywood, but the Bay area. It was a vision that George had to make
San Francisco the entertainment capitol of the world, as far as
entertainment goes.
You mentioned the Expanded Universe, with
the popularity things like NJO (New Jedi Order) and the like, is
this where the television shows will be going?
No, the TV shows will take place between Episodes II and III and
deals with the period of the Clone Wars. What’s happening on other
planets, politics and skullduggery and such. I think it’s going to
be very much an action show, but with a good chance in a 30-minute
show there will be story arcs and characterization that will fill in
a period that has been talked about for so long and have only seen a
little bit of. The micro series did a lot to spark interest in that
area, but we will continue in a somewhat different yet exciting
fashion of television.
Other than the upcoming DVD, what do we
really have to look forward to?
What would you like to see? It’s not just us going out there and
putting things up, it’s more like: what would our fan base like to
see? Is there something in the toy and collectible category? Is
there some area that we haven’t done a lot on in the books? At some
point we’ll be doing a live TV series too. As video games and
technology progress, one of the most exciting things I can think of
is a real VR interactive Star Wars game. It’s been started and
hoping it is a direction we can continue to go.
Will there ever be another event such as
CIII?
CIII was a huge undertaking, worked on it over a year. We knew we’d
get a lot of people but quite frankly I didn’t expect thirty-two
thousand. I kept asking the convention center what the capacity was
and they never quite answered me until that Friday afternoon of the
show when the said “maximum capacity” at which at that time we had
to stop selling tickets. All that said it was a fantastic
experience; I know certainly there were problems with lines at the
shop that I thought we had resolved, which clearly hadn’t. I had
people at the show say when are we going to have C IV? I guess there
is that interest and desire, so to make the answer a little shorter
we do have a 30th anniversary coming up in two years, that would be
an obvious time to celebrate the entire saga. We’re looking at it
very carefully right now, and we’ll see whether we have the ability,
whether we think the fans are really interested in it, and then it’s
a question of where and exactly when. We are giving it very serious
consideration.
What is the most impressive item of your
legendary collection?
That would be like me asking you to choose which one of your
children you love the most. Sometimes I’m wise and say it’s whatever
I got in the mail. Sometimes that is true to a certain extent but
when I say I love fan made things people may think “Well, easy for
him, he’s got props.” To me fan made items, it really says a lot
about Star Wars impact. People are using their skills and their
creativity and they’ve been inspired and they’ve made these amazing
pieces. I’ve gotten pieces from people who are now friends in Mexico
when I’ve gone down to do the official convention there. When you
see a Darth Vader TIE Fighter and an incredibly detailed R2-D2 made
out of Popsicle sticks and tongue depressors and get excited about
it or a Bantha and Tusken Raider piņata with a saddle that goes up
so you can put the candy inside. I also have a friend who makes
incredible aluminum detailed versions of ships from the Saga and
prequels. Things like this I really enjoy and admire.
What about the commercial lines is there
anything you’d like to see developed?
Yes, I’d like to see a full-sized R2-D2. I don’t have the skills of
the R2 Builders Clubs people who do amazing jobs. I’d like to see
something not entirely out of reach, that would be an R2 that would
be remote control, turning head, speech, lights and even doors that
open. I’d really love to have something like that. I think you’ll
see as we look toward the future in the collectors market, hopefully
we’ll move towards things like that.
Other than the action figures what would be
your favorite from the other brands? Gentle Giant? Master Replicas?
See, my problem is I really love it all, I really do. The Gentle
Giant pieces are amazing. One of the biggest knocks on them is
they’re all scanned. They are not, these are incredibly talented
sculptors who are doing great works on characters we are all
interested in. The Master Replicas stuff is amazing and keeps
getting better. The F/X sabers for the price point they are at, and
the improvement over the previous models. Those are quite impressive
along with the .45 models, which have some very wonderful
craftsmanship as well. I’m looking forward to seeing the mask
replicas, from what I’ve seen from the prototypes they are amazing.
Sideshow, I’m looking forward to what is coming from them. Attakus
in France, which really sort of started that whole market for Star
Wars, has done wonderful pieces and when I was over in Paris a
couple months ago for the opening of the movie; Attakus showed
prototypes of what is to come at a convention. They are doing a new
series of 4-inch metal figures in a diorama. They have a prototype
Millennium Falcon that you can fit scale figures to, I’m thinking
how can you ship something like this? That is going to be an
incredible piece when they work out the details on that. I think
they are very interested in the aspect of dioramas. Frank D’ Lorio
has done amazing dioramas at Celebration; it really appeals to the
fans.
Do you think there would ever be a Lucas
approved manufactured diorama? I think you could sell quite a few
Mos Eisley playsets next Christmas!
Yes, I would hope so, but the question would be what kind of company
does that? I don’t think it would be a Hasbro. While they are
packaging the figures with small pieces of environment, you have to
understand Hasbro is a mass-market company and is not set up to do
one thousand pieces of a certain product. So it would have to be a
Master Replicas, Attakus that are going to do diorama. I think we’ll
have to see. I think Attakus with the Falcon and also action figure
scale Dagobah set which also look amazing, and if those are
successful, which I’m sure they will be the next problem is how much
room do you have?
That isn’t a good question to ask me, we
are down to oxygen in my war room! What would you say to people who
think Star Wars will burn out and fade away? The people who would
say Star Wars is over?
I would say I’ve been there, and that was the late eighties. Jedi
was done, George had given some interviews, especially one in Time
Magazine, which he didn’t rule out making another picture but he
said basically if I do, if the technology ever catches up it’s going
to be a long time. He was tired of making movies for ten years
straight and doing nothing but Star Wars. There wasn’t much
available in the way of licensed materials, it got to be less and
less. It was easy to catch up, and there were a bunch of people with
fairly large collections started selling them and there were people
like me who were very willing buyers. In fact, buying a few
collections were the base of my collection. There were a number of
people getting divorces and had to sell their collections for the
settlement. People were selling major collections and I’d buy large
chunks of them for the long haul. I think there are much more people
now who have gotten into Star Wars, it’s much more visible with the
costuming phenomenon since the Special Editions and we see families
involved and an entire new generation of kids. I think TV is really
going to attract the kids too. There is nothing like a weekly or
daily TV shows to keep interest alive and I think we are really set
up good for that.
WRAPPING IT UP
Well, it’s good to know Star Wars fans have a bright
future and much to look forward to for light years to come. Thank
you very much for your time, and can’t wait for the presentation
this weekend.
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