Oscar-Winning 'Star Wars' Editor, Marcia Lucas, Dies Aged 80
Image Source: KIKfm
She shaped the look and feel of the Battle of Yavin and suggested to her husband to kill off Ben Kenobi and make him the spiritual mentor to Luke Skywalker.
On May 27, Marcia Lucas died in Rancho Mirage, California, at the age of 80 from cancer.
Her family released the following statement regarding her passing:
“Marcia will be remembered as a brilliant storyteller, a trailblazer for women in film, a loving mother and grandmother, a generous host, and a loyal friend whose humor and sparkle filled every room she entered. Her influence on film is indelible, but those who knew her best will remember the way she made life feel more vivid, more beautiful, more fun, and more full of love,” the family statement said. “Her work was known for its emotional intelligence, rhythm, and humanity — a rare ability to find the truth of a scene and bring heart, momentum, and clarity to the screen.”
Marcia Lou Griffin was born on October 4, 1945, in Modesto, California, the hometown of her future husband, George Lucas, and became an assistant editor at the age of 20, working on promotional films and trailers. Her first assignment to a feature was 1969’s Filmmaker, Lucas’s documentary about the making of Francis Ford Coppola’s The Rain People, on which she also worked as an assistant editor.
She worked with her then-husband, George (the pair had married in 1969), on THX 1138, although she didn’t like the film, and later on American Graffiti, which earned her an Oscar nomination.
After George didn’t like the first cut of Star Wars, put together by John Jympson, he brought in his wife to edit the climactic space battle against the first Death Star in Star Wars. On April 3 1978, Marcia won the Academy Award for Best Film Editing, together with Paul Hirsch and Richard Chew.
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Image Source: starwars.com
After putting her career on hold to raise a family, she came back to edit Return of the Jedi, together with Duwayne Dunham and Sean Barton. By that time, her marriage was already failing, and the couple divorced on October 13, 1983. Marcia later married Tom Rodrigues, whom she had met when he worked on Skywalker Ranch as a production manager. This marriage lasted until 1993.
Aside from Lucas’s films, Marcia worked with Martin Scorsese on Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, Taxi Driver, and New York, New York.
After Episode VI, Marcia never worked as a film editor again, but she is credited as executive producer for 1996’s No Easy Way.
Marcia Lucas never hid her distaste for both the Star Wars Prequel and the Sequel Trilogy, criticizing Kathleen Kennedy and J.J. Abrams for “not getting it”.
Marcia Lucas is survived by her daughters, Amanda Lucas and Amy Soper; her grandchildren, Felix Hallikainen, Aeliana Hallikainen, and Knox Soper and her chosen family, Sarah Dyer and Jon Taylor.
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Source: Variety
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