In a new interview to promote the return of Star Wars: The Phantom Menace to cinemas, George Lucas has revealed that Greedo was always meant to shoot first...
As The Phantom Menace arrives on cinema screens around the world, with the added extra of 3D, George Lucas has given a new interview to The Hollywood Reporter, where he’s addressed an issue of much consternation for Star Wars fans.
You know which one it is, too. Back when Lucas put out the special editions of the original Star Wars trilogy, he re-edited the moment where Han Solo seemingly shot Greedo in A New Hope. It went from Han shooting first, to Greedo, and different Star Wars fans have different theories on just how much that affected the tone of the film.
Lucas, though, is adamant that it was right Greedo shot first. And that’s how it was always meant to be.
“The controversy over who shot first, Greedo or Han Solo, in Episode IV", he said, “what I did was try to clean up the confusion, but obviously it upset people because they wanted Solo to be a cold-blooded killer, but he actually isn’t.”
He continued: “It had been done in all close-ups and it was confusing about who did what to whom. I put a little wider shot in there that made it clear that Greedo is the one who shot first, but everyone wanted to think that Han shot first, because they wanted to think that he actually just gunned him down.”
It was all camera angles, then? Just seems a bit odd that he's never said that before.
Elsewhere in the interview, Lucas said of Indiana Jones 5, “I’m supposed to be working on it right now!”. Expect developments there in the months ahead, then.
And expect Greedo arguments to continue to rage...
The Hollywood Reporter
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