Harry here, and today I got an email from Geek #3 telling me... in excited, semi-screaming voice (cyberly speaking of course) "GARY KURTZ IS PRODUCING 1977" Now to some in the universe at large that has no significance whatsoever... but then... those people don't count. Cause here at AICN, we all know who GARY KURTZ is. He's the last producer of a great STAR WARS film... EMPIRE STRIKES BACK. In addition, his producing credits start with TWO LANE BLACKTOP, then to STAR WARS, EMPIRE STRIKES BACK, DARK CRYSTAL, RETURN TO OZ... then he made a couple of low budget flicks. What happened to him? Where'd he go? He's a bit of a fanboy legend type. Many believing that had he stayed on board the STAR WARS train, we may never have seen.... EWOKS. Then again, perhaps we would have. But to us geeks, hearing that Gary Kurtz is behind this project is reason to get excited.
The following came from a few weeks back. It appeared in TALK BACK beneath a FANBOY update, and was posted by 'Bothan Spy', I assume this is merely another bothan spy and not the infamous Bothan Spy of past AICN and Theforce.net infamy. He goes into detail about the 1977 project, so read on if you are unfamiliar...
This project sounds a lot like "1977" which is being written and directed by Patrick Read Johnson (Spaced Invaders, Baby's Day Out, Angus, Dragonheart-- Though he apparently disavows Dragonheart as a total piece of shit) I know several people who are working on it, and through a series of Mission Impossible-like maneuvers, I got to read the script for this thing and it is SO AMAZING--
It's like American Grafitti on the night of May 25th, 1977. The TRUE story of Johnson and friends on the night that Star Wars was released in their hometown of Waukegan, Illinois. (Home of Ray Bradbury!) Apparently Johnson started making Super-8 movies when he was like 9. He was 15 or 16 when Star Wars came out. And just a few months before the release, his mom, trying to help him with his budding career, cold-called the editor of American Cinematographer and asked if he could introduce him to some of his sci-fi movie idols if she shipped him out to California for a few weeks.
Amazingly, he agreed and Johnson got on a plane and had the kind of adventure the rest of us can only DREAM of. It just so happened that the American Cinematographer editor was going to visit the effects facilities for two films that no one knew much about at the time. The first one was something called Close Encounters of the Third Kind. And it also just so happened that on the day Johnson was taken to visit, Steven Spielberg himself was there, and Johnson met him and was given a tour of the place by the young director. (This is confirmed in one of the Steven Spielberg biography books I'm told.)
Apparently, Johnson spent a great deal of time in the model shop with the likes of Greg Jein (famous modelmaker) and was even allowed to help put fiber optics into the mothership model! The next day, the American Cinematographer guy took him to a little warehouse near the Van Nuys Airport in the San Fernando Valley to see what was described by the magazine guy as "some college kids shooting models on sticks... We're not sure what the hell it is but they call it STAR WARS..." When they got there, not only did FX supervisor John Dykstra give Johnson a full on tour of the facility, he also SHOWED HIM the ROUGH CUT of STAR WARS complete with WW2 footage still cut into the aerial battles and many scenes still in their un-composited blue-screen form! HOW COOL IS THAT??
Anyway, after this staggering experience, Johnson had to return to his hometown in rural Illinois and attempt to settle back into a normal high school life. But there was no way. The film actually picks up on the morning of May 25th, 1977 with Johnson, having gotten the chance to peek behind the curtain, now climbing the walls waiting to see the first showing of STAR WARS-- He's been trying to convince just about every living thing in town to go with him, but NOBODY CARES... because NOBODY in his little town knows (YET!) what this movie is gonna be... except HIM. As the day goes on into night, we see him struggle to choose between the life he's got and the life he dreams of in Hollywood (seen through flashbacks of his amazing trip) As the film progresses, a series of personal, financial, sexual, and automotive mis-haps keeps the young director-to-be from getting to the theater... until he finally manages to arrive at 2 A.M., just as the last show is letting out! I won't give away the end, but it's a fan boy's DREAM.
The script is really funny... but even better-- it's really REAL. And pretty damn moving. Johnson certainly knows what its like to be a fanboy. The highs AND lows are all here. And think about it... When JOHNSON was a fanboy... Star Wars was still just another poster in your theater lobby. He was there at the beginning... He TOUCHED the actual models-- hung out with Spielberg-- (who, by the way, was responsible, years later, for getting Spaced Invaders bought by Touchstone after he saw it and liked it.) And what's really cool is that since it's a true story, apparently they can show just about anything they want. Including the REAL PEOPLE who were part of it all. Anyway, I for one, can't wait to see this... Imagine American Grafitti with Pacers and Gremlins instead of Deuce Coups and 57 Chevys! Imagine the soundtrack! Hey! Imagine a DOUBLE-FEATURE someday of BOTH of these films!
