When asked about his process, Lucas probably gave a dry description of how he chose Marquand. Looks like he was sifted from a “wish list” Lucas wrote. He doesn’t seem to have any particular interest in a particular director, knowing that he will eventually have to talk to all of his “finalists”. Step one, see who’s free right now. As Lucas said:
“First, you have a list of directors who are available. Sometimes you know their jobs, sometimes you don’t. You eliminate those who are not available. Then you go and ask the rest of the people if they are available. want to make movies, and half of them drop out because they don’t want to make ‘Star Wars’. Who knows what their personal reasons are? You have a bunch of dropouts. you’re left with a group of, say, 20 to 30.”
After mass dropping out to see who was present and who really wanted to do Star Wars, the first round of interviews was scheduled. After producer Howard Kazanjian spoke to them, Lucas made it to the next round. It wasn’t until only a few remained that Lucas began revisiting their previous film. I said:
“The producer — in this case, Howard — interviews them. He watches more of their movies, talks to people who’ve worked with them before. I read the reports and said yes, the movies. This seems like a good fit, these movies don’t. 30 and down to 15. I do a quick interview with them and then reduce it to 5 or 3. I see everything they’ve ever done in terms of work, and then I have long interviews.”
This sounds like any job interview process a person has to go through these days.
