What was the first memory you had about Star Wars?
I remember reading a magazine called Starlog which was kind of a precursor to Fangoria magazine and after Famous Monsters of Filmland which is Forrest J. Ackerman's legacy. Through Ackerman's magazine I was introduced, in a way, to science fiction -- even though I was kind of aware of it because of my family. One of the first issues of Starlog had all of these pre-production sketches for this new film that was coming out that was claiming to revolutionize the whole science fiction genre and take it to a different level.
Which Star Wars film made you become a fan?
A New Hope made me a fan, and in retrospect it's because it had all those heroic elements, and it hadn't yet caught on as a pop culture phenomenon. The movie was dealing more with older stories like the hero's journey, moral tests and losing loved ones. In some ways it had a few similarities to what I was going through in my own life at the time. I really liked that Joseph Campbell aspect in the film that kind of carried through. The first film really set itself apart from everything else and made an impact on me. The subsequent films became more and more stylized with what was going on at the time with effects and technology.
Why do you think the Star Wars films strike such a chord in so many people's lives as a whole?
I think it's two-fold. It's really interesting that it creates this journey that travels through one's own psychological makeup and how they deal with things in their lives -- things that people at any age can grab onto various characters whether it's the sage-like wisdom of Obi-Wan or the choice to go to the dark side like Darth Vader. Then there's the elegance of twisting it into something far bigger than all of us and try to relate it to a world in a geopolitical sense -- with Rebels fighting for freedom and democracy.
The interesting thing for me is that I'm always looking at films for the propaganda take on life, and how it affects people within a pseudo-republic. Lucas kind of commented on it in the last film in making a few parallels to the current U.S. administration. Most audiences support the Rebels, but in the real world we look at the rebellious side as being terrorists. Which in a way is what the Empire would like to paint the Rebels in the Star Wars films as. Whether that happens in an entirely unconscious way or not, it's something that affects people.
To find something as startling as A New Hope when it first aired with its ground-breaking effects is hard. Now the Star Wars prequels have to compete with films that have already caught up with the technology. Its history has almost a parallel with electronic music -- in that when it first came out bands would set themselves apart from the rest of the crowd by experimenting with their equipment like we did in Skinny Puppy. And now it's far more difficult to stand out with all the music programs and equipment that bands have access to.
What did you think of John Williams' music for the film? Why is the music soundtrack to a film so important?
I live in a big loft in downtown Los Angeles on the eighth floor of this building and it's got 16-foot ceilings. And I was comparing the original trilogy score with the new score. The original score, for me works a bit better, though the sound design on the newer stuff is just incredible. It all comes down to spectacle. The weird thing for me about Star Wars is that it brought a lot of people into the theaters with the original films, and now it's bringing people into their homes with their 5.1 surround sound systems and it becomes a more dislocated experience. Before, if you look at all these aspects of watching films as a collective group experience, it comes down to spectacle. Within film especially there's a definite need for incredible sound design and compelling music that brings out your emotions.
