Crew Profiles: Rick McCallum..

Producer

OFFICIAL LUCASFILM BIO

Rick McCallum began his career working with one of Britain's most esteemed screenwriters, the late Dennis Potter, on the screen adaptation of Pennies From Heaven, starring Steve Martin and Bernadette Peters. McCallum and Potter then reunited on the acclaimed six-part BBC series, The Singing Detective. This intense drama earned 12 BAFTA Awards, a D.W Griffith Award and the Ivor Novello Award for Best Film and was a ratings success in both the U.S. and Britain.

McCallum has also established a close working relationship with director Nicolas Roeg and produced two of Roeg's films, Track 29 and Castaway. Other film credits include Blackeyes, Neil Simon's I Ought to Be in Pictures, Heading Home starring Gary Oldman with a screenplay by playwright David Hare, and Strapless with Blair Brown and Bridget Fonda. Another of McCallum's pictures, Dreamchild, won three BAFTA awards and an Evening Standard Award for Best Actress (Coral Browne).

For television, McCallum has produced the HBO film, On Tidy Endings, written by Harvey Fierstein and starring Fierstein and Stockard Channing. The production received four cable ACE Awards, including Best Film, Best Director and Best Screenplay. He has also produced the Rolling Stones' music video, "Undercover," which won the MTV Award for Best Video.

Since 1990, McCallum has worked primarily with writer/director George Lucas. The two have collaborated on the feature film, Radioland Murders, and the critically acclaimed TV series, The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles. This series, filmed over a period of three years in 26 countries, received 25 Emmy nominations and won 11 Emmy Awards. It also won the 1993 Banff Award for Best Continuing Series and received a 1993 Golden Globe nomination for Best Dramatic Series.

For the past couple of years, McCallum has overseen the restoration and produced the phenomenally successful release of the Star Wars Trilogy Special Edition, in addition to overseeing all the preproduction activities for the new Star Wars prequels which he will produce.

MORE (there may be some duplication of info here, I will edit it when I have time)

Re: The Special Edition

Producer and Head of Production, Lucasfilm Ltd.

He has been with the Lucas Companies for six years, and has been working on the Star Wars Trilogy Special Edition for two and a half years.

McCallum lived in Missouri until he was twelve, then in Europe. He went to school in France, Germany and England, and college in New York.

Films he has produced include Pennies From Heaven, Neil Simon's I Ought To Be In Pictures, Dreamchild, Link, Castaway, Track 29, The Singing Detective, On Tidy Evenings, Strapless, Blackeyes, Heading Home, Radioland Murders, and 44 episodes of The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles.

For the work on the Star Wars Trilogy Special Edition, his mandate was simple. George had made many compromises during the original production because he didn't have sufficient resources, technology, or support to make the film he had envisioned. McCallum's job was to make sure that the film was restored properly and that all the things he had wanted in the original film were included in the restoration.

Of all the work on the Special Edition McCallum's biggest challenge, and aspect of the work that made him most proud, was supervising the restoration process. It was an opportunity to work with a group of extraordinary people, all of whom worked incredibly hard to make this happen for George. These people include T.M. Christopher, restoration expert Leon Briggs, Ted Gagliano and Tom Sherak at Fox, Pete Comandini at YCM Labs, and Phil Feiner at Pac Title. Tom Kennedy, who was the visual effects producer, did an outstanding job on all three films as well as visual effects producers Alex Seiden, Dave Carson, Steve Williams, and everyone else at ILM who went beyond the call of duty to get the work done. It was truly great collaborative process, which McCallum enjoyed immensely.

Hobbies and interests: "I love to travel and work in other countries. So far I have been lucky enough to film in over 30 countries around the world. This leaves little time for anything else except my one greatpassion when I am not working: seeing movies!"

The Star Wars movie that has had the most influence on McCallum is the first one. "Star Wars was the first movie that had ever come close to showing a real world outside of our own. To me, it was by far the most successful and believable work of science fiction that I had ever seen. The design and look of the film were so bold -- everything looked dirty and used. The effects were so seamless -- I bought into it completely. The moment the Millenium Falcon went into hyperspace everyone in the theater stood up and freaked. Thinking back on the experience I remember being amazed by the soundtrack, set design and special effects -- they were all so perfect, so right, you felt as if you had been transported into a totally different sensory world. The effect it has had on his work today? "Simple. Virtually anything ispossible."

McCallum's favorite Star Wars character is R2-D2. "Why? Because he is relentless -- no matter what goal is set for him he achieves it."

McCallum's favorite Star Wars moment is the scene before Luke begins his journey. "Luke is anxious and restless, and he goes out of the crater and gazes up at the two suns above Tatooine. We see so clearly every young man's yearnings: all of us at some point have experienced that moment."

Nick's CineSecrets® ........You make movies? click here .......Nick's Art Online

This link is for "No Frames" users only Index of indexes Don't try it with frames.