Rick McCallum Quotations

We know we want it to be darker, edgier and have fun sense of humor, but it will be more character--based,

On a massive, huge film like 'Titanic' you might have 450 (or) 500 shots. This has just over 2,000. So virtually, it's a total-digital movie.

Most people just want to see the movie, ... But for us, as with The Lord of the Rings, the freaks and geeks are fascinated by the creative process, and we try to demystify it for them.

I'm amazed nobody's had a problem with that whatsoever, ... They can all identify with that. It's like your mother having cancer or your sister being hit by a car -- there are so many things subliminally in people's lives that make them relate to him, but it was a very tough concept on paper to get through.

He envisions somewhere like 100 hours between Episode III and Episode IV with a lot of characters that we haven't met but have been developed in other novels and other things. So we're really excited about that because I think finally we can have the opportunity to answer everybody's questions once and for all by the time we finish the series.

He loves his wife so much that he thinks he is doing something to protect and save her, ... But what he's really doing is he's getting addicted to power. The more power he gets the more he wants and then once you do that, there's nothing left because you're willing to sacrifice everything. At the end of the day, Anakin sacrifices his family. He does fulfill his destiny after another 25 years and lets his son live and basically dies redeeming himself. But he goes through a lot of s--- and causes a lot of pain to people for a long time.

Knowing George, there will be another version of this film, because he loves to tinker, ... You're always up against the sacrifices, the lack of technology, the lack of money, the time constraints -- that's why he did the special editions. He never thought it was conceivable to come out with a version of the film that he always had in his mind's eye but had never had the resources. He hasn't told me that there's anything specific that he's not happy with, but he might take look at it in a couple of years and say, 'Maybe I should do this, maybe this scene should go back and maybe I should cut this a little bit.'

We're working on two Star Wars TV series, so it's not over yet, ... I also have a feeling that, since George loves to tinker with his films, one day when I'm old he'll wake me and say (speaks in an old voice), 'It's time to rework Star Wars ? one ... more ... time. ' At least, that's my nightmare.

We shot so fast, so relentlessly, that I don't think we had any funny moments where people flubbed lines or stunts went wrong, ... We do 50 (scene) setups a day. That focuses people in a different way.

There is a common misconception about Star Wars that we shoot everything on blue screen. We actually built 72 really large sets on the film but, because there are so many different planets, there is always some part of the sequence that has blue screen in it.

We thought about it, ... One of our assistant editors did the dialogue that George wrote for him. It was one line. It was never during shooting, but in post-production. He did a little Liam sound-alike but it just didn't work, (the scene) was more powerful without it. There was so much buzz about it on the Internet that Liam actually called me to find out if there was any truth to it. I said, 'No, we're going to do it without you this time.' You could feel that there was a presence of him there.

There are a group of people out there who are fascinated by the very creative process of what it's like to put all this s--- together, to change things and see the impact those changes have, ... It's like the extended versions of 'The Lord of the Rings.' One of the great things about having conversations with Peter Jackson about it, was finding out, that, people who didn't like 'Lord of the Rings,' particularly, liked it a lot more in the extended versions because everything made more sense for them. Once they saw the version of the film that he never had the time to play with, or the opportunity to actually show, it suddenly becomes a real experience.

When you make a lot of movies, some of them don't work. So when something does work and people are genuinely moved and you have 150 million people worldwide seeing a movie, believe me, it feels good and you want to snatch those victories from the air and hold onto them as long as you can, ... It just doesn't happen very often in the film business no matter whose career it is.

That's such s---, I promise you, ... I know there's one line -- 'You're either with me or you're against me' -- that echoes something. But that was actually in the script way before it even became a nightmare that it was possible that Bush could become president. That line has been echoed since the beginning of time.

I love that scene. But at least it's on the DVD.

Hopefully if we can make it work and everybody's excited and watches it, we will keep on going.

Hopefully he'll do it by the end of this month and hopefully Steven and Harrison will be happy and then they're going to go off and make it,

This is all real. they really went at it. It's not sped up. And, of course, Hayden and Ewan love this.

You have to be producing to be able to be called a producer.

There's so many people that are interested in film and especially in terms of the technology side of film, that suddenly the fruits of everybody's labor is really starting to manifest itself all across the planet.

The only way I can stop people from stealing is also not to steal myself, and it's one of the most difficult things.

Most people who love movies and kind of understand the process realize that if you do a character like Gollum or Jar Jar or any major digital character, that costs twice as much as having Tom Cruise in a movie.

I don't have to do emails, I don't have to protect myself about anything, I don't have any chain of command. My job is just to try and give everybody the tools that they need to express themselves.

The average film has eight or ten producers on it. That is just in a world that would be unthinkable to me, because to me, to really be a producer of a film, you have to be a line producer.

It has absolutely no meaning to me to be an executive producer on a film that I have nothing to do with except come to the wrap party or the premiere on; it's just meaningless.

Nobody sets out to make a bad film, but so many of those compromises are made and often they're made because of vanity, pride and ego.

It's easy to be a backseat driver. It's even easier to be a backseat driver when you're not even in the same car.

You need somebody to have the idea, you need somebody who can deal with the studio and the normal things, but it's too different of a credit. That credit is usually given to the executive producer. It's not the producer.

One of the great things is, you're never a producer unless you're making a movie.

Producers don't really publicize movies.

We're hoping that in three or four years time, we'll have to never have to answer another question regarding 'Star Wars,' ... With the series, we're trying to do 100 hours worth and answer every single thing anybody has ever dreamed of, thought of, imagined or hoped for.

It's so dense, every single image has so many things going on...

Every single frame, every single shot in the movie, has a digital effect.