Death of Marcia Lucas, Oscar-winning Star Wars editor and first wife of George Lucas

An adventure character Star Wars  went away. As an editor and wife of George Lucas, from whom she divorced in 1983, Marcia Lucas had an influence on the science fiction saga. She died on Wednesday May 27 at the age of 80, reports the American specialist site.Variety . The former film professional lived in Rancho Mirage, a small town in California.

Marcia Lucas accompanied George Lucas’s first steps in directing, after meeting him while editing a documentary. The newlyweds worked together on THX 1138 (1971), Lucas’s first film. In this experimental dystopia led by the late Robert Duvall, an android police force puts an end to the population’s dreams of freedom.

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Collaboration with Martin Scorsese

It will take a new attempt, that ofAmerican Graffiti  (1973), so that the big studios would see the talent of the young filmmaker. Accompanied by veteran Verna Fields (Jaws), his wife worked on the editing of this feature film, which was praised by critics and the public alike.

While her husband is setting up an intergalactic universe, she is collaborating with another figure of New Hollywood. Martin Scorsese takes him on to the editing team of Taxi Drivera feature film starring De Niro who is celebrating his fiftieth birthday. Marcia Lucas joins the first part of Star Warsbaptisé A new hope. She and Richard Chew, Paul Hirsch were responsible for the editing, which earned them an Oscar in 1977.

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According to Varietythe wife of George Lucas, who also worked on The Empire Strikes Back (1980) et Return of the Jedi (1983), did not hesitate to provide his point of view. “She was one of the few people Lucas listened to attentively, knowing that she had a real talent for crafting strong characters.”we read in the work The Secret History of Star Wars. Marcia Lucas, for example, would have weighed in favor of the sacrificial death of Obi-Wan Kenobi on the Death Star, in the first part.

Criticism of the new Star Wars

In a post on social media, Luke Skywalker’s interpreter, Mark Hamill, celebrated the qualities of a “talented and innovative artist”. Although she did not continue her work as an editor beyond the 1980s, Marcia Lucas appreciated this job which consisted, to quote her, of “taking good material and making it better, bad material and making it correct”.

She took a very critical look at the third trilogy of Star Warsimagined by JJ Abrams. The successors of George Lucas ‘have no idea what Star Warsthey don’t understand anything.”she judged. The death of Marcia Lucas from cancer comes as a new spin-off film,The Mandalorian and Groguis currently distributed in theaters.