Rick McCallum – Producer and Head of Production, Lucasfilm Ltd.

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Rick McCallum
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 great passion 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 is possible.”

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.”