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FWIW, Leigh Brackett turned in the first draft of TESB (her cover page
reads: STAR WARS SEQUEL) in February of 1978 before dying of cancer
weeks later on March 24th.

While she wrote her script from story notes and telephone interviews
with Lucas, none (I repeat NONE!) of her contributions were utilized in
subsequent drafts or the final script. I've read her script and
although I'm a big Brackett fan (in 2002 I published a 500-page book of
her earliest stories), her screenplay is pretty bad.

Lucas enjoyed working with Brackett and wanted her name on the film and he ensured that her estate would benefit from the finished product.
I've read a letter written by Richard C. Jones, then-attorney for
Brackett's estate and he is effusive on how above-board and reputable
Lucas is.

Grist for the mill,

Stephen Haffner
Big Poobah
HAFFNER PRESS

I've just finished reading the Salon.com article on Lucas' material, and
insofar as Leigh Brackett is concerned my response is "bullshit."
Mega-super bullshit.

I've read the first draft screenplay that Leigh Brackett wrote (called
alternately STAR WARS II and STAR WARS SEQUEL) and while it adheres to
the three-chapter outline (Ice Planet-Swamp Planet/Asteroid Belt-Cloud
Planet) given to LB by Lucas in 1978 (supplemented by lengthy telephone
interviews between GL & LB with Lucas role-playing several different
characters) the draft that she turned in is near-unfilmable and at
variance with what was ultimately done in THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK.

I think EMPIRE is a great film and I obviously admire LB's work, but her
STAR WARS II script, while it has more than a few wonderful moments, it
fatally flawed. For one thing, the "Force" is much more prominent, and
is essentially an additional character in the film, giving the
screenplay an over-abundance of supernatural and spiritual overtones.
Also, no sod is sewn over the "Vader is Luke's father" scheme.
Nothing. Brackett's trademark rapid-fire dialogue is present between
Han-Luke-Leia, but the romance is missing, and Han Solo exists in the
script only to pilot the Millennium Falcon and tell everybody that he
has to meet up with an old mentor before paying off Jabba the Hut
(sic). In fact, Han never gets to meet this dutch-uncle, and leaves the
film at the end to do so. No Boba Fett. No carbonite freezing
chamber. A proto-Lando is present, and a proto-Yoda (called Minch in
the script) guides Luke through his Jedi training. The asteroid chase
is brief, and Han, Chewie, Leia and 3PO simply rendezvous with the Rebel
fleet. A second draft using Brackett's material could have been
attempted, but Lucas gave the same three-chapter synopsis to Kasdan and
the result is the final film.

For some reason, it has become fashionable to slag-off Lawrence Kasdan
and his work on RAIDERS and JEDI, as well as diminishing BODY HEAT, BIG
CHILL and SILVERADO. Maybe having worked so much with Lucas and Kevin
Costner, and with their clout currently tarnished (Lucas for PHANTOM
MENACE and Costner for, well, take your pick post-DANCES WITH WOLVES)
that Kasdan is an easy target.

Sorry for the rant, but in the past few years I've heard any number of
people tell me how MUCH BETTER "EMPIRE" would be if Lucas had used the
original Brackett screenplay. The reality is that only a few people
have read that screenplay (my guess is less than 15 or so) and EMPIRE is
a better film for not using it. It is to Lucas' credit that he enjoyed
working with Leigh enough that he let Kasdan know the he could only get
co-screenplay credit as Lucas wanted Brackett's estate to benefit from
EMPIRE's success--if any. Fortunately, the executors of the
Hamilton-Brackett estate confirm that Lucas and his people have more
than done right, financially, by Leigh's contribution, and her name is
on the film to this day. Although, I'm told that EMPIRE was pothumously
dedicated to LB, but none of the tapes ('80 or re-worked '97 editions) I
own have any such note.

Stephen Haffner
HAFFNER PRESS