AN 'EMPIRE' AT 40: THE FIRST SCREENWRITER!

Respected film writer and author Leigh Brackett.

With Lucas finishing his overall story outline for Star Wars II by the end of November 1977, his  search, alongside Gary Kurtz, for the film's ultimate screenwriter is underway, their choice soon revealed to be another respected veteran of the Hollywood system: Leigh Brackett.

Discovering her work as a science fiction pulp novelist through a friend (who, upon giving him a specific book, tells Lucas: “Here’s someone who wrote the cantina scene in Star Wars better than you did”), the 61 year old veteran writer Brackett is a no-nonsense lady who looks as if she might run a rural hardware store, her home situated in Los Angeles with her husband, Edmond Hamilton (also a science fiction writer). Asked to come aboard as screenwriter of Star Wars II. Brackett, who had just completed the screenplay of The Long Goodbye for Robert Altman (the Director having also recommended her to Lucas and Kurtz), it finally connects with Lucas that this is the same Leigh Brackett who also wrote for Howard Hawks on the classic films Rio Bravo, The Big Sleep and Eldorado. After talking to Brackett, who loves the idea of the Star Wars characters and is known for her strong storytelling sense and crackling dialogue, Lucas and Kurtz soon realize that she is the best person for the job, possessing the right sensibility for space as an adventure genre.

From 28th November to around 2nd December, 1977, Brackett enthusiastically begins the STAR WARS II screenplay based on Lucas’s ring binder of hand written notes and his original story/ transcript of their story conferences (the plan being that she will do the first two screenplay drafts and a polish for Lucas). With the scripting stages underway, director Irvin Kershner decides to not be involved in the input of the story until after a first draft is properly completed, though Lucas and Kurtz are very confident in Brackett’s abilities (recalling her being very easy to work with) and eagerly await the first draft, expecting that she would then go on to the customary re-write process. Tragically, Brackett, recently diagnosed with cancer, is seriously ill, but, for reasons of privacy, does not divulge this information to Lucas.

Working out potential filming problems, the possibility of Sir Alec Guinness not returning to the movie as Obi-Wan Kenobi is discussed, of which Brackett and Lucas toy with the idea that Luke finds a crystal in the hilt of his lightsaber that shows him the location of the swamp world of the 'Bog Planet'. One part of the story which is not discussed with Brackett or is present in her treatment, however, is the revelation involving Darth Vader and Luke’s parentage- Lucas elects not to bring these ideas up yet, not wanting the writer locked down in the complications of that storyline. Additionally, he doesn’t yet know if he wants it for this film as an important reveal or for use in a future installment, instead.

By 23rd February, 1978, Leigh Brackett would finish the first draft of the script entitled 'Star Wars Sequel, from the Adventures of Luke Skywalker by George Lucas' and pass it on to Lucas (who recalled to Star Wars: The Annotated Screenplays: "Writing has never been something I have enjoyed, and so, ultimately, on the second film I hired Leigh Brackett. Unfortunately, it didn't work out; she turned in the first draft, and then she passed away. I didn't like the first script, but I gave Leigh credit because I liked her a lot. She was sick at the time she wrote the script, and she really tried her best. During the story conferences I had with Leigh, my thoughts weren't fully formed and I felt that her script went in a completely different direction.")

Two weeks after completing the first draft of Star Wars II, 14th March, 1978 brings devastating and totally unexpected news to Lucas. Having made a call to Brackett to schedule a further meeting to discuss the script polishing/next draft he sadly finds out that she has entered the hospital and is suffering from cancer, dying quite suddenly from the disease four days later.

Now immersed in the STAR WARS universe, incoming director Irvin Kershner meets Lucas at his Parkway home in San Anselmo, as well as other key behind the scenes people so far assigned, to discuss the first screenplay draft. Kershner ultimately doesn’t like the initial draft script when it comes in and, like his colleagues, is sad that Brackett never had the opportunity to do the rewriting herself. Lucas realizes that he will have to undertake a new draft of the STAR WARS II script on his own, adjusting its emphasis and making modifications to flesh it out more. Eventually, however, a new writer will have to be found for the final script polish-especially as the Executive Producer will soon be involved with Kurtz and Kershner in heavy pre-production duties and decision-making...