CT bizarre Gary Kurtz rumor

I have heard that Gary Gurtz, Mr. Creative Integrity himself, signs autographs for 30 bucks a pop at Star Wars conventions.

Is this true? If it is, LOL.

 

Gary Gurtz?

Yes, Kurtz has signed at conventions before. I don't know what his asking price is, though.

 

"Gary Gurtz" is one of the funnier typos I've seen.

The charging-money-for-autographs thing strikes me as weirdly incongruous with the image he tries to create for himself.

 

I doubt he charges $30, but he can charge what he wants if people are willing to pay the price.

 

I'm tired of Kurtz. His contributions to Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back are greatly appreciated, but all he seems to do these days is bash Lucas, the Special Editions, and the Prequel Trilogy. I'm not a fan of the SE or the PT, but even still, it's time for Kurtz to stop living in the past and do something more productive with his life. He comes across as a bitter old whiner.

But anyway...yeah, he can charge whatever he wants for an autograph. It doesn't bother me in the least.

 

That's really not fair on Kurtz - this perception of him is based on about three interviews over the last 12 years, in which he does make diplomatic criticisms of the SW franchise from ROTJ onwards, but his actual quotes are perfectly balanced & reasonable. It's the headlines & framing stories which make out that he's really trashing GL & what happened to Star Wars after he left. There's certainly no bitterness in anything he says, more a type of wistful regret that the saga didn't turn out as it was once vaguely envisioned.

He's perfectly entitled to his opinion, unfortunately in this post-TPM world, there's plenty of journalists willing to squeeze as much anti-Lucas sentiment out of every word as possible. What none of these journos ever bother to mention is that Lucas did come to Kurtz's rescue when 'Return To Oz' (1984) was in serious financial trouble. Kurtz also appeared in the doco 'Empire Of Dreams' for the 2004 DVD boxset. This bitter, sneering ex-Star Wars producer everyone is supposedly sick of is a media creation.

 

The going rate for autographs at the conventions I've been to was usually around $20-30, depending on the image/object being signed. That seems to be pretty standard fare and thus it doesn't strike me as shocking that Kurtz would charge that much.

 

*sigh* I suppose I'm as guilty as anyone for buying into the image the media has created of Kurtz. I don't know the man, nor do I know anything about his relationship with Lucas.

 

It's hardly an uncommon perception - the general impression you get from comments on Interwebz forums & oft-repeated quotes from the actual interviews is that Gary Kurtz has been touring conventions non-stop since 1999 going on about the original, greater vision of the SW saga, how he was unfairly sacked, the commercial sewer it's since degenerated into as a result, & the Vader-esque transformation of George Lucas from a passionate auteur into a psychopathic supervillain. Simple fact of the matter is that he hasn't been doing this at all.

The supposed decade-long Gary Kurtz Hate Campaign Against The Current State Of The Star Wars Universe & The Evil Despot George Lucas stems from three articles:

2000
http://www.filmthreat.com/interviews/8/

2002
http://au.movies.ign.com/articles/376/376873p1.html

2010
http://herocomplex.latimes.com/2010/08/12/star-wars-was-born-a-long-time-ago-but-not-all-that-far-far-away-in-1972-filmmakers-george-lucas-and-gary-kurtz-wer/

There's also some snippets from an appearance he did around 1999/2000 where he outlined the original vision for the PT (which, upon closer investigation, are understandably inaccurate recollections by Kurtz anyway).

Read the first two articles with a dispassionate eye, & you'll see that while he's critical, he's not the bitter, miserable figure many seem to believe he is. The 2002 IGN article is particularly frank, but one really has to take the extremely leading questions into account, not to mention whatever was inevitably left out of Kurtz's own answers.
The 2010 LA Times, article, however, can easily be accused of twisting his comments, as Kurtz's actual quotes are drowned in the journalist's own comments & 'interpretation' of them, which take up about 90%+ of the article. There's a handful of different versions of that article floating around. Sleazy crap.

 

Where did you hear that from ?

Seems indeed hard to believe, as Mr Kurtz, although being a prominent factor in the first 2 films as producer and close friend to Lucas, cannot really be considered a STAR WARS star, unlike Lucas, most of the actors or even special effects people. And like Darth_Nub shows above, doesn't really fit to the actual person.

Anyway even Mr Kurtz has to make ends meet, and those conventions are indeed part of the business...Although I must confess I don't know much about STAR WARS conventions, their proceedings and "secrets".

I'd be really suprised and disppointed if it turns out to be true. But if people are ready and willing to pay, does it really matter ?

 

I wouldn't be surprised if he does, but I think charging for signing autographs is a bit sleazy at events people have already paid to get into.

Not being a regular convention goer (& also being in Australia) I'm just not sure how common it is for there to be a straight charge for autographs. The only SW autographs I've got are a couple of comic books signed by Hugh Fleming (free signings at a Skyforce convention the 1990s) & a personal one my brother got for me from Jeremy Bullock in Ireland (Jeremy Bullock's son was on my brother's rugby team). My missus has some signed photos from Jeremy Bullock, Kenny Baker & Peter Mayhew, she seems to recall that there wasn't any additional charge after the convention entry fee.

 

bizarre Gary Kurtz rumor


Aren't they all??

 

Guess so, yeah...That's why I was asking Mond where was that from.

Completely agree about charging for autographs in general, and that much here specifically (30$...Come on). That's why I find it hard to believe for someone as Gary Kurtz (although he was indeed in serious financial trouble in the mid-80's...). Was sort of trying in my previous post to defend him at all costs against dubious rumors, at least to make his supposed "bad" behavior not so important...

I'm just a mere basic Star Wars fan, turning out 40 now, still essentially caring for the movies, their movie-making and history, and the general story arc. Have always almost completely ignored EU or SW social events such as conventions or whatever, even far younger. That's why I know very little about this.

And like you, I'm also far away from the main stage regarding all this, although less than you are (living in France).

 

That's fair enough - I remember at the time the third article was printed, a friend of mine posted parts of it on her Facebook page, along with predictable enough comments about how much better the 'Kurtz' version of ROTJ & the PT would have been, what a sellout Lucas is, etc etc, etc. I really, really couldn't be bothered addressing the inaccuracies of 'the Kurtz version', which is a jumble of vague ideas that existed at completely different times, or how the LA Times article twisted Kurtz's words to make them out to be almost a rant against GL & Lucasfilm.

I've got my own issues with the PT, but I do understand why many of its defenders bring up 'Lucas-bashing'. The emergence of Gary Kurtz & the stories surrounding him have given many who hated the PT a convenient way of cherishing the OT while trashing the PT completely - "the original Star Wars trilogy was great because of everyone else who worked on it, despite Lucas' best efforts to make it suck, now he's making SW films the way he wants to, & they're crap." It's a desperate way of removing the 'taint' of the Prequel Trilogy on Star Wars.

 

Gary Kurtz has been signing at two or three cons I've been to, but can't remember what his asking price was.

 

Given the tone of A NEW HOPE, a melancholy ending would've seemed odd to me. Not that A NEW HOPE is completely euphoric, but it's deep spirit of fun would made that kind of ending seem odd to me.

Han dying was apparently to try to raise the stakes, but I have to ask why Han? Honestly, if someone was to go, I'd say probably Lando would be the most logical option personally. Not that I hate him, but him dying in destroying the Death Star could've been a good way to go, and added to the sense of sacrifice needed for victory at the end. Still, I think it's a great ending over all.

 

I've said this before myself. However, the main reason Han's death was being considered was because Harrison Ford didn't want to do Star Wars anymore. As such, that would have been an out for him.

 

My question is, who even wants a Gary Kurtz autograph anyway?

 

I do !

fortunately I'v already got one for free , this was back in the days before they started charging . happy days .

 

I wonder this about many, many celebrities, yet long lines of fans at cons who are willing to pay for their autographs answer the question for me. $20-30 is not outside the normal range for an autograph. It's certain other Star Wars celebs *cough*MarkHamill*cough* who charge amounts that should raise eyebrows.

I respect Kurtz a lot - his contributions to the saga were invaluable.

 

I think I'd be more interested in a celebrity autograph (any celebrity, not just Kurtz) if I had something for them to sign that wasn't a picture-a book, a film, etc. A picture...well, I suppose in like 1950 those were hard to find for celebrities, but now? Google Search?

 

If anyone got an autograph signed "Gary Gurtz" you might have got a ringer.

 

Forget Mark, what Harrison charges should raise eyebrows.

 

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Yeah Bart, I am so Crunchy the Clown!