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Tuesday, November 28, 2023
Co-director Jeremy Coon: A DISTURBANCE IN THE FORCE: HOW THE STAR WARS HOLIDAY SPECIAL HAPPENED
Chronicling the creation of a notoriously bad piece of TV history
Posted By Scott Renshaw on November 28, 2023, 8:00 AM
In 1978, looking to keep the pop-culture phenomenon of Star Wars in the public consciousness between feature films, George Lucas gave the green light to a TV special featuring Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher and other original cast members. The result was The Star Wars Holiday Special, a weird combination of Wookiee mythology, variety-show structure and animated Boba Fett that became one of the most notoriously bad creations in televition history. Jeremy Coon and Steve Kozak co-directed the new documentary A Disturbance in the Force, about the origins and legacy of the special; Coon spoke to City Weekly ahead of a special screening tonight (Tuesday, Nov. 28) and the Salt Lake City Main Library Auditorium, where the filmmakers will participate in a Q&A.
CW: Share a little bit about how you learned about the Star Wars Holiday Special.
Jeremy Coon: I was born in ’79, so I don’t have any memories of a pre-Star Wars world. My brothers are 9 and 10 years older than me, so the perfect age for the original movie. The first movie I remember going to see in a theater was Return of the Jedi when I was 4; I don’t remember the movie, but I remember the feeling. I got a DVD [of the Holiday Special] a friend gave me in 2002; I got about 20 minutes in, and couldn’t go farther. I thought this couldn’t be real. Since about 2010, it’s become much better-known, and kind of a pop-culture touchstone; the people who watched it at the time, like Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni, are now making Star Wars content. ... As a documentary filmmaker, everything is a potential topic. What puts up a flag is anything that gives me a lot of questions.
CW: With any project, there's what you know that gets you started, and the things you discover along the way. What was the most interesting or surprising piece of information, for you, that came out of making this movie?
JC: [Co-writer] Lenny Ripps was like the second interview we did, and he just kind of nonchalantly said, "We sat down with George Lucas, and that there was this [Star Wars] bible, and just casually threw out that Han Solo was married to a Wookiee." I stopped and went, "What?"
CW: You include a lot of information in the film about the culture of variety shows of the 1970s. It's something I grew up with, but were you just dumfounded by the Donny & Marie episode with the dancing Stormtroopers?
JC: Donny was such a great interview. But watching that special … it’s way worse than the Holiday Special. The Holiday Special is bad, but the Donny & Marie, you have Kris Kristofferson playing Han Solo, you have Redd Foxx. It seems like a MadLibs-type skit. We wanted to portray a time capsule of what it was like on 1970s TV.
CW: As you worked on this project, did your perspective on the special itself change at all? Is it an interesting failure? A secret success? Somewhere between?
JC: It's till a painful watch. I’ve had to watch it like six times, and it doesn’t get any easier. If you were like 5-10 years old when the special came out, you’d have a different relation to it than I would. The thing that did change over the course of making it is I have a better understanding of the context in which it exists, and I have more sympathy for George Lucas than I did. Given the time frame, of course you'd make a Star Wars Holiday Special.
CW: You also co-directed Raiders, about the creation of a no-budget Raiders of the Lost Ark fan film, so you clearly have a fascination with the weird things that fans embrace. What is it about fan culture that appeals to you as a subject?
JC: I don’t think it’s so much fan culture; it’s people who are passionate about things. That really comes across and makes for interesting subject matter. And it can be the dumbest thing, but if someone is really passionate about it, that’s interesting.
A Disturbance in the Force: How the Star Wars Holiday Special Happened screens tonight, Tuesday, Nov. 29 at 7 p.m. with co-directors Jeremy Coon and Steve Kozak. The screening is free, but online RSVP is requested.
CW: Share a little bit about how you learned about the Star Wars Holiday Special.
Jeremy Coon: I was born in ’79, so I don’t have any memories of a pre-Star Wars world. My brothers are 9 and 10 years older than me, so the perfect age for the original movie. The first movie I remember going to see in a theater was Return of the Jedi when I was 4; I don’t remember the movie, but I remember the feeling. I got a DVD [of the Holiday Special] a friend gave me in 2002; I got about 20 minutes in, and couldn’t go farther. I thought this couldn’t be real. Since about 2010, it’s become much better-known, and kind of a pop-culture touchstone; the people who watched it at the time, like Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni, are now making Star Wars content. ... As a documentary filmmaker, everything is a potential topic. What puts up a flag is anything that gives me a lot of questions.
CW: With any project, there's what you know that gets you started, and the things you discover along the way. What was the most interesting or surprising piece of information, for you, that came out of making this movie?
JC: [Co-writer] Lenny Ripps was like the second interview we did, and he just kind of nonchalantly said, "We sat down with George Lucas, and that there was this [Star Wars] bible, and just casually threw out that Han Solo was married to a Wookiee." I stopped and went, "What?"
CW: You include a lot of information in the film about the culture of variety shows of the 1970s. It's something I grew up with, but were you just dumfounded by the Donny & Marie episode with the dancing Stormtroopers?
JC: Donny was such a great interview. But watching that special … it’s way worse than the Holiday Special. The Holiday Special is bad, but the Donny & Marie, you have Kris Kristofferson playing Han Solo, you have Redd Foxx. It seems like a MadLibs-type skit. We wanted to portray a time capsule of what it was like on 1970s TV.
CW: As you worked on this project, did your perspective on the special itself change at all? Is it an interesting failure? A secret success? Somewhere between?
JC: It's till a painful watch. I’ve had to watch it like six times, and it doesn’t get any easier. If you were like 5-10 years old when the special came out, you’d have a different relation to it than I would. The thing that did change over the course of making it is I have a better understanding of the context in which it exists, and I have more sympathy for George Lucas than I did. Given the time frame, of course you'd make a Star Wars Holiday Special.
CW: You also co-directed Raiders, about the creation of a no-budget Raiders of the Lost Ark fan film, so you clearly have a fascination with the weird things that fans embrace. What is it about fan culture that appeals to you as a subject?
JC: I don’t think it’s so much fan culture; it’s people who are passionate about things. That really comes across and makes for interesting subject matter. And it can be the dumbest thing, but if someone is really passionate about it, that’s interesting.
A Disturbance in the Force: How the Star Wars Holiday Special Happened screens tonight, Tuesday, Nov. 29 at 7 p.m. with co-directors Jeremy Coon and Steve Kozak. The screening is free, but online RSVP is requested.
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