Summary
- George Lucas kept his name off the erotic thriller
Body Heat
to support director Lawrence Kasdan’s vision, fearing the focus would shift to him. - Despite its success, Lucas wanted to protect his family-friendly image by not being associated with the R-rated movie.
-
Body Heat
proved that Lawrence Kasdan could stand on his own in Hollywood, without needing George Lucas’s name for success.
George Lucas is often seen as “the Star Wars guy” by many, but the visionary filmmaker has acted as producer on many other movies outside his space opera. However, you will not find his name on one steamy ‘80s thriller as it was not “on brand” with his family-friendly label and he did not want to overshadow director Lawrence Kasdan. That movie was 1981’s Body Heat.
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During his appearance at the Cannes Film Festival, Lucas touched on his reasons for keeping his name off the erotic thriller, which starred William Hurt and Kathleen Turner. Released just after the success of The Empire Strikes Back, the movie proved to be both a financial and critical success, pulling in a box office gross of $24 million against a $9 million budget, and landing a 96% Tomatometer score on Rotten Tomatoes. But despite that success, Lucas has always kept his involvement in the movie quiet. As per Collider, he explained:
“I actually helped [Lawrence] Kasdan get his first movie off the ground, but I didn’t put my name on it. I didn’t put my name on a bunch of movies. That one was ‘Body Heat.’ I said, ‘Larry, if I put my name on that movie, it’s all gonna be about me. It’s all gonna be about me making these kinds of movies, and we don’t want that. I want it to be you making this movie.’ I didn’t want my family-friendly brand tainted by association with the R-rated Body Heat.”
Lucas Fear of Tarnishing His Family-Friendly Image Was Similar to That of Disney
Although it would be many years before George Lucas would sell Lucasfilm to the Walt Disney Company, the way the filmmaker viewed how a possible association with material of a more mature nature could impact the reputation of his company was very similar to that of the House of Mouse. Associating his name with a steamy, R-rated neo-noir movie could have very easily skewed some people’s opinions of his family blockbusters.
While Kasdan penned the screenplay for The Empire Strikes Back, Body Heat was a world away from Lucas’ space opera, and it turned out that he did not need the filmmaker’s name linked to the movie to ensure its success. Additionally, Kasdan would go on to chart his own course in Hollywood with hits like The Big Chill and Silverado, proving that Body Heat was not a one-off either.
Related Why George Lucas Picked Howard the Duck as His First Marvel Movie George Lucas once had the chance to make a movie about a Marvel character. Here’s why he chose Howard the Duck as that character.
Body Heat continues to be one of Kasdan’s best movies, and while Lucas may not have wanted to stamp his name on the movie when it was released, it is unlikely that modern moviegoers believe that filmmakers can only be associated with either family movies or adult-orientated movies. In the end, for Lucas, he was able to enjoy the best of both worlds – helping out Kasdan with the movie, while retaining his anonymity for many years into the bargain.
Kasdan’s
Body Heat
can currently be streamed on Amazon Prime Video, while Lucas’
Star Wars
saga can be found streaming on Disney+.
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