How Paul Hirsch ended up making the first "Star Wars"

• Paul Hirsch is a legendary editor who has worked for fifty years in Hollywood.

• He notably edited the first two "Star Wars".

• In June, he published his fascinating memoir, “A long time ago in a far, far away editing room”, with Carlotta editions.

Just as Monsieur Jourdain from Molière's

wrote prose without knowing it, the general public knows Paul Hirsch without his name being familiar to them.

This editor, whose fascinating memoirs

was released in June by the

Editions Carlotta, received an Oscar in 1978 for the first

by George Lucas.

Honored at the Valenciennes Festival, he returned to his memories for

Paul Hirsch has just arrived in Paris and says a few words of welcome to us!

@festival2val #CinemaPalaceBruxelles @cinemathequech @cinematheqtlse pic.twitter.com/XBnMEpGopb

— CarlottaFilms (@CarlottaFilms) September 26, 2022

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"Editing is the art of drawing the viewer's attention to specific points and giving a rhythm to the images", analyzes the man who also knew how to attract the attention of directors.

Because Star Wars, Paul Hirsch found himself putting it together a bit by chance.

"It was Brian de Palma who recommended me to George Lucas," he explains.

Marcia Lucas, his wife, had started editing

but had to give it up for

because Martin Scorsese's editor had suddenly died.

" Luck !

And

has finished launching the career of an editor who still had a little experience, having cut his teeth on the brilliant

(also available from Carlotta).

Hands in the film

“

was a special experience, explains Paul Hirsch, because the assembly had already begun.

So I had to refine what had been done before my arrival.

Back that I worked on from the start was very different.

It must be remembered that at the time, digital did not exist.

We worked with real film and mechanical special effects.

The assembly was then manual work.

Paul Hirsch did not edit the final part of the trilogy,

, because director Richard Marquand had arrived with his own crew.

"I continue to follow the

saga from afar," says the editor, who hardly ever sees the films he worked on again.

"You have to understand that I've had my nose on them for weeks and that I know them so closely that I can't look at them once they're finished," he explains.

Fan questions

Après son expérience sur

, Paul Hirsch a notamment travaillé sur

(1984) d'Herbert Ross,

(1986) et

(1987) de John Hughes, ainsi que sur deux

for Brian De Palma and Brad Bird.

He was also nominated for an Oscar for

(2004) by Taylor Hackford.

"It was obviously impossible to imagine the success that

would experience ," he says.

Even today, fans ask me about details that I absolutely can't remember after all these years.

The film has passed us all.

» Paul Hirsch's triumphant welcome at Valenciennes confirmed that the Force is still with this great gentleman, who is now 74 years old.

To sign his books, he writes "QLFSAT" (May the Force be with you).

A true Jedi, even after fifty years of a brilliant career.

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• Movie theater

• Star Wars

• Oscars

• Valenciennes

• george lucas