Marcia Lucas, Oscar‑winning Star Wars editor, dies at 80
Marcia Lucas, the Oscar-winning editor of 1977's Star Wars, died on May 27 at age 80. She won the Academy Award for Best Film Editing for Star Wars and earned a nomination for her editing on 1973's American Graffiti. Lucas also edited Return of the Jedi and worked closely with her then-husband, director George Lucas, on those early projects. Her cutting and pacing shaped the film's memorable sequences and helped define the rhythm of modern blockbuster cinema.
Marilou & I are deeply saddened by the loss of our lifelong friend, Marcia. Not just a gifted, innovative artist, she also happened to be a genuinely nice person. Smart, funny, & just plain fun to be around. Thankfully, her memory lives on and we will never stop missing her. shorturl.at/wx6BV
Flying Squid is always very serious. Probably.60An absolutely brilliant editor. Star Wars and Taxi Driver would be nothing without her.
DavisDemocraticClub26She was the film editing genius behind Star Wars. We just have Respect and Love for this great artist. May she rest in peace.
Deirdre25I'm sorry for your loss. May her memory be a blessing. May I also say how refreshing that headline and article are. They highlight Marcia as an accomplished woman, and then mention in the second paragraph that she was married to George.
Hangman21Wow good lord this sucks. Folks don’t realize that she’s a big part of the reason the OT is the OT and the prequels are… well… the prequels. Rip.
Molly Lyons14I’m so sorry, Mark & Marilou. I lost a friend yesterday so my heart is SO with you. May Marcia’s memory be a blessing.
emma56.bsky.social14Im so sorry for the loss of your dearest friend Marcia my deepest condolences to you and her family,her soul is be brightened in heaven , flay high ,✨
Aida 🇵🇷🇺🇸🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️🇺🇦🐾🌊🦋🗽💙🐸12So sorry for your loss, my deepest condolences 💐
🦋𝘙𝘩ₒ𝒏∂𝔞10I’m so sorry to hear about the passing of your dear friend, Mark. May your memories of Marcia bring you and Marilou smiles when you think of her.
Emmy in Ballard10She was one of the great film editors of our time.
Brenda BR10I'm so sorry to hear this! She was a genuinely gracious person. I attended a birthday party for George (maybe his 40th??) with the ILM crew when the ranch was still Bull Tail Run and she was very welcoming and kind.
Christine - Fascism Is Evil8I'm sorry you lost your friend and an amazing person.
hugh61.bsky.social8Age takes so much, but particularly heinous is all the friends and family.
M L R7I saw a docu seris put much of the misinformation of the 70s to bed. I am glad that was alive to recieve the recognition she earned. Pete Townsend once roasted an interviewer: "they were your heros, they were my friends!" Sorry for your loss.
✅️ Diana6I'm so sorry for your loss. May her memory be a blessing.
warflight.bsky.social6I never met her, but i have heard so many positive stories about her... her love of film, and editing, and story telling. Rumor has it, she saved Star Wars by suggesting it take place a long time ago, in a galaxy far far away.
Beesnotch5George directed three good movies. She edited all three. 💪
ravenalessia.bsky.social5May she rest in peace and may all who knew and loved her find solace in the moments they shared with her and their memories of her🙏
Kate Duvall4My condolences to you both. I'm sorry for the loss of your friend.
Craig4Oh that's a shame. Her edits, from everything I've heard, along with the evidence seen in the films themselves really were what gave the first two so much heart and soul!
Vicki ☮💞4I'm so very sorry for your loss. 🙏🏻🫂
FactsOverFeelings4I’m so sorry for you both, Mark.
MeidasLaurieK4My sincere condolences on the loss of your dear friend. 🫂
Malafunkshun8083May She Rest in Peace. Aloha 🙏🏼
reginaldedward33It always seems that the brightest stars seem to twinkle for an all too brief period of time. May she rest in peace. 💔
Lulucaliente3I am so sorry on the loss of your extraordinary and gifted friend.
Sirius Hauser - Pyromancer VTuber3May she rest in peace. I'm terribly sorry for your loss.
gdad213.bsky.social3I'm so sorry to hear this.
em-wankenobi.bsky.social3So sorry for your loss. May her memory be a blessing.
Bella3Condolences. It's tough losing dear friends, it reminds us of the temporary nature of our visit on this planet. May the Force be with you and may her memory remain a blessing.
Sandra who’s been WOKE since birth!3Sincere condolences on your loss!
Dean from Australia3I learned of this, this morning Australian time and I was genuinely saddened. Then this afternoon, I learned of my dear great-aunt Jill's passing and it's raining here now and I'm a little shattered to be honest.
cirroccojones.bsky.social3Thank you for sharing your talents with us!
fdm23May her memory be a blessing.
Brenda3So sorry and condolences to her family and friends.
Lynn Small 🗽 ⚖️3Sorry for the loss of your friend, Marcia Lucas From what you’ve written Ms Lucas is a lovely soul to know Quite an exemplary professionally legacy too I hope you allow the friendship & affection always alive inside you to comfort you now & bring joy in days ahead Marcia Lucas 🕊️ Requiescat in pace
Raven McCall3My heart is with those that knew and loved her.
thinkingtom.bsky.social2Condolences to you, your family, of course to her family. There are so many people who contribute to the success of film who the average moviegoer never comprehends. Actors, directors & writers get 98% of the credit but without gifted editors cinematographers, gaffers, continuity, art directors...
thxchef.bsky.social2So sorry for your loss. 💙
☘️☘️☘️☘️☘️2🕯️🪽🕊️ My condolences to all Ms. Lucas left behind. May she have eternal blessings. 🫂 I am sorry for you and your wife's loss. Forever friends are family. May you both find comfort and peace in your happy memories.
Andrew Crowder2May the Force be with her, always.
Uniongrl ☮️ 🌍🎵🌻🦋2I'm very sorry for your loss. She was extremely talented.
lurkengurd.bsky.social2So glad you grew to love such a kind soul.
colleenfa.bsky.social2What an amazing list of film credits! Certainly Hollywood royalty.
Benny BKT1138 🎞️📸🎨2I am so sorry for your and everyone's loss. She was an incredible talent and from what i understand an incredible human.
I talk about this in Be Funny Or Die, but by showing Marion and Indy on the steps at the end of Raiders, Marcia Lucas gave the entire film structure. Without it, the film doesn’t just not have an ending, it doesn’t have a story at all, just a plot.
Joel Morris33A good editor, a good storyteller, will feel the lack of a scene like that as if it were a bum note in a scale. It’s physically painful.
Sylvia Leatham16I’ve always felt that film editors should be higher profile and get more credit, beyond industry circles. I think they’re just as important as the director. Loved BFoD btw.
Flying Squid is always very serious. Probably.6We should also hail Marcia Lucas for sparing the Star Wars ensemble cast having to suffer Alec Guinness whinging through two more films by being the one to suggest Darth Vader kill Obi Wan.
chatsubo657.bsky.social3She did her best. I the classic ‘Indy doesn’t actually do anything in Raiders to affect any outcomes’ hypothesis holds weight. (Aside from killing a few Nazis which is always welcome.)
This is a sad occasion and Marcia Lucas was a titan, but I'm really sick of seeing reductive tributes like WAKE UP, SHEEPLE -- MARCIA LUCAS IS THE REASON YOU LOVE STAR WARS The reason you love Star Wars (if you do love Star Wars) is that a lot of people COLLABORATED Especially Marcia
☀️ Starshine21┏┓ ┃┃╱╲ in ┃╱╱╲╲ this ╱╱╭╮╲╲house ▔▏┗┛▕▔ we ╱▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔╲ ┃ auteur theory is ┃ ┃ 99.9% bullshit ┃ ╱╱┏┳┓╭╮┏┳┓ ╲╲ ▔▏┗┻┛┃┃┗┻┛▕▔
Tegan O’Neil13be reasonable, the reason you love Star Wars is that Lucas met Roy Thomas in 1975
Tiger Lily 🐅 🏳️⚧️6This. Like, what would Star Wars be without Harrison Ford or John Williams or Ralph McQuarrie? So many people were involved in making Star Wars great
Ben6Weirdly I think it also gives short shrift to editors in general. They take the raw stuff and they transform it.
Mewling Tim3I know that's always the case with filmmaking but seems even more true for Star Wars. I always like how anyone who worked at ILM always seem to talk about how collaborative it was. If George should get lion's share credit for anything it's finding the right people to make those films work.
Yapper John, A.G.2Monomyths are barely supportable *within* fiction, let alone outside of it.
The fact that the ticking clock aspect was added in editing is one of those "once you know, you can't unsee it" things. It's brilliant how Marcia Lucas pulled it together based on what she had available. You notice that no one refers to it on-screen. It's all PA announcer voiceover.
Rouroboros7I watched this clip in tribute last night and noticed for the first time that the X-wing pilots talk a lot about covering each other but don't actually do anything useful (besides getting shot first) and in fact don't appear to have any ability to fire backwards.
Shanna Swendson7I recommend finding the Icons Unleashed documentary on Star Wars (I think it's on the Roku Channel). It's basically Marcia Lucas spills the tea on the production of the original trilogy.
Megaweapon2The silent tension of Leia watching the Death Star approaching the rebel base (too quickly) and Tarkin watching the Death Star approaching the rebel base (too slowly) is brilliant.
RIP Marcia Lucas She was obviously integral to Star Wars’ success but her work as supervising editor on Taxi Driver was stunning. She & her team took you inside Travis’ fracturing mindset as seen in this sequence. The dissolve as he walks down the street is still startling: youtu.be/51xWgB2s8cM?...
Tom Reagan’s Hat13The other two editors were Tom Rolf & Melvin Shapiro
Vincent O'Connell3First Scorsese film I saw, on celluloid in an afternoon fleapit. That dissolve was the moment I just sat back in my chair and thought, ok man I’m yours, take me on your journey.
Bob M2The best thing I ever did in college was a film class paper about how editing lets a director take the audience into a character's mind. I used the scene in Taxi Driver where Travis is rehearsing his manifesto, starts over after messing up, and the movie jump-cuts in reverse to start over with him.
