Artist Drew Struzan amazed fans at the recent D23 Expo with his D23 Exclusive movie poster of the latest instalment in the Star Wars saga, which depicted John Boyega's Finn weilding what looks to be Luke Skywalkers Lightsabre, last seen in Return of the Jedi. The American artist whom has hand painted posters for all of the previous Star Wars movies, all of the Indiana Jones movies and all of the Back to the Future movies (among many, many others) recently spoke at length to Movie Weekly about his paintings and his return to painting the posters for the forthcoming Star Wars: The Force Awakens...
Movie Weekly: I could geek out and be a fan boy over you all day but we don’t have time for that and I’d like to talk to you about Star Wars, as it seems it’s pulled you out of retirement once again…
Drew Struzan: Well, you know, when I had retired - because I was old, tired and cranky - I did say that if any of my supporters over my life and career would want me back, I would have to do anything they wished. So when they said Star Wars again and everybody was involved, I said of course I have to do this. Although a pleasure, I’d do it for George, for the fans and for Star Wars.
Movie Weekly: Your posters have been so iconic. Especially the ones that celebrated the 20th Anniversary of Star Wars in 1997 and then the prequels. What was it like revisiting Star Wars once again?
Drew Struzan: I don’t know if I was revisiting. I did it all along. Because I did comic book covers, I did a couple dozen book covers, you know? I was kept busy doing Star Wars since 1977, it was never far away from me. But this time it was quite a long time between. And revisiting? Questions like that I don’t understand - ‘What was it like?’ Like nothing else I suppose. In my life’s career, it was probably the biggest blessing because it kept coming around and because it was SO… you know, I hate to use the word popular, but I don’t have too many words. It was so touching to the whole world. About adventure, growing up, learning and sharing with friends. It was in the movie and it did that for society and I wish there were more things in the world that brought us together in peace, harmony and friendship. It was a wonderful experience.
Movie Weekly: And that’s the undeniable power of Star Wars isn't it? It is that. And your contribution being so pivotal to it’s identity and now with the a new slate of films ...What was your process with this latest piece for THE FORCE AWAKENS, that was released at D23?
Drew Struzan: Well, see it started about a year ago or more, a year and a half ago. I got a call from J.J. Abrams who I have never met, and he was in England shooting the film and he goes ‘Hi, I’ve always loved the work’ and Blah, Blah, Blah, sounding like you, you know, like a fanboy (laughs) …And we were talking along and he just goes ‘…Well, would you?’ and I said ‘…If I was asked.’ And that was the conversation (laughs). By the end of it, there were no other words. So about a year later, we get together and meet and he says we’re using all the original people - John Williams, Kasdan, Harrison Ford’s in it, everybody’s in it and everybody’s writing and making the music and we have to have your art to make it the real thing. So, of course, I’ve got to do it for George and I’ve got to do it for Star Wars. I’ve never worked with J.J before and so we started working on it and he showed me like half the movie and it was just… a wonderful film and I know it’s going to be grand. I got to read the script and subsequently I’ve seen half of it and I can tell you and the fans this, Honest to god, it is far and away probably going to be THE BEST Star Wars you’ve ever seen... it’s beautifully made and it’s a wonderful story.
Movie Weekly: Now having seen a cut of the film does that help more with your creative process or does it hinder it?
Drew Struzan: Oh it helps undeniably, because it’s not about what I feel, it’s what they did and it’s up to me to get a feeling about the film. Because you know after all, as much as we’d like to think we’re intellectuals, we really act more with our hearts than we do with our heads and I definitely have the bigger heart than I have the brain (laughs). I read the script and I saw the film, I got to know the maker and I know Star Wars. I had feelings for it and I paint how I feel about it. And it seems to connect with you and the world. So I have a universal feeling and I paint what I saw. Having seen the film I know what it is about. I got familiar with the characters, so I know what they’re portraying in their feelings. So I paint the situation and I paint the feelings. Not to tell the story, but to tell you how you’re going to feel when you see the film.
Movie Weekly: Did it feel like a family reunion?
Drew Struzan: It doesn’t feel like I ever left home for sure (laughs) I’ve lived with it for almost forty years. It’s just part of my life. It’s surprising how short life can be. I’ve been with it the whole time and here - I’ve grown from a young man, watched my son grow up from the time he just a little kid and now we watch his children, so we have the grandkids here and I'm still doing it. Did I ever leave home? No (laughs).
Movie Weekly: Returning to the poster you did for RETURN OF JEDI, originally titled REVENGE OF THE JEDI, you got the colors wrong on Luke and Vaders lightsaber…
Drew Struzan: (laughs) Is that still an issue?
Movie Weekly: Honestly, I’ve never noticed until it was brought up in the documentary about you (Drew Struzan: The Man Behind The Poster), and I had that poster growing up!
Drew Struzan: (laughs) It was that good that you didn’t mind.
Movie Weekly: Well, your work is so undeniably spectacular that even making a slight mistake, you created a myth of there being some kind of metaphor by swapping the colors around…
Drew Struzan: I would like to say that I was making a statement but it’s not true. I painted it from black and white photographs. To tell you the truth, I didn't know what I was doing, I just painted it. That was pointed out to me many years later that I had reversed the colors. I didn't know at the time I had done that, so it truly was an error on my part. It didn’t seem to hurt the painting at all…
Movie Weekly: No! Not all and I don’t think there’s any fan out there that sees it in a negative light but rather it having a mystery about it. Which brings me to THE FORCE AWAKENS poster as you’ve excited fans once more by showing the character Finn wielding a lightsaber for the very first time. Was there much discussion about this among you, J.J, and the studio?
Drew Struzan: Ah, none what so ever (laughs). I worked for seven months on all different kinds of concepts with the studio and J.J and if you really want to know the sacred truth, after I got started and I saw the film and read the script, I was going over it in my mind for weeks - How do I feel about it? How can I represent this film really well? And I did this, like many creatives do, I came up with the concept in my sleep. Just like John Lennon used to write his best music in his sleep, I designed my painting in my sleep. That was the first one I did and I went for seven months doing stuff and in the end, guess which one they picked? The very first thing I did (laughs). So trust your sleep because that’s what I came up with and that’s what they loved from the very beginning.
To me it represents the film. The spirit of the film, the new characters, the battle again to find the truth, to grow up, to find the purpose in life. It’s all those things that Star Wars had to be and is still. And I hope to represent that again to a new generation..
Movie Weekly: Which you’ve done that again by beautifully depicting both the light and dark sides of the force. But what compels you to combine such opposites in the way that you do?
Drew Struzan: I think you put the good next to the bad and the good looks better and the bad looks worse. (laughs) That is the story of humanity, is it not? That it’s our choice. Which side we’re going to choose to be on and the battle that goes on between the two. I think what’s lovely about literature, art and Star Wars is that the good prevails by being good. Good is always stronger than the bad and that’s what makes it a beautifully universal theme and I’ve got to show that’s still our Star Wars.
Movie Weekly: As the saying goes ‘a picture is worth a thousand words’ and you’re able to capture that rich storytelling and it’s mythology all within one frame through your impeccable compositions. But what dictates your use of color and composition?
Drew Struzan: Well, the foundation of the work is the composition. I’m glad you see it and appreciate it. But I could say many things about that. It could be my education, my study of art and it’s history but the thing I follow and the thing I do is, that I want to make art and I follow my heart. So it comes out of essentially all those things, but 99% of it is just my personality. That’s just how I feel about it. Like I said, I designed it in my sleep, so my heart came out and there was no outside influences. It was just the way I felt about it.
Movie Weekly: I know your lovely wife Dylan is your heart and soul. What are your other inspirations? Or do you just purely draw from your heart?
Drew Struzan: Well, I have a good formal education and a history with art. It’s all I’ve been able to do. It gives me power and the one thing I can communicate with other people is my art. My inspiration has been the history of art and the great artists that have come before me. But in the end, I don’t imitate or look to/at or draw inspiration from other artists. I just draw from who I’ve become. It comes to me naturally and it comes to me in my sleep (laughs) I just try to be true to my feelings.
Movie Weekly: When working on something like Star Wars would you be playing John Williams’ score as you paint?
Drew Struzan: (Laughs) I actually sit in quiet. The paint talks to me. It’s the way it makes me feel. The simplest way I’ve ever put it is, if you read the bible at all, when God made Adam out of the dust of the Earth, he didn't become a living soul, until he gave him the breath of life. And that’s how I feel about painting. I take the paint from the colors of the Earth and nature and I make a design. I keep working on it until it starts to breath and comes to life. And when it comes to life, I know it will reach other people. So it’s just the experience of being the artist and working on it until it begins to breath and then I know it’s finished and that’s what I’m looking for when I paint.
Movie Weekly: Your paintings have such an emotion and they do have a life. I remember years ago I had an art teacher who once said ‘the eyes are the gateway into the soul’. And that’s evident in your work especially when you’ve painted Harrison Ford in the INDIANA JONES posters.
Drew Struzan: Most of my job that you see are movie posters. And they’re supposed to capture your interests and motivate you to be a part of that story. You’ll take note, that there is not a picture I’ve ever painted for the movie industry, where the characters in the picture are not looking at you. Every one of them, they’re looking at you so that you can see into their eyes. And we make a connection when someone is looking at us and we look back at them. And I do that willfully because I know that. There is a connection between us. It’s the biggest thing we’ve got going in life, is it not? Is to communicate with our neighbours. That’s just one of the means by which to connect you to the painting and the characters. One of the many ways, but that is one of the ways it’s done.
Movie Weekly: Finally, with more Star Wars films on the horizon, if asked, would you return to this galaxy once more in the near future?
Drew Struzan: I have hope and desire if they should ask and want me back, I would consider it. If I’m able and capable… you’ll find me here (laughs).
