Blue Harvest
Blue Harvest was a fake working title used to hide the 1982 production of Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi, the third installment of the Star Wars film series.[1] The supposed film was alleged to be an upcoming horror film with the tag line Horror Beyond Imagination.[2]
The title is a parody of Red Harvest, a novel by Dashiell Hammett, whose plot has been used for several movies including Yojimbo, A Fistful of Dollars and Last Man Standing.
[edit] Usage during principal filming
The title was used in all areas where deemed necessary. The Blue Harvest ruse, credited to producer Howard Kazanjian, was very thorough; the fictitious film's logo was emblazoned on a wide range of film production items including shirts, caps, coats, buttons, signs, invoices and stationery.[3] The Blue Harvest façade did give a bit of a wink and nod to its true purpose however, as the supposed film's logo (intentionally or unintentionally) used the distinctive Star Wars logo font.
In particular the ruse was employed during location filming in Yuma, Arizona. The filming took place in the dunes over the Thanksgiving holiday, where there was a reported crowd of 35,000 dune buggy enthusiasts. Despite erecting a chain link fence, employing a huge security force, and dodging myriad press inquiries, in the end, approximately sixty fans saw through the ruse and refused to leave until they obtained a few autographs and photos.[citation needed]
| “ | When shooting Jedi in the United States we called the film Blue Harvest. Camera slates, invoices, hotel reservations, call sheets, production reports, and crew hats and T-shirts all read Blue Harvest. So when a visitor would ask, 'what are you shooting' and we said Blue Harvest, they went on their way. Can you imagine what would have happened if we had said, 'We're shooting the next film in the Star Wars trilogy'? | ” |
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—Howard Kazanjian, producer[4] |
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While filming The Empire Strikes Back, Lucas found that services would increase their charges based on the speculated high budget. The false title prevented this from occurring during filming of Return of the Jedi.[5]
The Blue Harvest front was not only used during the principal photography for Return of the Jedi, but was also adopted in other areas such as a retro T-shirt that was made by ILM in the 1990s, a cardboard mailer tube to disguise the shipments of Revenge of the Jedi (the working title for the film) posters, an episode of the 1985–1987 Star Wars animated series Star Wars: Ewoks, and even a popular Star Wars fanzine. The name Blue Harvest is widely known by Star Wars fans today.
[edit] In popular culture
Steven Spielberg can be seen wearing a Blue Harvest cap during the filming of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom in the Indiana Jones: Making The Trilogy documentary on the bonus disc of the 2003 Indiana Jones DVD box set.
Around 1997, the website www.blueharvest.com began redirecting web browsers to www.starwars.com.[6]
A special, hour-long Star Wars themed episode of the animated television series Family Guy entitled "Blue Harvest" is a parody of the original film, A New Hope, and not Return of the Jedi.
"Blue Harvest" is the title of a story arc in the Dark Horse Comics series Star Wars: Dark Times.
"Blue Harvest" is among the films listed in Paul Denton's e-mail account in the computer game Deus Ex. Given the many other references to film and literature in the game's setting, this is probably a nod to Star Wars.
Blue Harvest was also the name of a company to which the assets of video game company Factor 5 were transferred before it was declared bankrupt. As of 2009[update], this is under litigation as fraudulent.[7]
When The Simpsons Movie was made and delivered to theaters, it was labelled "Yellow Harvest" as an homage.
Pendant Productions, an audio productions group, had an audio drama titled Star Wars: Blue Harvest, which ran from 2007-2011.
[edit] References
- ^ "Return' Receipt," Entertainment Weekly, May 21, 1999.
- ^ Object of the Week, The Wall Street Journal, May 14, 1999.
- ^ Pfeiffer, Lee; Lewis, Michael D.. The Films Of Harrison Ford. Citadel Press. p. 132. ISBN 0806523646.
- ^ Classic Moments: "Blue Harvest Letdown" - Star Wars.com, July 03, 2000.
- ^ Bloom, Jim, Production Supervisor; Ch. 9, bonus material disc of the 2004 Star Wars Trilogy DVD box set.
- ^ Fry, Jason; "Star Wars Fans Search Cyberspace for Movie Clues"; The Wall Street Journal, December 23, 1997.
- ^ Halstead, Richard. "Employees sue bankrupt San Rafael video-game company". Marin Independent Journal. 16 June 2009.
