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Richard McCallum (born August 22, 1954) is an American film producer. He is mostly known for his work on ''
The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles
''The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles'' is an American television series that aired on ABC from March 4, 1992, to July 24, 1993. Filming took place in various locations around the world, with "Old Indy" bookend segments filmed in Wilmington, Nort ...
'' as well as the ''
Star Wars''
Special Editions and
prequel trilogy
The ''Star Wars'' prequel trilogy, colloquially referred to as the prequels, is a series of epic space-opera films written and directed by George Lucas. It was produced by Lucasfilm Ltd. and distributed by 20th Century Fox. The trilogy was re ...
. He is best known for his frequent collaborations with American filmmaker
George Lucas, though he was also a long-time producer for British television playwright
Dennis Potter
Dennis Christopher George Potter (17 May 1935 – 7 June 1994) was an English television dramatist, screenwriter and journalist. He is best known for his BBC television serials '' Pennies from Heaven'' (1978), ''The Singing Detective'' (198 ...
.
Early career and collaboration with Dennis Potter
McCallum's career as producer began with ''
Pennies from Heaven'' (1981), the film version of the 1978 BBC TV drama, for director
Herbert Ross
Herbert David Ross (May 13, 1927 – October 9, 2001) was an American actor, choreographer, director and producer who worked predominantly in theater and film. He was nominated for two Academy Awards and a Tony Award.
He is known for directing ...
and writer
Dennis Potter
Dennis Christopher George Potter (17 May 1935 – 7 June 1994) was an English television dramatist, screenwriter and journalist. He is best known for his BBC television serials '' Pennies from Heaven'' (1978), ''The Singing Detective'' (198 ...
. After the commercial failure of the film, Potter invited McCallum to go to work in England. During the 1980s, McCallum's work with Potter included producing the films ''
Dreamchild
''Dreamchild'' is a 1985 British drama film written by Dennis Potter, directed by Gavin Millar, and produced by Rick McCallum and Kenith Trodd. The film, starring Coral Browne, Ian Holm, Peter Gallagher, Nicola Cowper and Amelia Shankley, is ...
'' (1985), an unusual exploration by Potter of the creation of ''
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' (commonly ''Alice in Wonderland'') is an 1865 English novel by Lewis Carroll. It details the story of a young girl named Alice who falls through a rabbit hole into a fantasy world of anthropomorphic creature ...
'', which was nominated for two
BAFTA awards, and ''
Track 29'' directed by
Nicolas Roeg
Nicolas Jack Roeg (; 15 August 1928 – 23 November 2018) was an English film director and cinematographer, best known for directing ''Performance'' (1970), '' Walkabout'' (1971), ''Don't Look Now'' (1973), '' The Man Who Fell to Earth'' (1976 ...
; executive producing the landmark
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
-TV series ''
The Singing Detective
''The Singing Detective'' is a BBC television serial drama, written by Dennis Potter, starring Michael Gambon and directed by Jon Amiel. Its six episodes are "Skin", "Heat", "Lovely Days", "Clues", "Pitter Patter" and "Who Done It".
The ser ...
''; and in 1989 producing the Potter-directed TV series ''
Blackeyes
''Blackeyes'' is a multi-layered novel by British writer Dennis Potter, published in 1987 by Faber and Faber. It concerns the relationship between sexuality, exploitation, power and money. These are explored through the career of a desirable mod ...
''.
During the 1980s, McCallum also produced movies with filmmakers including
David Hare (''
Strapless'');
Neil Simon
Marvin Neil Simon (July 4, 1927 – August 26, 2018) was an American playwright, screenwriter and author. He wrote more than 30 plays and nearly the same number of movie screenplays, mostly film adaptations of his plays. He has received mo ...
(''
I Ought to Be in Pictures
''I Ought to Be in Pictures'' is a comedy drama play written by Neil Simon, his 18th. The play opened on Broadway in 1980. It was subsequently made into a film, released in 1982. The play involves a film screenwriter who has abandoned his famil ...
'');
Harvey Fierstein
Harvey Forbes Fierstein ( ; born June 6, 1952) is an American actor, playwright and screenwriter. He is best known for his theater work in '' Torch Song Trilogy'' and '' Hairspray'' and movie roles in '' Mrs. Doubtfire'', ''Independence Day'', an ...
, whose
HBO film ''Tidy Endings'' received two
CableACE Awards; and
Nicolas Roeg
Nicolas Jack Roeg (; 15 August 1928 – 23 November 2018) was an English film director and cinematographer, best known for directing ''Performance'' (1970), '' Walkabout'' (1971), ''Don't Look Now'' (1973), '' The Man Who Fell to Earth'' (1976 ...
's ''
Castaway''. McCallum also produced the music video for
the Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for six decades, they are one of the most popular and enduring bands of the album era, rock era. In the early 1960s, the Rolling Stones pioneered the g ...
' "
Undercover of the Night", directed by
Julien Temple.
Collaboration with George Lucas
He first met
George Lucas on the set of Dreamchild.
''The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles''
Several years after their first meeting, Lucas was preparing his first weekly live-action television program, ''
The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles
''The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles'' is an American television series that aired on ABC from March 4, 1992, to July 24, 1993. Filming took place in various locations around the world, with "Old Indy" bookend segments filmed in Wilmington, Nort ...
'', and turned to McCallum to produce the ambitious series, which was to be shot in 35 countries. With a unique perspective on the eventful early life of
Indiana Jones – including its cinematic qualities, an emphasis on storytelling and characters, and an enticing promise of new adventures each week – McCallum attracted a stellar list of writers and actors to the creative ranks of the series. Among the directors with whom McCallum worked on the series were
Bille August
Bille August (born 9 November 1948) is a Danish director, screenwriter, and cinematographer of film and television. In a career spanning over four decades, he has been the recipient of numerous accolades, making him one of the most acclaimed co ...
,
Nicolas Roeg
Nicolas Jack Roeg (; 15 August 1928 – 23 November 2018) was an English film director and cinematographer, best known for directing ''Performance'' (1970), '' Walkabout'' (1971), ''Don't Look Now'' (1973), '' The Man Who Fell to Earth'' (1976 ...
,
David Hare,
Mike Newell,
Deepa Mehta,
Terry Jones
Terence Graham Parry Jones (1 February 1942 – 21 January 2020) was a Welsh comedian, director, historian, actor, writer and member of the Monty Python comedy team.
After graduating from Oxford University with a degree in English, Jones and ...
,
Simon Wincer
Simon may refer to:
People
* Simon (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the given name Simon
* Simon (surname), including a list of people with the surname Simon
* Eugène Simon, French naturalist and the genus ...
, and
Carl Schultz
Carl Schultz (born 1939) is a Hungarian-Australian film director. Early life and works
He left his native Budapest during the uprising of 1956 with his brother Otto Schultz. They fled to England, and after arriving in London they moved to Man ...
. During its run, the
Academy of Television Arts & Sciences honored ''Young Indiana Jones'' with 12
Emmy Awards from 27 nominations. The series debuted on DVD in 2007, and McCallum served as
executive producer on a series of 94 acclaimed documentaries that accompany the episodes and illuminate the real-life history behind their stories.
''Radioland Murders''
When ''Young Indiana Jones'' ended, McCallum produced ''
Radioland Murders
''Radioland Murders'' is a 1994 American comedy thriller film directed by Mel Smith and executive produced by George Lucas. ''Radioland Murders'' is set in the 1939 atmosphere of old-time radio and pays homage to the screwball comedy films of the ...
'' (1994), for which Lucas served as executive producer.
''Star Wars''
During production of ''Radioland Murders'', Lucas confided to McCallum the plans for three new ''Star Wars'' movies. To test the nascent digital technology just then becoming available, McCallum produced
revised versions of the
original ''Star Wars'' film, ''
The Empire Strikes Back
''The Empire Strikes Back'' (also known as ''Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back'') is a 1980 American epic space opera film directed by Irvin Kershner from a screenplay by Leigh Brackett and Lawrence Kasdan, based on a stor ...
'', and ''
Return of the Jedi
''Return of the Jedi'' (also known as ''Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi'' is a 1983 American epic space opera film directed by Richard Marquand. The screenplay is by Lawrence Kasdan and George Lucas from a story by Lucas, who ...
'' – released in 1997 as the Special Editions.
Assembling the teams that worked both in front of and behind the cameras, McCallum produced the next three films, which Lucas wrote and directed: ''
Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace'' (1999), ''
Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones'' (2002) and ''
Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith'' (2005). The ''Star Wars'' prequels also ushered in a new era of
digital filmmaking, and McCallum played a leading role in its development, overseeing a team of creative and technical professionals that developed and created the industry's first all-digital production pipeline. McCallum makes a cameo appearance in ''The Phantom Menace'' during the end celebration scene.
''Red Tails''
McCallum was one of the producers of ''
Red Tails
''Red Tails'' is a 2012 American war film directed by Anthony Hemingway in his feature film directorial debut, and starring Terrence Howard and Cuba Gooding Jr. The film is about the Tuskegee Airmen, a group of African-American United States ...
'', an action-adventure movie on which Lucas was executive producer, that pays tribute to the spirit of World War II's
Tuskegee Airmen
The Tuskegee Airmen were a group of primarily African American military pilots (fighter and bomber) and airmen who fought in World War II. They formed the 332d Fighter Group and the 477th Bombardment Group (Medium) of the United States Army ...
. The movie was released nationally in the U.S. on January 20, 2012.
Retirement from Lucasfilm
Following Lucasfilm's announced acquisition by
The Walt Disney Company
The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Disney Stud ...
, on October 31, 2012,
ForceCast.net podcast
A podcast is a program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. For example, an episodic series of digital audio or video files that a user can download to a personal device to listen to at a time of their choosin ...
Lucasfilm's
Steve Sansweet stated that "Rick has retired from Lucasfilm". He had been involved with a potential live-action series set within the ''Star Wars'' universe,
[Peaty, James]
"Rick McCallum interview: Dennis Potter, Star Wars TV series, George Lucas & Red Tails"
Den of Geek.com, June 2012. but the show was put on hold in 2010 due to budget concerns.
Post-Lucasfilm career
After leaving Lucasfilm, McCallum settled in
Prague
Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and List of cities in the Czech Republic, largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 milli ...
in the
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...
.
["Rick McCallum: Controversy Is Drama And Drama Is Cinema "]
''26th festival of Czech films'', April 27, 2013. Retrieved 2013-06-13. His Prague-based company, Film United, develops film projects and provides production services for Czech and European feature films.
[Borys Kit]
"'Star Wars' Producer Rick McCallum Boards Sci-Fi Project 'R'Ha' (Exclusive)"
''The Hollywood Reporter
''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Hollywood film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade paper, and in 2010 switched to a weekly larg ...
'', June 6, 2013. Retrieved 2013-06-13. Films that McCallum is developing include ''
R'ha'', a science fiction feature film based on an earlier short film, to be directed by Kaleb Lechowski and written by
Matthew Graham;
''
In the Fog'', a
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
film by Ukrainian director
Sergei Loznitsa
Sergei Vladimirovich Loznitsa ( be, Сяргей Уладзіміравіч Лазніца, russian: Сергей Владимирович Лозница, uk, Сергій Володимирович Лозниця; born 5 September 1964) is a Uk ...
; ''So Far So Good'' (''Zatím dobrý''), based on the novel by
Jan Novák about the
Mašín brothers;
and (as executive producer) ''A Long Way Home'', directed by Paki Smith and written by Alex Rose.
Personal life
McCallum's mother, photographer Pat York, is married to actor
Michael York
Michael York OBE (born Michael Hugh Johnson; 27 March 1942) is an English film, television and stage actor. After performing on-stage with the Royal National Theatre, he had a breakthrough in films by playing Tybalt in Franco Zeffirelli's ''Ro ...
. His father, Roy Alwood McCallum, was a US military pilot.
McCallum's daughter, Olivia 'Mousy' McCallum, also works in the film industry.
References
Footnotes
Citations
External links
*
Interview in Czech television 2013 March 23
{{DEFAULTSORT:McCallum, Rick
1954 births
American film producers
Living people
Lucasfilm people
American expatriates in the Czech Republic