BBC catch up with James Marquand, son of the late Return of the Jedi director Richard Marquand who tragically died far too young in 1987 aged just 49.
In the age of the internet and the continuing success of the Star Wars franchise, the director’s son has found himself having to defend his father’s creative role in the film.
“He was the director, he did all the directing,” argued James.
“Lucas was a presence as you would expect – he created this empire so it was always understood he would be a presence. There were specific things that my dad was brought into the project to do, mainly working with the actors.”
He said there was a “fair bit of bitterness” in the family about criticism of the director.
“But I guess the Star Wars saga is owned by the world and with social media everyone’s an expert,” he added.
“When I think back to my dad’s involvement, I’m massively proud of him. I do think he delivered. His role was was to deliver a film on time and on budget and get performances out of the actors.
“When it came out it was the number one grossing film of all time and it’s still probably quite high on the list now, so job done.”
