Craig Miller’s entertainment career nearly spans half-a-century and includes working on properties as loved as Star Wars, Superman, Smurfs, Ghostbusters, and more. In his latest book, More Movie Memories: More Star Wars Memories, Marketing Genre Movies in the ’80s, Writing Animation, and More, Miller shares memories and insights as to what it was like working on these franchises. Wanting to learn more about him, I was able to interview him for ScifiPulse.
You can learn more about Miller by following him on Facebook.
Nicholas Yanes: Growing up, what were some stories you loved as a kid? Are there any you still enjoy revisiting?
Craig Miller: I was a big science fiction and comics fan as a kid. And still am. I loved what I think everyone loved. Ray Bradbury. Robert Heinlein. Asimov. Fred Pohl. Quirky stuff like Robert Sheckley, Frederick Brown. C.L. Moore. Lots of stuff. Comics, I read everything. DC. Marvel. Charlton. Superheroes. EC Horror and Science Fiction. War Comics. And, of course, myths and fairy tales.
Yanes: When did you know you wanted to make a career in the entertainment industry?
Miller: I never set out to have a career in the entertainment industry. My degrees are in Child Development and Social Psychology. I grew up in L.A. but while I loved movies and television, it never occurred to me I could have a career in entertainment. Or even what I would do as part of one. I sort of fell into it. I was active in science fiction and comics fandom and Social Psychology includes things like publicity and marketing. I happened to meet Charley Lippincott, who was running all of the publicity and licensing for Star Wars. He brought me in to consult on taking Star Wars directly to fans and fandom. No studio had ever really done it before buthe knew it was something that would help Star Wars. He needed someone to help advise him on doing it. At first I was a consultant and then he brought me on board full time. After that, one thing led to another and now, it’s almost 50 years later, and I’m still working in entertainment.
Yanes: What was your first encounter with the Star Wars franchise?
Miller: My first encounter was meeting Charley. He introduced me to the film. That was in the early summer of 1976.
Yanes: In 2019 you published Star Wars Memories: My Time in the (Death Star) Trenches. Looking back, are there aspects of that book’s marketing that you would have done differently?
Miller: Well, the book came out at the very end of 2019. December. The first thing I would have done is not have had my wife in the hospital for three months leading up to the release and then go straight into a pandemic lockdown. Those lead up months, I spent with her at the hospital (and then at home as she recovered there) so I lost the ability to do a lot of the marketing I would have liked. And in early 2020, the world stopped. Lots of conventions and festivals didn’t happen. I was supposed to do a big thing with Google but that got canceled a week before it was to happen. So timing was the biggest issue.
Yanes: Your latest project is More Movie Memories: More Star Wars Memories, Marketing Genre Movies in the ’80s, Writing Animation, and More. When did you realize you had more memories about Star Wars to share?
Miller: When I started to plan More Movie Memories, I’d thought it would be about all of the genre movies I worked on after leaving Lucasfilm and about writing for television after I switched careers. But during the pandemic, I spent a lot of time sorting through 40 years’ worth of file cabinets. I found things I didn’t remember I had. And I was reminded of things I’d forgotten about. So I ended up having about another hundred pages of Star Wars memories to recount in the new book, along with all the stories from working on The Thing and The Dark Crystal and Superman II, The Last Starfighter, Krull, and all the other movies, and the tales from when I switched from publicity to writing television and all of the shows I wrote over the last 30+ years, from The Real Ghostbusters and Beast Wars to Curious George and The Smurfs.
Yanes: Reflecting on the time covered in Move Movie Memories, what are some forgotten elements of film production that you wish still existed?
Miller: The thing I miss most is miniature effects. CGI can look great but miniatures – whether it’s a space ship like the Millennium Falcon or the Mothership in Close Encounters or entire city streets like Hollywood in 1941, they just have a sense of reality that doesn’t always come across with CGI. My good friend Greg Jein, who passed away last year, built both of those last two, so I got to see them up close. They were amazing.
Yanes: Current discussions about Star Wars largely center about how fractured the fanbase is. In your opinion, when was the last time the Star Wars fanbase was truly united?
Miller: That’s a good question. The fanbase for Star Wars, the original film, were united. But even on The Empire Strikes Back, there were people who complained about it having too much humor. Or didn’t like Yoda. We got comments like “Why would a Jedi become a hermit on a remote planet?” They thought that was out of character. Of course, the only Jedi we’d ever met before that was Obi-wan, who had become a hermit on a remote planet. Ironically, when The Force Awakens came out, fans complained why Luke, a Jedi, would become a hermit on a remote planet. Up until that point, every Jedi we’d met was a hermit on a remote planet.
The thing is, while Star Wars (the universe of stories in all formats) is pretty great, not every installment is for everyone’s taste. Some people lover the Prequels. Some people – notably fans who grew up with the original trilogy – hate the Prequels. I think there’s too many people who think every installment should be exactly what they like and can’t accept how it’s not all about them. Love the ones you like. Let other people love the stuff they like. Honestly, I don’t hate any of it. Some things I love. Some stuff I think is just okay. But let people enjoy it if it’s something they like. All of it is better than a bunch of other things I can name.
Yanes: When people finish reading More Movie Memories, what do you hope that they take away from the experience?
Miller: A couple of things, I guess. When I wrote Star Wars Memories, it was in response to people who had, for forty years, been telling me I should write a book with all my stories about working on Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back that I’d been telling at conventions all these years. I wanted it to be entertaining and different. There was no point in me being the fortieth guy to tell people how lightsabers worked or what Chewbacca’s costume was made out of. I made a point of telling stories that people didn’t know, that they hadn’t heard already. And I think I succeeded on all of that. At least based on the reviews on Amazon and Good Reads and what people have told me. So when I was working on More Movie Memories, I wanted that again. Stories you hadn’t heard. And stories that people would find enlightening and entertaining. And, so far, the reviews have been really good. So, fingers crossed, I hope people coming away with a good feeling and enjoyment.
Yanes: Finally, what are some other projects you are working on that people can look forward to?
Miller: Right now, for the next few weeks, I’ll be busy with promoting More Movie Memories (and Star Wars Memories for those who have read it). After that, I’m supposed to start work adapting a Japanese Steam Punk mystery novel into a screenplay for a Japanese producer. That’ll keep me busy for a while. It should be fun.
Remember, you can learn more about Miller by following him on Facebook.
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