Besides the turnover in script writers, The "Star Wars Holiday Special" went through two different directors. David Acomba was initially approved by his former USC classmate, George Lucas, to helm the show. As the special evolved, however, friction developed between Acomba and the shows producers, Ken & Mitzie Welch. Ultimately, Acomba left the project after directing only three sequences.
"David was one of the most imaginative, creative young guys that I had worked with," recalls associate producer Rita Scott. "But, like so many people who are creative, he really didn't share his thoughts and ideas. We had four extremely talented people and they weren't able to talk. Now, David was a highly skilled film director thrown into a video tape project and there are skills that you need to build to be a video tape director. You're working with multiple cameras and getting maximum coverage and David could only work with one camera at a time. I really liked David and thought he was very talented but, by the same token, you have to be realistic about things. He shot almost 14 hours and we didn't even come close to having a completed number." Acomba was quickly replaced by another talented director, Steve Binder. Although Binder had little creative control due to his late arrival, he made some incredible technical accomplishments.
David Acomba is a native of Canada and has worked there for most of his career. After attending USC film school with George Lucas in the mid-1960s, he returned home and began a prolific career in Canadian television. "After I finished film school I returned to Canada and worked for the CBC, producing and directing rock 'n' roll specials." he explains. "It's hard to believe now but there wasn't any rock 'n' roll on television, except for The Mammas and Pappas lip synching on The Ed Sullivan Show. The CBC was government financed so you could do things that weren't on regular television. Then PBS wanted to have rock 'n' roll in a musical documentary on Filmore East, and they found out there was this kid in Canada. So I came down and did that with Bill Graham. It featured Pam Morrison, The Birds. Albert King, and the Allman Brothers. I later did a film in Canada based on a film school project called Slipstream (not to be confused with the 1990 movie starring Mark Hamill), which ended up winning awards in Canada. So I had this peculiar past in music TV and music films." After leaving The "Star Wars Holiday Special", Acomba returned to Canada where he continues to do prestigious work. His many accomplishments have included episodes of SCTV, an Andrea Martin special, and HBO's "Hank Williams: The Show He Never Gave".
FAX: How did you become involved in The "Star Wars Holiday Special"?
ACOMBA: I felt that I had done as much as I could do in Canada and decided to get some work in L.A. This show quickly came up via Gary Smith, who had heard about me, and I certainly knew him and had a lot of respect for him. Coincidently, George knew about me so it all made sense that I should do this show.
FAX: Could you describe George Lucas's involvement?
ACOMBA: He came to a couple production meetings and discussed, in general terms, what he wanted to use and what he didn't want. He just gave the special his initial attention. This show was just one of the many projects he was working on.
FAX: Was "The Star Wars Holiday Special" always intended to be a musical?
ACOMBA: Yes. It was intended to combine music with a story. I remember Gary Smith coming up with the idea of having it be a "Showboat in space" -- some kind of space ship traveling from one planet to the next. I thought that was a good idea but, for reasons I cannot remember, it didn't work out.
FAX: Why did you leave the show?
ACOMBA: One of the reasons I left was that too many people had their fingers in the pie. Since I'm from Canada, I'm used to approaching TV more like a film director would in the States. I thought I would have more control than I ended up having. I was quite surprised when producers were assigned to the show without my consultation. I'm not sure if George understood what the difference was between film and television in the U.S., because he had not worked in it either. The show got to be too long. Originally it was going to be an hour and then, because they needed more money, the network said "Oh, well we can sell more spots if we take it to two hours." The plot was an hour story at the most!
FAX: What was your vision for the show?
ACOMBA: My intent was to see what George and Gary wanted and use that as a jumping-off point. But very quickly Ken and Mitzie Welch, whom I didn't know, were assigned to the show. They were very nice but we were the wrong people to be working together. They wrote these Broadway-esque show tunes that I thought were forgettable. I come from the '60s generation and one of the basics for connecting with other people in my peer group was rock 'n' roll. Ken and Mitzie just weren't a part of that. It was just a battle all the time. I called George once or twice and said 'Listen, I'm having a hard time' but I couldn't keep calling him nor did I want to. He didn't have time for it.
FAX: It's interesting imagining "The Star Wars Holiday Special" as a rock musical.
ACOMBA: It definitely would have had more rock 'n' roll in the same way that Robin Phillips is more rock 'n' roll, it's just crazier. It needn't have been loud, grungy stuff, but it would have been much more contemporary and much simpler. I like really simple music tracks. I think it would have turned out to be much better.
FAX: Who might you have used?
ACOMBA: Let's see, who was available at the time? The new version of Jefferson Starship had some big hits at the time and that was okay for me. The Electric Light Orchestra, not my favorite group but, on the other hand, it does have some relevance because they were very big at the time.
I think the musical comedy stuff is the hardest thing to pull off. Especially making it work as a whole. A big production needs someone to pull it all together. I felt it was up to me and I couldn't do it because of these producers that came on board. Harvey Korman and Art Carney were really good people but I also wanted to bring some new talent onto the show. I was going out and seeing new people. I saw this new comedian at Off The Wall and was totally knocked out. I met him and said: 'This is amazing. You would be perfect' and went back and presented him to Ken and Mitzie but they wouldn't see him. They said: 'No, no, no, we don't want new talent, we've got to have names.' So all these people that I had been seeing got nixed. And the person I met at the comedy place was Robin Williams!
When they booked Diahann Carol, I said, 'Why is Diahann Carol on this?' and they said, 'Well, because of the name and the network wants black people.' Also, I think there was some controversy at that point about Star Wars not having black people in it. So I said, 'Well, now what do we do with Diahann Carol?!'
FAX: Were you involved with the animated segment?
ACOMBA: I knew about Nelvana [Animation Studios] and was trying to bring them into the project.
FAX: The re-enactment of the Mos Eisley cantina was one of the few scenes you directed. What do you remember about it?
ACOMBA: As I was doing it I was realizing that I couldn't finish the show. I'm very instinctive in the way I direct. I have to feel comfortable about how I'm working and feel supported, and that wasn't how I felt. It's hard for me to remember anything except for the emotional aspects of it, even though it's 20 years later. I didn't even watch the show when it went on the air. Maybe I'm ready to look at it now.
The experience of it was so traumatic that I didn't do any more American television. I worked on a film after that. George very kindly wrote me a note saying: 'It was a pleasure working with you, you're very talented, etc.' That was very nice to have, considering that I left the project!
When I quit, I think I was shooting the Jefferson Starship and it wasn't really what I wanted. I was trying to take the music someplace else and do something different. I wasn't getting what they wanted either. Dwight Hemion was there and said, 'Listen, why don't I take a shot at it?' and I said, 'Go ahead. Be my guest' and I stepped out of the chair. He's about the only person I would step out of the chair for because he was a great television director.
I take some responsibility for the show's problems. I'm still sorry that I didn't say, 'Look, you get rid of these two producers or I'm going,' but it just got to be too late. I should have done that and maybe it would have ended up being a together project. My agent at William Morris was saying: 'Oh, this is the best deal!' Everything was golden except the idea! My career hasn't been as successful as it could have been but at least I've been happy with my work!
