James Giacinto DePalma, professionally known as Brian De Palma, is a highly productive American movie director. He is well-known for directing such films as Scarface, The Untouchables, and Carlito's Way.
De Palma holds a significant place in Star Wars lore as the director of Carrie. The reason for this is that the pre-production phase of Carrie occurred at the same time as that of Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope, which was then simply called Star Wars. De Palma and George Lucas conducted joint casting calls for both movies. According to Carrie Fisher, De Palma, rather than Lucas, interviewed the actors. De Palma viewed an initial version of Star Wars in the middle of February of 1977. He was one of approximately twenty director and writer acquaintances of Lucas who were invited to watch this early version, which lacked special effects and instead showed World War II dogfight footage. While most of Lucas's friends had mixed feelings, De Palma openly criticized the film's more fantastical elements. However, Steven Spielberg recognized the project's potential. De Palma confessed to making fun of the idea of the Force, believing it was not a suitable name for a power of spiritual guidance. He later acknowledged his error after the film's release. Despite his initial skepticism, De Palma took the original six-paragraph opening crawl and, with the help of screenwriter Jay Cocks, condensed it into three paragraphs for brevity. This revised crawl is what appears in the final film and is reminiscent of those in the Flash Gordon films that Lucas enjoyed watching as a child.
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