Willard Miller Huyck, Jr. (born September 8, 1945) is an American retired screenwriter, director and producer,^[1] best known for his association with George Lucas.^[2]

Career

Huyck and Lucas met as students at the USC School of Cinematic Arts and became members of Francis Ford Coppola's American Zoetrope group of filmmakers. Along with his wife Gloria Katz, Huyck wrote screenplays for films including American Graffiti, Lucky Lady, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, and Radioland Murders,.^[1] They also performed uncredited work on the original Star Wars: Episode IV- A New Hope.^[3][4] In a 2022 interview, Marcia Lucas credits Huyck with an additional major contribution to other Star Wars films. She claims that when George Lucas was having trouble coming up with a dramatic finale to the second film, The Empire Strikes Back, Huyck jokingly suggested that Lucas could make a shocking reveal that Darth Vader was actually Luke's Father.^[5] Ryan Britt comments on inverse.com that "...if Willard Huyck did invent the story of Anakin Skywalker, then suddenly he becomes the most pivotal writer in the entire history of Lucasfilm."^[6]

Huyck also directed four films, which he co-wrote with Gloria Katz: Messiah of Evil, French Postcards, Best Defense, and Howard the Duck.^[2] The latter film received universally negative reviews at its release, but in subsequent years has become a cult classic.^[7] Katz and Huyck also wrote and produced the NBC television films "A Father's Homecoming" and "American River." Willard Huyck is a current member of the Writers Guild of America and Directors Guild of America.

In addition to their work in the film industry, Katz and Huyck are well known as art collectors, having collected Indian miniature paintings beginning in the 1970s. This collection was sold at a Sotheby's auction in New York City in 2001. In subsequent years, they amassed a collection of Japanese photography that spanned from the late 1850s to the present. This collection was acquired in 2018 by the Smithsonian's National Museum of Asian Art.^[8] The couple also wrote a photographic catalogue of the collection entitled "Views of Japan," designed and edited by Manfred Heiting and published by Steidl. Huyck is a member of the J. Paul Getty Museum Photography Council.

Personal life

Huyck married Katz in 1969.^[9] They remained married until her death in 2018. They have one daughter, Rebecca, born in 1983.

Filmography

Film

Other credits

Television