“Return of the Jedi” Oscar Consideration Ad (The Hollywood Reporter, March 13, 1984)

This is a full-page ad that appeared in the March 13th, 1984 issue of “The Hollywood Reporter” — an entertainment trade magazine. The ad itself is an “Oscar consideration” or “For Your Consideration” ad that is intended to appeal to members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, who vote on who get Academy Awards each year.

As you can see, Ben Burtt was nominated for Best Sound Effects Editing for Return of the Jedi, but he unfortunately did not win that year. Still, he remains the person with the most awards (4) and nominations (8) in this category, so I guess you can’t feel too bad about it.

One interesting thing about this ad is that the photo of Jabba is flipped horizontally. I suppose it’s just a mistake by someone who didn’t know any better, but Lucasfilm is usually pretty careful about that sort of thing. For a lot of characters this issue wouldn’t be noticeable, but Jabba’s face is extremely asymmetrical: his left nostril is always above the right, his right eye is usually squinting, he has a wart on the left side of his chin, and so forth. I’m quite familiar with these details after all this time, so I find when I look at this flipped version that it looks extremely strange to me.