Howard The Duck (film) - Production

Production

George Lucas attended film school with Willard Huyck and Gloria Katz, who later co-wrote American Graffiti with Lucas. After the film's production concluded, Lucas told Huyck and Katz about the comic book Howard the Duck, primarily written by Steve Gerber, describing the series as being "very funny" and praising its elements of film noir and absurdism. In 1984, Lucas relinquished his presidency of Lucasfilm to focus on producing films. Huyck, Katz and Lucas began to seriously consider adapting Howard the Duck as a film, and met with Gerber to discuss the project.

The film was optioned by Universal Studios. According to Marvin Antonowsky, "Sidney lobbied very hard for Howard the Duck", because the studio had passed on previous projects that Lucas was involved in, which had been very successful. Sheinberg denied any involvement in Howard the Duck, claiming that he never read the screenplay. Huyck and Katz strongly felt that the film should be animated. Because Universal needed a film for a summer release, Lucas suggested that the film could be produced in live action, with special effects created by Industrial Light & Magic.

Production designer Peter Jamison and director of photography Richard Kline were hired in order to give the film a look similar to that of a color comic book. Throughout the shoot, Huyck shot multiple segments establishing Duckworld, designed by Jamison. Howard's apartment is filled with detailed props, including books and magazines featuring duck-oriented puns. Because Lucas often worked with dwarf actors, he was able to hire a number of extras to work on these sequences.

The Ultralight sequence was difficult to shoot, requiring intense coordination and actors Tim Robbins and Ed Gale to actually fly the plane. The location scout was stumped for a location for the Ultralight sequence, after describing what she was looking for, a telephone repairman working in her office in San Francisco, suggested Petaluma for the scene. Because of the limited shooting time, a third unit was hired to speed up the filming process. The climax was shot in a naval installation in San Francisco, where conditions were cold throughout the shoot. The film cost an estimated $36 million to produce.