Sorry, I'm kinda lagging on the update here, and Jared's network at home has blown up, so he's temporarily out of commission.
Anyway, it was a very cool night lastnight at the Arclight Theater in Hollywood. Getting to see ESB back on the big screen for the first time in 7 years was very cool. They showed the '97 Special Edition version, which I suspect is the only version that's ever gonna be shown at these types of things anymore. The originals are **** and therefore won't be shown anymore, of course, according to Lucas. And apparently the recent DVD edited version hasn't been translated into film at this point. But with the sole exception of Luke's whiny little girly scream, ESB got the least offensive alterations to it back for the Special Editions, so that was cool. Got to see the ROTS trailer too!
As for Kirshner, man, that guy's still sharp as a tack, and he's gotta be in his 80's now, I'd guess. He spoke for about 20 minutes before the screening, just giving his various thoughts and recaps on the whole ESB process. Then he took questions for about a half hour afterwards too. Would've been longer, but they had another VIP showing of ESB that was starting shortly thereafter.
As for the questions, we only got to submit one (I tossed yours in there Jess!), but none of ours were selected. He probably only got to about 6 altogether, since he was pretty verbose in most of his responses. Told lots of stories about the shoot, the script revisions, when he first got invited by GL, the actors, etc.
He also took a few shots at today's movie making and how special effects laden it is. He said he wouldn't want to re-do ESB with today's technology. He was perfectly content with what they had to work with back then. Nobody had a chance to ask him about his thoughts on the Prequels, but that was probably a good thing, as I'm sure he would've had to bite his tongue somethin' fierce outta respect for Lucas.
Anyway, I have a ****** memory, so can't transpose everything in here. Sorry! Didn't get a chance to ask about C3 either, but I wouldn't be surprised to see him there. He seemed to enjoy himself with the SW fans at this gathering. Very pleasant and genuine guy, he seemed to be.
Maybe Jared can chime in with a few other highlights as well...