I was thinking in terms of the effect of editing on how a performance "plays" in the finished film, rather than literal on-set direction. It's clear that George Lucas isn't much help to his cast in the later category, though.

Well, most obviously Phil Hartman, were he still available. :(

Scatterbrained cost-cutting's as much a part of Hollywood as out-of-control budgets, and I was figuring they just considered it a write-off.

Certainly she might have had a hand in the performances turning out so well, given how awfully Natalie Portman and the rest of the Phantom Menace cast came off with Lucas firmly at the helm.

Supposedly a number of that '70s directorial clique had a hand in Star Wars too — Spielberg, Coppola… I recall hearing that Brian DePalma had edited down the opening crawl from a longer, drearier original Lucas version.

Was the use of cheesy sound-not-enough-alike covers perhaps just a function of what it would cost to use originals nowadays? I can imagine production having been held up for a long time by that hurdle, and Disney, finding itself in control of the thing, saying "Screw it. Release it with covers".

That's kind of what I expected — The Elvira character's essentially a goth Mae West, which is fine when there's the likes of W.C. Fields to play off of, but when Mae tried to carry a whole movie by herself, we got Sextette.

"Nuge! Sign my AR-15?!?"

I've read that Stewart can be pretty aloof and cranky in chance encounters, so his behavior at cons may be yet another example of his consummate professionalism.

Some friends of mine can vouch for Campbell. When they met him at a book signing, he happily signed a copy of an amateur film they'd made, complete with a fawning blurb as if he'd actually seen it.

Fandom's a slippery slope.
Best not to think about why it's slippery.

I think "Booberella" is primarily a spoof of "Angelyne"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wi…
But it can be two things… obviously…

there was this one thing that seemed to be in a lot of soups and things there—I always called it pond scum

She did have a bit part in Pee-Wee's Big Adventure, though not as Elvira.
Part of what made that film work, though, was that Pee-Wee is a much more anarchic and flexible character. Elvira seems more unflappable and in-control, and any movie built around her would likely end up seeming like an Addams Family rip off.

Though rather than giving Willy a Dolly Parton award, he'd probably be better off letting her manage his finances.

Peter Fernandez took the secret spelling to his grave.

I largely agree. The only really pyramidy aspect, beside Vector Marketing's cultish feel, was the fact that so very few salespeople could generate enough references to sustain ongoing business (once they exhausted their "friend list" and perhaps a few 2nd or 3rd hand referrals, they were out), so the managers…

the disappearance of the true Christians signaled through shots of an idling lawnmower…

Well, evangelical churches are kind of built on familiarity — Favorite hymns; Call-and-response; Sermons rehashing the same Biblical parables and stories — Kind of makes sense their favorite movies would have the same features.

Back in my Cutco days the expressed reason for making everyone sell to lists of friends and relatives was because many suburban communities had ordinances against door-to-door sales. Either those have been shot down on Constitutional grounds over the years, or your community is just "friendlier".