[Full documentary] the Beginning: making Star Wars Episode 1

[Stone_Cold_Sisko]

I just came across this. This is the very candid 1 hour documentary that came with the Eousode 1 DVD, lucasfilm have put the whole thing on YouTube (official Star Wars account so no legal worries)

http://youtu.be/da8s9m4zEpo

This is a really fascinating watch. Scene after scene of bad ideas (IMO) with nobody challenging George. It's amazing th number of times people seem to have this unsure scared look in their eyes

 

[Doctorwhovian]

There's several excerpts from this doc on the Redlettermedia critique films as well.

 

[publiusr]

Thanks for this bit of info.

 

[Gaith]

There's several excerpts from this doc on the Redlettermedia critique films as well.

Yeah, they make great use of those clips. Especially the bit from the Clones making-of, where Lucas is talking about how everyone will be thrilled to see Yoda "go to town", and effects guy Knoll is clearly not buying a cent of it.

 

[Locutus of Bored]

It's amazing th number of times people seem to have this unsure scared look in their eyes

I'd never seen this documentary before, and I was looking forward to being amused by all these looks of fright and embarrassment over the bad ideas because it kind of conformed to a rough idea of how things would have gone in my head... and there weren't any.

I mean, right at the beginning the VFX supervisor looks terrified by the sheer scope of the amount of CGI Lucas is proposing to use, but that wasn't because he thought it was a terrible idea, it's because he was wondering how they would be able to do it on time and under budget given that it involved so much completely new technology and techniques.

I just didn't see all the "Yes Men" reluctantly following in George Lucas' path against their better judgment that you apparently saw in the film. Everyone seemed pretty enthusiastic about the way the film was turning out, minus the usual trials and tribulations of filming, like the storm in Tunisia.

I'm not even big fan of TPM, so it isn't a defense of the movie, but if anyone is actually expecting to see crew members secretly being disappointed or apprehensive while making the film, it's not here. What it is is a pretty fascinating look behind the scenes of making a scifi movie, regardless of what you think of the final product.

 

[Skywalker]

I loved Ewan McGregor's enthusiastic reaction while filming the lightsaber duel. Kind of puts a damper on all those stories about him hating the experience because of all the green screen work.

 

[Set Harth]

Lucas is talking about how everyone will be thrilled to see Yoda "go to town", and effects guy Knoll is clearly not buying a cent of it.

Lucas was right for once, imagine that.

I loved Ewan McGregor's enthusiastic reaction while filming the lightsaber duel. Kind of puts a damper on all those stories about him hating the experience because of all the green screen work.

I'm sure he disliked being hung from his crotch in the force field scene from AOTC. I can easily imagine him commenting on stuff like that specifically and having his words blown somewhat out of proportion.

 

[sidious618]

I just didn't see all the "Yes Men" reluctantly following in George Lucas' path against their better judgment that you apparently saw in the film. Everyone seemed pretty enthusiastic about the way the film was turning out, minus the usual trials and tribulations of filming, like the storm in Tunisia.

I'm not even big fan of TPM, so it isn't a defense of the movie, but if anyone is actually expecting to see crew members secretly being disappointed or apprehensive while making the film, it's not here. What it is is a pretty fascinating look behind the scenes of making a scifi movie, regardless of what you think of the final product.

Yeah, I've seen the documentary twice and I laughed at the description in the OP. There's nothing like what s/he described in the film at all.

 

[Corran Horn]

What I remember from this is one of the kids trying out for Anakin seemed like he would have been a superior choice to Jake Lloyd.

 

[Masiral]

I loved Ewan McGregor's enthusiastic reaction while filming the lightsaber duel. Kind of puts a damper on all those stories about him hating the experience because of all the green screen work.

I'm sure he disliked being hung from his crotch in the force field scene from AOTC. I can easily imagine him commenting on stuff like that specifically and having his words blown somewhat out of proportion.

I'd imagine he was taking more about scenes without action that relied heavily on green screen rather than physical sets.

 

[Mr Light]

I believe this is the docu where Lucas flat-out says there were better actors than Jake Lloyd but they were inconsistent and got bored easily, while Lloyd was consistently level.