We just received an email report in regards to the Star Wars seminar that went down last Saturday in Los Angeles. Apparently, Rick McCallum showed the opening of the original “Star Wars” from ’77 to show how badly the negative had aged – it was the version without the “Episode 4: A NEW HOPE” slug. They also showed what McCallum called a tech reel, which is what they may have shown at the Celebration in Indianapolis – the m.o.s reel of images with music. Then they showed something called the “Sydney” reel, which was the first set of film outputs they made from dailies early in the shoot and it was full of shots from scenes that were cut from the film. It was also m.o.s., but was still interesting and included: ^ -A shot of Obi-Wan sneaking back into Jango’s room later to find some sort of evidence. ^ -Padme waking Ani up from a nightmare on the refugee transport. ^ -Sam Jackson walking in the Jedi library (i think Yoda was to be comped in later). ^ -Sam Jackson sitting in an office, i think talking to obi wan via a hologram. ^ -Lots of shots of Padme and Ani walking around Lake Como that didn’t make it into the film. ^ -Some stuff of Jango Fett on the Kamino platform that didn’t get in. ^ -A shot of Padme and Ani walking on a bluescreen set, I think in the caves of Geonosis, and she’s wearing her cape, but it’s got this weird helmet to it that covers her face like a burka. ^ -In the scene where Dooku is conferring with the trade federation, the techno union and the commerce guild, Jango is seen standing behind him with a cape that looks like the old Ralph McQuarrie drawings of Boba Fett from “Empire.” ^ -Ewan crawling to the front of the yellow speeder to remove some sort of cloth or flag that got caught in the engines. ^ -Showed 3PO in his unfinished state when Ani and Padme first arrive. ^ -Shots of 3PO just after he had his covering put on in the garage by Owen and Padme. ^ -Lots of longer shots and stuff cut from the nightclub scene.
Ben Burtt showed a lot of cool stuff when talking about editing: ^ -Watto hugging Ani (Hayden definitely played the scene like he didn’t want to hug Watto). ^ -Clone troopers riding speeder bikes (pretty cool). ^ -The scenes in the Jedi Council Chamber were built entirely from Hayden and Obi Wan on bluescreen comped into shots from the “Phantom Menace.” ^ -When Ani is hugging Padme before he goes to kill the sandpeople. Originally Owen was there too, but they erased him from the shot. ^ -Stuff from the trial scene which will be on the DVD.
The animatics featurette from the upcoming dvd was shown -It made a good impression on the audience, however, there doesn’t seem to be a doc on the new DVD like the one on “The Phantom Menace” disc – instead, it looks to be loaded up with EPK’s. Still, these EPK’s may show some cut scenes.
After the presentation, McCallum talked with the “Star Wars” nerds for a while when, apprently, one guy tried to convince McCallum that all the CGI was ruining “Star Wars.” That must’ve been pretty funny, yet McCallum was more than willing to compare “Clones” to the older films. He also mentioned that the moviegoing public seemed to favor the coupling of Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst in “Spider-Man” over Hayden Christensen and Natalie Portman.
