Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones (2002)

October to December 2000

7 December, 2000

Last month, producer Rick McCallum went to the InterBEE conference in Chiba City, Japan to meet with the people at Sony who built the digital cameras used to shoot much of Episode II. "I wanted to meet with Sony and show stills of the film from hi-def," explains McCallum. "They've never actually seen anything filmed. I wanted to make sure that those who have spent the last five years developing this camera actually understand how much we appreciated it and what a huge success it was for us," says McCallum.

While there McCallum showed stills from the movie to them with startling results. "In some cases, there were tears," says McCallum. "These guys don't often get feedback from the filmmaker. It's been a long road, and it's been a five-year relationship. We're separate companies - even competing companies, yet we did this without a single document signed. No agreements. No lawyers involved. It was a very emotional four days."

McCallum is promoting the use of digital filming heavily. "Film has exhausted all of its possibilities. They can develop better and better stocks, but in the end, it's dealing with an archaic process that has been around for 100 years," McCallum explains. "Digital projection, exhibition, and acquisition of images is just beginning. We're like at the Windows 3.1 version. In the next few years there are going to be cameras that can capture images that are twice the resolution of film, but much more importantly, allow us the filmmakers to distribute films much cheaper. It will take the risk out of films, which allows better work to be made, and allows it to be seen in the theater in the way in which everybody made it"

The shots below are all from the film and were all taken by digital cameras. These are the first official photos we've seen that don't try and confuse us in some way. The first shot shows Joel Edgerton as Owen Lars. The second shot is one of Hayden Christensen as Anakin Skywalker. He appears to be standing in the middle of a nightclub. The last still is of R2-D2 and C-3PO on Tatooine.

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5 December, 2000

T'Bone's Star Wars Universe is running a report on that huge duel originally mentioned awhile back with those mysterious storyboards. This is the sort of stuff you really don't want to read if you don't like spoilers so go away. I mean it. Scoot.

Still here? Okay, you're now on your own. I take no responsibility for what you learn from here on in.

From what I`ve heard, the duel is actually a three-way duel (like in TPM) and not a five-way one as previously rumored. In this scenario, there is no Dark Jedi, Darth Sidious or Mace Windu in the duel.

It takes place during the last battle of the film. Mace Windu and the other groups of Jedi are in the arena, with Mace Windu fighting the Reek and Jango as you may have seen in those storyboards that leaked out a while back. Padmé is in charge of a squadron of republic clone troopers fighting against the enemy clones and all three types of battle droids. Obi-Wan discovers that Dooku is in fact Darth Tyranus a bit earlier on in the film I believe, and the final duel takes place with the characters of Anakin, Count Dooku and Obi-Wan. Obi-Wan is separated from Anakin at one point (echoes of TPM?), and Dooku tries to lure him to the dark side, telling him to give into anger and hate (just like Vader in ESB and the Emperor in ROTJ). This bit of the lightsaber duel is much more psychological than in TPM. It mirrors the lightsaber duel in ESB in many ways. Obi-Wan is reunited with Anakin after a while, however Anakin`s headstrong and brash style is causing Dooku to gain the upper hand with his calculated moves. At the end, Dooku manages to trap the two Jedi under a massive object very similar to a crane that he cuts off of the landing platform. The "crane" then falls on top of the two Jedi. Dooku is still tempting and taunting Anakin at this point. Although I am not 100% sure, all the evidence I have seen indicates that Anakin does not lose an arm/hand as reported. By that I mean I have seen nothing that clearly states it one way or the other.

Now comes the bit everyone has been wondering about. With the Jedi trapped and Dooku appearing to have won the duel, the tables turn as Yoda enters the battle. Yoda uses the Force to push Dooku off the platform, deflecting his efforts in trying to get to the green Jedi Master. Dooku realizes that he cannot do anything but run. He gets on his stellar sail ship and lifts off just as Yoda manages to lift the massive "crane structure" off of the trapped Jedi.

After this, Lord Tyranus goes to Coruscant to meet with Darth Sidious and he informs his Master that the war has begun which pleases Sidious.

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4 December, 2000

George Lucas sat down for an interview with Star Wars Magazine.

How did you come to choose Jonathan Hales as a co-writer on Episode II?

I'd worked with him on the Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, and knew him really well and knew his work. So it was very easy for me to work with him again during the writing process, and then turn it over to him to do the rewrite.

I understand this film is going to be a bit darker in tone and atmosphere than Episode I.

It's definitely getting a little bit more intense. The next one will probably be the darkest of all of them. Ultimately, I have to tell a story. So the story comes first. And I can't really play it to an audience. I mean the story is what the story is. I knew that it was going to go very dark. You know, it may not be very successful when I get down that dark. But, you know, at least the thing will be finished and it will have been good to me. There's not much I can do, about that. I can't take a story that's basically very very dark and make it happy. Because it's not

Can you tell us something about the cast that you've lined up for this film, starting with Hayden?

Well Hayden is the newest kid on the block, so to speak. And Robin Gurland did a lot of interviewing to find somebody. And then I tested some actors with Natalie and we saw his range and what his qualities were. And ultimately, with these kinds of things, you throw a dart at the board and say that's the one, when it comes down to the last one or two, unless somebody really jumps out and is perfect for it. But usually when you're dealing with young actors it's not quite that easy. You know, it's a hard decision to make. I've had young actors in almost atl my movies and sometimes you do better than others. But I think Hayden is a very talented actor, and I think he's doing a great job. He's going to be very good.

How did you come upon Christopher Lee?

He's different in this film. It's a different kind of approach to the whole thing. And I really wanted to get as far away as I could from a certain tradition that had been created. I wanted to get back to the kind of character and actor like I had in the first film, someone played by Peter Cushing. And Christopher Lee is so perfect because he's the gentleman, he's the aristocrat, he's perfect for the part and lets us be subtle.

8 November, 2000

What is it with Lucas and the French? He keeps releasing all sorts of photos to the French LucasFilm magazine but none to the edition for any other country. It doesn't seem to make any sense. But then again, this is the internet and so national borders don't mean a hell of a lot when sharing information. Sure enough those pictures are on the net for everyone, not just the French, to see.

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2 November, 2000

Temeura Morrison talked to the Sydney Morning Herald about various things but of principle interest was some comments on this movie at the end of the interview. I'm issuing a spoiler warning here. Much of what he has to say is only confirmation of the rumors we've been hearing for months but it's still a lot of detail so don't read it if you don't want to know too much. Asked about his part in Episode II, Morrison responds "I play a bounty hunter," he grins. "Remember in Return of the Jedi there was a guy called Boba Fett? Well, in this film Boba Fett is about 12 years old and I play his father. With a clone army."

Morrison also reveals that he's got a few scenes with Obi-Wan and gets to say the line "I'm just a simple man trying to make my way in the universe."

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24 October, 2000

"...There are a few lightsaber battles in the film. Most all of the action scenes involve the Jedi using the sabers. There are, of course, a couple of good duels. During filming, there was much talk about one that supposedly occurs toward the end of the movie. In this scene, it is said that there is a 5-way duel involving Anakin, Obi-Wan, Mace Windu, and 2 villains (Dooku? Tyranus? Sidious? someone else?). Anyway, what is most interesting is that we were hearing that THE TURN might very well occur in this film and during this lightsaber battle!! The details were a little blurry, but it sounded like there was to be a 3-on-2 battle. Three Jedi versus the two villains. Sometime during the battle, Anakin snaps and turns and the battle goes 3-2 in favor of the baddies!! I also heard from a different bloke that it would turn to 4 on 1 (baddies versus Jedi) but that seems unlikely based on the cast call sheet I have for some shoots during those scenes. Unfortunately, I do not have any sheets that specify what occurs at the end of the duel, but things are pointing to some quite interesting events!! I'll keep digging, mates..."

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12 October, 2000

Plans are already well under way for the Episode II line of toys. Wait, don't start groaning yet. Hasbro is well aware that they went way overboard on Episode I. According to the new issue of Toy Fare, "Expect a far more conservative number of Episode II figures, primarily because of the mountain of leftover Episode I stuff that prevented the release of new Star Wars merchandise. Expect the Episode II roll-out to begin with at least one "sneak peek" figure... Look for the sneak-peek figure by late Summer or early Fall 2001, about 10 months before we're graced with the presence if Episode II."

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