All language subtitles for Icons.Unearthed.S01E05.The.Phantom.Menace.1080p.AMZN.WEB-DL.DD+2.0.H.264-playWEB_track3_[eng]

[FILM CLICKING]

♪ ♪

NARRATOR:
By the early 1980s,

Star Wars had taken
the world by storm.

-We're all right!
-You did great!

[LAUGHS]

NARRATOR:
Not once... not twice...

but three times.

-I feel like...
-YODA: Feel like what?

Like we're being watched.

NARRATOR: From the biggest
box office figures,

to the smallest
collectible figures,

Star Wars was a phenomenon.

Star Wars changed
a generation.

NARRATOR: But Star Wars hadn't
only changed a generation,

it also changed
its creator.

He had been burned out.
He had done so much
with Star Wars...

NARRATOR: The world's best
loved movie franchise

had grown into an empire.

Like a famous
chicken walker

the man who built it
had been brought to his knees.

The chicken walker
was a full-scale model.

I said to George,
"Would you like to have this
at the Ranch?" He said...

CHEWIE: [ROARS]

"Yeah."

So I went to the art director
and I said,

"Take it apart carefully,

we're gonna reinstall it
at the Ranch."

NARRATOR: But this was anything
but a careful dismantling

because when it arrived...

The man who was building out
the Ranch at the time,

he said, "It's been hacked up
by blow torches

and we can't
put it back together."

NARRATOR: For George,
it seemed that Camelot

had crumbled into literal
pieces of a chicken walker.

To make sure this analogy
isn't lost on anyone...

HOWARD KAZANJIAN:
He said, "We'll bury it
somewhere at the Ranch."

Only the head
construction guy

at that time knows
exactly where it is.

NARRATOR:
For George Lucas,

Star Wars
had been laid to rest,

but he was mourning
more than just the end

of his space opera trilogy.

[EXCITING MUSIC]

[DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYING]

NARRATOR: For cast,
crew, and fans alike,

The Return of the Jedi
marked the end of an era.

The last of the Jedi
will you be.

NARRATOR:
But for George Lucas,

it signaled the end
of a ten-year endeavor

that had consumed his life

and didn't help
his marriage.

The next chapter for him
would be one of recovery.

Both emotional and financial.

MARCIA LUCAS: When I left
we had investment accounts.

Divorce in California
is a 50-50 divorce.

So we split
that personal money.

When it came
to the business I said

I would take a small percentage
of Lucasfilm...

TOM POLLOCK: [ECHOES]
Own your own business.

And George said, "No."

I said,
"Lucasfilm will be yours."

NARRATOR:
George had turned his back
on Marcia and Star Wars.

[STATIC CRACKLES]

[CLICKS]

The last gasps
of Star Wars

were these TV movies.

I wish we had furry creatures
like you where I came from.

Furries?

JOHN MUIR: We had two
Saturday morning
animated series.

♪ Ewoks!♪

Say you were like me.

You watched Star Wars
when you were seven

and, you know,
Return of the Jedi comes out
when you're 13 or 14

and then it's like,
"What next?"

Well, the things you want
at that age as you become

16, 17, 18 years old,

they're not gonna be,
you know, satisfied

by the Ewoks cartoon.
[CHUCKLES] Right?

They're just not.

VICTORIA BENNETT:
The Droids and Ewok shows

come and go
very rapidly.

By the time you get
to 1987, Star Wars is kind of

faded from
the public consciousness.

NARRATOR: This was
an era of emptiness

serious enough
to have its own name.

DAN MADSEN: There was literally
nothing to cling on to

and a lot of the fans
actually today

call that "The Dark Times".

And even when I would talk
with George Lucas

and ask him if he was
thinking about starting

some new Star Wars films,

you know, he was always
very evasive and he'd say,

"Well, I plan on getting to it,
but I'm not doing it right now."

NARRATOR: What George was
interested in getting around to

at this point was pushing
the state-of-the-art

for visual effects.

George always had it
in the back of his mind

that he wanted to make
another Star Wars trilogy,

but he didn't want
to make it with the same

practical effects that he did
with the original films.

He felt like he had
taken that technology

as far as he could
at that point.

George would
talk about technology

that simply didn't exist.
Like the word "digital."

NARRATOR: And when it came
to digital visual effects,

Lucas' own
Industrial Light and Magic

was pushing
the pixelated envelope.

Lucas created ILM
to work on his own films,

but he opened the door
to other filmmakers

to use his own technology.

So, all the effects
that ILM did

was just George
experimenting in public

while people were paying
him to do so.

[FEMALE VOICE]
Project Genesis.

BENNETT: You had the first
fully computer-generated
sequence in Star Trek II.

Fascinating.

BENNETT: Then there was
the stained-glass knight

in Young Sherlock Holmes

that was the first
fully computer-generated
character in a movie.

NARRATOR: It served
as a window into an
as yet unreachable realm

of computer-generated effects.

A totally convincing,
computer-generated
lead character.

NARRATOR: A concept that Lucas
wanted to explore further.

This time in his own film.

Oh, Jesus.

NARRATOR: Oh, no. Not him.

But of different character
who also came

down from up high.

MAN: Howard the Duck!

NARRATOR: George hoped that
this would be the quack

heard 'round the world.

-[CAWS]
-[MAN SCREAMS]

The plan early on
was to make Howard the Duck

a fully computer-generated
character.

What are you, crazy?

But they realized
pretty early

that the technology
just wasn't there yet.

NARRATOR: With CGI of the era

not all it was
quacked up to be,

Howard was forced to suit up,
like his Ewok predecessors.

[SPEAKS GIBBERISH]

NARRATOR: And the film itself?

It was misconceived
and mis-executed.

Howard, you really
are the worst.

[CHUCKLES]

NARRATOR: A humble Lucas
stepped back,

leaving ILM to resume

lending its talents
to other people's films.

But he was still watching
and waiting the whole time.

NARRATOR: Then in 1989
George received the call

every child dreads.

His mother Dorothy
had died

and in 1991 George's father
also passed away.

They were getting
at a good... a good place
in their relationship.

The parents are very proud
because it...

not... not because the kid
is a multi-millionaire,

but that their... their kid
had a vision

of who they could be
and they not only achieved it,

they achieved it wildly.

Return of the Jedi,
Darth Vader, Luke,

that relationship there,
you can read that

as telling you something
about the relationship

between George Lucas
and his father.

It's a commentary on
the redemption of fathers

and the idea of the younger
generation coming to understand

what their fathers meant
to their children.

I won't leave you.

With Lucas being in
the situation where both
his parents are gone,

you, maybe, start thinking
about things
a little bit differently.

NARRATOR: But would
those things include Star Wars?

Well, not yet.

George had once
revolutionized film,

this time he was set to
revolutionize something else.

Lucas decides
to make this TV series

about Young Indiana Jones.

NARRATOR:
For Lucas, it was a return

to his childhood
where he grew up watching

adventure serials on TV.
The issue was,

some of Lucas'
key collaborators

were either out of favor...

I'm not there. [CHUCKLES]

NARRATOR: ...or unavailable.

KAZANJIAN:
George asked me to...

and he told me it was gonna be
a year in Europe

and other countries and I said,

"I don't want my kids
in London at their schools

and other places.
Family's most important."

[WOMAN SCREAMING]

NARRATOR: Kate Capshaw
wasn't the only one screaming.

Without Howard by his side,
George faced serious issues.

It would take
a special man to match

George's filmmaking style.

And, so he peered through
the looking glass

meeting producer Rick McCallum
on the set of Dreamchild,

a film about the real
Alice in Wonderland.

George said, "Would ya?"
And Rick said, "Yes."

And they went about assembling
a whole new team.

He basically
gets this unit of people

going to produce this show.

Uh, Director of Photography,
David Tattersall

and a Production Designer,
Gavin Bocquet.

Rick proves
that he can handle anything.

NARRATOR: He's also able
to make a dollar

look like two dollars.

He's got two crews running.
One crew's shooting

while the other crew rests
and they handle producing

this giant series
of epic scope for television

which we just never seen
anything like that before.

NARRATOR: But George
was just getting started.

The Young Indy Chronicles
was more of George doing

that same experimentation
on somebody else's dime,

except this time
it was not a film,

it was a TV show.

NARRATOR: George knew
that bringing the magic

and scale of Indiana Jones
to the small screen

would require
new tools in the toolbox.

Since George was working
with tighter TV budgets,

he had to get creative
in order to save money.

The idea is
they're gonna produce it

with a lot of digital effects.

They cloned actors
to make the crowds look bigger

and they digitally painted
the sets to extend them

which is common now, but
back then, that was unheard of.

NARRATOR:
There was also a certain

film making tool that George
had been developing...

MAN: EditDroid.

NARRATOR: ... which was
poised to transform
the craft of editing forever

bringing him closer and closer
to finally attaining his dream

of a faster, cheaper,
and more digital Lucasfilm.

And he starts to think
he can use these technologies

if he's gonna go back
into Star Wars.

NARRATOR:
But by the early 1990s,

it had been almost ten years
since the last installment

in the Star Wars franchise.

There was nothing.

NARRATOR:
And, so, maybe what was needed

was something
to remind the fans

of what they'd been missing

and maybe to whet
their appetite for more.

Lucas decides Star Wars
did not have the ongoing, like,

expanded universe that
Star Trek did

where novels
and different adventures

and new crews and things.

So the idea was, "Let's maybe
start doing a series of novels."

You know, to kind of
keep Star Wars going.

NARRATOR: And kept going
it most definitely did.

They became
massive best sellers.

NARRATOR:
One book after another.

They said, "Okay,
you're a Star Wars fan,
you miss it,

here's the next chapter
and it's going to be

these novels that
are interconnected,

that are smart,
that have a vision

for where
these characters go

and where
the universe is going."

NARRATOR:
But this is Star Wars

and where this resurgence
was going was fairly obvious.

And then came
the merchandising campaign.

And there was everything.
There was action figures

and games and all that stuff
like that.

NARRATOR:
And soon enough store shelves

looked like 1983
all over again.

It sort of created
its own little phenomenon

that kept Star Wars alive
and that's where you see

the real hard-core fandom
start to build.

NARRATOR: By this stage
it wasn't just a rejuvenated

fan base that was building,

George's visual effects company
was growing into a juggernaut.

ILM is really starting to make
advances in digital effects.

NARRATOR:
And things have
come a long way

since this sharp looking fella.

RAY MORTON:
By now they've done

the water weenie
from The Abyss

and then the liquid metal guy
from Terminator.

So the computer effects
are coming along,

coming along, coming along.

NARRATOR: It was ILM's work
on one film in particular

that would change the course
of Star Wars forever.

Once he sees the test footage
for Jurassic Park

he's like, "Let's go!
Time... It's time.

This is the time.
We can do it now."

NARRATOR:
Fans across the galaxy rejoiced

after more than a decade
since Return of the Jedi,

The Force was back
and it was back for not one,

not two,
but three prequel films.

With anticipation
at an all-time high,

the question remained,

what would these films
be about?

Well, it...
it's a very good question.

JAR JAR: [ECHOING]
Ex-squeeze me?

NARRATOR:
With Return of the Jedi,
George Lucas had pushed

practical effects
to their absolute limit.

[SCREAMS]

But having seen
this prehistoric future...

BRIAN JONES:
Watching Jurassic Park

and seeing that the effects

were going to be convincing
was the game changer.

NARRATOR:
Star Wars was back

and so was an unusually
enthusiastic George Lucas

who enthusiastically spent
four months

on the press circuit
without picking up a pen.

We're hearing about
a brand-new trilogy,

actually three more
Star Wars from you.

-Is that true?
-Yeah.

NARRATOR: With the fans
now whipped into a frenzy...

[HORN BLOWS]

...all he had to do
was write it.

GEORGE LUCAS: Today is
my first day of writing

the new Star Wars series.

NARRATOR: George was so sure
of the moment's importance

he had it all documented
for StarWars.com.

LUCAS: It starts
with me sitting here
doodling in my little binder,

but it ends up with
a couple thousand people

working together
in a very, very intense,

emotional, creative way
I mean, it's all here.

It's jut a dream.
It's just kind of a...

a thing that I can sit here
and do and say,

"Wouldn't it be great if..."

And then pounding that
into reality

takes a huge
amount of effort.

NARRATOR: But Lucas' burden
wasn't just creative,

it was financial, too.

If George was going
to self-finance the prequels,

he would need a lot of cash.
So the pressure was on

to create a kid-friendly
character like the Ewoks.

NARRATOR: While wrestling
with that problem,

George realized another way
to help pay for Phantom

was to re-release
the original trilogy

with a few tweaks.

MAN: The Star Wars trilogy,
special edition.

NARRATOR: These original
beloved masterpieces
would be getting

a top-to-bottom
digital makeover.

[SCREAMS]

MUIR: He was adding
material into the films

that we'd not seen before

with special effects updates.

NARRATOR:
But these tantalizing tweaks

were more than just
a cash cow,

or rather
a digital Dewback.

George wanted to prove
beyond a shadow of doubt

that digital was ready
to create

not just a smattering
of extra creatures,

but full blown acting,
emoting characters.

MUIR: Jabba the Hutt was
inserted into the film

for a scene with Han Solo.

He and Jabba have almost

the exact same conversation
that Han just had

with Greedo five minutes
earlier. [CHUCKLES]

[HAN] Even I get
boarded sometimes.

Do you think I had a choice?

Look, Jabba,
even I get boarded sometimes.

-[SQUEALS]
-You think I had a choice?

NARRATOR: Well,
it had been Marcia's choice

to cut that scene out
in the first place.

George put
the Jabba the Hutt scene

back in the original Star Wars.

NARRATOR: However,
the character was originally

conceived in a slimmed-down
Irish form.

I just can't afford
to make exceptions.

I don't know why
he does these things,

but he does.

I'm not there.
[CHUCKLES]

NARRATOR:
And without Marcia's wisdom,

he kept doing these things.

For some reason George Lucas
felt it would be necessary,

uh, for Greedo to shoot
at Han Solo

before Han Solo shot at him.

I don't know
why he changed it.

I have no idea.

That was a big change
and it really roiled fandom.

NARRATOR: All these
seemingly unnecessary tweaks

did have some fans nervous
as the new films approached.

However, not enough to stop
the special editions

from becoming
a staggering success.

Hauling in over $200 million
at the box office.

This was the nest egg
Lucas needed

to self-finance the prequels.

But the question remained,

who would direct
these movies?

Because the last time
George directed...

MORTON: George actually
became so stressed out

that he ended up
in the hospital.

NARRATOR: So...

with near-limitless cash,
George went straight

to Hollywood's
A-list directors.

Robert Zemeckis,
Steven Spielberg,

and Ron Howard.

All three declined

and encouraged George
to take the helm.

He's staying away
because the directing experience

has been so bad for him.

NARRATOR: With the bad
experience in his past,

what or who, could possibly
convince George

to have another go
at directing?

BENNETT: Rick McCallum
who produces

the Young
Indiana Jones Chronicles.

There's not going
to be any crew problems
because if there is,

Rick is just gonna
remove the problem.

This is what makes

George Lucas comfortable
with the idea of directing again

because he sees Rick McCallum
is this bulldog

who will solve
any production problem.

[UPBEAT MUSIC]

NARRATOR: With independent
financing now in place,

George Lucas would make
his feature film
directorial return.

He really felt, "Well,
this is another experiment.

This is an experimental process.

We're gonna be
moving to digital.

Um, I... I need to be there.
I need...

And since I'm going to be there,

I may as well direct it."

Production gears up
at Skywalker Ranch.

Everyone is really excited.
The energy is high.

NARRATOR: It was time to start
assembling his team.

JONES: Lucas likes
working with people
he's comfortable with.

He likes working
with his collaborators.

So Lucas bringing the team
from Young Indiana Jones

to work with him
on the prequels is very much

par for the course
on how Lucas works.

NARRATOR:
However, the consequences

of moving
into the digital realm

were already beginning
to be felt.

Many of
the practical effects artists

and model makers
from the original trilogy

would not be part
of George's new vision.

With that, all the stuff
was going to be done digital.

You know, so there was no
discussion about that.

NARRATOR: Legendary designer
Ralph McQuarrie

would also be missing.

By that time
he was no longer working

as a production illustrator.

George had to find someone new
who could fill those shoes

and that was Doug Chiang.

Doug Chiang admired the work
of Ralph McQuarrie.

Aspired to that kind of work

and had that kind
of creative vision sensibility.

NARRATOR: While drawing
inspiration from McQuarrie's
original work,

the prequels were to have
a different look
and design to them.

JOHN TENUTO: The sort
of filthiness...

the dirtiness
of the original trilogy

was a representation
of how the Empire

had let the galaxy fall apart.

Phantom Menace
provides us a look at,

the great "before time."

BENNETT: So this is the height
of civilization right now.

This is pre-fascism,

so it's the 1930s
before the Nazis.

This was the time

when civilization
was enlightened.

NARRATOR:
George was going new.

New technology,
new crew,

and a new prequel,

but would he remember

about the heart
of the film?

Something his ex-editor,
Marcia, dedicated herself to.

There was not one single scene
of any real

emotional dramatic substance

that didn't
go through her hands.

I think movies and film
are about storytelling.

With George
it was special effects.

[DRAMATIC MUSIC]

NARRATOR:
Together, George and Marcia
had made magic,

but would George
be able to continue

that success without her?

♪ ♪

NARRATOR: With his team of
core collaborators assembled,

George continued to battle away
with drafts

of The Phantom Menace script.

Importantly, his vision
for a kid-friendly,

and therefore toy-friendly,
character in the film

was coming together.

His name would be
Jar Jar Binks

and George
had big plans for him.

He wanted it to be
the first digital co-star.

George really believed
in the character
from the beginning.

The concept of Jar Jar Binks,

it's a great idea.
Kid-friendly,

trickster,
you know, character.

Um, funny.
That kind of thing.

I think Lucas thought
he'd created, like,

the next big iconic character
in Star Wars.

NARRATOR: George's character
designers also believed

he'd hit a homerun
and excitedly came up

with illustrations of what
this new superstar

character might look like.

They finally settled
on this floppy-eared amphibian.

With Jar Jar on his way
to super stardom,

George shifted his attention
to casting

and he was facing a problem
he hadn't dealt with before,

choosing younger versions
of his iconic characters.

I'm getting too old
for this sort of thing.

For the role of Obi-Wan Kenobi,
they'd considered

Tim Roth
and Kenneth Branagh.

NARRATOR: But there was another
up-and-coming performer.

Scottish actor
Ewan McGregor.

It was Trainspotting
that really impressed them

with Ewan McGregor's
acting chops.

I mean, he even had the accent
when he came into audition.

You were right about one thing,
Master,

the negotiations were short.

That's good.

NARRATOR: George was also
on the hunt to find

the perfect Qui-Gon Jinn,

Obi-Wan Kenobi's mentor.

TENUTO: They considered
the character being

60-years-old
and they also envisioned

this character
having a Mohawk.

They'd considered
Denzel Washington,

Kurt Russell,
and Morgan Freeman.

NARRATOR:
After carefully considering

which middle-aged man would
look good with a Mohawk...

They finally did decide
to cast Liam Neeson

who, obviously, is much younger
than 60-years-old,

so they changed
the character.

NARRATOR: George was also
looking for a young
Anakin Skywalker.

Just how young
was the question.

Casting a 12 year old
wouldn't have the same

pull on your heartstrings effect
as casting

an eight year old would have.

NARRATOR:
Jake Lloyd nabbed the role
after a killer screen test

beating off hundreds of
other potential Sith Lords.

Mom! I did it!
Yeah!

NARRATOR: But his co-star,
and later love interest,

Natalie Portman,
was the only leading lady

on George's mind.

MUIR: Natalie Portman, uh,

had done The Professional
before this.

I think in 1994
and was fantastic in that.

So she was a great choice
to be Amidala.

NARRATOR: Rounding out the list
of new arrivals

was Samuel Jackson
playing Mace Windu.

Sam Jackson's the baddest
mother in the galaxy.

NARRATOR:
And stuntman Ray Park

who would play Darth Maul.

Originally that part is cast
with, uh, Benicio del Toro

and Benicio del Toro
leaves when the character

eventually doesn't have
any dialogue.

NARRATOR: But George Lucas
always planned to include

some characters
from the original trilogy

and nobody knows that better
than Ian McDiarmid.

When I first met George
he said, "Hey, great nose!"

NARRATOR: But George planned
to make use of

more than just Ian's nose
this time around.

IAN McDIARMID: So when I got
the script I found

that I was playing a Senator
and he seemed like

a straight-forward,
reasonable guy and, uh,

finally people
are able to see my face.

NARRATOR: Yes and no.

McDIARMID:
So, there's this other guy,

Darth Sidious, and he's working
behind the scenes

working against the regime

and against the Queen.
Very mysterious.

And I thought, "Oh, God,
that's the part, isn't it?

Wish I was playing that."
I got the first call sheet

and I saw my name or number,
uh, opposite Darth Sidious.

So I got hyper excited.

I was this apparently innocuous,

perfectly straight-forward
politician

and really I was this, you know,
murderous devil,

uh, working his...
his evil charm.

NARRATOR: Anthony Daniels
returning as C-3PO

would also be in for a shock.

ANTHONY DANIELS:
George Lucas, he says, um,

"Your character is made by,
um... Anakin."

A few days later
I clicked.

Anakin turns into
Darth Vader.

Darth Vader
has made my character 3PO.

-Oops.
-DANIELS: I was genuinely...

shocked and surprised.

-[R2-D2 BEEPS]
-Of course I'm worried.

And you should be, too.

NARRATOR: C-3PO wasn't the
only droid fans

would be looking for.

Surely R2-D2's Kenny Baker
would be excited

to return with his old pal.

R. CHRISTIAN: Kenny would say,
"Anthony never liked me.

I don't know why."

Anthony came from theater.
He regarded himself

as a thespian, as an actor.

Kenny was... inside

-this kind of metal egg.
-[CHUCKLES]

Just trying to make it work.

So there was no
"actorially" connection

between the two of them.

-Wake up. Wake up!
-[R2-D2 BEEPS]

CHRISTIAN:
He used to say, you know,

"He doesn't respond.
I'm talking to him"

and everything,
but that was part of the...

You couldn't... He doesn't talk.
He beeps.

NARRATOR: Possibly the biggest
casting decision of all

was that of Jar Jar Binks.

He was gonna be
an all-digital character.

NARRATOR:
It wasn't as straight-forward

as just creating him
in a computer.

The difficult thing is trying
to create a character

from a wire-framed model
that feels like a human

and as dignified as a human,
that has the same

emotional impact
as a human character.

NARRATOR:
George needed to find an actor

who could portray the elastic
characteristics of Jar Jar.

Then using motion-capture
technology and visual effects,

he would combine
the performance with Jar Jar's

digital image
to complete the character.

Interest in playing the role
came from an unusual source.

Michael Jackson actually wanted
to play Jar Jar himself,

but he wanted to do it
in full prosthetics

and George wanted
a full digital character.

So the part went to Broadway
performer Ahmed Best.

Casting Director Robin Gurland
went to see

a performance of Stomp!
and that's where, uh,

she sees Ahmed Best and thinks,
"There's our Jar Jar Binks."

I hired Ahmed
because he's very physical

and he can act with his body.

NARRATOR:
George had found his creature

and soon
there would be a new

fan favorite
in the universe.

Or so he hoped.

LUCAS:
I know this is gonna work.
I know it's gonna work.

Jar Jar's the key to all this.

Hopefully it'll work.

NARRATOR: It's 1997.

Three years since the
announcement of Episode One.

Production gears up
at Skywalker Ranch.

The stars are now involved.

I'm Jake and I'm playing
Anakin Skywalker.

The designs have been made.
Energy's high.

NARRATOR:
But with a new cast...

George was yearning
for some old crew

to rejoin the gang

to help bring
his vision to life.

Roger Christian who'd worked
on A New Hope

was at the top of his list.

The problem was,
Roger had moved on

from his days
as a set decorator

and was now forging a career
as a director in his own right.

We had a chat.
Said, "Who's doing second unit?"

You know,
'cause I love Star Wars

and I love doing this
and he said,

"Oh, we don't need it on
this one. We've...

You know, George is shooting."
So, I said, "Well...

just put my name down."

NARRATOR: Two weeks later
Roger received a phone call.

CHRISTIAN: I got a call
from Rick McCallum and he said,

"George has only got
12 weeks to shoot
this whole movie.

There is a lot more
than we thought.

So can you start?
Would you do it?"

And I said, "Yeah, yeah.
I've just got to go to...

back to Vancouver.
I'll do this mix."

And they said, "No, Roger,
you have to start now.

We'll give you five minutes.

We're gonna leave the room.
Make a decision."

NARRATOR: So, Roger promptly
agreed and got to work.

But George was dealing
with more than
just a tight schedule.

Locations were also proving
a headache.

With much of the film
to be shot in Tunisia,

George was hoping to reuse
his old locations

from A New Hope,

but there was a problem.

No one remembered
where they were.

Back in those days
it was nobody's job

to archive
wilderness locations.

He just was like beside himself
that no one knew where we shot.

NARRATOR: It seems
George didn't realize

that several years earlier
a young archaeologist

named David West Reynolds

had contacted Lucasfilm
about finding
the lost locations.

Lucasfilm's response
had been something like,

"We're not sure.
Turn left at Algeria."

It was a spectacular success
and I published the story

just because
I wanted to share it.

NARRATOR: Unfortunately,
no one at Lucasfilm
had read it.

Eventually the article
found its way on to
Rick McCallum's desk

and he said...

"Get him on the phone."

And they flew David
to Tunis.

He identified
every single location.

NARRATOR:
With a tight shooting schedule
and a self-funded budget,

it was a break
George desperately needed.

Rick picks up the fiberglass
ring in the Mos Eisley Plaza

and says, "Look!
It's some unidentifiable piece

of Mos Eisley Plaza!"
And I said,

"That's not unidentifiable,
Rick,

that's a Dewback tether ring."

NARRATOR: David was duly
rewarded for his efforts.

He wanted me to come back
to Skywalker Ranch

and this eventually becomes
an offer.

NARRATOR: An offer to become
an archivist at Lucasfilm.

REYNOLDS: Up until
they hired me at Lucasfilm,

the policy was
"never hire fans."

I was the first
exception to that.

NARRATOR:
However, 20 years later,

Medenine had come a long way
which is great for Medenine,

but not so great for the crew.

There's dense developments
all around it.

We wouldn't have angles
where you wouldn't see

the modern world,
but we went up on some roofs

we looked around,
there was a section of this

that if it was fully dressed,
we'd get enough angles

to make that location worth it.
So, Ksar Medenine ends up

being the location for where
Anakin parts from his mother

and you see
all of the doorways.

CHRISTIAN: Uh, we're gonna get
that shot ready now.

NARRATOR:
But they'd also be shooting,

once again,
in a British film studio.

And in June of 1997

filming of The Phantom
Menace began.

And... action!

This is the first major
digital effects film from Lucas.

CHRISTIAN: Rick McCallum said,
"There is more blue screen

than any film in the history
of cinema."

NARRATOR: For the actors,
this new way of movie making

was going to take
some getting used to.

George would say, which was
a little disconcerting,

"We won't divide it
into close ups and mid shots

and long shots,
we'll do them all at once

'cause these cameras
can do that."

So we knew we had to have
absolute concentration.

JONES: You're asking
an awful lot of your actors.

You have to imagine
what's chasing you,

you have to imagine
what the weather is like,

you have to imagine what
you're seeing out the window.

NARRATOR: But George had a
whole other list of priorities.

I think George Lucas believed
"I will be able to control

everything.
Performance, light, uh...

You know, everything
will be exactly as I want it."

That's always been
Lucas' ambition

is to let the film maker control
everything that's on the screen.

NARRATOR: But while shooting
digitally gave George
creative freedom,

it wouldn't always be
a cinematic silver bullet.

Especially when dealing with
a stature

of a man like
Liam Neeson.

Liam Neeson is 6'4" tall

and so it cost them
an additional $150,000

because they had to build
the sets up to his full height.

NARRATOR: With only 12 weeks
to shoot the film,

it was an issue Lucas
could ill afford.

And the problems kept coming.

CHRISTIAN:
I looked at their R2-D2

and now it was full
of equipment.

You know, now these worked,
the radio control,

and I said,
"Have you had Kenny in this?"

And they said, "No, no."
And I said, "Get him down."

So I call him down to the set
and he couldn't get in it.

I said, "I-I told you
he couldn't."

And then we had to try
to make it work
to get him in it.

NARRATOR:
It became harder and harder
for the original trilogy alumni

to watch Lucasfilm 2.0
learn on the job.

REYNOLDS: Frank Oz and his crew
performing Yoda.

It's a new puppet.
The original was latex

and now it's cast in silicone
which is much heavier.

So Frank Oz is performing Yoda
underneath the stage.

All the stage rostra
are all elevated,

but it's really heavy
on his arm

and it's... it's a huge
physical effort

for him to hold this up
and try and do a performance

that's delicate and nuanced
through his hands

and right in the middle
of Yoda saying, you know,

"Concerned I am.
I wonder what to say!

God damn!
This is so heavy!"

And Yoda would disappear
down the hole

and Frank was so frustrated
with the new puppet.

NARRATOR: Though no one could
deny George's pioneering

filmmaking methods
were the future,

would they come
at a personal cost?

DANIELS: My first day
we got over to the set

and there was somebody
wearing 3PO and it's not me.

-[BEEPS]
-NARRATOR: After creating

C-3PO's distinctive walk,
Anthony Daniels had been

moved aside for a puppeteer.

What are you talking about?

Of course ultimately I go
back in and I put the voice

on somebody else's work.

They didn't care about
how I would feel about that.

You know, I just said to George,
"Um, he kind of...

is walking in a weird way."

"Just been built by
a little boy,

what do you expect?"

[DRAMATIC MUSIC]

NARRATOR: It's 1997.

Filming of The Phantom Menace
is in full swing,

but George's transition
to digital filmmaking

is creating a rocky road
for members of the cast.

MAN: That's cut!

NARRATOR:
Well, not everyone.

Okay, everyone, let's start
with a brief warm up.

Ahmed Best,
you hear stories from the set.

People are like,
"He is hysterical.

He's gonna be
the next breakthrough character

in Star Wars."

NARRATOR: Liam Neeson
even called his agent

to tell him he was working
with the next Eddie Murphy.

It was George's baby.
He wrote it the way he wanted

and he directed it
the way he wanted.

TENUTO: He was happy.
George really felt

the character of Jar Jar Binks
was fantastic.

NARRATOR: While the hype around
Jar Jar was building on set,

there was also building
going on...

on set.

When we were on set

they weren't just constructing
the next set

around the corner,
they were building the studio.

There was... As if
a guided missile had suddenly

hit the building
every five minutes.

It was insane.

NARRATOR: But once
filming started in Tunisia,

they'd come across a drama
that almost put a nail

in the production's coffin.

We just got these storms
and it completely destroyed

the entire camp.

Wipe them out, all of them.

Pods were smashed.
The costume department, make up,

there was...
everything was in the mud.

I remember somebody saying,
"Ooh, I've got Liam's beard.

Here look!" And they were
putting water on it.

It was down to that.

Rick just got everybody going.

Rick is fantastic.

NARRATOR:
Was he, though?

While there was no doubt
Rick was a wonderful
producer for George,

he was not universally loved
by cast and crew.

KAZANJIAN:
A lot of people don't like him.

I have no idea
what the problem is,

but I know that.

And people close to George
have told me that.

Howard Kazanjian,
just adorable...

[SIGHS SHARPLY]

and then Rick McCallum.

He's not someone
who, uh,

who runs politely with things
that he... he didn't agree with.

NARRATOR:
But as the saying goes,

to make an omelet,
you got to break a few eggs

and on this shoot,
Rick was the head chef.

But relationships weren't
the only things heating up.

Temperatures in the desert
were soaring.

It was so hot we fried an egg
on R2-D2's head.

In August the Tunisians
themselves locally

call it "suicide week."

It was unbearable, the heat,

but we didn't have a choice.
He wanted Natalie Portman

and that was the only window
she had.

She was going to school,
I think, full time

during the making of the films.

Just really,
really working hard.

Was exhausted a lot of times.

NARRATOR: And to make
a bad situation even worse...

the crew still had to shoot
the epic pod race scene.

CHRISTIAN:
So there's these stands

with Tunisians
all dressed up

in rubber heads and helmets

and we had somebody
doing what they had to do
and then cut.

Get the helmets off
'cause they would've died
in this heat.

NARRATOR: With the Tunisia
shoot about to wrap,

Roger Christian
could look forward

to a well-deserved break.
However...

Lucas had just one more
tiny request

for his fatigued
second-unit director.

George then said,
"You'll have to carry

the last ten days
of the shoot.

I have to go back to the Ranch.
We're under such pressure.

This is the most complex film
we've ever handled

special effects-wise."

NARRATOR:
And just like that

George flew home
and left Roger

to direct the rest
of the movie.

His imagination
is really working overtime.

NARRATOR: Well,
for VFX supervisor John Knoll

that was a problem.

CHRISTIAN: John said,
the special effects-wise
was 3,200 shots.

Every shot
had a digital effect

and the digital effect
may have been just

having you shake your head...

or move you to the other side.

NARRATOR: And George's
attention to detail

wouldn't end there.

I know the film was shot...

a lot of it was shot
in... 1997.

The film didn't come out
till 1999.

There was a lot of reworking
and reshooting.

NARRATOR:
But George did have an ally.

His legendary
sound effects creator

and now editor,
Ben Burtt.

The experience of cutting
Young Indy digitally

was paying off big time.

This is...

cyber directing.
[CHUCKLES]

LUCAS: Right?
Yeah.

LUCAS: 3-D editing.

NARRATOR: George's galaxy
was coming back to life.

Throughout 1997
and into 1998,

work continued
on the blockbuster.

Lucasfilm's
archivist/archaeologist

now has a new job
to perform.

Crafting Phantom's trailer.

We're very aware
of all the expectations

that are resting on
this little piece of film

because it's gonna set
the emotion that we're gonna

bring to the release
of the film.

So much depends
on the reaction to this trailer.

NARRATOR:
But while making the trailer,

David had come to
a devastating conclusion
about the film.

It's not exactly
what I was looking for.

NARRATOR:
He had a huge decision to make.

"Are we gonna make
a trailer...

that reflects
what this movie really is...

QUI-GON:
Are you brainless?

...or are we gonna make
the trailer for the movie
that we wish this was?"

We went with,
"Let's create the trailer

that... that we thrill to see

before you find out
what you're really gonna get."

NARRATOR:
In November of 1998

The Phantom Menace teaser
premiered to great fanfare.

They had lines outside
the theater

to get in to see movies
that would never

have had lines
to get in to see it.

The anticipation
was that high.

NARRATOR: The question was,
would fans see through

David's own visual effect.

MUIR: You know,
I think one of the first shots

when you start to see
these things

and we don't know
what they are

emerging from the mist...

and you hear the music...

and my God,
if that didn't get you,
nothing would. [CHUCKLES]

[STAR WARS THEME PLAYING]

-[SPEAKS GIBBERISH]
-[WHOOSHING]

People really responded well
to that trailer.

People are going to the theater,
buying tickets,

going in,
watching the trailer...

And then come back
for the second screening

of that movie just so
they could watch
the trailer again.

We always felt misgivings.

I just hope that people
would forgive us for that

eventually because it was
a sincere gesture.

We were trying to show them

that somebody here
knows what you wanted.

NARRATOR: David's misgivings
over the quality of the film

initially appeared
to be misplaced.

It was, uh, well received
in those early screenings.

NARRATOR: This gave George
the confidence to use Jar Jar

as a major promotional tool.

They thought Jar Jar Binks
was gonna be

this massive
smash success character.

Those who have seen
the private screenings

of this film in advance, say...

-Yeah, what's the...
-...the effects are stunning.

NARRATOR:
But Lucas was, at heart,
a storyteller

and if the effects
didn't tell a story,

it would all be for nothing.

George always said to me,

"The important thing
is story...

characters...

sets, so you know
where you're at...

but visual effects
only when you need them."

NARRATOR: The only important
answer to that question

would come from the fans.

One week from today
Star Wars fans

will get their first glimpse
at George Lucas' prequel.

The Phantom Menace
hitting theaters near you.

NARRATOR: Fan appetites
proved insatiable.

-[CHEERING]
-They're here to get tickets.

-It's Star Wars, you know?
-Waited 20 years.

It's... It's time
to get back into it.

[CROWD SHOUTING IMPERIAL MARCH]

There's no way
it's gonna be a disappointment.

[DRAMATIC MUSIC]

NARRATOR:
On May the 19th, 1999,

The Phantom Menace premiered
marking an end

to Star Wars', "Dark Age."

Are there any of you
that think this is
gonna be a lousy movie?

CROWD: [SHOUTS] No!

[SCREAMING]

NARRATOR: Unfortunately,
the immediate reaction

was one of...

When is it gonna...
get there?

I'm sitting there
and I'm thinking,

"When is that feeling
of Star Wars gonna come back?"

You get to about
an hour or so into it

and that's when it hits you
like a ton of bricks.

It's not gonna happen.

I don't wanna bag the movie,
but I don't think
I cared about the characters.

I'm not too big on the acting.

I think I deserve a public
apology from George Lucas.

People who saw the film
as young people, children,

have now grown up.
They're looking at this

with nostalgic expectations

through the eyes
of a child's memory.

NARRATOR: And it wasn't
just the old-school fans

that felt let down.

It wasn't to my taste.

Absolutely not.

I actually left
during the credits

I was so... shocked.

After I saw the movie
I went out and I sat in my car
and I cried...

because I was so sad.

You... He told me...

that his vision
for the prequels

were gonna be much more
like The Godfather

and dark and moody and...

and more cloak and dagger-ish.

Like, "Oh, that could be
really cool."

Anyhow... didn't quite turn out
that way.

I thought the movie
was racist.

I mean,
there were Chinese men...

[CHINESE ACCENT]
You think she suspect an attack?

There were...

what was he supposed to be?
Jewish I think?

[AFFECTED VOICE]
I am a Toydarian.

Mind tricks don't work on me.
Only money.

George was upset
by the accusations

particularly of racism
against him

because George...
anyone isn't racist it's George.

There's a little bit
of regret there.

If I was there,
I know the prequels

would've been better
and I think part of that...

problem is that he had
"yes men" around him.

NARRATOR: While the film
came in for some
heavy criticism,

it was nothing compared
to the backlash
one character received.

Mesa called
Jar Jar Binks.

Mesa your humble servant.

JONES: The reaction to Jar Jar,

I think Lucas
was genuinely surprised.

I think Ahmed Best,
um, you know, gets a bum rap.

In terms
of doing what was asked of him?

He was great!

Just the character is not
particularly well-conceived.

[UPBEAT MUSIC]

NARRATOR: The thing was

George was looking
at the bigger picture.

There was a whole new
generation in front of him

ready to be swept up
into the Star Wars universe

and their reaction was...

There's a lot more action in it
than all the others

and that's why I liked it more.

I asked my son.
He was six

and he said he loved
Jar Jar Binks.

A lot of action.
A lot of noise. It was cool.

Well, I've got two girls.
Jar Jar Binks came on

he was
their favorite character.

WOMAN:
What's your favorite character?

Uh, Jar Jar Binks.

NARRATOR:
George's creative decisions

had been vindicated
by his legions of new fans

and by the box office.

The film made over $900 million

during its initial run.

Here's the kicker.
You wait, uh, 20 years later?

Suddenly people
who were 10 at the time

are now 30... Favorite film.

Absolutely adored it.

Maybe it was really smart
to make a Star Wars movie

towards... made for
that new generation.

NARRATOR:
George had made yet another

massively successful chapter
in the Star Wars saga.

Once again, he'd done it
outside of the Hollywood system

and on his own terms.

And... action!

NARRATOR: All while
pushing film-making technology

ahead by decades
and paving the way

for blockbusters to come.

But what about the fans

who'd been there
from the beginning?

Could he afford
to leave them in the past?

There was a lot of pressure
on George

to somehow make Episode II...

more likeable.

NARRATOR:
Lucas had committed himself
to financing two more films

and there was
no guarantee audiences

would return for more.

George had
a decision to make.

Should he listen to his critics
and respond accordingly?

The human element
and the story
got pushed out of the frame.

NARRATOR: Or look inward

and follow his heart?

With his father's words
echoing in his head...

POLLOCK: [ECHOES]
Control your own fate.

Make your own
financial decisions.

NARRATOR:
He knew the choice he had made

could decide the future
of the entire franchise.

[CLICKS]

This party's over.

[DYNAMIC MUSIC]