The Beginning: Making Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace (Full Version)
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Published 2014-04-05
The Beginning starts with early production work on the film, as George Lucas (returning to the director's chair for the first time since Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope) and Lucasfilm plan how they will bring his vision to the screen. Jake Lloyd auditions for the part of Anakin Skywalker and is eventually cast in the role, joining Natalie Portman (Padmé), Ewan McGregor (Obi-Wan Kenobi) and Liam Neeson (Qui-Gon Jinn). Lucas leads several meetings with ILM, including visual effects supervisor John Knoll, in an effort to figure out how Episode I's many CGI effects would be accomplished -- Jar Jar Binks, in particular, was a challenge, as digital characters were still new at the time.
Other highlights from The Beginning include Steven Spielberg, a longtime friend of Lucas', visiting the set and getting a first look at a battle droid prop; McGregor choosing his lightsaber hilt; stunt rehearsals offering a glimpse at how The Phantom Menace's thrilling lightsaber duel between Obi-Wan Kenobi, Qui-Gon Jinn, and Darth Maul came together; footage of the first scene shot (Darth Sidious and Darth Maul's meeting on Coruscant); a look at the editing of the film featuring early effects and the splicing together of different takes; Frank Oz operating the Yoda puppet and working out his performance; and finally, the opening night release of The Phantom Menace in theaters.
All Comments (21)
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jar jar is the key to all of this.
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Back when "behind the scenes" ACTUALLY meant behind the scenes, not a glossy featurette consisting of talking heads.
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I love how Ewan McGregor has the time of his life playing Obi wan. Always smiling
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"Jar Jar is the key to all this. He's a funnier character than we've ever had in the movies". Oh, George, you sweet angel you
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This is my kind of "behind the scenes" feature; we actually SEE what happens rather than hearing about it from various sources. I wish more were like this.
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It's so sad seeing how Jake was so genuinely happy and excited to be in the movie and then knowing what happens to him
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Seeing Jake Lloyd basically sign his life away was pretty chilling. He received so much hate after Ep. 1 that it caused him irreparable psychological damage during the most formative years of his life. It destroyed him.
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My favorite part is when everyone is stressing out bad over how badly the sandstorm messed up the pods, and George comes along and goes, "Yeah we'll be fine." What a pro.
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No wonder they kept Jar Jar Binks around: the guy playing him is charismatic as hell.
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George tells Ewan "The biggest trap people fall into is, they go a little too far." Test screening: "I may have gone too far in a few places"
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Even all these years later, there is something surreal about hearing Ewan say “I think I’m playing Obi Wan... I hope” and seeing him choose his lightsaber for the first time.
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10:15 Steven “that’s great” George “that’s going to be great” Steven “that’s going to be great” George “that’s going to be great” Steven “that’s going to be great”
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30:45 **rare footage of Anakin Skywalker before he disliked the sand**
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I love how Darth Maul walks up to one of the producers and just says "Good day!" in the most positive voice ever.
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I have an incredible amount of respect for the jarjar actor, he looked like a really nice guy too
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This documentary is what got me into filmmaking. As a kid, I was utterly jaw-dropped by all of the effort and work it takes into making a movie, and it continues to inspire me today.
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"That's the biggest kind of trap people fall into in these movies, is they go to far." "I may have gone too far in a few places.." It's like poetry.
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Anakin: “I hate sand” Also Anakin: 30:46
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This is probably one of the best made behind the scenes of any movie ever and even ended with a cliffhanger
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At 6:15 I think is the moment George decided on who should play Anakin. He gives a little smile and you can see in his eyes he’s thinking yup , this is the boy.
