I’ve been doing junkets for about 10 years now. My first junket was ALI and I remember it like it was yesterday. So naturally, when 20th Century Fox invited me to the press junket for the re-release of “Star Wars: … Continue reading →
I’ve been doing junkets for about 10 years now. My first junket was ALI and I remember it like it was yesterday. So naturally, when 20th Century Fox invited me to the press junket for the re-release of “Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace 3D” I thought it was just a regular junket. What made this junket memorable, and different from all the other ones was the fact that it was at Skywalker Ranch in Marin County, California! Not only did they invite the press, but they also asked us to bring our kids so they can do all the interviews with some of the folks behind the scenes who brought the film to life!
Hardest decision for me was the fact that I have 3 beautiful kids. Who do I take to this once in a lifetime event? I asked my oldest son Austin to come and he did want to come badly, but he had two basketball games for his Archbishop Molloy High School that he did not want to miss. I then asked my daughter Caitlin but as soon as I told her it was for Star Wars she replied, “NO THANKS.” The winner then was Brandon, who by the way like his older brother LOVES movies. He was excited to go and at the same time a bit nervous because this is his first time doing interviews. After doing his stand-up intro he really pulled it off quite well. I was also there by his side to help him out but overall I was very proud of him.
The reason I say this is a once in a lifetime ooportunity is because how many times can you actually go to Skywalker Ranch? I mean this is the workplace of film director and producer George Lucas! The ranch is not open to the general public, this is more of a “filmmaker’s retreat” done by a filmmaker. Going to the ranch was going to nerd haven, especially the fact that I’m a Star Wars fan. I still remember when my Mom took me to see Star Wars: A New Hope in NYC. NOW here I am taking my son to see the re-release of “Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace 3D” on top of visiting Skywalker Ranch along with visiting ILM! The idea of doing this junket was a no brainer and hard to pass up.
Brandon and I stayed at the Ritz-Carlton in San Francisco. As soon as we got into our room, they had a welcome goodie bag of “Star Wars” stuff. The first thing Brandon picked up was the new Lightsaber! Every kid that was invited to this event had to bring the lightsaber to the ranch the following day.
The next morning we were off to Skywalker Ranch, where we greeted R2D2 and C-3P0 and were treated to breakfast. We saw costumes in the lobby of Darth Maul, Qui-Gon Jinn, and Queen Amidala that were actually worn in the movie. They also gave us a very cool tour of the facilities including The Akira Kurosawa Stage, George Lucas’s private screening room, Scoring Stage room, Ewok Lake, Francis Ford Copolla’s vineyards, and more.
Video of how it was for us at the Ranch…more or less.
Then it was off to do some interviews.
Brandon got to talk to “Star Wars: Episode I” Concept Model Artist John Goodman, Sound Editor Matthew Wood (he did the voice of General Grievous) and CG Supervisor Joel Aron. During the interview you can see Brandon taking lessons from Lightsaber Stunt Coordinator ObiShawn which was pretty cool.
Check out the video interview below.
The following day we went to Presidio to visit ILM (Industrial Light & Magic), which is the world’s leading SFX facility. There we were greeted by Stormtroopers from the legendary 501st. This is were that famous YODA statue is located. After breakfast we were split up and taken on a tour of the ILM facilities and offices. Visiting ILM was amazing because we got to see so many things that words can’t describe. We were able to take some pictures. Not pictures of everything though because of George Lucas’s vintage movie poster collection.
Now it was time to see the film in 3D.
“Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace” underwent a painstaking frame-by-frame conversion from a 2D film to a 3D experience thanks to the efforts of Prime Focus, a global visual entertainment services company, and Industrial Light & Magic (ILM), the preeminent visual effects company that has produced the visuals for all the Star Wars movies.
Now I wont’t review the film because I leave that to other folks. But I will say this, the highlights of the 3D version are exactly what you might expect them to be. The pod race scene, and the final battle between the Jedi and Darth Maul with John Williams’ epic Duel of the Fates is just awesome. The 3D makes it much prettier.
This is the first film I’ve seen where 3D really does improve the experience. But that’s just me.
I would like to thank Samara Malkis and the folks over at 20th Century Fox, Lucasfilm, and Skywalker Ranch for an incredible weekend.
“STAR WARS: EPISODE I THE PHANTOM MENACE 3D” Opens this Friday.
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