Monday 30 September 2013

BEHIND THE SCENES: ALIVE AND OPERATIONAL


A near barren blue screen stage at FOX Studios, Australia, September 1st 2003, is soon accompaniment to screen history, as Ian McDiarmid and Hayden Christensen perform the pivotal scene, set deep within the bowels of Coruscant, where the fully suited Darth Vader is activated. Originally as filmed, and in the first trailer for EPISODE III, Darth Vader was almost like a Frankenstein's Monster figure, his wrists bound, but this was all changed by the time of the completed final movie's release in 2005.

With thanks to Chris Baker for image assistance.

A moment missing from the digital version of the theatrical cut in 2005.

ROTJ AT 30: UP ABOVE THE WORLD SO HIGH...


The Teddy Bears Picnic had nothing on this! A charming and cuddly conceptual painting of the high-up Ewok Village and its inhabitants on Endor, from Michael Pangrazio (a rare piece beyond his matte painting duties), for RETURN OF THE JEDI.


Don't forget, the new STAR WARS ART: Concept book is out now in the UK from ABRAMS, featuring the stunning artworks of Ralph McQuarrie, Joe Johnston, Doug Chiang and other esteemed visionaries from across the first six movies.


Sunday 29 September 2013

BEHIND THE SCENES: POSED FOR BATTLE


Within the Geonosis Death Arena, Jedi Master Luminara Unduli keeps her eye, and her accompnaying lightsaber blade, ready for action, in this blue screen filming moment from EPISODE II. Many Jedi action scenes in this environment were filmed for the sweeping finale, but didn't make the final cut.

CLASSIC ART: AWAITING A VHS 'EMPIRE'!


Here's a fun rarity on Ebay I'd never seen before. A FOX US reservation order form/brochure for THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK when its eventually made its way onto VHS in 1984, featuring a mixture of Tom Jung's classic poster art for the movie and, on the inside, for the original STAR WARS.



Saturday 28 September 2013

CLASSIC IMAGE: AMBUSHED!


On their way to capture the Trade Federation Viceroy, Queen Amidala and her loyal soldiers (including, end left next to Captain Panaka, a cameo from Ray Park!) are cornered by lethal Droidekas, from EPISODE I.

BEHIND THE SCENES: GREEN IN THE FACE!


January 1977: In a small studio within downtown Hollywood, George Lucas, make-up genius Rick Baker and others assemble a team of additional Cantina aliens for some last minute filming that will be inserted into the still being shaped cut of STAR WARS. Here, Lucas assists Greedo, played by Canadian actress/then part-time limo driver Maria de Aragon, to and from the set.

 Greedo, Greedo, Official Site, Maria de Aragon, of Star Wars

Friday 27 September 2013

THE CLONE WARS: NIGHTMARE EMPEROR!


The Emperor makes an electrifying cameo appearance as part of a nightmare dream sequence where past and future collide for Anakin Skywalker, during the memorable THE CLONE WARS Season Three episode Ghosts of Mortis.



STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS - THE COMPLETE SEASONS 1-5,  coming to DVD and Blu-ray October 15th.


ROTJ AT 30: CHAINED REVENGE!


Princess Leia finally gets her deserved revenge on slug crime lord Jabba the Hutt in this great artwork by Joe Wright for the cover of the US printing of the four-part Japanese Manga editions of RETURN OF THE JEDI from the early 2000's.

Check out the rest of Wight's gallery here: Return of the Jedi Manga 2 by ~joewight on deviantART

STARWARS.COM feature on the JEDI Manga series: Happy Rancor: Star Wars: Return of the Jedi — Manga | Star Wars Blog


Thursday 26 September 2013

CLASSIC IMAGE: STRETCHED TO BREAKING POINT!


Newly arrived at the Mos Eisley farmstead of Owen Lars, terrible news on the fate of his mother, Shmi, awaits young Anakin Skywalker, in a tense scene also witnessed by Padme Amidala, from EPISODE II.

CLASSIC McQUARRIE: CLOUDY STAR-FLIGHT


High above the jungles around the Massassi temple of Yavin IV, a lone Rebel sentry dutifully watches Rebel X-wing fighters depart skyward for battle against the Death Star, in this lovely piece of conceptual art from Ralph McQuarrie, from 1975, for the original STAR WARS.


Look out for more of McQuarrie's evocative art, as well as that of Joe Johnston, Doug Chiang and others of such tremendous reputation and luminary skill within the upcoming UK publication of the next book in the ABRAMS series of STAR WARS: ART books: Concept, available from October 1st. We'll be reviewing it soon.

Wednesday 25 September 2013

"THE HEART OF A HERO!" HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MARK HAMILL!


He's fought Walkers, Rancors and Sith Lords, destroyed a Galactic Empire and saw-in the Return of the Jedi. 

Happy Birthday, Mark Hamill!

We're all in a damn-infuriating situation where there's still no official news of his STAR WARS comeback from LUCASFILM, but who out there in fandom and cinema-going land doesn't want to see Mark Hamill, lightsaber ready for action as an older, battle seasoned, but no less heroic Luke Skywalker for the new sequels?


ILM CLASSIC IMAGE: TAUNTAUN EVOLUTION...


At ILM, a near final head-to-toe design maquette of the cold climate traversing Tauntaun mixes with some of its early, constantly evolving facial concepts, in this intriguing behind the scenes shot for THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK.

Tuesday 24 September 2013

CLASSIC IMAGE: TO WIN A RACE...


He may not have ever completed a Pod Race, but Jedi Knight Qui-Gon Jinn has every confidence in young Anakin Skywalker succeeding this time out, in a supportive moment inside the Boonta Eve racing hangar, watched by friend Kitster, from EPISODE I.

LONDON CELEBRATES 30 YEARS OF 'RETURN OF THE JEDI'

Image: via the PRINCE CHARLES CINEMA website.

"Return... to a galaxy far, far away..."

▶ Return of the Jedi Trailer (1983) - YouTube

London's beloved Prince Charles Cinema is playing host to a special screening of RETURN OF THE JEDI in two weeks time (hopefully the original 1983 version, not the "Nooooo!!!" mess that was the Blu-ray 2011 revision!), alongside a Q and A on the film with LUCASFILM boss and writer J.W. Rinzler, plus a book signing afterwards.

Details and tickets here: Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi Screening

Monday 23 September 2013

CLASSIC IMAGE: THE ORIGINAL KENOBI...


In a break between filming his climactic duel with Dave Prowse as Darth Vader for the original STAR WARS, Sir Alec Guinness, despite some private behind the scenes concerns, continues to resonate on set as a strong and respectable presence for the film, being shot by a UK crew unsure of just how the finished product will turn out...


Sunday 22 September 2013

BEHIND THE SCENES: CLOSE ENCOUNTER OF THE WOOKIEE KIND!


An EPISODE III Wookiee gets ready for filming at the FOX STUDIOS, Australia, supervised by Animation Director Rob Coleman, during 2003.

An image that originally appeared on the now defunct official STAR WARES YAHOO GROUP site.

ROTJ AT 30: REMEMBERING RICHARD MARQUAND...


RETURN OF THE JEDI's director Richard Marquand poses for a classic Hollywood image, in front of the specially built AT-ST "Chicken" Walker, on location at the Redwoods in California, for climactic filming representing the Imperial Bunker on Endor in April/May 1982.

After a long search for a director between 1980 and early 1981, George Lucas chose Cardiff, Wales-born Marquand specifically as the all-important visualist on the third and final film of the middle Classic Trilogy, having been impressed with his previous seventies documentary work for the BBC and US TV (able to do things speedily and keep to a schedule) and his film style on the World War II spy thriller adaptation of Eye of the Needle, liking the way the movie maker, with experienced British cinematographer Alan Hume, brought atmosphere to its period setting, and created a romantic but dangerous troika relationship between its three main leads: Donald Sutherland, Kate Nelligan and Christopher Cazenove, a scenario not too dis-similar in some respects to the love triangle between Han, Leia and Luke between STAR WARS and EMPIRE. Importantly, Marquand, also a former actor, was a non US union director - a situation which helped Lucas, who had previously left the American unions in disgust after bad conflicts with the release of EMPIRE, a great deal, as his list of choice candidates for the position got thinner and thinner. Another plus in the Brit was his experience in transatlantic film-making beyond the established traditions in the UK.

On set for the first day's filming at Elstree for REVENGE OF THE JEDI- January 1982.

Marquand, ambitious and recognising what a career launcher the originally titled REVENGE OF THE JEDI could be, was a huge fan of the STAR WARS saga anyway, and acknowledged the impressive work by Irvin Kershner for THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK, but he ultimately preferred the original STAR WARS for its romanticised characters and exciting pace, wanting JEDI to capture some of that first films spirit rather than the complex darkness of the second. With his base now in America, he was heavily involved in story sessions for the film with Lucas, producer Howard Kazanjian and screenwriter Larry Kasdan, where he'd push for the return of Yoda (an expensive and time-consuming creation from Empire whom George at first didn't want back), the build-up mystery of our heroes arrival in Jabba's Palace to rescue Han Solo from his Carbon Freeze confinement, the idea of the second seemingly uncompleted Death Star actually being fully operational, and that the dying Anakin/Darth Vader would share some comforting words with Luke before the end.

Marquand with Lucas goes through site/building plans in Yuma for the Sail Barge set - late 1981

Once on the film, Marquand's primary lack of experience with major special effects, and in a few aspects of key STAR WARS pre-production linked to the films overall huge scale plot/character expectations, saw some early disappointing dailies footage (presumably mostly linked to a Tatooine sandstorm idea that ultimately didn't work) that was deemed too TV-movie'ish looking, and required the need for Lucas to become more heavily involved in the film's behind the scenes production than originally thought-more so than his few fleeting visits to Elstree Studios during the 1979 filming of EMPIRE- but Marquand was for the most part happy to have the film-maker and creator alongside him for the process: an extra pair of hands to keep the pressured film on course and on budget. Lucas, who liked Marquand a lot, tried not to get in the way too much (a method he brought to his relationship with Irvin Kershner), and, in some respects, became the films unofficial Second Unit director linked to certain key sequences at Elstree in its middle shooting period.

Marquand would make a fun cameo in RETURN OF THE JEDI, as an AT-ST commander soon clubbed by Ewoks!


With the intense and complex filming in the UK and US over by the end of Summer 1982, Marquand, with regular British editor Sean Barton, delivered his own director's cut of the movie by years end, whilst also getting ready to move on to his next project: the romantic comedy UNTIL SEPTEMBER. Lucas, having also done his own cut of JEDI, and having complete "Final Cut" ownership on JEDI, then worked with wife Marcia Lucas and Duwayne Dunham to refine the film further (the final cut likely a fusion of the best elements of both), alongside some additional newly photographed material (handled by both Marquand, and/or George Lucas, some of it with up and coming cinematographer Hiro Narita), into what would ultimately become by release in May 1983 the much-anticipated RETURN OF THE JEDI (Marquand returning to the LUCASFILM fold by the start of the year (which saw John Williams score recording take place) and from spring onwards to fully promote the film- a tremendous success that did indeed end the Classic Trilogy on a high and triumphant note, whilst critically guaranteeing Lucas's independent film-making plans/future for years to come. 

Always enthusiastic and proud of his STAR WARS association (so much so that he hoped to be one day involved with Lucas's future Prequel movie plans if and when they happened), Marquand made several more diverse pictures, including the superb court-room thriller JAGGED EDGE, starring Glenn Close and Jeff Bridges, before his sad passing in 1987, at the all-too young age of 49.

Previously unpublished interview: Richard Marquand interview: Return Of The Jedi, Star Wars | Den of Geek

▶ Richard Marquand & Anthony Daniels - YouTube



Saturday 21 September 2013

ROTJ AT 30: THE LAUGHING JEDI!


Capturing the youthful spirit and fun to be found in front of and behind the scenes of the Classic STAR WARS Trilogy, I have always enjoyed watching behind the scenes footage or looking at photos of Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher together on and off set. This is not a rare image by any means, but the look on Hamill's face is priceless as he enjoys Fisher's unique brand of witty humour and company on location in Yuma, Arizona for RETURN OF THE JEDI, circa April 1982.

▶ Mark Hamill & Carrie Fisher - Star Wars Celebration Europe | press conference 2013 - YouTube


CLASSIC REVIEW: 'FATE OF THE JEDI - ASCENSION'



STAR WARS - FATE OF THE JEDI
BOOK EIGHT: ASCENSION

By Christie Golden

Published in the UK by CENTURY PUBLISHING and in paperback by ARROW

Reviewed by Scott Weller

Having greatly enjoyed Timothy Zahn’s recent triumphant return to the STAR WARS EXPANDED UNIVERSE realm with Choices of One, I threw myself into the next instalment of the Lucas publishing schedule- book eight of the FATE OF THE JEDI series- with a greater sense of renewed reading optimism than I’ve had for the run in several years, hoping that some of Zahn’s story telling fire and magic may subconsciously help me to enjoy this penultimate tale of the new LUCAS BOOKS conceived saga, and that the plot and character developments within its 410 pages would have greatly improved from what I’d read previously in the series. Sadly, I’m afraid that ASCENSION, from recent fan favourite novelist Christie Golden, didn’t quite deliver the expected, and necessary, goods I wanted from a STAR WARS adventure…
As ever there’s lots of fast paced action, traps and escapes, and events are finally, finally moving towards their conclusion, but as has been mentioned in my previous reviews too many times before, this book series really has been padded out to a length far longer than it should have (at least a fifth of the book namely linked to the ongoing Lost Tribe of the Sith aspect in particular (though there are interesting moments here), and the pursuit of the Abeloth creature by Luke and Ben), with the overall novels strained from the heavy burden. Worryingly, certain plot elements from earlier in the series also seemed to have been either shortened or dropped (unless there’s more developments to come in the finale?), which I’m sure will annoy long-term readers of the EU cannon.
Character interactions of our favourite Classic Trilogy heroes feel incoherent and out of character once again, and sometimes I feel that their dialogue often simply doesn’t ring true. Complaints from some fans that Golden’s wordage also feels a bit too juvenile ring true in some sections. On the plus side, though, there is firm development of the supporting characters, namely the ones Golden herself introduced in previous books, in particular the interesting Vestara, who, with her still conflicted Sith heart, continues her strong relationship with Ben Skywalker, which has been an important part of the latter books of the series and which enters an important new phase here. There’s also a new development for the Jedi Order in general-already caught in the quagmire of dangers within intergalactic politics- as Luke makes an important decision regarding their future and their role with the Alliance. There’s also the death of a supporting character that fans of the series will be surprised to read about, too…
And, though the ultimate raison d’etre behind the Abeloth creature, one of the books major opponents for our Force users, is sadly not as all that exciting as its earlier promise indicated, it does at least get to show off some of its major league Dark Side powers quite vigorously towards Darish Vol, the Grand Lord of the Lost Tribe of the Sith (now that’s a mouthful to say!), alongside its accompanying semi-sentient Ship.
The book sees in subplots galore as we reach the story’s last third on Coruscant, of which conspiracies and bids for control of the Galactic Alliance begin to quickly (perhaps too quickly) form and coalesce from a multitude of relatively new Senate characters, though the deposed Chief of State, Daala, surely hoping to be as formidable as our reality’s Margaret Thatcher, isn’t out of the fight yet now that she ‘s allied with Bounty hunter fave Boba Fett and his Mandalorians. There are better moments within all this Political intrigue, witch-hunting, double dealings, intrigue and subterfuge run rampant, but none totally thrill or generate the excitement that this Saga truly deserves and should have had right from the start…
Beyond all the political stuff, readers can still enjoy further aforementioned bouts of traps, daring escapes and fast action sequences (but no lightsaber duels?!) linked to the Sith and the Abeloth quest. But none of that works anywhere near as well if you don’t have an involving, nay compelling, plot. Alas, in that respect, ASCENSION doesn’t quite make the full grade. Plainly put, there are great fantasy writers who can create great STAR WARS adventures, and then there are great fantasy writers. I think Miss Golden is in the overall latter category than the former. 
Despite the books important positioning, it all feels a bit anticlimactic, so let’s hope that the upcoming finale, APOCALYPSE, can at least end the series in some noteworthy, and respectable, style.
AFICIONADO RATING: 3 out of 5

Friday 20 September 2013

THE CLONE WARS: JEDI FUGITIVE!


Framed for murder, Ahsoka Tano faces a grim future unless she can prove her innocence, in this memorable and tense chase scene set on a rain-swept Coruscant, from the series near-end adventure, The Jedi Who Knew Too Much...




STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS Season Five, coming to Blu-ray and DVD from WARNER BROTHERS DVD, this October 14th. Order it here: Star Wars Clone Wars - Season 5 Blu-ray Region Free: Amazon.co.uk: Film & TV

CLASSIC IMAGE: SOLDIERS WITH A PURPOSE...


The first battalions of Clone Troopers created for Jedi Master Sifo-Dyas over ten years previously assemble on a Kamino platform staging area, in this classic image and sequence from EPISODE II, foreshadowing the horrors of the First Galactic Empire to come by the end of EPISODE III. It's a scene of ominous dread accompanied by John Williams always superb and memorable music.

Thursday 19 September 2013

EPISODE VII AND BEYOND...LATEST NEWS


The latest news and a few rumours as we get ever near to the January 2014 filming...

Star Wars spin-off films to be 'origin stories' - Yahoo Movies UK

How the new trilogy killed Seth Green's (already made) Star Wars toon | Blastr

Movie News: Mark Hamill Seeking the Help of Yoga, Not Yoda, for STAR WARS EPISODE VII Role

Star Wars Episode VII: Carrie Fisher Wants To Shoot Guns If She Returns As Princess Leia | Comicbook.com

Harrison Ford Spills Star Wars Episode VII Secrets To Conan O’Brien | Comicbook.com

'Star Wars: Episode VII' To Film In The City of Crosses, Saoirse Ronan Up For A Role, & We Debunk Benedict Cumberbatch Denials - Latino-Review.com

J.J. Abrams wants 'Star Wars' sequel to feel real | Inside Movies | EW.com

EXCLUSIVE: Guess Which Two Actors Went In For 'Star Wars: Episode VII' - Latino-Review.com

Will ‘Star Wars’ Episode 7 Feature the ‘Dark’ Planet ‘Korriban’? - Entertainment & Stars

CLASSIC IMAGE: MADE TO SUFFER!


Captured in Cloud City, locked away in one its dark cells, Han Solo now faces oncoming, brutal torture from Darth Vader in this 1979 KENNER reference photo from THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK.

Image: via The Earth Collectible Toy Mall.

Wednesday 18 September 2013

CLASSIC IMAGE: COUNCIL OF EVIL!


Ian McDiarmid films a tense scene as Darth Sidious (his hologram appearance added in Post Production), conferring with his blundering Neimoidian allies about the escape of Queen Amidala, from EPISODE I.

CLASSIC BLOG 2009: JAKE LLOYD - THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS



By Scott Weller and Chris Baker

My good friend and fellow AFICIONADO contributor Chris Baker has been an invaluable help during the creation of our recent Tenth Anniversary celebration issue of The Phantom Menace (and if you haven’t got hold a PDF copy of it yet, all I can say is: WHY NOT?!). In particular, amongst the many pieces of additional information and photos he’s provided, he sent me this interesting interview that Jake Lloyd did for MTV in 2005 that I hadn’t seen before, in which the young actor, after all the press controversy of his playing the young Anakin Skywalker in the first of the STAR WARS Prequels, and after a lengthy stint away from the camera to pursue his education, was getting ready to return to acting (he’s now more into behind the scenes work, and wants to get a directorial gig once he’s completed his USC work (C’mon George, let him direct a live action episode of the new WARS series when he’s able!!) and seeing what, away from Anakin, the big wide world had in store for him next…..
                                    
                       Jake Lloyd Talks “The Phantom Menace”

Posted April 21, 2005
MTV features an interview with Jake Lloyd, who played Anakin Skywalker in Episode I.
By Larry Carroll 

The phone call comes in from the receptionist: "Jake is in the lobby." Not knowing what to expect, a door is swung open and the entryway to the building is scanned. A smiling mother stands up, extending her right hand; an agent hangs up her cell phone and does the same. Then, as they step aside, parting like the Red Sea, the familiarly dour gaze of a teenager takes center stage.

Barely offering a smile, clad in jeans and a hooded sweatshirt, the owner of that gaze looks like your average, ticked-off 16-year-old. There's only a faint resemblance to the adorable moppet who once undertook the most high-profile role in the most anticipated film of all time
This is Jake Lloyd's first interview in six years.

"None of us really understood exactly how much that film would affect us for the rest of our lives," he says of 1999's "The Phantom Menace," the prequel that ended nearly two decades of Star Wars inactivity while casting the then-8-year-old as a pre-pubescent Darth Vader. "I had some issues," Lloyd says of his post-Anakin Skywalker years. "When I first had to deal with being in Star Wars, you know, who wouldn't?"
"Menace" inspired people to quit their jobs and go stand in line. Fans slept on sidewalks for days to witness a cultural event that would earn more than $400 million in the U.S. alone. Lloyd, whose exposure made him arguably the most easily recognized child actor at the time, was positioned to follow up the role with any project he chose. Instead, the boy simply walked away.
“As far as dropping off the face of the earth is concerned, thank God,” Lloyd says, offering up one of those teenage smiles that simultaneously borders on apathy and sincerity. He is more animated, more willing to show a friendlier, engaging side, it seems, in the midst of the interview than he was when he first appeared in the lobby. "No one really goes through an easy growing-up period when it comes to middle school and high school. I'm just glad that I haven't had to do it in front of so many cameras. I'm glad this is the first interview I've done in six years, because two years ago, I probably wasn't as well-equipped as I am now. And right now, I'm still not quite at the top of my game."
While pop culture continued a grand tradition of transforming children like Macaulay Culkin and Haley Joel Osment into punch lines, Lloyd retreated to a middle-America state (he declines to say which, hoping to preserve his safe haven) and attempted a normal adolescence. It wasn't easy. As he walked down the locker-filled hallways of his school, "people [would] come up to me making lightsaber sounds. It just doesn't make much sense to me. I didn't even touch one in the movie."
The Star Wars experience forced the boy to grow up fast, and it put his teenage-rebellion period several years ahead of his peers. "I used to spend every morning in detention at my old school," he remembers. "It was 7:10 and school didn't start till 8:10, so [I'd] get in there and [be] in detention all morning. I used to go ... every Tuesday and Thursday, and it got to the point where I'd just go anyways, so I could make up for the one I'd be getting the next time around. I was in detention a lot."
The former child actor says he and his family decided to pull the disappearing act after suffering through a Menace publicity tour that found the youngster defending himself against an endless stream of acerbic reporters. "One interview I was doing, this guy, he came in," Lloyd shakes his head. "I had to do about 60 interviews in a day ... This guy comes in and sits down and says, 'So, what's it like to portray Jesus Christ?' 'Well, I'm 10.'"
That question, referring to Star Wars creator George Lucas' divisive decision to reveal Anakin as a Christ figure whose mother birthed him through immaculate conception, was simply a tumbling speck of dirt compared to the avalanche of criticism that would assail Lloyd after the film's release.
Time magazine called the boy's line readings "flat, or flat-out wrong," while Variety dismissed him as a "standard-issue tyke hero." Those were kind, however, compared to the vitriol spewed by fans disappointed in a film that couldn't possibly live up to 20 years of hype. With Lucas still coasting on his reputation and actors like Liam Neeson and Natalie Portman too critically respected to shoulder the blame, the eyes of the world focused on the little boy with the bad haircut. "That bowl cut really drove me insane," Lloyd smiles, before getting serious about his critics. "I did my best. I walked out of there and I had fun. It's just like harshness for any other kid — yeah, mine was seen by a lot more people, but it's still the same basic concept. I don't really mind it. I find a lot of the stuff funny and I've learned to live with it because that's what you do. You can't go fighting everyone that's harsh towards you."

Although he still considers himself a Star Wars fan and speaks fondly of Lucas and of everyone else he worked with all those years ago, Lloyd's cinematic tastes — mirroring his former character's transformation — now lean toward the dark side. "I haven't watched [Star Wars movies] for a really long time. I've been busy watching other movies like Requiem for a Dream,'" he says of the controversial unrated movie about desperate heroin junkies. "I like the more cynical, darker films like Man Bites Dog... Fight Club, American History X."
Which brings Lloyd back to today's conversation, the first part of an intended career revival that has him auditioning around Los Angeles for the first time in more than half a decade. "The most important thing to me when it comes to auditioning," he says of his comeback, "is something where at the end, it's not going to be like, 'Oh, I wasted three months of my life making this movie, but at least I came away with cash.' That's not important to me. I'd rather go in and say, 'I spent three months of my life and I created something that I can appreciate, that I'm proud of, that I enjoyed doing and I can enjoy the end result of.' "
As he carefully considers the film that will reveal the new Jake Lloyd to the world, the former pod-racing youngster reminds himself that the impetus behind his self-imposed exile was learning how to deal with notoriety. Now, he insists, he's old enough to appreciate the fame — and young enough to have some fun with it.
"When I was on my way up here," he says of his arrival at the interview, "the guy who took my name down and let me into the building, I had to give him a photo ID. He looked at it and, as he was writing, his hand was shaking. He looked up and goes, 'You've grown up a little bit.' " Lloyd smiles. "I said, 'No, I've aged, but grown up? No.' "

                     Jake Lloyd Talks TPM 10 Years Later

Jake Lloyd was the little boy who played the young Anakin Skywalker in Star Wars: Episode One - The Phantom Menace. 

Amazingly, it's been a decade since the film that recreated theStar Wars universe on the big screen plunged George Lucas into what seems to be a never-ending divide between young fans and older fans of the Star Wars saga.

Whatever you think of the prequel Star Wars films, there's no denying their immense cultural impact; the sheer scale of the fame attained by all the Star Wars characters. But behind it all, there are real people, and whilst you may have your opinions about pod racing (and whether something is or isn't pod racing) or the infamous 'yippeee!', there's something quite arresting about the thought about what happened to the little boy who was 'little orphan Ani'. What's he been up to? What's he doing now? What does he look like all grown up?

Well, we have the interview that answers those questions.

Recently, Jake Lloyd came out to Australia as a guest of Supanova, and we had a chat to him, face to face. This is one of the most fascinating psychological profiles of what happens when you go back to school after being in the most anticipated film of all time

After having undeservedly gone through hell from both critical fans, the public and his schoolmates for years after-sadly, Lloyd himself, after that long painful period of criticism, has seemingly accepted their opinions, thinking his performance as Anakin Skywalker wasn’t very good- a sentiment at AFICIONADO that we feel is both wrong and unfair-there weren’t many child actors of his ability at that time that would, or could, have been able to hold their own in such a big scale movie as this, especially a STAR WARS one, and with such an important character. Despite some occasional goofy lines, like the aforementioned “Yippee!” dialogue, the young Lloyd is fearless in the role and manages to bring believability to important scenes like the still exciting to watch Pod Race, as well as tugging the heart strings for the scene where Anakin leaves his mother to become a Jedi. Throughout the film, Jake brings warmth, depth and fun to the performance with memorable distinction.
Well done, Jake. We at AFICIONADO, and I’m sure the larger STAR WARS community, wish you all the best of success for the future.