The redeye flight to Chicago was brutal. We landed at 4:40am, and basically had to stay up the entire day. We kicked off the proceedings with a brief early morning interview with Big John and Amy on AM 560 WIND, and headed to the convention center for a lunch interview with Elliott Serrano and Jose Melendez of RedEyeGeek (how appropriate). We shook hands with Neil Marshall (THE DESCENT, CENTURION) and his wife Axelle Carolyn–who will be on the jury with me at the Strasbourg European Fantastic Film Festival later this month–and since we had plenty of time to kill before our screening, we proceeded to indulgently roam the convention floor. There were definitely tempting toys galore (I’ve lately become a serious kaiju addict), but I’m proud to say I restrained myself (although I will live to regret a rare 9″ Japanese 1992 Godzilla meltdown figure), and instead chose to simply revel in the atmosphere of Wizard Con, which, I was told, has become one of the strongest challengers to the San Diego Comic-Con in recent years.

My favorite sticker at Wizard Con this year.

Jake Lloyd was on the floor (imagine young Anakin with a stubble–no, I’m not joking). The poor kid looked so unhappy to be there–unlike Richard LeParmentier (a.k.a Admiral Motti), who’s clearly an old pro at this. If my memory serves me well, their booths faced each other, and they were flanked by a bunch of retired Playboy bunnies, porn stars, and pro wrestlers. Adam West and William Shatner were there. Even Rod Blagojevich made an impromptu appearance to sign autographs for $100 a pop. I must admit, comic conventions never cease to amaze me. They’re not really about comics–more like the proverbial box of chocolates: you never know who you’re going to see.

This guy must have a Mothra or two in his closet.

Introducing... the Maui Trooper.

The screening itself was a blast. This was our first non-theatrical screening, and it was a refreshing experience. Convention ballrooms certainly aren’t as cool as, say, the Bloor Cinema in Toronto or The Paramount in Austin; but if you fill them up with hundreds of fanboys and fangirls, they somehow come to life in unexpected ways. The evening started with a George Lucas debate, moderated by Ain’t It Cool’s own Capone, and concluded with possibly our longest Q&A to date. Jason Seiler, the amazing creator of our official poster, came to see the film for the first time; and so did Michael Ramova, whose SW Grindhouse short (‘Don’t Go In The Endor Woods’) is featured in our film. We also had the pleasure of meeting Mike Stoklasa (a.k.a. Plinkett–creator of the wonderful SW Episode I-II reviews that were all the rage on YouTube a few months ago), who apparently drove a considerable distance just to see our film and say hi. Overall, the evening was ‘aces!’, as they say in England.

Recreating the PvG poster with artist Jason Seiler and the actual model used for his 'angry fan'.

The Wizard Con audience during the Q&A.

Mike Stoklasa (a.k.a. Plinkett), who drove all the way from Michigan to watch the film, came to say hi after the screening.

I caught another redeye flight to San Francisco the following day, and drove to Los Angeles in the middle of the night. Arrived at 10am absolutely destroyed, and slept most of the afternoon. After a few days in LA catching up with old friends and PvG participants, we capped our mini-tour with a killer screening at Kevin Smith’s own Smodcastle–easily the most awesome black box theater I’ve ever been to. It might be that I’m slightly biased, because Kevin Smith did show up to introduce and watch the film, and he was SUCH a gracious host! But let’s be honest here: do you know of another theater in LA where you’re welcome in your jammies on Saturday mornings to watch cartoons and eat cereal in the company of Kevin Smith?! I mean, seriously!

The site of the crime.

Darth Cohen, who made it all happen.

The Smith & Mosier Troopers.

Several familiar faces showed up to the screening. Daryl Frazetti was there, and so were Hot Waffles. Without a shadow of a doubt, the highlight of the evening was their live acoustic performance of ‘George Lucas Raped Our Childhood’, with a little comedy number by Kevin. Our good friend Matt Walsh shot the performance for us (along with the three other songs they performed), and we fully intend to post that slice of improvisational stage magic on YouTube and on our website in the near future for everyone to enjoy.

All together now: George-Lucas-Raped-Our-Childhood/George-Lucas-Raped-Our-Childhood/George-Lucas-Raped-Our-Child--Hood..!

Bear hug. Way nicer than Lotso.

The following day, Matt Walsh (and his wife Kerri) treated us to John Williams’s annual performance at the Hollywood Bowl, and what a perfect day to end the trip! We could see the Ford Amphitheater (site of our Los Angeles Film Festival screening) in the distance, and I got the chills before the show even started. Matt kept telling me that every true Star Wars fan had to experience this at least once; and now that I’ve seen the show, I understand exactly what he meant.

Lightsabers in the night.

The program, ranging from themes to Sunset Boulevard, Jaws and Psycho to Raiders and Superman, was capped off by several popular pieces from the Star Wars Saga. Hundreds of lightsabers suddenly lit up the darkened auditorium, and started moving to the rhythm of the music. The Imperial March encore, if you can imagine it, was nothing short of spectacular.

The Imperial March finale at the Hollywood Bowl.

Not everyone came for Star Wars, of course; but, as Matt put it, people came armed with their lightsabers to watch a classical concert primarily featuring songs from other movies. There were no whips there, no Norman Bates costumes. It wasn’t about Star Wars, but the spirit of the saga (The Force, if you will) permeated the entire evening, and all 17,376 of us felt its energy. It was unmistakable and inescapable. And that, right there, is the amazing legacy of George Lucas and his once perfect team of collaborators, who graced us with a strip of celluloid that I’ll argue any day is far, far more than just a movie.

Before our upcoming PvG World Tour, Part II (which will take us to Strasbourg, Barcelona, San Diego, Edmonton, Hawaii, San Francisco, Rome, Leeds, Copenhagen, Montreal, Taipei, and Stockholm)–and principal photography for our next documentary (to start next week in Germany, France, The Netherlands, Ireland, Spain, and the UK)–we just wrapped a very special mini-tour that we won’t soon forget. First stop: Emeryville, CA.

A giant Luxo stands vigil outside the main entrance at Pixar Animation Studios.

When Dave Mullins (Directing Animator, UP) emailed to let me know that the Pixar team had watched our trailers and wanted to see our film, that was pretty much all the convincing we needed to whip out a brand-new HDCAM master, hop in the car, and drive to the Bay Area. I had already had the privilege of touring Pixar Studios a few years ago on a Sunday; but seeing the place buzzing with the energy of their 1,200 employees (yes, we even saw John Lasseter) was quite a different experience.

Lifesize Lego recreations of Woody and Buzz Lightyear greeting visitors inside the main lobby.

PU stands for Pixar University, by the way.

What’s even cooler than hanging out at Pixar..? Seeing our poster plastered all over the place, that’s what! There was a definite feeling of anticipation, and I suppose they were looking forward to the screening as much as we were. The lovely Michelle Radcliffe (who’s in charge of programming the PU screenings) and Dave Mullins told us when we entered the building that they were in the midst of a big production emergency, and we feared for a little while that only a handful of Pixar employees would be off the hook and allowed to watch our film.

Shiny Happy People (the Hegel Brothers and I outside the entrance to the Pixar theater).

The tag says it all.

Emergency or not, approximately 150 people showed up (many of them had worked for Lucasfilm in the past), and they stuck around for an engaging Q&A (I think we may have asked as many questions as they did). The screening, by the way, was probably the best looking and sounding we’ve ever had–at least comparable to the AFI Silver Theater in Silver Spring, MD and Dreamworks Animation Studios, which were both technically flawless.

The Exhibit A action pack. Limited Edition. AFA graded U90.

Thinking, thinking...

We had to leave around mid-afternoon to catch a red-eye flight to Chicago; but before we did, Michelle graciously gave each one of us a goodie bag (as if screening our film at Pixar wasn’t enough of a treat). Included in mine: a gorgeous book on 20 years of animation at Pixar, and a strawberry-scented stuffed Lotso Bear, which I secretly hug when no one’s watching.

AOP

It’s been quite a while since I updated this blog; and so naturally, this will be my longest entry to date. Between all the travel preparations, supervising our brand-new 5.1 mix (courtesy of the great Phil Hegel), mastering the HDCAM tapes for the festivals, and sales strategy meetings with our producing team, let’s just say that I was a little short on time.

Since I mentioned the word “sales”, I might as well tell you (in case you haven’t heard) that our deal with The Salt Company was announced in the trades a few days ago:

Salt represents ‘The People vs. George Lucas’

This means we’re moving forward with worldwide distribution plans, which we’ll be announcing in the next few months. This is obviously terrific news for the film, and I can assure you that we’re working on innovative ways to make PvG available around the world, along with a healthy dose of the 600+ hours of additional footage that didn’t make the final cut.

The site of the massive opening night party at EIFF.

In the interim, I had to skip an amazing two-day filmmaker retreat at Skywalker Ranch (all feature filmmakers selected by the Los Angeles Film Festival were invited) to attend the 64th Edinburgh International Film Festival–the oldest continuously running film festival in the world, and one of the gems on the international circuit. This was the site of our European premiere; and after two packed and lively screenings at Filmhouse 1, and two industry and press screenings, we were named Best of the Fest, and had an encore screening on Sunday, June 27th.

This was my first time in Scotland, and I was joined there by our UK producers Anna Higgs and Gavin Humphries–not to mention that my parents crossed the pond to watch the film for the first time. I don’t think they quite understood what Midi-chlorians or the Han Solo/Greedo debate were all about (they’re not fluent English speakers); but they were proud, nonetheless, and that was good enough for me. While I couldn’t quite make it to the opening night screening of Sylvain Chomet’s new film, THE ILLUSIONIST, I was able to attend the massive opening night party; and as I walked down the red carpet, the bagpipe player switched her tune to the SW theme. Coincidence..? Man, do I wish I had my camera handy..! I must say, John Williams’ music sounds even weirder through a bagpipe than an accordion. Those of you who have seen our film know exactly what I’m talking about.

Okay, so the bagpipe player didn't quite look like that, but you get the picture...

Food was probably the low point of this particular leg of the trip. If you don’t like haggis or fish and chips, you’re basically screwed. I had fish and chips twice, and haggis three times. It gets old. The Ceilidh (pronounced “kayleigh”) was definitely the highlight of the festival for me. Sean Connery was there, and so was Patrick Stewart. The Scottish music and dancing were really wonderful. My one regret is that I didn’t have much time to visit this absolutely gorgeous city. Too many interviews. I mean, come on, they booked 7 in a row on day two, followed by a documentary panel, screening and Q&A!

Our first rooftop party at LAFF.

All things considered, Scotland was truly wonderful, and I hope to visit again soon. I left Edinburgh on the 21st of June with a heavy heart, and flew to Los Angeles to catch our event screening at the Ford Amphitheater. Gosh, what a terrific festival! Robert and I had 20 productive pitch meetings (yes, we’re slowly getting ready to work on our next films), and great industry luncheons. We met a number of other filmmakers, but didn’t have a moment to watch their films. It’s the one thing that sucks about film festivals–there are always too many films I’d love to see, and never any time to watch them. The one event I wish I’d attended was the world premiere of ECLIPSE, during which 7,000 teenage fans apparently felt the urge to scream their heads off every time Edward, Bella, or that wolf boy on steroids (whose name escapes me) appeared on screen. I mean, NEW MOON was bad enough in a 400-seater. I must admit, that would have been a pretty badass way to experience the Twi-Hard phenomenon first hand. Alas, I had to be in DC that evening.

Cultural Anthropologist Daryl Frazetti & yours truly at the Ford.

Another huge crowd waiting for the movie to start.

The day before our official West Coast premiere, we were invited to show the film at Dreamworks in a private screening. After a brief tour of the campus, Robert and I hung out in the lobby during the projection, and spent some quality time admiring their gallery of beautifully framed Shrek and Kung Fu Panda original artwork, and trophy cases (including, of course, a couple of Oscars). It was a lively Q&A after the credits rolled, as it turned out that many people in the audience had actually worked with Lucas at some point in their career; and they were all very complimentary.

One of the trophy cases at Dreamworks Animation.

The screening at the Ford was an experience I won’t soon forget. More than 800 people showed up to see the film on a giant screen under the stars. Almost 30 of our interviewees and participants were in attendance (including Chris Strompolos, Nar Williams, Boo Friedmann, Anthony Slide, Jonathan London, Chris Gore, Paul Yates, John Venzon, Darth Bruticus, Daryl Frazetti, Charlie Unger, Brandon Kleyla, and the puppet geniuses of NearFar Studios), and I don’t think I ever saw such an amazing collection of rare and vintage Star Wars T-shirts on display. We went to the Formosa Cafe for our post-screening party, and reunited with many old friends. It’s always a strange feeling to reconnect with people whose faces you’ve watched time and time again in the editing room. For some reason, they always look a little different. A reminder, perhaps, that the screen ultimately lies to us, and that cinema–even documentary filmmaking–remains partially illusory.

EXT. AFI SILVER THEATER--DUSK

Our East Coast premiere announced.

With an early morning flight out of LAX, I barely slept an hour that night, and packed my bags again for our East Coast premiere at AFI/Discovery Channel SILVERDOCS. Another tightly programmed festival, and one of the best in North America. I did see one movie there–the strikingly original MARWENCOL, which also premiered at SXSW and has been following us on the festival circuit (or is it the other way around?), and won major awards at every stop. I wouldn’t be surprised if it got an Oscar nomination next year. A truly beautiful film.

The Q&A in full swing at the AFI Silver Theater.

Dale Pollock and I after the Q&A.

Battle Royale at the After Party!

The highlight of SILVERDOCS for me was watching the film on their most impressive stage–the AFI Silver Theater 1. I’d heard so many things about that theater that I built up sizable expectations in my mind; and let’s just say that I wasn’t disappointed. It literally takes your breath away when you first walk in. We were treated to two screenings there. The first one was immediately followed by a cool SW-themed party in the lobby (complete with lightsaber battles and an 8-bit DJ), and Dale Pollock joined us for the second one. He and I shared the stage for approximately 45 minutes. I asked him plenty of questions about SKYWALKING and his interviews with George, and he fired back with questions about the doc. SILVERDOCS filmed the Q&A with three cameras, so this will be a nice DVD/Blu-Ray special feature to add to the mix.

On the eve of our German premiere.

That night, we packed our bags again; and while Robert headed toward Niagara Falls for a long weekend, I went all the way to Munich for the German premiere of our film. Filmfest München is almost as large as the Berlinale; and as soon as I landed, I was treated to another round of great parties. I must say, this was definitely one of my favorite festival experiences. I was picked up from the airport by a driver I could have mistaken for a secret agent (tall, dark suit, tie, sunglasses). The car, of course, was the latest Audi A1–the festival’s main sponsor. I was assigned a personal host, who basically made sure I was constantly on the ‘go’ (whether I felt like it or not), took me to all the events, and made sure I drank plenty of alcohol (whether I liked it or not). Ina: if you’re reading this, I’m pulling your leg. 🙂

There was the traditional rafting trip, which they apparently do every year. Three hours on a log raft. I kid you not. Plenty of beer and liver cheese (which has no liver and no cheese in it) on board, and this was the perfect occasion to bond with other filmmakers, like Asiel Norton (REDLANDS), Jason Spingarn-Koff (LIFE 2.0), David Robert Mitchell (THE MYTH OF THE AMERICAN SLEEPOVER) and Matt McCormick (SOME DAYS ARE BETTER THAN OTHERS). Yes, I was there the day Germany trashed Argentina 4-0, and let’s just say that the town went a little nuts. The victory chants in the Munich subway are still reverberating in my head.

Bernd Dötzer, a faneditor featured in our film, missed the game, and instead drove 200km from Nuremberg to watch the film. He, like Jason Dee (who came all the way from London to attend our first Edinburgh screening just to see if his submission had made the final cut, which it did), and the good people of Leftfield Studios (who attended our East Coast premiere) made our film what it is; and their enthusiasm for our project is precisely what kept me going through these treacherous final months of post-production. So it’s extra special now to finally have the opportunity to share the film with them.

Here's the raft. And you thought I was kidding...

After three weeks of constant travel and very little sleep, I headed back to Denver on one of my worst ever flight experiences. Due to inclement weather, we had to circle above the city for an hour, and were eventually rerouted to Colorado Springs, because we didn’t have enough fuel to wait for our turn. Not enough fuel..? Are you kidding me?? But that proved to be only the beginning. Once in Colorado Springs, we waited 5 hours aboard the plane, with nothing but soft drinks and peanuts to keep us nourished and hydrated. The flight back to Denver was ultimately canceled, and so we had to deplane, wait two hours for a Greyhound bus to pick us up and drive us to DIA. From there, I took a cab home, and went straight to bed. Delta Airlines really blows..!

After an interminable wait, a professional cellist whips out his instrument, and plays Bach to lift up our spirits. The one and only highlight of an otherwise dreadful trip back home.

Next stop: PiFan!

So I’m here for a whole week now, catching up on sleep; and Robert and I are getting ready to go to Korea for our Asian premiere. PIFAN was my very first festival experience, back in 2003, and it still ranks up there as one of my most memorable. It’s like a first love, really. So I can’t wait to go back, and write about it. And should North Korea misbehave… well… at least, we’ll have our camera..!

Until then, let’s cap this off with the usual list of links/reviews posted during our tour:

Los Angeles Times

It’s Just Movies

LA Weekly

The Scotsman

View London

The Washington Post

EIFF Best of the Fest

Empire Magazine

Los Angeles Times (again)

G4

Examiner.com

The Independent

Den of Geek

FanboyWEB

The Independent (again)

Bagged and Boarded podcast

Examiner.com interview

AOP

An ominous cloud of smoke on our drive from the airport.

By all accounts, Hot Docs was another smashing success for PvsG. With two packed screenings at the historic Bloor Cinema (more than any other film at the festival), long lines vanishing into the Toronto twilight, and another full house at the University of Toronto’s Innis Town Hall, approximately 1,500 locals got a chance to attend our Canadian premiere. In many ways, Hot Docs was reminiscent of SXSW. The crowds were just as enthusiastic. Plenty of laughter and applause during the film. Engaging Q&As (the one after our midnight show lasted almost 30 minutes). And, of course, a myriad of Tweets.

The Bloor Cinema marquee.

One of the 800+ Canadian fans who showed up to our first Saturday night screening.

Hot Docs was also a busy time for us, with constant interviews and industry meetings. As a result, we didn’t have the opportunity to watch many other films; but we did get a chance to catch a midnight screening of The Parking Lot Movie, which also premiered at SXSW. A highly recommended gem of a documentary–not to mention that the filmmakers, Meghan and Christopher, are some of the nicest people we’ve met on the circuit. We also enjoyed a couple of dinners with the brilliant Michael Kaminski, author of The Secret History of Star Wars–a must-read for anyone interested in the topic.

The front of the line to our Saturday night screening. The bespectacled guy staring at Robert's iPhone camera is Michael Kaminski, author of 'The Secret History of Star Wars'.

SXSW déjà-vu...

An original 'Revenge of the Jedi' sticker, brought by Angie--one of the Hot Docs programmers--on our May the 4th screening.

YouTube sensation Corey Vidal (who's featured in our film) with a ghostly-looking, sleep-deprived AOP after our midnight May the 4th screening (International Star Wars Day).

Back in Denver again. Looking forward to a busy month of June, with an event screening at the Los Angeles Film Festival (June 23rd, 8:30pm at the Ford Amphitheatre, where there will apparently be special treats for anyone who comes in character), as well as our East Coast and European premieres (currently embargoed–details TBA soon on our website). We also have an important Asian premiere coming up in July. So many news we’d like to be able to share right away, but that we unfortunately have to keep under our hats for a little while longer. In any case, plenty of frequent flier miles to be accumulated in the near future. And, as always, we look forward to meeting and interacting with audiences.

Los Angeles, here we come!

Here’s what the Toronto media had to say about our film:

“I’m pretty sure this movie was made for me.” (The Film Reel)

“Pure fun. […] The Nuremberg of fandom retaliation.” (Press +1)

“Gut-busting.” (Moviefone)

“Whether you like Star Wars, hate Star Wars or can’t tell a wookie from an ewok, watching this movie […] makes you love the fans, in all their obsessive, lightsaber-wielding glory.” (Sound on Sight)

And here’s a handful of links for your enjoyment:

Sound on Sight review

The Film Reel review

Dork Shelf review

rgb filter review

Moviefone review

Press +1 review

AOP interview with MovieTalkFest

AOP

We’re absolutely THRILLED to announce that STAR WARS UNCUT–PvG’s sister project, helmed by the illustrious Casey Pugh–is 100% finished! This incredible film is a full recreation of the original STAR WARS movie, which Casey decided to split into 472 segments of 15 seconds each. Fans from around the world claimed the segments of their choice, and essentially remade STAR WARS with the tools they had at their disposal.

Many STAR WARS UNCUT contributors participated in our doc as well, and we wish them (and Casey) great success for their premiere at CPH:PIX in Copenhagen. It’s our understanding that there will be screenings of the film in NYC as well, and we’ll be sure to announce the latest on our Facebook page. We certainly hope to setup a PvG/SWU double-feature in the near future as well.

Casey’s trailer for the project is available here, and a full sneak preview sequence was just released here. And here’s a short blurb from Wired.com’s Lewis Wallace.

Enjoy!

AOP

Okay, so I just spotted the following debate on our YouTube channel (beneath our original trailer), and had to share it, because, well, it’s an exceptionally entertaining example of GL-related internet banter. A real doozy. Here it is, completely uncensored and unedited, typos and all (parental discretion is advised)… enjoy..!

wadark
Jar Jar Binks was my favorite character. There I said it. The prequels were great, get over it. There was no “raping” of anyone’s childhood. Anyone who says that it did is full of crap.

Scarface 6992
@wadark hahahahahaahahahahaahahaha. mesa thinks your a c unt

wadark
@Scarface6992 Clever. Stay up all night writing that? OMG he said the “c” word, he must be so freakin clever. How old are you?

Scarface 6992
Took about 45 minutes. I used the dialectic process of thesis= you and your appreciation for the prequels, factoring in attack of the clones and dialog like “they’re like animals, so i slaughtered them… like animals”, then the antithesis= me, preference of the original trilogy and its cinematic influence from Kurosawa( see the hidden fortess) which then lead me to the synthesis…

I’m 17 and not fond of the man who raped my childhood, or any person who celebrates it.

take your cgi and leave

wadark
@Scarface6992 There are millions of ACTUAL rape victims in the world right now, screaming in anger at that phrase. George Lucas did nothing to your childhood. YOU did it to your childhood by getting WAY to into Star Wars. Get over yourself. You don’t like the prequels, don’t watch them, shut your eyes and just pretend they don’t exist. You’ll be much happier than right now, sitting spamming wherever you can about how George Lucas is the anti-Christ or whatever. Move on, friend.

Scarface 6992
” shut your eyes and pretend they don’t exist” this has nothing to do with rape? Ive never been into star wars that much however I sympathize with the millions of rape victims out there who saw the iconic representation of an era bent over and continually double penetrated with cgi characters and terrible dialog. Its true, I don’t have to watch them but their existence will still forever hold down and force itself into the cultural canon of the old trilogy, and for that I feel dirty and abused

wadark
@Scarface6992 Then that’s your own damn fault, not Lucas’s. Good night.

Scarface 6992
@wadark its my fault lucas created merchandise oriented prequels which spit in the face of their culturally significant precursors? well for that wadark, I apologize, maybe one day I will fully appreciate the sophistication of jar jar and his comedic wit and contribution to the films. Until then, I must concede that I have been bested. I end with this;

In August and at the age of 13, in a cinema full of people, George Lucas, for 133 minutes and through the medium of film…raped me.

wadark
@Scarface6992 Uh…no. George Lucas can do what George Lucas wants with George Lucas’s film. Fact 2: George Lucas didn’t create a “generation-defining” film. George Lucas created Star Wars; the FANS made Star Wars “generation-defining”. It’s not Lucas’s responsibility to live up to your expectations.

Its YOUR fault that you’re so into a fictional universe that you think creating a “terrible” installment constitutes rape. That is sad.

Scarface 6992
i’m not into a fictional universe, I just think your wrong- lucas IS in control of his own films, rape however is defined as an act of plunder, violent seizure, or abuse; despoliation or violation. Once lucas created the prequels, fully aware of the position his films had been placed in (by the fans) within pop culture, by creating newer films that plunder, seize abuse and violate what has become ingrained within the context of cinematic history-  Lucas committed rape.

Will the debate ever end?
AOP