BREAKING: Raw EPISODE III footage online

How could this have happened?

By Patrick Sauriol     January 23, 2004
Source: Anonymous

It appears that the Dark Side is alive and well.

Footage from a two-and-a-half minute Lucasfilm presentation for EPISODE III was filmed by someone and has now made its way onto the internet. We've been told from a source (but unable to confirm with Lucasfilm yet) that the presentation was part of a marketing meeting. The material was placed on the internet as early as last evening.

What is extraordinary is that the footage shows numerous scenes of Hayden Christensen and Ewan McGregor rehearsing and then filming one of the key moments in all of STAR WARS: the lightsaber duel between Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi. Other scenes include Samuel L. Jackson (Jedi Master Mace Windu) in lightsaber action; Jimmy Smits holding a placement object for a to-be-added at a later time CGI character or item; Ian McDiarmid (Emperor Palpatine) and Christensen talking against greenscreen; Christensen in the cockpit of a Jedi starfighter and then later hanging for his life against a ledge suspended against a greenscreen; scenes featuring Natalie Portman (Padme), Anthony Daniels (C-3PO) and R2-D2 and still more. Almost all of the filmed action is set against a greenscreen backdrop.

The presentation begins and ends with material from the original trilogy of STAR WARS movies showing Darth Vader -- and the soundtrack used to convey the EPISODE III video is AC/DC's "Back in Black".

The material does seems to be unauthorized filming. At the conclusion of the short the person holding the recording device seems to drop the camera just before the lights come up.

More on this developing story as we get it.

[Anonymous with the story.]


Got a scoop? Know something that you need to tell us about? Send it to us!