Anytime I see that actor for jar jar.. my heart goes out to him. Poor guy did the absolute best he could, and was hated on so badly he almost killed himself over it.. And you can see, all he ever wanted to do, was a good job and make fans happy.. plus sith jar jar.. Would have been, amazing.
You’re absolutely right. Not only does my heart go out to Ahmed, the actor, but to Jar Jar too, to be honest. Despite his careless nature, he just wanted be accepted.
I’ve never hated on Jar Jar. Granted, he’s not as funny as I remember him being growing up, but I’m certainly not going out of my way to throw shade at the actor for doing his job.
And there's no reason to take it beyond reasonable objections which are perfectly valid. But people always have to take things way to far..the old expression "get a life" comes to mind. I thought that George fell in love too much with the effects that made Jar-Jar possible and lost sight of the bigger picture was the story. The story of where Darth Vader comes from had virtually unlimited potential but somehow no one was able to communicate that to Lucas in a way that got through. That's now I feel personally, I didn't hate the film, I just thought it could have and should have been much better.
+Charles McConnell I agree people say "oh he's just a kid" or "all child actors are the same and he was unfairly ridiculed" No.. lol people need to realize he was just very very bad, he was bad in his other lead he was bad in this.
I'm 6 years later but i mean... George was one of a kind, he hated Pedowood and their bs, and he did things his own way. They hated him, and still do hate him for it lol. He got so big they couldn't shut him down.
@@Krystalmyth I have no reason to tolerate racist jibber jabber from the Jim Crow slave party democrat liberals...they have no room to talk with their history of suppression...
23:05 “This is about Darth Vader when he’s a young boy, a good boy. And then what happens to him...? He joins the film business” There’s a sad truth to that.
@@truesoulghost2777 The real tragedy of TPM is that Jake Lloyd suffered emotional trauma after acting as a child. After being harassed for three years, Lloyd declared that he would never be an actor again, which is why he didn't reprise his role as Anakin in Episode IX, making Hayden Christensen do so instead.
Steven: "That's great." George: "It's gonna be great." Steven: "That's gonna be great." George: "It's gonna be great." Steven: "That's gonna be great." Love these guys! :D
***** Also the voice of destruction...when he voted emergency power to the supreme chancellor, who in turn used that power to create a galactic empire... Jar Jar just ruins everything.
Duh! That's why George said that! He was written to fuck shit up, some one had to do it!!!!!! Prequels have to lead to the sequels, and the original trilogy starts with things fucked up.
I loved this film so much when I was a kid. And then people told me it was bad. Now I got my own opinion again. I love this movie so much. It speaks to sth in my heart.
Steve Robertson that’s why I said some scenes were good, I just found some of the overall movie not so interesting, because the tattoine scenes despite being important were a bit boring and the Naboo scenes a bit, some of the acting was also emotionless but it isn’t a bad movie by any means
This is how real star wars is made. It's all George's vision. George's directing. There for every aspect of the film bringing his vision to life, no matter how silly it is. It just feels genuine. Disney star wars feels like it was made in a factory with the only motivation being to make money.
Yeah but you guys always forget about all the dumb shit George does, like the special edition stuff, he even changed the damm Solo and Greedo scene again and opted for Disney to add the “maclunkly” line
sometimes you shouldnt let a director/creator run away with his ideas. the original star wars was saved by video editing. george lucas original story needed alot of work in getting rid of extra ideas and parts george lucas had.
@@MrParkerman6 More recently he seems to be doing better. Fans gave him a standing ovation at Star Wars Celebration twitter.com/ahmedbest/status/1117852586265255943
Funny when I was little and watched the prequels I loved them. I never would have thought they could receive all this hate... I feel so bad for Jake. He quit acting because of this movie and how he was treated. He was a little boy when doing this movie so i have no fucking idea why people expected so much from him. I also never saw anything wrong with Jar Jar, and I still don't. I never found him annoying :/
I am with you. I thought Jake did a great job of expressing what a child is, and Jar Jar was a pretty funny parody of Star War aliens. All these haters expect characters to conform to their own expectations, and judge them for not conforming, but characters -- both in real life and in movies -- are more diverse than anyone can expect. Let's enjoy all that diversity.
No one my age "hates" or even really dislikes any of the prequel movies. We all watched them as kids and we all like them, even Jar Jar. This must be some kind of generational issue where old fans hate the prequels ans younger generations think they're good.
Henriko Magnifico absolutely true! I watched each prequel at a midnight showing with all my friends and we all loved them. I think it’s the people who were our ages in the 70s that were disappointed. But George Lucas made these films for us, the new generation.
I 100% agree. I'm the same age as The Phantom Menace. I was born in 1999. Everyone hated the prequels, but I grew up with them. I actually watched the movies the true way they were intended. I became a Star Wars fan in 2005 when I was 5 years old- I saw the Phantom Menace first, then Attack of The Clones. Then I saw Revenge of The Sith and fell in love with Darth Vader. My parents had the original trilogy on VHS, so I watched those movies after Revenge Of The Sith. And I just loved the WHOLE saga. Admittedly when I was a kid, I didn't care much for The Phantom Menace or Attack of The Clones, but I think I was just a little too young to get it. Revenge of The Sith is my all-time favorite movie though and it really made me the Star Wars fan I am today. Looking back on the prequels, they really make me feel nostalgic again and now that I'm 20 and understand the entire saga, those beginning movies are the most important. I LOVE the original trilogy and I LOVE Darth Vader because he's my fav. His death literally makes me cry. But the prequels I relate to more and always will. Plus WHO doesn't want to see how Darth Vader was born!?
No, it's that completely uncritical people who just like whatever happens to be in front of them love these movies. "I watched these as a kid, and they have lots of colors, so they're good." That's your thinking.
That's because when you are a kid you will literally LIKE ANYTHING. Kids will always like bad movies b/c they haven't developed an educated opinion yet.
They talk about how in the pod race you have entirely cg landscape for 10 minutes and how hard it is to do. There days it’s commonplace for movies and even TV shows to have full cg sequences. It’s largely in part thanks to the Star Wars prequels and George lucas/ILM which pushed the bar for CG back then as well as made the decision to shoot digitally. It’s possible that if Lucas had not pushed to transition from film to digital cameras for Ep2 our digital film technology today would not be so advanced.
That's one thing he doesn't get enough credit for with the prequels. He absolutely pushed the industry forward a couple decades. Things he was doing in '99 are now commonplace, but he was the first to do it as well and with that much frequency.
@@logicaldude3611 I don't understand the hypocrisy of people that complain about prequel CGI yet they watch every marvel movie in awe like a good soyjack.
@@vgrepairs A tin can and a plastic bottle are both uneatable alright. Just a friendly reminder to prevent any goofy accident ❤ Choking hazards are known to kill little babies after all. 🙏
A kid that age with a team of 5 agents and managers. Mom and Dad rubbing their hands in glee as their little investment - sorry - son signs the big contract.
@@nathanmills335 I'll enjoy it more than the poor kid spending his childhood surrounded by lawyers and managers all looking to make them and the kid's parents a few dollars. No wonder the poor soul went off the rails as he got older.
This is wonderful stuff here, everyone who worked on this film looked they had a lot of fun, and were really passionate about their work, I know episode 1 didn't match a lot of people's expectations, but I enjoyed it a lot as a kid and I'm grateful we even have a prequel trilogy.
I watched the prequels a few days ago and I liked it. Whatever the problems were seemed to be a lot more subtle compared to the over-the-top, hyperactive world of today.
That shot of Jake Lloyd playing with the sand on set is friggin adorable. I'm sure the cameraman thought so too which is why he/she though to capture it. Like he's just being bored with the rest of the cast waiting for all these crew members trying to set up the shot, and just being the kid he is is like "Oooo, sand!"
***** While there are some people who genuinely like it, even to this day, I think the reason it made so much was because of the super excited fans of the time. I've seen other documentaries that show thousands of fans, all lined up to see this movie. The original trilogy was milked dry, it was time to move on. They camped out, waited, and were hyped as hell when it was released at midnight, proof being once the opening starts, they already lost their minds. I think the hype blinded them to the problems at the time. They didn't care, they were excited for another Star Wars movie. But over time, after the hype died, they realized the flaws.
***** That's hard to say. Just because people went to see it doesn't mean that every one of those people liked it. They had to see it first, pay for the ticket and then were able to make up their minds. Quite a lot of those people didn't believe how bad it was and went two or three times, because they thought that maybe they missed something or the movie had to grow on them. As one heavy critic says, it was probably the greatest blueballing in cinematic history. How much money it made doesn't mean a thing, much less that a lot of people liked it.
***** After losing much of his money in a divorce settlement in 1987, George Lucas had no desire to return to Star Wars and had canceled his sequel trilogy by the time Return of the Jedi was released. But in the early 1990s, Star Wars saw an increase in popularity thanks to comic books and novels, so thanks to them George went ahead and produced the prequels. If Star Wars had declined in popularity, the prequels wouldn't have been produced. After this movie was criticized by people for the writing, characterization and acting, George was hesitant to write and direct the sequels. He hoped that someone else was willing to help him but people declined.
Hectorferjr2 Okay? I really didn't say how/why George made the prequels, but honestly what you just said shows that Lucas only did it for the money, and didn't care about the franchise/stories he created. I mean I know that's what movies are about, telling stories and making money off of them, but when you only care about the money and not the story, that's when your heart isn't in the projects. I'm curious, why did people decline to help him? Because of poor reception of The Phantom Menace, or maybe they didn't want to work with him? I heard that George and an editor had conflicting ideas and wouldn't do it Georges' way, so he fired him.
its kinda sad when u think abt it. all these guys worked so hard, day and night, and they would hav been soo excited too, to work on a star wars film and then suddenly hav ppl bashing and hating on their work.. wat ppl failed to realise is the intense process of filmmaking and how hard ppl work to achieve the success of a film. its ok to be critical and hav an opinion but some ppl downright hav no respect for these ppl.
No. whats sad is they worked real hard to make a shitty movie set to blue screen for 90% of the film that wastes their talented acting and production skills entirely.
@@Krystalmyth The Phantom Menace was filmed in as many real world locations as the entire original trilogy. They also built and filmed more miniatures/models for this movie than the entire original trilogy combined. They also built huge sets, as seen in this documentary
@@Krystalmyth oh youre one of those people. With all due respect please don't procreate. I'd hate for any child to have to suffer through your parenting.
So much work, imagination, innovation and design. SO much money and anticipation and dazzling talent invested. All so groupthink and the newly burgeoning internet, headed up by its own "fans", can shred and roast the return of Star Wars. Some people STILL can't let it go, even though they've never admitted to enjoying it in the first place. Sad. Tragic. Disgusting. Fascinating. There is very little I did not love about the Phantom Menace. The movie was an achievement in the history of cinema and a red-letter date in the history of Star Wars. TRUE fans unite!
I saw it in theaters when I was four. I was so stoked. This movie got me into star wars. I don't care what all the critics say, star wars is meant to be entertain and be fun, and this movie accomplished that.
It was a lot of fun to watch. I can appreciate how ambitious the movie was. The first totally CG character, really. A lightsaber fight that took things to the next leve. The Pod Race, you see how they went from concepts to the near final shots and wow... quite an amazing accomplishment. This is kind of the template for how effects are done to this day. The figured a lot of this out for the first time, and George drove the entire film industry to the next level yet again. He's a very humble guy the entire time, and he knows that things are not perfect. He kept working at it through the next two movies, and pushed the boundries again and again. To me, he's a real risk taker and maverick film maker. Sure, a lot of other directors take what's already established in the industry and tell amazing stories. Love it. But you gotta appreciate George Lucas for the sheer imagination and drive to create things you've never seen.
Technically the Casper movie from 1995 was considered to have the first totally CG characters in live-action, but Jar Jar was certainly one of the first flesh and blood CG characters in movies after they had also tried to do CG Jabba for the 1997 Special Edition of A New Hope.
+KlaymenDel Titanic only having the watertight bulkheads up to E deck is stylistically designed to be that way, and we can't undo that, but we can diminish the effects of it. We can slow down the rate of flooding, we can add more lifeboats.
When i saw this , first showing , after waiting in line for 12 hours .... I was disappointed ..... but as the years have gone by I’ve accepted that my disappointment was my own fault . It was based on my expecting the film to fit into the mold of the original trilogy . Once I accepted the fact that it’s it’s own movie I now love the film
I was disappointed too but If you look at The Phantom Menace as a prologue to the saga it really is the most interesting of the saga. I think George has even explained that episode 1 was more of a prologue in an interview too. There’s so much world building and threads introduced to set up for the main plot of the next 2.
“It’s like poetry. It rhymes.” There’s a lot of great quotes in this documentary. Just shows how much the fans loved these films that we memorize the quotes from a documentary.
Watching Jake sign that contract is actually kind of sad in retrospect. He literally signed his life away. Or at least a life of ridicule and torment. Poor kid.
@@isaacdavidnz dawg, Jake was absolutely not the worst out of the three. The first kid could barely say his lines. Besides, George is not at fault for the irrational hate Jake received. He was a child, and in no way deserved what he got. There’s thoughtful criticism, and then there’s hate, he got the latter. The ones at fault are the ones who did it, not George.
I love this movie, I don't care how many people dislike that statement, I remember seeing it in my childhood and I also remember playing its adaptation for the first PlayStation. It was this movie that made me go to the cinema with my dad when I was nine years old to see Episode III. I love Star Wars.
@@sellingacoerwa8318 i'm not trying to prove something i'm just calling you out for your shitty attitude concerning people who like things that you don't.
@@gevy4127 Except I liked the prequels mostly ... I didn't like Jar Jar but that wasn't a uncommon reaction. You're just being a cheerleader for team misogyny Star Wars boys.
As much as I don't like The Phantom Menace you can clearly tell that George had such passion when making these films. Something you don't see with the corporate stuff at Disney where they don't give you creative control.
This is Still Epic after 25 years ago in 1997 , rewatching again in 2022! Thank You So Much George Lucas & Crew & Everybody for making STARWARS possible to inspire So Many STARWARS Fans out there!
Lmao your absolutely right. The blonde kid was literally perfect. Flawless acting, body language, and voice work. For Christ’s sake he even looked like Luke and Hayden.
I'm very, very grateful that you posted this video, because I get to see it with my grandson, with him, 11 years ago I began to see the Saga of Star Wars. Thank you so much mranderson00001
This is the best making of documentary ever. Soo immersive, you feel like part of the cast and crew. I remember seeing this on the dual dvd set for the movie. Excellent! Oh and did you catch the budget statement...50 million. Man have things changed.
Watching this truly shows what devotion George Lucas has to Star Wars and what an amazing director he is. He put every fiber of his being into these prequels and its a shame he got so much hate for Jar Jar.
I hate the prequels but around 51:00 in this, I kinda felt bad for George. He talks about how American Graffiti was a huge failure and how it's possible that he could fuck everything up. It's like he realized that Episode 1 was going to blow and he seems really disappointed.
My fondest memory of Episode I was during my first showing. We get to the scene where Darth Maul is cut in half and tumbles down the shaft, and one kid in the front row yells out “Look, his pants fell off!” And everyone that heard it went into fits of laughter... right before dealing with Qui-Gon’s death scene.
Watched it with lots of small kids. They were all like "I am the one with the green lightsaber", "I am the one with the blue one". When Qui Gon died "I don't want to be the one with the green one anymore"... had me laughing
Anakins hatred of sand began during filming 😂 I’m so grateful that the filming was filmed. It was great to see the actors actually interact with each other while they weren’t following a script. I did set building for a high school play my sister was in and I had a blast. I think I would enjoy doing prop engineering and set building for large movies.
During the Anakin auditions- Why the fuck didn't they choose the second kid??? He was good! And he at least had a grasp on decent line delivery and talking like a normal person.
Golden Dog They were all shit, to a certain degree. They're child actors. BUT, the second kid showed some potential. He was mindful of line delivery. With some coaching, he could done a decent job.
This is why I will always respect George Lucas he knew the characters and approved everything in meticulous detail. Now we have one shot directors who don't care like Rian Johnson and JJ Abrams.
@@luisjaimes7757 Hey i'm just stating the facts. I'm also not being very serious here. I love kids. I also was a kid. So was everyone else i have ever met. How could i hate everyone and myself? Being a kid is mandatory, it's a rite of passage, it's the tutorial. That doesn't mean we have to worship kids. I can understand why some people dislike children. Like i said. Some of them can be noisy (crying all the time) stinky (shitting in their diapers) nasty (bullying other children and just being violent to test parents out) and full of ignorance (as in they don't have any experience and very little knowledge, how could they, they haven't been around for long to gain data) Stating these facts doesn't make me a mean guy. Just real.
@@PresidentialWinner well i'm glad your not serious lol. pretty easy to take people seriously in the comments section. also I understand what you are saying just the way in was presented made you look like a piece crap.
15:35 everyone was nervous about cutting Ewan's hair lol. Ewan himself didn't look too excited at the sacrifice. The spiky Padawan style is awful; luckily he had the face and head shape that could carry any hairstyle George imposed on him.
I like The Phatom Menace flaws and all, and to be honest if anybody still is watching and talking about it and they don't like it all these years later, then something somewhere is seriously out of whack. This documentary is just the icing on the cake so many nice moments and now it's like looking through a portal into another universe on the one hand it still feels like yesterday and on the other it's like I'm remembering somebody else's memories. Also here we go again with Episode VII, I can't wait.
I thought jake lloyd did a fine job, but making anakin like 6 years old in episode one was a terrible mistake. He should've been a teen or tween, then the acting would've been better, the romance would be less weird and the "hes too old to begin training" thing would make a lot more sense.
@@LoadPast They don't start making them swing lightsabers at 1. It's force conditioning. 1 year olds who are force sensitive can use the force to lift things. If you don't start early, that skill will slowly deteriorate, and then it's pretty hard to not only teach them, but make them a "good" jedi
sunsman4, It was Lucas's fault. He had sole, dictatorial control over the script and direction. Everyone else just did what he said without questioning him, probably out of fear of being fired.
I love the star wars prequels and I don't care what any one says I grew up with them and im excited for episode 7 :)!! thank you so much for uploading all these awesome behind the scenes videos
This doc helps us to keep in mind that a movie like this is always a compromise between the filmmakers’ vision, the current limitations of digital effects and the practical concerns of finance. It’s always like this; it always will be.
@@thedynastycontinues945 i happen to really enjoy the phantom menace. i feel it has more replay value than most of them- and i enjoy all 6 of the star wars
@@thedynastycontinues945 That is more descriptive of the making of all three episodes of the sequel trilogy. The Prequel Trilogy is fine wine. It's only gotten better with age.
Love to see these behind the scenes of films made with such love. You can just see the happiness in the face of Ewan McGregor and many others while doing their hardest. Sad how people got so but hurt and ruined the lives of some people who only did their job and followed the will of a director he, in spite of all his flaws, at least stayed true to his vision and didn't do a shit movie trilogy like the sequels (and a big difference is that we complain about Disney management, we don't aim to ruin the actors lives)
49:28 Such a magical moment showing how masterful Frank Oz was at portraying Yoda with actual puppeteering :) 59:59 Such a bittersweet moment where we see Oz witnessing computer technology, setting the stage of replacing the use of practical effects and puppetry; his entire craft. :(
3:06 "But you see the echo of where it all is going to go, again its like poetry so that they rhyme. Every stanza kind of rhymes with the last one." -George Lucas
all those fan that watch it at the midnight premier, they seem excited to watch star wars ep 1 and i can imagine whats their reaction after the film, I guess they were disappointed
+Severian Wintermute Well there's this genre called "postmortem analysis" in professional-oriented pop-art and tech journalism, where upon product release, an analysis is performed of what went wrong, and what went right, what could have been done better, what production risk factors there were and how they were mitigated. "postmortem" doesn't mean that the project died, indeed most such analyses are concerned with successfully completed projects.
A person with Lucas' demeanor and calm nature will live a very long life. They actually interviewed people who lived to over 100 years old, and they ALL had this exact way about them. Even in situations where you want to tear the hair out of your head, they remain calm.
People take Star Wars way too seriously, like it's their personal life story. They expect more than perfection and spit on the creators for anything less. They don't seem to comprehend that their point of view is hindsight and film-making is extremely difficult. The movie was awesome. (Yeah, I said it.) It wasn't perfect, but it was awesome none the less. George and everyone else did an amazing job. If you didn't like it, go create your own.
I think they did a good job and did their best. but you are being too forgiving towards a bad movie. Everything you said holds true, but it was, in the end, the worst, or second worst star wars movie to date.
+Ben Shearer It feels like a child movie... But I accept all films, episode VII, The Force Awakens is a step away from this film and the other 2. A good step. Not that it is as good as the vote on IMDB. But maybe 7.5. Episdode 1-3 aren't great. They are okay, some part of them. At least Ewan McGregor did pretty good acting. Natalie Portman is a good actor, but not in the role as Amidala. Leon, Black Swan are great movies with her. But The Force Awakens is almost a remake of Star Wars, episode 4, the orginal film. To tired to go into details. But I was surprised and liked it. For now 7/10.
I'm not a SW fan...The Force Awakens and Rogue One are very good movies in my opinion. The Phantom Menace, not so much... If a movie isn't good it just isn't, there's no way out.
Rick McCallum looks frightened at how bad the film is in this scene. He dare not say anything though as I don't think dissenting opinions were very welcome at the time.
Golden Yoshi that's true. Can't really judge the movie based on the teaser. I'm just saying that the teaser wasn't very impressive imo It was at first, but when I watch it now, it's not.
I love this movie! Thanks for posting. Its my favourite comedy about a struggling filmmaker after "Ed Wood" and "Lost in la mancha" The guy who plays Lucas totally nailed it! I heard he gained weight to play the part, thats commitment! It also has some of the best one-liners ever "Its a classic mistake people do in these kinds of movies, they go to far", "I might have gone to far in a few places", "Jar Jar is the key to all of this", "Its like sort of they rime, hopefully it will work". The only thing I don't like is that they copied "the set gets destroyed by a storm" scene from "Lost in la mancha" Other than that this is just classic disaster comedy at its best! A real fool triumphant piece =D Cheers /Movielover from sweden
***** After this movie was criticized by people for the writing, characterization and acting, George was hesitant to write and direct the sequels. He hoped that someone else was willing to help him but people declined.
I've always had respect for this documentary because it was one of the first making of's i ever saw as a little kid. Always liked how it wasn't interview based but footage based footage. That being said, i feel bad for those poor guys at 1:4:00
It's so lovely to see all these young actors being just normal people, no super humans. They are new at the set and nervous, just like every person would be
Quite simply freeking amazing !!! I knew extraordinary amounts of work that go into a major production like Star wars is mega mind blowing, But to actually see it put together in stages of development is truly fascinating, That all that creative chaos can come together and be blended into a true master piece ! Bravo very well done thank you so much for sharing.
Poor Jake.... god he seemed like such a happy, sweet kid. I HATE that because people can be so ugly and cruel that his childhood and subsequent adulthood had to be so painful and difficult. Same for the actor that played Jar Jar. He seemed like such a truly nice, happy guy and again I've heard stories that people were so mean to him he contemplated suicide.
I really find it quite amazing how deep you guys actually take this. Like it or not, this was Lucas' vision, and he did his best to bring it to the screen. I for one love ALL of the Star Wars films, and am willing to watch the prequels any day. They do hold a very special place in my childhood, and I always deem them enjoyable to watch. I saw these before the original trilogy, but seeing them in this order did not change my opinion one bit about the saga as a whole. I love the entire saga, said and done.
Why did Lucas not go with the second kid shown in these final auditions?!! Admittedly the first kid is dire, possibly even worse than Jake Lloyd, but the second kid wasn't bad. He also looks far more like Luke Skywalker than Jake (which is kinda important, as he is meant to be his dad!!) Anyone else here agree with me?
agree with you fully✌ but it seems like george was aiming for a bad movie lolz, and a better kid actor would not have changed a thing. look at how he butchered portman's, mcgregor's and a lot of other great actors' performances.
