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Live From...
Skywalker Ranch: New "Stars Wars" Film to Debut in Two Weeks
Aired May 07, 2002 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANNOUNCER: It's a love story...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "STAR WARS: EPISODE II: ATTACK OF THE CLONES")
QUEEN PADME AMIDALA: Are you glad to have left? I thought that was forbidden for a Jedi.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: ... and a war story, but it's also about money and technology.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE LUCAS, DIRECTOR: Pretty much whatever I could imagine, I can do.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: The people who changed moviemaking...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LUCAS: It's all magic.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: ... and were themselves changed by the phenomenal success of "Star Wars."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LUCAS: The whole thing is a journey of the hero.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: Tonight, LIVE FROM SKYWALKER RANCH: The Mythology, The Business Empire, The Man Who Created It All & The Countdown To The Clones.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "STAR WARS: EPISODE II: ATTACK OF THE CLONES")
YODA: Begun, this clone war has.
LUCAS: And that's how we do it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: LIVE FROM SKYWALKER RANCH. Now, here's Connie Chung.
CONNIE CHUNG, HOST: Long ago or at least in a decade that now seems far, far away, a young director's career went to light speed and Hollywood has never been the same. The year was 1977. The director was George Lucas and his movie was called "Star Wars." This is only part of the result, Skywalker Ranch.
Here, the house you're seeing is actually George Lucas' office along with conference rooms and a library. This 2,600-acre complex is about 15 miles north of San Francisco in the rolling hills and trees and vineyards of California's Marin County. We're on a patio outside the tech building, the home of Skywalker sound, as well as a 300-seat movie theater. The famous Industrial Light and Magic Studios where they do special effects is about 10 miles from here. This is the heart of George Lucas' empire, an empire started on a gamble that audiences would like a tale of good and evil doing battle in outer space.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHUNG: Who could have imagined that 25 years later, a new installment of "Star Wars" would still be one of Hollywood's most anticipated events.
YODA: Begun, this clone war has.
CHUNG: For months, audiences have been guessing about the new details, new villains and the developing love story and, of course, what special effects has Lucas created. State of the art visual effects were what sparked attention in 1977. And all those toy light sabers and Darth Vader costumes rewrote Hollywood's rules for marketing and promotion and turned George Lucas into a very wealthy man.
LUKE SKYWALKER: I got him.
HAN SOLO: Great, kid. Don't get cocky.
CHUNG: The empire struck back in 1980. It was a Hollywood rarity; a sequel that audiences actually felt was worth watching and a cliffhanger ending -- could Darth Vader really be Luke Skywalker's father?
DARTH VADER: It is useless to resist. Don't let yourself destroy it as Obi-Wan did.
CHUNG: By the time the Jedi returned in the summer of 1983, the "Star Wars" movie making and money making phenomena was the stuff of Hollywood and business legends.
But would they always be of critical box office finances? We had to wait a long time for an answer. Lucas didn't release another "Star Wars" movie until 1999, "Episode One: The Phantom Menace." It produced a new string of box office records and a now familiar barrage of marketing and promotion tie-ins. But for all its special effects, critics complained about stereotyping, stale plot lines, even racism.
JAR JAR BINKS: Oh, this is going to be messy.
CHUNG: Despite all the money it made and all the records it set, "The Phantom Menace" was to most a disappointment.
Now, in nine days, it's back in the theaters for "Star Wars: Episode II: The Attack of The Clones" and this time, there is a real life cliffhanger. Can George Lucas clone the success of the original "Star Wars" trilogy?
"Businessweek" reports Lucas spent a $140 million of his own money on this movie and will pocket about 40 cents of every ticket dollar. If the force is with him, Lucas stands to make three-quarters of a billion dollars.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHUNG: The original "Star Wars" opened in just 32 U.S. theaters on Memorial Day weekend, 1977. On May 16, "Star Wars Episode II: Attack of The Clones" is being released in theaters all over the world, the biggest premiere extravaganza in Hollywood history. And the man behind it all is with me right now.
Thank you for joining us.
LUCAS: Well, it's great to have you here.
CHUNG: Appreciate it. This is a beautiful place. I have to tell you.
LUCAS: Oh, thank you.
CHUNG: All right. It's 1977, the Vietnam War and Watergate are over and there aren't heroes on the big screen. Then you bring us "Star Wars." Now, 9/11. Do you think it's possible that people out there are not hungry for heroes and villains, this adventure, this extravaganza?
LUCAS: Well, I don't know. But obviously, I think maybe "Spider-man" proves that there is sort of still an interest in superheroes and heroic acts.
CHUNG: Now, you're probably right in many ways because it was a spectacular success.
LUCAS: Yeah.
CHUNG: Is that going to hurt you in any way?
LUCAS: No, I think any time you have a successful movie out there, it helps everybody, no matter what, you know. It's a little scary when you're following -- when you're the one that's coming up - it's scarier for them than it is for us, because we're going to come up, you know and take a lot of business away and they've been out there. So...
CHUNG: You're pretty darn confident, aren't you?
LUCAS: ... it's excellent. Well, let's - but "Men in Black" is the one we're worried about because they're going to come up and take our business away.
CHUNG: Right.
LUCAS: So it happens every two weeks, somebody comes up and gets the business from everybody who's already out there.
CHUNG: Now, George, you have spent really basically a lifetime creating and making "Star Wars." What I'm wondering is Francis Ford Coppola said something that I think was very profound. He said - Coppola, of course, is a man you admire. He said, "'Star Wars' robbed America of one of its most challenging filmmakers." Is he right?
LUCAS: Well, my early career from very, very different from where I find myself now. It was a very -- much more avant-garde, San Francisco, underground filmmaker type person who was more interested in documentary filmmaking and that sort of thing. And I certainly had no idea that I was ever going to go into the theatrical film business. And he kind of helped me -- he's a, you know, great director of actors and a great writer, and he sort of pushed me in those directions, away from the sort of pure cinema that I was involved in.
CHUNG: Do you regret that at all? I mean, look...
LUCAS: No, I...
CHUNG: ... at what has happened to your life. It's been consumed by "Star Wars."
LUCAS: But it's - you know, life is a path and you have to follow it and you have to sort of feel you're going in the right direction. I think I've always gone in the right direction. I've always followed my heart. I've always done the things I cared about.
Would I ever have expected that I'd be here? No, of course not. You know I never thought I'd be making theatrical films. Then, I thought I was going to be making more esoteric art films like my first film. And I ended up making basically films for young people and that's become my life. And I certainly don't regret it, but when this next film is over, I'm going to go back to my more esoteric roots and spend the rest of my life doing things that aren't quite so popular.
CHUNG: You mean "Episode III"?
LUCAS: Yeah, after "Episode III". Not this one, the next one.
CHUNG: OK. Now, one of the themes in this next motion picture is this forbidden love. You can love, people can love, but they have to love unconditionally and a Jedi is forbidden from loving. I don't - I want to get inside your head and figure out, what are you trying to tell us? Now what does that mean to you? I mean I'm wondering if you share that feeling.
LUCAS: Well, it's - what has to do with a Jedi is has to do with...
CHUNG: No, I'm not talking about the Jedi. I'm talking about George.
LUCAS: Hey, it's a story. Come on! It's like I'm trying to tell a story in that situation. It has to do with...
CHUNG: Well, what about the message there? What are you telling us?
LUCAS: The message is you can't possess things. You can't hold on to them. You have to accept change. You have to accept the fact that things transition. And so, as you try to hold on to things or you become afraid of -- that you're going to lose things, then you begin to crave the power to control those things. And then, you start to become greedy and then you turn into a bad person.
CHUNG: I see. The evil comes that way. Let me ask you about another theme that's in this movie and that is the father/son relationship. When you wrote that, did you pattern that after your relationship with your father?
LUCAS: No. Its' more...
CHUNG: Not at all? This is just people thinking that you did?
LUCAS: Well, a lot of people assume that, because they say, oh, he must take it from his own father. But my father wasn't at all like Darth Vader. And at the same time, it's based on sort of larger sort of mythological motifs that I've taken really from stories that are, you know, thousands of years old. You know that father/son relationship -- probably every father and son has a certain amount of tension between them.
CHUNG: Right.
LUCAS: But the issue of redemption, of the son redeeming the father is more of a mythological motif. This particular story of a good boy who thinks he's good and tries to be good and struggles to be good, falling into that bad father role is, I think, a very fascinating story, which it doesn't really have much to do with my father. I think it has to do with the struggle that we all have in trying to be good people.
CHUNG: You'll turn 60 when you complete the "Episode III". Do you want the "Star Wars" trilogy and the mythology to go beyond your lifetime?
LUCAS: No. No, I'm - I've worked it out to where -when I do it, in terms of the films that I'm doing, this will be the last - the next film, III, will be the last film. And then, it'll be a six-part series and that will be the end of it.
I'm doing...
CHUNG: You're not mentoring someone to take over for you?
LUCAS: No. It's - there may be other venues for it, but not in the theatrical release, but for sort of offshoot stories and things and in other areas, but not in theatrical films. I - you know, I just want to keep that special. I don't want to have it just sort of turn into "Star Trek."
CHUNG: Got you. George Lucas, thank you so much and thank you for inviting us here. We're one of the few normal human beings who just come here and...
(LAUGHTER)
CHUNG: ... spend a little time with you.
LUCAS: Well, it's great to have you here.
CHUNG: Great! Good luck!
LUCAS: Thank you.
CHUNG: Many people know more about the "Star Wars" saga than they do about the American Revolution or what's going on in Congress right now. What's the appeal? Well, CNN's Bruce Burkhardt looks at why the mythologies of Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi and the rest of the "Star Wars" gang resonate with so many people.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRUCE BURKHARDT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): How to explain the force of the "Star Wars" phenomenon? By the thousands, they came to this "Star Wars" convention in Indianapolis. How do you explain why this is a celebration of something more than a movie? It's almost religious.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I definitely believe in sort of this major conflict of good versus evil. So I know that there's some deeper reality to the whole thing.
BURKHARDT: In fact, George Lucas borrowed heavily from both the religious and mythical world. Classical archetypes and ideas karma the cultures across the ages. Luke Skywalker is such an archetype with all the ingredients -- the quest for truth, learning to give into something greater than oneself and finally, the classical hero's journey.
I, too, went on a journey. It wasn't all that heroic. A few years ago, when "Phantom Menace" came out, a journey to try and find out how this saga manages to be all things to all people -- a Catholic priest, a martial arts master and a Buddhist monk.
DIDO, BUDDHIST MONK: Inhalation is one. BURKHARDT: His name is Dido, a Buddhist monk and the Abbott of a monastery in Woodstock New York.
DIDO: Stop thinking, let go of your thoughts, come back to the moment, that's what they were trying to get Skywalker to do.
YODA: Concentrate.
DIDO: There's a central theme in that, that's probably closest to the force than any other thing and that's called kei (ph). It literally means spirit or energy.
STEVE DOMASKYO (ph), MARTIAL ARTS GRANDMASTER: Chi is the force in the "Star Wars" movie.
BURKHARDT: Sometimes my journey is not fun, but Steve Domaskyo (ph), a martial arts grandmaster, was only demonstrating how Darth Vader used the force.
DOMASKYO: One, two, whoa! Everything was almost identical to the training, to the philosophy, to the way they fought and trained with the weaponry, the way they developed their energy was all Shaolin training.
BURKHARDT: Father Mark Scolese, a Jesuit priest, saw "Star Wars" the first time as a child in Pennsylvania.
REV. MARK SCOLESE, CATHOLIC PRIEST: The movie elicits in people a connection or a hunger to be in touch with the transcendent. In the second movie, Yoda closes his eyes and lifts his hand and the ship rises out of the muck and Luke looks at him and says, "I don't believe it." And Yoda says...
YODA: That is why you fail.
SCOLESE: It's another example of that suspension of disbelief that is necessary in a sense to begin to enter into the spiritual life.
BURKHARDT: This doesn't look very spiritual, but in a sense, people here are on a quest, too, trying to embrace all things "Star Wars." And it's where our journey ends now, amidst these icons of modern mythology.
Bruce Burkhardt, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANNOUNCER: He's the young star of the new "Star Wars" saga. Next, Connie speaks one-on-one with actor, Hayden Christensen. Also ahead, "Attack of The Clones" is light speed ahead of the past "Star Wars" films when it comes to technology.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, if you don't like it, change it, manipulate it, play with it like a painter or a sculptor would.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: And later, the battle for the box office. Can "Star Wars" dethrone "Spider-Man" as king of the blockbusters?
LIVE FROM SKYWALKER RANCH: COUNTDOWN TO THE CLONES continues in just a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANNOUNCER: Natalie Portman has starred in movies with veteran actors, such as Robert de Niro, Susan Sarandon and Jack Nicholson, but perhaps her most challenging role was against an actor who wasn't there at all.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NATALIE PORTMAN, ACTRESS: Oh, it's amazing. It so surpasses anything I could have imagined. It's really strange to be, you know, asked to just come up with this stuff in your head while you're shooting because you're -- they describe it to you a little bit, what it's going to look like. They show you some sketches, but nothing compares to what it actually looks like in the end. So it's pretty exciting to see the finished version.
CHUNG: When he got the role of Anakin Skywalker most everyone was asking, "Hayden who"? If they're still asking after May 16, he may be in trouble. Actor, Hayden Christensen, the new kid on the block at "Star Wars" joins me here at the Skywalker Ranch.
Thank you for coming.
HAYDEN CHRISTENSEN, ACTOR: Nice to meet you.
CHUNG: Good to meet you. Now, Hayden, you weren't born when the first three "Star Wars" came out?
CHRISTENSEN: That's right.
CHUNG: When did you finally see them and what did you think when you saw them? And you have to tell the truth.
CHRISTENSEN: I saw them when I was seven or eight. And my older brother was a bit of a "Star Wars" fan, so he introduced me via VHS. And I thoroughly enjoyed it. You know it's -- he created such a fantastical universe that it's easy to lose yourself in.
CHUNG: You're not just saying that?
CHRISTENSEN: No, I...
CHUNG: You didn't turn to everyone and say, what's the big deal here?
CHRISTENSEN: No, I mean - to be honest, I didn't watch it every weekend thereafter. But when they digitally remastered them and re- released them theatrically, I was really thoroughly excited to go see those because I remember really enjoying the films, but still didn't have like a vivid memory of what it was - exactly going on. I actually became a fan when I saw them then.
CHUNG: You know, the casting director has really made the point of saying there was real angst before they found you because they were looking for somebody who was sweet but also had this toughness, someone who had sort of this evil lurking - an undertone that would come out later as Darth Vader. So is there evil screaming to get out of you?
CHRISTENSEN: Absolutely not, no. I mean I'm an actor. I just pretend. You know, that's the...
CHUNG: So what is it that they think they saw in you, this sort of intrigue or mystery that could change you from this very sweet- looking person to Darth Vader?
CHRISTENSEN: I don't know. I mean I was auditioning for the role and I was aware of sort of the sensibilities that were required for the role. And you know I wanted to play the part, so I think maybe I was trying to impose certain sensibilities that weren't necessarily there so that I could get the part. But no, I'm not - I don't have really evil lurking deep within.
CHUNG: Tell me, one of the great things about this movie is that you and many of the other actors had to just act in front of a blank screen. You didn't know what was going to be placed in that screen later. How was that?
CHRISTENSEN: It was - it was a challenge at times and, I don't know, in a lot of ways I felt like it almost even aided me because...
CHUNG: Because your imagination went wild?
CHRISTENSEN: Yes. Well, yes and no. I mean I think that if there actually was actually a feasible way of bringing these crazy environments into a studio that we could, you know, interact with, that, you know, it was - it would be too distracting and we would be sort of in awe of everything. And these are people that are sort of supposed to be very comfortable in these situations so.
CHUNG: All right. Hayden Christensen, thank you so much. Nobody will be saying, "Who is Hayden who?"
CHRISTENSEN: Thank you.
CHUNG: OK, we'll be right back in just a moment.
ANNOUNCER: Stay with us for a look behind the scenes at the latest "Star Wars" magic.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's a tremendous freedom to create a new kind of explosive imagery.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: Next, what makes these special effects so special? And later, some "Star Wars" star power. Connie talks with Yoda's creator, Frank Oz and actor, Samuel L. Jackson.
LIVE FROM THE SKYWALKER RANCH: COUNTDOWN TO THE CLONES will be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANNOUNCER: Of all the "Star Wars" movies, 1999's "Phantom Menace" made the most money, grossing nearly $1 billion worldwide. In second place is 1977's original "Star Wars" movie. It took in almost $800 million.
CHUNG: No matter which episode you watched, no matter which of -- year it was made, one thing makes a "Star Wars" movie "Star Wars," the ever changing but always state of the art visual effects. CNN's James Hattori gives us a look at what's so special this time and whether your local movie theater can keep up with it.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JAMES HATTORI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Whether it's "Spider-Man's" adrenaline pumping acrobatics catapulting your emotions or the grim hordes of clones marching on the imperiled republic, filmmakers are pushing the cinematic envelope with images enhanced or created by computer wizardry. Now "Star Wars II" goes a step further. It's the first major motion picture shot completely with a high definition camera, no film whatsoever.
GEORGE LUCAS, STAR WARS CREATOR: For a fantasy film, this kind of technology is almost a must in order to get your story told, and before the stories were constrained. You couldn't tell these kind of stories just because the technology wouldn't let you.
ELIZABETH DALEY, DEAN, USC, SCHOOL OF CINEMA AND TV: It's a tremendous freedom to create a new kind of explosive imagery.
HATTORI: Elizabeth Daly (ph), Dean of the University of Southern California's School of Cinema and Television, says technology lets filmmakers not just assemble and tweak images but profoundly alter them.
DALEY: Now if you don't like it, change it, manipulate it, play with it like a painter or a sculptor would.
HATTORI: Or in the case of Yoda, even to replace a puppet with a digital reincarnation.
BILL DILL, AMERICAN FILM INSTITUTE CONSERVATORY: These are new tools that it's possible may change the audience's expectations of what a movie can do. HATTORI: Here in Hollywood, while special effects technology has advanced in quantum leaps over the past 20 years, to the point where audiences now take it for granted, there's still one part of the film industry that hasn't changed fundamentally over the past 100 years. Theaters today still rely on sprockets, bulbs, and rolls of celluloid. Digital projectors have yet to catch on, due to costs and competing formats, despite giving moviegoers a more consistent experience.
LUCAS: If you go after the first weekend, you're not going to see scratches. You're not going to see it all torn up. You're not going to see it jiggle around.
HATTORI: As theaters compete for customers with increasingly sophisticated home video systems, they may be forced to upgrade. Still, no one believes technology will ever be the real box office draw.
STEVEN POSTER, PRESIDENT, AMERICAN SOCIETY OF CINEMATOGRAPHERS: If the movie is good, people are going to want to see it. They're not going to want to see it just because it was done digitally.
HATTORI: In fact, maybe the best film technology is the one so real, the audience won't notice it. James Hattori, CNN, Hollywood.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHUNG: Back in the 1970s, movie directors usually negotiated their fee and signed on the dotted line. But that isn't what happened with George Lucas. He gave up fat paychecks in return for control of merchandising and the money generated by Star Wars toys, books, tee shirts, posters and you name it. For more on how that changed the way the movie business did business, "Fortune" magazine's Andy Serwer joins us from New York. Andy, thank you for being with us tonight.
ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Sure, Connie.
CHUNG: Andy, "Spider-Man" just basically set incredible records. Does that bode well for "Star Wars?"
SERWER: I think it does. I mean "Spider-Man" was just an awesome, awesome opening, three days, $115 million, Connie, really blowing away "Harry Potter" which did $80 million last fall, and it does bode well, because it shows that the blockbuster superhero movie can carry big. It appeals to all ages. It appeals to children, grownups, grandparents, and that's exactly what George Lucas is trying to do and I think he'll achieve that.
CHUNG: Now is the first weekend critical?
SERWER: The first weekend is critical. It's more and more critical nowadays because directors and producers try to get those films out globally now. We saw that with "Spider-Man" and they're going to be doing that with this new "Star Wars" film.
So they're getting a bigger bang for their buck in those first three days, not getting so much on the back end, but those first three days are absolutely critical and a huge percentage of the overall film's gross.
CHUNG: Now the last time around in 1999, Lucas went overboard with merchandising, but he has corrected it this time, right?
SERWER: Absolutely. You know there are real problems with saturating the market with all those products. Pepsi alone made $8 billion "Star War" cans. I mean that's just remarkable. There was fast food tie-ins, just a tremendous amount of saturation in the market and not all those products sold, Connie.
This time, he is being more conservative, rolling it back and only doing a few tie-ins, really sticking with the three pillars, what they call the three pillars, toys, books and videogames. They've also got some tie-ins with cereal as well, but no fast food this time, and no soda either.
CHUNG: And many of the companies actually didn't want to join in. Now in our 15 seconds left, excuse me, Andy tell me this. Does this in any way affect 20th Century Fox stock if the movie does spectacularly well?
SERWER: Well, of course, they're owned by News Corp. Connie, and yes it's a huge boon to a company like 20th Century Fox. That's why AOL Time Warner was touting "Harry Potter." "Spider-Man" is huge for Sony. These are billion dollar franchises. Overall, this franchise is worth $3 billion so far for Fox and going forward, who knows how many more billion yet to come.
CHUNG: All right, thank you Andy Serwer. Thank you for correcting me as well. Rupert Murdoch would have my head if I didn't know that Fox was owned by News Corp.
SERWER: Right.
CHUNG: We're back in a moment.
ANNOUNCER: Coming up, a Jedi Master and a puppet master. We'll hear from the people behind two of "Star Wars" most familiar characters. And later...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED CORRESPONDENT: If you had one question to ask George Lucas, what would you ask him?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Will you marry me?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: "Star Wars" fanatic fans. LIVE FROM SKYWALKER RANCH, COUNTDOWN TO THE CLONES continues in just a moment. But first, time for your opinion. Do you plan to see "Star Wars, Episode II, Attack of the Clones" the first weekend it's released? To take the quick vote, head to cnn.com, the AOL keyword is CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) ANNOUNCER: To be box office king, the force may have to be with "Star Wars Attack of the Clones." Just this past weekend, "Spider- Man" shattered box office records, taking in $114 million in three days.
CHUNG: In the course of his long and productive career, he has played bad guys and tough guys, but as of this month, Samuel L. Jackson will be forever known as the guy with the purple light saber. You know what? I am going to use a four-letter word that you are so passionate about, golf.
SAMUEL L. JACKSON, ACTOR: Yes.
CHUNG: Right?
JACKSON: Yes.
CHUNG: My husband's a crazy golfer too.
JACKSON: I've heard that.
CHUNG: Yes, and he plays all the time. Now you're making I mean so many movies. You got something like four coming out. You've made more than 60, so how do you even have time to play golf? I have an answer. I know I haven't let you talk yet, but the answer is, you don't want to get in trouble. You're trying to keep yourself from getting in trouble. Is that a good answer?
JACKSON: By playing golf?
CHUNG: Yes by playing golf and making 60 movies.
JACKSON: That's part of it. I'm pretty passionate about what I do. I really love the creative process and when I lived in New York, I was always doing a play, rehearsing a play and auditioning for a play. So that's kind of my work ethic, so my films tend to run back-to-back, and I have a golf clause in my contract.
CHUNG: What is it?
JACKSON: They have to join a country club wherever I'm playing, and I have to be able to play twice a week.
CHUNG: I love it. Oh boy, my husband would love that. And you play helicopter golf, which is you take a helicopter and you land at St. Andrews, right?
JACKSON: I've done that, yes, but I know Roger said that about me or when he met me in Liverpool when I was (UNINTELLIGIBLE) but actually...
CHUNG: Roger?
JACKSON: Roger Michelle (ph), the director of "Changing Lanes." He said that about me but actually what I was doing was, I was taking a ferry across the Mersey into Ireland.
CHUNG: Oh, I see.
JACKSON: I couldn't afford to pay for a helicopter. That was John Travolta territory.
CHUNG: Got you. Ireland has beautiful courses, right?
JACKSON: Yes, it does.
CHUNG: Absolutely. Now, in this movie you are having a sword fight, well a laser fight.
JACKSON: Laser, yes.
CHUNG: With nothing, right? I mean when you shot it, there was nothing around you. You were fighting air.
JACKSON: Well, part of it, I had a character that I had the big fight with that's choreographed was actually there for a while.
CHUNG: Oh, I see.
JACKSON: And when we're just in the arena, George just kind of put me in this big space and said there are lots of things attacking you, so fight them, which was kind of great for me because that's what I've been doing since I was, you know, five or six years old and watching "Batman" on television and going to the movies and watching "Zorro" and all these other guys. I would come home and I would have great sword fights in my room with things. I'd roll over the bed and jump over chairs and swing off of stuff, and I fought things that weren't there because I had no brothers and sisters, so...
CHUNG: I see.
JACKSON: ... I had imaginary adversaries a lot, so it was full circle for me.
CHUNG: So your movie fantasy has been filled.
JACKSON: Yes.
CHUNG: What's your golf fantasy?
JACKSON: Well my golf fantasy is actually pretty simple right now, just to shoot even par. I'm not even trying to shoot under par. I just want to shoot even par.
CHUNG: What are you, 2, 3 now?
JACKSON: Six, working too much.
CHUNG: That's pretty good.
JACKSON: Yes.
CHUNG: Yes, I understand you're working too much.
JACKSON: Yes.
CHUNG: Get off that work treadmill, all right?
JACKSON: I'll see what I can do. My wife won't like that idea too much.
CHUNG: She's a good woman, isn't she? How many years?
JACKSON: Twenty-two married, 32 together.
CHUNG: Great. Samuel L. Jackson, thank you.
JACKSON: Thank you.
CHUNG: Loved meeting you, big fan.
JACKSON: Thanks very much.
CHUNG: All right. Take care. We'll be back in a moment.
ANNOUNCER: Next, he's new and improved. Thanks to new technology, Yoda takes flight. We'll speak with the man behind the 900-year-old Jedi Master. LIVE FROM SKYWALKER RANCH, COUNTDOWN TO THE CLONES continues in just a moment.
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ANNOUNCER: George Lucas put up $140 million of his own money to make "Attack of the Clones," but he's expected to recoup all that money and then some. Lucas will personally get an estimate 40 percent of all ticket sales for the movie.
CHUNG: One of the most beloved characters in the "Star Wars" saga is Yoda, the 900-year-old Jedi Master, first appeared in the "Empire Strikes Back" and has been in every "Star Wars" movie since. Yoda is the creation of Frank Oz, the muppeteer who also gave us Miss Piggy, but this time around Yoda isn't a puppet at all.
In "Attack of the Clones" he is all digital. The special effects magician who did it, Rob Coleman, is with me here at Skywalker Ranch, and in New York is the original Yoda, Frank Oz.
Thank you so much gentlemen for being with us tonight.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you very much.
CHUNG: Rob, first you. Why is Yoda computer generated and not sort of the creation really of Frank Oz?
ROB COLEMAN, DIRECTOR OF ANIMATION, INDUSTRIAL LIGHT & MAGIC: I think that started with the script. We realized when we saw the script from George that this was going to be a much more active character. He's going to have to wield a light saber. He's going to have to run around and he needed to be freed from the world that had been before it. He couldn't be a puppet anymore. He needed to be free of that.
CHUNG: But you had to study him carefully to make sure you do it right?
COLEMAN: Oh, yes, boy did I ever.
CHUNG: Absolutely. Frank Oz, the puppeteer in you has to be unhappy about that. I mean you're still doing his voice, but aren't you a little upset about it, that he's computer generated?
FRANK OZ, CREATOR OF YODA: I'm thrilled. I'm thrilled.
CHUNG: You are?
OZ: Yes.
CHUNG: Why?
OZ: Because just like Rob said - hi, Rob, by the way.
COLEMAN: Hey Frank, haven't talked to you since February.
OZ: I know.
CHUNG: Hey, you know do it on your own dime fellows, you know. Okay.
OZ: Like Rob said, Connie, it's all about the character in the script and I'm just thrilled that it worked so great because all that matters is bringing a character to life for the story, and if this is the way it had to be, that's great. I saw it. I think Rob and his team did a great job.
CHUNG: Tell me, do you think digital is going to put muppets and puppeteers out of work?
OZ: No, I don't think digital is going to put anybody out of work. I think they're going to get work and they're going to make great stuff. I mean it's not about putting somebody out of work, it's just about doing the right thing and for the script at hand, and sometimes it will be live and sometimes it will be digital.
CHUNG: All right, Rob, back to you. What is it like to take George Lucas' vision and try and make it happen?
COLEMAN: Well, it's daunting, I'll tell you that. I remember, I worked on "Phantom Menace" with George and then "Attack of the Clones" and as an animation director, you want to make the director happy.
So I studied everything that I could about the original "Star Wars" films. I saw them when I was 13 years old, and for specifically with Frank's work on Yoda, I went to "Empire Strikes Back" and I used that as my touchstone.
I found out what it was about the essence of that character that I could key into and it was specifically the movement of the face, and the care that Frank had brought to that puppeteer.
CHUNG: All right, Frank Oz, just one more question for you. Can I veer you off to a Marlon Brandon story? Forgive me for doing this. You directed so many movies, including "The Score" and in it, I was told that Marlon Brando insisted that someone else direct him during his scenes, is that true?
OZ: No, during one scene only. Marlon unfortunately didn't get along with me as the production went along and Bob was gracious enough to work with me on that one scene. I was in a trailer looking at the video monitors and Bob was talking to me but Marlon wasn't happy with me at all for that one scene, and talking about Yoda just for a second.
CHUNG: Yes.
OZ: What Rob did, what Rob and his team did, which is so great is they didn't live up to their potential because they have so much potential in digital that they had to limit themselves to make sure that they did my movements and did a fantastic job that way.
CHUNG: Tell me exactly what you mean. Did they try to do everything they could but they realized that they needed to keep Yoda consistent with what you had done?
OZ: Yes, I mean Rob and his team is all about character and the puppet is limited and that's, like Rob said, he couldn't be a puppet in this particular story because of all he had to do. On the other hand, the puppet also - what Rob did also couldn't be a whole new character.
In other words, I have limitations doing the character and he had to mimic those limitations in order to make it look like Yoda. The truth is, he could have done so much more with this scene to make it much more alive, but it wouldn't have been Yoda. Maybe in the next one, he could do more, but they did a great job and his team did a great job on this.
CHUNG: I understand what you mean now. Now, Rob, you basically took Yoda right at the point at which you need to make him walk, to shoot a gun. I mean there were all of these various activities.
COLEMAN: Well, he wields a light saber. He doesn't shoot a gun.
CHUNG: Oh.
COLEMAN: He's one of our Jedi Masters, but what Frank is saying is, he's absolutely right. Our early test, it ended up looking like a little green man. It looked so realistic that it wasn't reminiscent of what Frank had established with George on "Empire" and "Jedi."
So we took a great deal of care, studying what Frank had done and then moving into the next trilogy really, trying to get him to be real, like you and I are, digital clothing and digital skin, but still have that same, that love and that essence that Frank had brought to his performances on "Empire" and "Jedi." CHUNG: It was the personality.
COLEMAN: It's the personality, yes. It's the characters, getting into the head of the character, finding out who that character is and it's still Frank's voice. I mean Frank - a lot of the performance comes from what Frank brings to it and then we just use "Empire" and the puppet work and then breathe a little bit more life into how he would run around and how he jumps around in this movie.
CHUNG: It's great. Actually you work on a lot of different movies, don't you?
COLEMAN: I do. For the last couple of years, it's just been working with George on these trilogies. He tells me there's one more movie to do.
CHUNG: Yes.
COLEMAN: But a lot of fun.
CHUNG: That's what I've heard too.
COLEMAN: Yes.
CHUNG: All right thank you so much, Rob Coleman, and Frank Oz in New York, thank you for being with us.
OZ: Thanks, Connie.
CHUNG: Now, some people just can't wait for May 16th, and the premiere of "Star Wars, Episode II." Stay with us and meet some fans who know their R2-D2s and C3POs well enough to earn a Ph.D.
ANNOUNCER: For more on "Attack of the Clones" including a character guy and for a look at the hour summer blockbusters, check out "Coming Attractions." It's all at cnn.com, the AOL keyword is CNN.
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CHUNG: Think you have a long wait at the airport? Well, look at these fans in Los Angeles who are already waiting in line to see the new "Star Wars" movie, even though it doesn't open until a week from Thursday, and some of them have been in line since April. Sleeping bags and tarps and computers make the wait a little easier, but LA doesn't have a monopoly on ultra loyal fans. Last weekend in Indianapolis, a huge "Star Wars" convention attracted scores of faithful and even fanatical fans.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: "Star Wars" just represents, you know, everybody's open fantasy and you know for me personally, it's something my husband and I both get into, something we love of our childhood and we can forever stay children.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was a combination of anything that anyone could look for in a movie. They have romance and action and excitement and it's just something for everyone, so it just makes the grade.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Ever since I was a child, I've always been into warriors, you know like knights and that sort of thing, and just always been attracted to the Jedi in general, and who doesn't want a light saber.
CHUNG: That's what I look like without my makeup on. We don't know when or if you'll ever be able to get an actual light saber, but for the next week or so, you're not going to be able to get away from the hype. So, may the force be with you. And that's it for LIVE FROM SKYWALKER RANCH. I'm Connie Chung. Thank you for joining us and for all of us at CNN, good night.
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