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CNN Saturday Morning News
Poll Shows Enthusiasm for New 'Star Wars' Film Declines
Aired May 11, 2002 - 08:54 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.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Oh, the excitement is building. Five days until the next Star Wars movie hits U.S. theaters. A new poll showing enthusiasm for the saga, get this, it's declining. In a CNN/"USA Today"/Gallup poll, 29 percent of American adults say they definitely plan to see "Attack of the Clones." That is down from 38 percent of Americans who said they planned to see the "Phantom Menace" before it opened back in '99.
Now, "Attack of the Clones" faces major box office competition when it opens on Thursday. "Spider-Man," remember that one? That's another summer blockbuster.
Paul Clinton, when we saw Paul last time, he had all kinds of "Spider-Man" paraphernalia, including the ugliest jacket I've ever seen.
He joins us now for more on Star Wars -- how are you, Paul?
PAUL CLINTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm fine. Miles, I was going to send you that jacket. You don't want it?
O'BRIEN: You can send it right back. Anyway, Star Wars, you know, it's kind of interesting. I've been reading about this, although I haven't done it. Apparently there are places on the Web where you can see pirated versions of this movie. So you can actually be like a movie reviewer out there. It's an interesting phenomenon, isn't it?
CLINTON: Well, everyone's always a critic and everyone always has been a critic, Miles. But you're right, it's only been, it hasn't even been opened yet. You said five days until it opens and somebody has already recorded it. There's two versions out on the Web. One's kind of shaky and looks like it was handheld. And the other one looks like it was on a tripod. And they are available and the, you know, Webby Star Trek geeks are now, you know, downloading it and it's out there, which is really a shame.
O'BRIEN: Well, you know, so you've got to wonder if somebody went into a private screening with their little D.V. cam, set up a tripod and said oh, this is just nothing, really, just taking some home movies. I mean...
CLINTON: I don't know. I mean these are very restricted screenings. There have only been, you know, a limited number around the world.
O'BRIEN: Yes.
CLINTON: How they did it, I don't know. But they've done it. And it's just, you know, it's the new age of the Internet. But like you said, it's five days and counting and all over the country and probably all over the world, for that matter, there are people camping out all, waiting for this film to open, and they've been there for a month, two months.
Now, I personally think they're nuts but they're real die hard film fans and I can't argue with that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CLINTON (voice-over): There by day...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think I'm in the 130s.
CLINTON: And by night.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm going to surpass over 300 hours so.
CLINTON: Whole families, even the odd pet.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He is logging his time in line.
CLINTON: The faithful waiting for one thing. In Los Angeles, Star Wars fans have been waiting on line for weeks, just not continuously. They put in hours when they can.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I come out just on the weekends pretty much here when my buddy comes down.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The total hours you put in for the whole duration, we kind of like totaled them, and that'll be your position in the line.
CLINTON: They've endured hardships.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Me and this guy were in the rain Sunday night to Monday night, to Monday morning, just me and him, the only two guys camping out in the rain.
CLINTON: They've endured abuse.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We got water balloons thrown at us the other day, stuff like that, stink bombs.
CLINTON: But they keep on waiting, killing time any way they can.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We had a guy with an accordion last night playing along to the disco version of like Star Wars music.
CLINTON: What do they expect to see when they finally get in? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A much better movie than episode one. I'm looking for something darker and more mature.
CLINTON: In the meantime...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I just want to come down and be part of the experience and have a good time and hang out with some friends.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's like old friends hanging out in a big six week party. It's just a lot of fun.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CLINTON: Well, that dream has come true for that one guy, it is a better episode. Episode two is much better than episode one. Episode one was horrible. This one has a love story. It's got a couple of really intriguing plots. Natalie Portman is out of that kabuchi (ph) makeup and those horrible costumes and she looks like she's dressed by Donna Karan by way of Britney Spears.
Hayden Christensen really can act. He's a big improvement over Jake Lloyd. He was just too young and you couldn't really connect with him.
The only problem I have with the movie is Ewan McGregor, who is trying to channel Alec Guinness, because he has to dovetail his performance into Alec Guinness because Alec, in the, you know, the older three, was Obi-Wan Kenobi. And so he has that problem whereas nobody else in the series really has that problem crossing over.
Yoda's a puppet. The robots are robots and Darth Vader, of course, is in that black helmet. So he's the only one that has to worry about it. He's going to dovetail his performance and become Alec Guinness and it's a little jarring.
But other than that, I really enjoyed it. I mean it moves. It's action in the first five minutes. There's a lot of little hints and foreshadowing about what's coming up in the next episode and also a lot of explanation about what happened in those first three.
O'BRIEN: Paul...
CLINTON: And so...
O'BRIEN: Paul?
CLINTON: Hmmm?
O'BRIEN: What about Jar Jar Binks? They got rid of him, right?
CLINTON: No, they didn't get rid of him, Miles.
O'BRIEN: Oh, man.
CLINTON: He's now a general and he's a senator. So, Peter...
O'BRIEN: Jar Jar Binks is a what?
CLINTON: He's a senator and he's a general.
O'BRIEN: Oh, for gosh sakes. Jar Jar Binks...
CLINTON: I'm it's a Peter principal. He failed upwards.
O'BRIEN: Well, he'd probably do well here at CNN. But...
CLINTON: Right. See there?
O'BRIEN: But let's, let me just, the bottom line, should you spend the money or...
CLINTON: Yes, I think you should.
O'BRIEN: ... just wait for the DVD or just see it on the Internet?
CLINTON: Just see it on the Internet. Yes, that's a shame. No, I think it's, I was interested in that poll. I hadn't seen that. A lot of people were disappointed in episode one and all I can say is they won't be disappointed in episode two and hopefully, you know, they'll go. It's really, it's good. It's back into the traditional one of what George has done before.
O'BRIEN: All right, Paul, one more thing before you go.
CLINTON: OK.
O'BRIEN: I am your father.
CLINTON: Oh, no! May the force be with you.
O'BRIEN: All right. We'll see you, Paul. Always a pleasure having you drop by. Way too early out there. We do appreciate it.
CLINTON: Sure.
O'BRIEN: Have an extra cup of coffee on us, OK?
CLINTON: OK. Thanks, Miles.
O'BRIEN: Now, if you want to go see a movie and you want to find out a little more about what Paul has to say, we invite you to check out his reviews at cnn.com. You'll find his reviews. We have some behind-the-scenes entertainment news and as always, you know, the AOL keyword, even though it really isn't a word, is CNN.
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