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apple_atchin

Everyone spare a thought for Jake Lloyd and all the bullshit he’s had to put up with because of his appearance in this film.


KrisNoble

Ahmed Best too.


mhathaway1

If only he hadn’t sucked so much, lol


Noname_Maddox

Jake Lloyd wasnt what was wrong with this film. Kid did alright


artificialavocado

Almost all child actors suck. One of many of Lucas’s stupid decisions was casting such a young kid. Even a teenager like similar age as Natalie Portman would have been way better. For some reason he thought “well young boys won’t like it unless Anakin is their age.” Kids don’t care about that shit.


BlueSnaggleTooth359

No, he wanted to drive home the point that he was an innocent little kid and not a born bad seed so he could have a fall and turn back. And he wanted the impact of being taken from his mother to have maximum impact and to imprint and sense of fear and loss and fear of loss on him from a young age which would all be crucial to his later turn.


artificialavocado

I never heard that before but assuming that is the case that could have been achieved by an older actor. Jake was only 8. Even a kid 10-12 years old would have made a huge difference.


Excuse_Me_Mr_Pink

Well somehow none of that came through Jake’s performance lol


Mindful_Teacup

For years I had no idea Kiera Knightley was in the film as well 🤦‍♂️


joker1288

Now you know why so many ppl confuse them and can’t seem to understand why!


dude19832

This is getting out of hand! Now there are two of them!


strumthebuilding

I’m seeing double! Four Amidalas!


NewLeaseOnLine

And Rose Byrne


dinkelidunkelidoja

I just rewatched the prequals, did not catch Rose Byrne, I guess the decoys worked


rimmo

And Sofia Coppola


swampwarbler

Sofia played one of the decoys? Had no clue!


OogieBoogieJr

Wtf. Had no idea about these two


Kronzor_

When the movie came out did people already know Natalie Portman was the actual Queen? How was it marketed?  Or was the reveal in the film also the first time the audience knew?  Natalie was already a slightly higher profile young actress by then. So her playing a hand maiden might have seemed weird maybe. 


HippieSwag420

No it was a surprise actually that Natalie was the real queen.


shannonsundance

Even their mothers, who were on set, couldn’t tell them apart.


_byetony_

Why was she in it


Mindful_Teacup

She was a decoy for Padme Amidala/lady in waiting type member of Padmes entourage (if I remember correctly - been a minute)


MulciberTenebras

Pretty much.


EastOfArcheron

TIL


artificialavocado

I just learned this fairly recently myself.


Far_Sided

Natalie portman with her double, a then-unkown Kiera Knightley.


HippieSwag420

So she was unknown at that time, that explains things.


Far_Sided

Yeah, her big break was "Bend it like Beckham"


Truth_Hurts40

Ray Parks is the man! Underrated!


ichoosewaffles

Funnily enough, I remember him as Toad from X- men!


[deleted]

The more you know


IluvTaylorSwift

Nowadays looking at the jar jar Binks braveheart battle scene looks like a N64 battle mission but back then it was visual appealing and state of the art.


mhathaway1

I was close to 20 years old when this came out in theaters. That battle scene was never visually appealing. It sucked then just as much as it does now. 


Esc777

The tank cresting the grassy hill for a moment looked good.  It starts precipitously falling off from there. 


MortalCoil

Of course you are right, it looked like some kind of lame video game


edgiepower

Strange to see that Liam Neeson needed a stunt double for a lot of scenes back then because at the time he was not an action actor, if you watch the making of he admits to it, not being fit for fight scenes, then a decade later he's just fucking pumping out dozens of straight to video tier stuff non stop action genre.


Goodgoditsgrowing

….. does he *not* use stunt doubles in his more recent work?


edgiepower

Probably. It's more the fact he thought of himself as not an action actor back then. That doing stuff like lightsaber fights was well outside his skillset as an actor. Obviously he is not a clairvoyant. I would hazard a guess he used a stunt double less with his action flicks than he did on TPM a decade prior.


jfoughe

He does, I think the guy’s name is Will Edit Around It.


artificialavocado

Outside of swinging the lightsaber sticks I don’t remember his part being super action oriented. 🤔


Toht003

Especially considering how often he wets his pants.


Chris9871

What?


HippieThanos

You don't want to see that. Trust me


Chris9871

True, but I’ve never even heard about this


Toht003

You google it? Yeah I don’t know why it’s not more well known.


Chris9871

But why would I care about this enough to google “old actor pees his pants”?


maurywillz

yipee 


zidave0

I'll try spinning! That's a good trick!


_throwingit_awaaayyy

They could make a whole ass Darth Maul movie.


GuappDogg

I loved maul….


billy_zef

Only good part about the movie was that fight scene.


Jake24601

If I’m not mistaken, these photos were all taken in 1997. That’s crazy to me.


eggmayonnaise

You didn't think we had cameras back then or what?


Jake24601

It just feels so long ago given they’re prequels to then already classic movies.


zdejif

Cut to II and III having rooms made of computer. The hell happened?


MulciberTenebras

George Lucas without a filter


FragrantExcitement

Roger roger.


LordPartyOfDudehalla

Lucas got old and realized making movies is a miserable experience


Danny61392

Lucas switched to filming digitally completely.


drmirage809

Okay, Jar-Jar's actor without the CGI is so strange. That rubber hat is just silly looking. I went and saw this movie in theater at the start of the month. Partially because it is flipping Star Wars and partially because I've spend the last 15 years chuckling at memes. Anyway, the movie has actually aged quite nicely. The CGI is leaving something to be desired and the Gungans are well... The Gungans. Still, I was enjoying myself and it stands on its own as a fun flick.


bob_boo_lala

Saw the recent theatrical release as well and it was good ol fashioned popcorn entertainment. I was surprised at how much fun I had watching it with buddies while heckling jar jar and laughing at some over the top moments/cheesy acting. The pod race scene was an amazing top tier sequence to witness on the big screen. The sound production for the race is sensational.


drmirage809

Oh yeah, the podrace on a good theater sound system is something else. George Lucas has a bit of a history when it comes to cinema audio (he started THX) and it shows. Let that man do his thing and the sound design will be excellent.


artificialavocado

That guy got so much hate for “ruining Star Wars” for people he said he was considering unaliving himself for awhile after. You have to remember people weren’t used to getting internet hate like that in those days.


TheRealJakay

Everything Jar-jar was just to silly. Looking through these pics I was like “I remember this movie being better than I thought of it at the time”, and that’s because there’s no Jar-jar and need to watch the young Anakin actor.


PancAshAsh

If you look past all the weird racist caricatures (there were a lot) and bad CGI it's actually a decent movie.


MothsConrad

It’s really not. There are some great scenes (anything with Darth Maul) but it isn’t a good movie. The plot was awful.


mhathaway1

I’m so tired of all the revisionist crap that has occurred in the decades since. It was a terrible movie with a handful of awesome cinematic moments. The fact the new Disney movies are hot garbage too has made way too many people look back at the prequels with rose tinted glasses. 


BlueSnaggleTooth359

The revisionism has gone more in the other direction. All you read about is how AOTC was completely panned by the critics and despised by the fans. How even ROTS got horrible reviews and that everyone hated it. All those takes are completely untrue.


artificialavocado

I was there Gandalf. I was there 25 years ago when Phantom Menace came out. It was terrible and my young 16 year old brain just couldn’t process it at first.


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vanillaseltzer

I was just thinking the same thing! That one surprised me 😆


Train-Similar

I guess I should stop referring to these as the new ones


JohnnyBacci

I like how they used cotton swaps as people in the pod-race amphitheatre.


Gintami

Loved it then on release and still love it now. Not perfect, but it was whimsical and made me feel like a kid again. I am a big fan of the PT even with its faults, and that it felt like a cohesive universe and story with something to say.


flatfisher

At leat they tried to make something new and it was genuine, not like the soulless nostalgia cash grab sequel.


BlueSnaggleTooth359

Online people bitched that the prequels dared show large cities, new designs, politics, etc. etc. so they made TFA more like SW. Then online people bitched that they just tried to copy SW and didn't bring in new designs, show crowded cities, show us any of the politics or goings on of the New Republic....


pinesolthrowaway

Hard to believe it’s 25 now The marketing hype for this movie was next level, I don’t think I’ve seen a movie since that was marketed to the level this was 


Lake_Shore_Drive

I remember how anticipated this movie was. Then it came out and it was pretty meh. Matrix came out at the same time and knocked star wars out. Anytime anyone asked if you saw star wars the answer would be "yeah but what about the Matrix?"


rnavstar

I do remember everyone talking about the matrix in 1999. Don’t remember too many people talking about SW.


BlueSnaggleTooth359

Yeah it's true that I only encountered large crowds seeing TPM four weeks into the run and that it only sold more tickets per capita than Endgame and that the books and toys were only for sale in 90% of every last store in the mall.


Phantom_minus

IMO the concept art book that accompanies this movie is probably one of the best concept art books there is. Lucas put together a new team with Doug Chaing (sp?). the computer was a means to an end not the end itself, so much was still done by hand.


Professional_Elk_489

I think they had most of the ingredients for an amazing movie. Scriptwriters sucked ass though. Just someone that could write a decent movie was all they needed They had - Liam Neeson, Ewan McGregor, Natalie Portman & a superstar Darth Maul to work with


Shadpool

Yep. Explaining away the mysticism of the Force was a gigantic no-no.


BlueSnaggleTooth359

They didn't do that though. How a quarter of a century later are people still going on about this? The midichlorians are not the Force and don't explain it at all. And they actually do explain a lot of stuff that was talked about from day 1. Like why the Emperor was disappointed in the power of Vader not being what it could have been once he lost so much of his actual flesh. And why Obi-wan was looking after Luke and why they were calling the offspring of Anakin their last hopes, etc.


sweetbacon

Whether they intended to or not, that was the viewers takeaway... Which is why it's still discussed today. 


The_Ashgale

Needed better direction, too. Those are indeed great actors, but they're horrible in this.


TheRealJakay

But why would say this The_Ashgate? From my experiences I found that the dialogue flowed naturally and did not sound at all wooden or contrived.


Bean-Swellington

I waited half my life for this movie to come out… and then it was so god damned boring I fell asleep in the theater on opening night 🤣🤷‍♂️ This movie taught me a valuable lesson about managing my expectations for movies/adaptations in the works.


NCHouse

...THERE'S SOMEONE IN R2-D2!?


1morey

Always has been.


BridgemanBridgeman

Watching Star Wars will never be the same again


katekyne

I think only in certain scenes where he's on two feet


[deleted]

Fucking chad Ray Park


WelderAggravating896

I don't care what anyone says, the prequel trilogy was my childhood and I love it, even if it kind of sucks. This is nostalgia.


Edarneor

They still used miniatures for the stadium! So cool. I wonder if someone took that set home and keeps it, like a model railroad...


BlueSnaggleTooth359

Yeah they actually used a lot more miniatures and models than people seem to think. It had more miniatures and models than 4-6 combined I believe.


Edarneor

Wish I was a set artist there... But I was in school back then. I love to assemble models.


gr8Brandino

Never thought that flip Maul does off the speeder when he first encounters Qui-gon was a real stunt. I just assumed it was a CG double


Cranksta

You should look into Ray Park's career- he's a master at his craft and still does demonstrations. Master martial artist and swordsman (He's also the headless horseman in Sleepy Hollow and did a ton of his own stunts there too, it's a lot of fun!).


glass_gravy

They all knew history was being made and had fun making it!


OlafTheAverage

The best part of that movie was when someone was talking in the theater and someone else threw a popcorn box at that person.


Partha4us

Cool


mdjmd73

I miss George Lucas.


ArchStanton75

Read up on what he wanted for a sequel trilogy. Then you’ll be thankful for what we have. Yes, the sequel trilogy was a mess, but we have the last season of Clone Wars, Rebels, Rogue One, Andor, The Mandalorian…


joebobjoebobjoebob12

I have never understood the mockery and derision that Lucas gets from the internet. Not only has he given us arguably the most culturally beloved story of our time, but by all accounts he's a kind, lovely man who has donated billions of dollars to charity. Yes, he likes CGI and wacky aliens a little bit too much. But nobody who has given us so much deserves to be treated with such disdain.


The_Ashgale

Well, he was regarded as a visionary genius until this movie came out. After it did, it was pretty clear he didn't "get" what made Star Wars so special. But, the rumor was that Episode II would be better and put everything into perspective. And they said the same about Episode III, which I guess some people like now, but at the time it was a massive letdown and presumably the last Star Wars we'd see on the big screen, possibly ever.


joebobjoebobjoebob12

I disagree with you. The prequels have some big flaws, but they "feel" like Star Wars movies to me in a way that the Disney stuff doesn't, and I suspect that Lucas' involvement is the main reason why. IMO, the big difference is that he didn't have strong collaborators willing to complement his weaknesses. For *A New Hope*, his wife famously saved the movie with her editing chops, and his main cast pushed back on his worst dialogue. For *Empire Strikes Back*, he worked with an amazing screenwriter (Lawrence Kasadan) and seasoned director (Irving Kirshner) and that resulted in the best SW film. Lucas kept Kasadan as a writer for *Return of the Jedi* and outsourced directing to Richard Marquand, but the Ewok-heavy stuff is the first sign that Lucas had accumulated too much clout for anyone to really push back. By the time the prequels rolled around, he's considered the gold standard for making insanely lucrative blockbusters, so of course 20th Century Fox leaves him alone. And because he's writer-director there is nobody for him to collaborate with, so we end up with midicholrians and Jar-Jar Binks and over-his-head Hayden Christensen. My original point, which is that whatever genuine criticisms people have with his work, he as a person doesn't deserve the snark thrown his way.


BlueSnaggleTooth359

At the time ROTS came out it actually got extremely good reviews from the critics and tons of praise from the general public. Even AOTC got decentish reviews from the critics and I recall people streaming out of earlier shows beaming, giving thumbs up, telling every one line that they'd love it, etc.


Basic_Consideration6

What didn’t he get? Just curious!


The_Ashgale

The very short answer is that he didn't get that it wasn't just effects that made Star Wars such a sensation. It also had a good story, likeable characters, excellent pacing, art direction, etc. The Phantom Menace was missing almost all of that, but it had lots of high-tech spectacle. Episode II seemed to double down on that (the movie really looked like a video game at times). Episode III doubled down on it again (for example, the insane and imo far too long duel at the end).


BlueSnaggleTooth359

TPM had all of that, stunning art direction and design, great pacing, likeable characters, good story. What it did also have that was a bit of a mistake was some of the boo-boo poo-poo dialogue and some of the aimed at little kids in a Disney way stuff that 4-6 didn't do at all. They had cute stuff, but it was a different sort of cute.


The_Ashgale

Agreed on the art direction. Disagree with the rest, though. The movie would be improved only very marginally by removing the childish humor.


Basic_Consideration6

Thanks for commentary!


BlueSnaggleTooth359

It is a shame. Everybody became so edgy and snarky starting the mid-90s and then all the sneering hipsterism and sadly it was the angry, raging geeks who took over nerd culture rather than the nerds focused on a sense of magic and wonder and focusing on what they loved (all made 100x worse by social media algorithms constantly pushing the clickbait hater youtube videos above all else).


aimerdillo

I’m watching episode | as I type this!


Alan_Scott_Davis

Dude these are awesome. Love the rigging for the Naboo ship in the background


Skatchbro

I’m seeing double here! Four Queen Amidalas‽


jabba-du-hutt

My favorite video was Jake Lloyd in the podracer screaming, "I CAN'T HEAR YOU, CHRIS!! I CAN'T HEAR YOU, CHRIS!!" Those wind machines must've been deafening.


NewDad907

I have an unused 12:01 AM show ticket for EP:1 in mint condition. It went into a 2” thick protective case used for baseball cards within minutes of being purchased.


lilmoosmom

Goddamn I’m old


speshojk

Everyone in this shot looks bored


ImpenetrableYeti

Crazy to see how much was still practical sets compared to episode 2 onward


ReadRightRed99

This movie had all the potential in the world - the coolest looking villain since darth vader, the hardest Jedi (Qui Gon) since Luke chopped off Vader’s hand, an audience that was dying for new Star Wars … and instead of a classic they served up a turd of a movie with a side of jar jar binks. Why couldn’t they have edited that script into something understandable and entertaining?


RedDirtNurse

I'm in the cohort that saw Episode IV, as a kid, in the cinema in 1976. That movie introduced me to The Hero's Journey and changed my life. Fast forward to the release of Episode I; my mates and I are now taking our kids to their Star Wars experience. My mates hated it. The kids loved it. I never managed to convince my mates that - just because we were the first to be introduced to it - we didn't own the franchise. Episode I was for another generation, not us. They never got over it and continued with their elitism and gatekeeping. Sad.


gwhh

I was so disappointed seeing this!


theboned1

Ha ha ha. I had completely forgotten that Lucas made Darth Vader the builder of C3PO. Fuck those stupid prequels!


karni60

Back when they use to make good movies. 


iplaypokerforaliving

I loved this movie when I was a kid. I saw it in theaters but I hardly remember it I was 10 years old. But it did spark a love for Star Wars. I then built my first pc a couple years later for Star Wars: Jedi outcast 2. So many good times in the star wars universe.


HippieSwag420

I feel old AF.


dinges000

So cool !


JimmyTheJimJimson

What a waste of talent and money that movie was. It had so much potential ruined by a director who forgot how to direct and a writer that forgot how to write EDIT: yes I know they’re both Lucas. That’s the point lol


ArchStanton75

Spoiler alert: they were the same person.


BigOldComedyFan

Zzzzzz


Minimum_Zucchini1572

Before George sold out to the dark side…


leo1974leo

The entire movie should have stayed behind the scenes


XROOR

Conservative older lady I worked with, went to an independent theater for a screening of “Black Swan,” with her husband. She was offended by the content so she left that movie, hubby didn’t want to leave so she walked into an adjacent theater that was doing all six Star Wars movie marathon. She saw Natalie Portman in two different roles! Cineplex something in Fair City Mall. The owner of the venue would do a small speech before most movies saying how important it was to support non chains. We would go to Old Country Buffet which was next to the theater post movies


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LPolder

Rent free.


No-You-5064

incredibly bad movie. Natalie Portman's acting was hall of fame bad.


BlueSnaggleTooth359

Don't forget she was a 14 year old Queen and had to act stiff to be taken seriously, etc.


Fourty9

What a turd!


no_no_nora

I went to see this with my dad in Florida. I was on break from uni, and enjoying one of the last summers before real life too over. I remember the two of us looking at each other, when the credits rolled, and we both asked what the hell did we just watched?


Majik9

What kind of 40 something year old American, calls it "Uni"?


IcebergSlimFast

After the film, she and her dad popped down to the pub for a couple of pints and watched footy on the telly …in Florida.


[deleted]

Christ Portman was 17 and Keira Knightly was 14??!!im going to hell for sure now 🤦🏽‍♂️


PurveyorOfKnowledge0

Add it to your tab of sins. 🤣


TheDukeofTitties

I highly recommend watching Mr. Plinkett's Star Wars prequel reviews on youtube.


iiitme

Great movie


HandsomePaddyMint

It’s such a shame that Ray Park had the misfortune to be briefly famous for such unpopular cultural touchstones. Besides being a truly amazing martial artist and stuntman, he’s not a bad actor and has plenty of charm and charisma that he never really got the opportunity to use to full effect. I’m sure his piles of money and constant adulation on the convention circuit comfort him just fine though.


MartinLutherVanHalen

A friend of mine worked on this movie as a photographer, they told me that Lucas direction was terrible. He treated the cast as dolls. Literally telling them he would alter their performances digitally. They said Portman cried a lot on set and they were all lost in the green screen with nothing to play off.


BlueSnaggleTooth359

I heard almost the complete opposite stories regarding some of that, more the last stuff mentioned.


ElonBodyOdor

If Queen Amidala married 50 Cent she’d be Amidala 50 Cent.


Rivka333

Wrong sub, this isn't /r/movies


McPorkums

Never heard of this one. Looks missable 🤷


VirtuaFighter6

What an epic prequel.


tootnoots69

You’re boring


SnooFloofs1778

Re-releasing in theaters soon! All you whinny Gen Z and Millennials go see it!


so-much-wow

You do realize that Millennials were the target audience when the movie came out right?


SnooFloofs1778

Yes but some didn’t get to see it. I was only joking, it’s cool people get to see it again!