Trooperman

This is a completely hypothetical question, as I’m not sure I’m going to do another full movie after “Shroud of the Dark Side” comes out this November, but if I or anyone else were to create a black-and-white prequel movie in a 40’s- 60’s aesthetic, mostly based on “Revenge of the Sith”, but incorporating flashbacks (Anakin and Palpatine’s first conversation about the force, for example)…

what possible ideas would you have to completely change the story and make it good (and actually having continuity with the OT)?

Here are my earlier posts on this:

<div class=“PostQuote”>
That’s why I was considering a completely different approach for Ep. III- a black and white noir film, with Anakin narrating and with flashbacks (a la “Laura”, “Blade Runner”). This cut of the film would use classic Bernard Hermann music and completely excise General Grievous and all that nonsense, focusing entirely on Anakin, his narration, and his spiral downward. I would have incredible freedom in the story as a result of Anakin’s narration.

<div class=“PostQuote”>Watching old b-features and old detective movies like “Laura” really got my brain cranking. I thought… what if Star Wars was originally a noir movie from the '40’s and '50’s, very old-fashioned and in black & white? Later on in the seventies or eighties, they made the very popular Star Wars trilogy, but this is the original film made a long time ago. Imagine that it’s another thing Lucas suppressed!

My idea is to make “Revenge of the Sith” black and white before editing, and make the whole film about Anakin’s fall. None of the Grievous stuff, or most of the opening battle, or other stuff that’s both unneccessary and would give away the CGI as being modern. There would be no crawl, but instead an old-fashioned title sequence, perhaps with stills of close-ups of the characters. The title could be “Anakin Skywalker.”

The major point is that everything is made to give this movie an old feel, older than the '70’s-80’s. Lounge music is used for the temptation scene at the theatre. Classic Bernard Hermann music is used for most of the rest of the score, “Marnie” and “Vertigo” type stuff (but not as well known). I know we can’t use the iconic “Pyscho” music, but I always envisioned the shower music when Anakin walks into the room of children.

Here’s the other big thing: In this version, Anakin is dubbed, and he is narrating the entire story. At certain points in the movie, when you have a close-up of Anakin, the narration can take us back to flashbacks from “Episode II”, from the love story. A very “noir” thing to do.

And lastly, the audio will have more treble, more of a raw feel, and it’ll be stereo or mono. I don’t know if I’ve explained my concept very well or if it’d be enjoyable to watch to any person but me, but I just love the idea of getting into Anakin’s head through him narrating the entire picture and showing flashbacks. The cinematography in Episode III (at least the dialogue scenes) was very good this time around, making this type of thing possible. But here’s the thing: how much better can you illusrate Anakin’s fall than walking around with him the entire movie as we hear his thoughts? Obviously, some GREAT scriptwriting would need to go into Anakin’s narration, but
<span class=“Italics”>
Anakin: That’s Palpatine. Supreme Chancellor Palpatine. The most powerful man in the galaxy and one of my dearest friends. Ever since I arrived at the Academy, I had spent long hours talking with him in his office (as we’re fading to a flashback of the Anakin/Palpatine scene from Ep. II).

Anakin: Yes, I never realized how naive I was until I met him…
</span>

Obviously that was just off of the top of my head, but do you see what incredible character depth could go into this “old” movie, a single prequel to the Star Wars trilogy?

“Wow. So make it look like it was shot in the late '40’s-early '50’s?”

Yes, which works nicely because this time, the rotten CGI was mostly confined to Upatu and the wookie planet. Using everything else, especially in black and white, would give this the right feel, especially with Hermann music. I know this wouldn’t be popular with some, but maybe even editing off of the full-screen ROTS DVD might be the right way to go for this project. That was pretty much the aspect ratio back then, after all.

Also, I think this project would really appear to the strict OOT fan, who hates all of the prequels because no matter how much you edit them, all of the Geonosis/Upatu/Wookie planet stuff can’t be removed. If we do a single, old-fashioned prequel with flashbacks and Anakin’s narration, and the script is well written, I can envision lots of people enjoying this movie at the same level as the OOT.

The point is that going into the noir style of filmmaking/editing would let me get away with a lot of stuff that I would love to do for Anakin’s backstory, but simply can’t due to the original framework. The best part is that this project wouldn’t take as long as “Shroud of the Dark Side”, and I’d have some of the dubbing already completed for the “big budget” Starkiller Ranch ROTS.

And this project would involve such incredible creativity in scriptwriting. I mean, we were unhappy with Anakin’s portrayal throughout the PT; Shroud of the Dark Side is going a long way to fix that, but a black & white noir film with narration (kind of like “Blade Runner”) is also a great excuse to completely rewrite Skywalker’s corruption and his rationale for what he did.

This is all stuff I would be afraid to do in the “official” color edit, of course.</div>

The best part is that you could perhaps finally preserve the secret of Darth Vader and Luke in TESB, by removing any reference to “Skywalker” that might exist in ROTS after the other footage had been edited out. You could also make Palpatine’s line, “It wasn’t the first time, Anakin. Remember what you told me about your mother?” CUT. You can really use your imagination here without having to adhere to the backstory provided by Ep. I and II. Also, to preserve the surprise, we don’t see Padme give birth to the twins. In fact, Anakin can kill her on the spot, on the lava planet, through a couple extended shots.</div>

Brainstorming time! How much of a departure could we have from the original plot, but still using the original footage (and any other noir footage that could possible fit in, like a guy playing piano in the background in a bar scene, for example, or have Anakin and Palpatine watching some kind of play or dance, rather than that CG bubble show, or whatever it was).

How far could this be taken?

-TM