-April 1997 - "The next movies are prequels. It's the story of Darth Vader. The First one is a pretty light movie. It's the introduction and everything goes downhill from there"
-1997 - "The big chance I'm taking is, I'm working on something I started 20 years ago. And whether it'll fit into the modern world marketing-wise, I'm not sure. The first one I'm doing is very much like the first one I did before; it's kind of upbeat, and it's fun... the first one always gets to introduce the characters, [there's not] that much else to do, so it's easy. And the second one, things start to go wrong, and get complicated. And the third one is the dark one. It'll probably fit in really well with the 21st Century."
--April 23, 1999 - (And the next episodes in the prequel series will be darker than Episode I?) "By their very nature. The next one isn't so bad. The third one's pretty bad." (That's when Anakin goes over to the dark side and becomes Darth Vader?) "Yes. Episode III will probably make half of whatever the others make..."
-May 1999 - [Episode II] will be the romantic one, which is probably a rather dramatic departure — which some people may not like. There will be some action in it, but it's basically more romantic. The next two will be darker. Episode II isn't so bad. The third one's pretty bad — Episode III will probably make half of whatever the others make."
-May 1999 - "I made Episode I as light hearted, and as happy go lucky as possible, because the next film will be darker, and the third film will not be happy by any stretch of the imagination."
-1999 - "The next film is a love story and I don't know how that is going to be taken by the fans. And then the third film is very, very, very dark. It's not a happy movie any stretch of the imagination. It's a tragedy."
-1999 - "I made Episode I as light hearted, and as happy go lucky as possible, because the next film will be darker, and the third film will not be happy by any stretch of the imagination."
-August 1999 - "This story was actually written 20 years ago and I kept it all pretty much the same. The first film is very similar to Episode IV in how it introduces all the characters and sets up what they're going to do. The plot doesn't start to thicken until the second film and the payoff is in the third."
-Dec. 2000 - "The first film starts with the last age of the Republic; which is it's getting tired, old, it's getting corrupt. There's the rise of the Sith, who are now becoming a force, and in the backdrop of this you have Anakin Skywalker: a young boy who's destined to be a very significant player in bringing balance back to the Force and the Republic.
In the second film, we get into more of that turmoil. It's the beginning of the Clone Wars, it's the beginning of the end of democracy in the Replublic, sorta the beginning of the end of the Republic, and it's Anakin Skyalker beginning to deal with some of his more intense emotions of anger, hatred, sense of loss, possessiveness, jealousy, and the other things he's coping with.
Then we will get to the 3rd film, where he is seduced to the dark side, which brings up to films four, five, and six, where Anakin's offspring redeem him & allow him to fulfill the prophecy where he brings balance to the Force by doing away with the Sith and getting rid of evil in the universe."
-April 21st, 2001: "...the third film is very, very, very dark. It's not a happy movie by any stretch of the imagination. It's a tragedy. Ultimately the final story is between Yoda, Obi-Wan, Anakin and the Padmé. It's really their story. Those four characters."
-May 2002 - "EPISODE II was the movie that had to get me from one to the other, so it had to have just the right tone - and I think we found that tone. It has a certain melancholy about it, but it's fun at the same time. And it appears to be a nice movie with a somewhat happy ending, at least with Anakin and Padmé. It's only when you put it in the context of the bigger story that you see the handwriting on the wall. You notice flaws in Anakin's personality that are going to sink him in the end. In this movie, you just see the beginnings of that but it won't really come to the forefront until the next episode."
-May 2002 - "No. I wouldn't say this one (EP 2) is dark at all. It certainly deals with some more serious issues. But it's still an action movie with a love story at its center. The next one [EP3] will be the dark one. That one is going to be pretty bad and will probably make the least amount of money of all of the movies, because it will be so hard to market and hard for audiences to enjoy in a positive way. But I have to do it that way, because that's the story. But I'm actually really looking forward to it, because there is some intense emotional stuff in this one and it's going to be a lot of fun to make"
-May 19, 2002: "Well in 3, Anakin becomes Darth Vader so that's about as dark as you can get."
-May 2002 -- “If you were a studio, I’m sure you would say, ‘This is way too dark. You’re going to alienate your audience.’ But what can I do? That’s the story.”
-Sept 2004: "I think each one is different. They're all different. None two are alike. This is the darkest of them all. It's very dark. I don't know what it's gonna be rated, but I don't think it's gonna be rated like the other ones. Not because of anything other than the fact that it's more intense. It's more emotionally intense."
-Oct 2004: "It's going very well. I just finished shooting in London for two weeks - I shoot for 60 days and then I usually shoot for another ten days after I've sorted everything out - So the last shot of Star Wars has been shot, and now I have to cut all that in, sort it out and tie everything down. And in October, Johnny Williams is going to start looking at the movie and writing the score.
I'm getting towards the end, and I'm really happy with it. It came out really well. It's much more intense than any of the others, so I'm not quite sure how it's gonna be accepted. It's very dark, obviously, cause everybody gets killed in the end. But it will make the whole six movies make sense" |
