Filming for
Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace began in 1997 - two years before internet usage became "officially' mainstream in America. I still remember searching high-and-low for any little nugget of information. Back then, there were only a few websites that provided movie scoops and most of them proved to be unreliable. Heck, things were so different people were actually excited to have George Lucas writing and directing again. Nostalgia clouded us fans, we never dreamed Lucas would disappoint us. One person that must not have been shocked by
The Phantom Menace was
Drew McWeeny of Hit Fix. He apparently heard rumblings from members of the crew while they were working on it. The good news: Drew is hearing the opposite from the J.J. Abrams' Star Wars VII crew.
"I've been covering movies online since the days when the "Star Wars: Special Editions" were only a rumor. During the production of "The Phantom Menace," I had a lot of contact with people working on and around the film, and if I had to characterize the attitude that most of them had, it was "I don't know what we're making." There were plenty of people who seemed nervous about various elements or characters or ideas in what they were making. This time around, every single thing I've heard has been, "Holy cow, I think we're doing this right," and this Tweet from Daniels is just the most public example of that." - Drew McWeeny from Hit Fix
What does this all mean? Not much. See, in my life I've heard cast and crew members having bad experiences on films that later turned out to be great. I've also heard from cast and crew members that had a ball working on a film and thought it was a classic-in-the-making, but later turned out to be a dog. As for
Star Wars VII, there's still a lot of post-production work and major editing decisions to be figured out. At this point, trying to gauge if
Star Wars VII is great or a dud, would be foolish.
Of course, many of us will label
Star Wars VII after the first teaser trailer is released. Late last month,
a source for John Williams Fan Network claimed the first trailer was done. Yesterday, Cine Linx Editor-In-Chief Jordan Maison confirmed that information.
Star Wars: Episode VII - Actors John Boyega, Daisy Ridley, Adam Driver, Oscar Isaac, Domhnall Gleeson, Max von Sydow, Lupita Nyong'o and Gwendoline Christie will join the original stars of the saga, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill, Anthony Daniels, Peter Mayhew, and Kenny Baker in the new film. It's being directed by J.J. Abrams from a screenplay by Lawrence Kasdan and Abrams. Kathleen Kennedy, J.J. Abrams, and Bryan Burk are producing, and John Williams returns as the composer. The movie opens worldwide on
December 18, 2015.