Star Wars : Clone Wars - Movie Poster

9 Q&A with George Lucas

1. How did you come up with the idea of doing 'Clone Wars'?
When I was doing 'Revenge of the Sith,' I thought, "Gee, it's too bad that I'm starting 'Episode III' by going right into the end of the Clone Wars." So we came up with the idea of doing a little animated series for Cartoon Network.


2. You did two of those in 2003. Why did you decide to do yet another series ?
I started in animation in college, and then I moved to live action, but I have produced a lot of animated films and I really always wanted to get back to it. I was so enamored with the idea of doing the animated 'Clone Wars' and doing something that really wasn't focused on Anakin's problems of going to the Dark Side. So I decided that when I finished the features, I would go back and make the best animated TV series that has ever been done.

3. Wow, the best? Isn't that a tall order?
Well, that's the fun part! We helped evolve CG animation and we've been involved with it for a long time. I love anime, I love graphic art, I love Japanese influences. This is my chance to really have some fun and, you know, do it the best. It's not quite Pixar quality, but definitely of a quality that nobody's ever seen before.

4. Why did you opt to launch the series in theaters instead of on TV?
When we first started to see the finished product, I said, "This is way beyond our expectations, this is so great, this [could be] a feature film." So I decided that we should do a movie that introduces one of our main characters: Ahsoka [Anakin's Padawan, aka Jedi apprentice]. I know a lot of the fans will love to see it on the big screen.

5. 'Clone Wars' seems much lighter than the live action movies.
'Episode V' and 'Episode VI' and 'II' and 'III,' are all about personal angst and redemption and that kind of stuff whereas 'I' and 'IV' are innocent and lighthearted. 'Clone Wars' is like that. It's a lot more fun. Anakin's a regular guy, just like the rest of us. And the problem with the movies is -- just by the nature of the length of time and how you tell a story -- you don't get a chance to get beyond his problems. 'Clone Wars' allows Anakin to be a normal person.

6. How does 'Clone Wars' fit into the entire 'Star Wars' story?
It's really just a footnote. It's not part of the large saga. You get between Episodes 'II' and 'III,' and there's an asterisk there that says please check end of book for more about the Clone Wars.

7. So are there any great 'Star Wars' revelations?
Well, there's nothing like being a parent, as Anakin is to Ahsoka, to sort of make you grow up and be an adult. There are issues in the TV series that will evolve and come out just because they have to, because Anakin still has these problems about letting go. Even in the feature, Obi-Wan says, "I think they'll be a great team," and Yoda says, "Yeah, but his problem won't be teaching her, his problem will be letting go of her." And, obviously, she doesn't appear in 'Episode III.'

8. At one time, you were rumored to be making three 'Star Wars' trilogies. Are there more movies on the horizon?
No, because the Anakin Skywalker story starts when he's 10 and ends when he dies. Once he died, there was no more story. 'Star Wars' is about him, it's not really about Luke. And you know, I never said that there would be nine, anyway.

9. Were you happy with the way 'Indy IV' turned out?
Oh yeah, I thought it was a lot of fun, we had a great time doing it, and you know, it turned out well, so we're all happy.

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source:moviefone.com

Star Wars : The Clone Wars - Behind the Scene

After Star Wars: Episode III— Revenge of the Sith completed the tale of Anakin Skywalker’s tragic transformation into Darth Vader, not even George Lucas expected to see the ground-breaking space fantasy return to the big screen.

But good animation can prompt even the famously stubborn Lucas to change his mind, as director Dave Filoni discovered while screening footage from the upcoming animated TV series Star Wars: The Clone Wars for his boss on a big screen. “That’s when, really early on, the idea struck George, and
he said the fans should really get the chance to see this on the big screen,” says Filoni, who quickly found himself directing the first Star Wars animated feature film on top of 22 half-hour episodes of a TV show.



Commentary
Catherine Winder(producer of the feature and executive producer of the series)
"It was a big leap of faith on behalf of the company to take this franchise and move it into the world of animation. It’s exciting, but hugely daunting because we want to do what’s best for the property."

“We really got to show him as a hero and as the good person he was, which I think, as George has always said, makes the downward spiral all that much more important and effective,” Filoni says.

Production and Influenced
Influences and Inspirations On the visual side, Filoni says his initial brief from Lucas was to make “something no one has ever seen before.” Finding that look began with sketches, and Filoni says he was influenced by his previous project, Avatar: The Last Airbender, as well as the look devised for the previous Clone Wars animated series by Genndy Tartakovsky.

“In 2D animation, we never have a problem with cloth and human characters. You can stylize the human characters in any way and it’s not much of a question, you just accept the look of it,” he says. “In 3D there are a whole bunch of challenges that I think everyone in that particular field is chasing all the time on how are we going to make something look and feel real.”

Translating the human characters into 3D animation was the most difficult task. “It was less about photorealism as much as let’s try to make a style, let’s try to come up with a visual look to the characters, who even though they’re not realistic, we’ll come to believe in them as characters in this stylized world,” Filoni says. Even before the feature fi lm was added to the schedule, Clone Wars was an ambitious project. Winder says she came to Lucas with the job of setting up the project with a never-before tried pipeline that had to produce animation of the highest quality at an affordable cost.

“It was trying to figure out how to put a team together and create something that no one has ever seen before, because if not, there’s no point in doing it,” she says. Winder, who has been a producer and executive with extensive experience in overseas operations, set up the feature and series with the front-end work including writing, storyboarding art direction and design done at Lucas film Animation’s Marin County studio.

The animation rendering involve Lucasfilm in Singapore and partner studio in Taiwan. The more spending time is hashing out the story in the 3D world with editorial. Marin studio incharge for asset builds, texturing and rigging in house, and the rest of rendering done by Singapore and Taiwan.

The most exciting part
For Filoni, Clone Wars’ most important contribution to Star Wars lore is Ahsoka. “Nobody knows what happens to her, so that’s been a particularly exciting character to work with,” he says.

source: Animation Magazine Aug 2008

Star Wars: The Clone Wars - Trailer

Star Wars: The Clone Wars

Star Wars: The Clone Wars is a CGI animated science fiction film. It will be the first animated Star Wars feature film in theaters.

Click here for the trailer

The Clone Wars takes place between Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones and Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. The eponymous Clone Wars rage between the Confederacy of Independent Systems and the Galactic Republic. When Jabba the Hutt's son, Rotta the Hutt, is taken by a group of renegades, Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi depart in search of answers: where is the Hutt's son, and who is controlling this mysterious renegade group? Yoda sends Ahsoka Tano along as Anakin's apprentice. Count Dooku will unleash his minions, including Asajj Ventress and General Grievous to cause havoc for the Republic.

Matt Lanter as Anakin Skywalker
James Arnold Taylor as Obi-Wan Kenobi
Ashley Drane asAhsoka Tano
Tom Kane as Yoda
Christopher Lee as Count Dooku / Darth Tyranus
Samuel L. Jackson as Mace Windu
Nika Futterman as Asajj Ventress
Dee Bradley Baker as The Clone Troopers
Catherine Taber as Padme Amidala
Anthony Daniels as C-3PO
Ian Abercrombie as Supreme Chancellor Palpatine / Darth Sidious
Matthew Wood as General Grievous

Movie Info
Directed by Dave Filoni
Produced by George Lucas, Catherine Winder
Written by Henry Gilroy, Steven Melching, Scott Murphy
Music by Kevin Kiner
Themes byJohn Williams
Distributed by Warner Bros., Lucasfilm Animation
Release date(s)

• August 14, 2008 (AUS)
• August 15, 2008 (US)
• August 15, 2008 (UK)
• August 27, 2008 (FR)

Running time 121 minutes.
Language English

External Link
Official Website