On a hot August, Florida evening in 1977, my family and I stood in line.
My father never liked standing in line, but if you've been to Florida on a family vacation, standing in line is ubiquitous - in line at Disney, in line for dinner, in a line of traffic - the trip down I-75 was a continuous line into a world of lines.
This night was different, we were standing in line to see something we could have seen back in Westland but the buzz rivaled Space Mountain.
For the first and last time, my family and I would stand in a line to see a movie. In the land of the Mouse, the family Walters was waiting to see a movie called "Star Wars".
The critics were not happy, calling out shallow characters, and a predictable, "Arthurian" plotline.
The critics didn't know squat.
When it was all said and done, some movie-goers will have sat and watched this movie 50, 60 times. In a theater.
Lunch boxes, Christmas specials and you know the rest.
Over the next few years, I would see the same movie five times, read the book dozens of times, and listen to the entire soundtrack before each and every Highschool football game. (I'm told I sounded like a Tie Fighter coming through the line. This I do not remember)
Back then, in 9th grade, I was lucky enough to have a film class. In film class, we made a movie.
I had no idea how to make a movie(8MM, black and white, no sound) All I knew was that film is an easy "A".
A buddy and I sat on the floor of the school and scooted around on our butts while the brains of the operation filmed us. Up one square, click. Another square, 'click'. This went on for 9 weeks. It was stop-action and we raced around the halls zooming every which way...
At the end of the semester, our film was the best in class. Although the writer, director, cameraman, and editor did all the work(one guy) each of us received an A.
Fast forward about 20 years, I am watching the making of Phantom Menace when I recognize a face on the screen - there was the guy who made the movie back in 9th grade. Doug Chiang. I fell out of my chair.
Doug has gone on to win multiple Oscars working with GL and the ILM.
My one claim to fame in Hollywood is staring in Doug's first feature film. His people have not returned my people's many calls. :-)
Happy May the Fourth!
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| Doug Chiang, whose first movie I starred in, and some other dude. |
#theforce #Nabu #StevensonJuniorHighschool #starwars #work #people #like #school #film #football #writer #maythe4thbewithyou #maythe4th #maythefourthbewithyou
