He began once again with a CGI project. LucasArts was considered one of the finest special-effects centers, and after Billy came in, the investment doubled. The small studio grew from twenty to forty people, developing software and company models that resembled those of Autodesk and Pixar, all focused on improving special effects at every stage.
Billy watched the rooms and the way every entrance seemed designed so that each series could generate an impossible momentum in development. At first, he hesitated. Then the film began to take on a fascinating shape, where the shots now started to come alive. It was everything the actors wanted. A clear demonstration of the film's value, because when actors are shown the investments and the way cinema is made, something brilliant happens—each scene carries a sense of materialization that defines cinema from its own angle.
-I like the film quite a lot,- Billy commented, taking a breath from everything. It was curious how he seemed increasingly more adult than Natalie herself, though nothing that good lighting and a few details couldn't bring to life. His beard had been completely shaved, a youthful cut; a braid fell from the back near his temples, and he looked slimmer in loose clothing, though he was already thin. Natalie wore custom-made dresses, even though she was petite and slender.
Her size was not much. No matter how it was framed, her height of 1.60 meters did not reach Billy's neck. Logical enough, but she was still a girl who had not yet come of age; the love story was therefore sweet, filled with a vigor that seemed to give it another context. Because the idea was to show the fall of Darth Vader.
A being of light, good and entirely righteous, who ended up becoming one of the mortal causes of the Republic's fall and the birth of the Galactic Empire. Replicating that sensitivity was a fact for Billy; it is not easy to do it with just one film—it requires a great deal of work. Among those efforts is the need to explain the political environment that gives strength to a story that remains raw and rigid, centered on the complete failure of democracy, corruption, systems, progress, and civilization. To establish an Asimov-like context about barbarism and the consequences of that barbarism, which appear as the dominant end of something that must stand as a truth about the cycle of the beginning and the end of every government. The Republic lasted four thousand years, and its foundations seemed to disintegrate, while piracy gave way to a transition where there was no hope.
Because in the first films, people do not need hope. For two reasons: they live under a good government with flaws, but ultimately healthy in some areas. It is then manipulation, evil, and hatred that emerge and destroy everything; for that alone, the entire panorama must be shown. In the Dooku series with Christopher Lee, it became evident that Palpatine's silver tongue and his acts of manipulation could appear almost supernatural. The technique of seeping into people's hatred and using the Force as something corrupting is brilliant. And only someone with a pure heart can overwrite those thoughts.
-I'm afraid we'll begin all the filming tomorrow,- Lucas replied, explaining how to launch a solid television program. They carefully mapped out every scene in the studio, which totaled around thirty-five scenes; many of them would be shot out of order, then recorded in other locations—deserts, sands, and vast landscapes that showed the beauty of the world beyond the screens. It felt like a puzzle of thousands of recorded scenes.
Similar to what would later be attempted in The Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter, where certain scenes would be filmed—such as the Forbidden Forest—using a Scottish forest nearby, perfectly suited to look marvelous. At the same time, they used different sets that brought the film to life in a truth captured from specific angles.
-I'll be ready by then,- Billy replied with a fleeting smile. He now had a different image in mind. The script he had seen was far better than the previous one; it was built like a grand series. Several outstanding screenwriters had given a magical touch to the interactions between Anakin and Padmé.
-First the fights, and then the different shoots,- Lucas commented gently.
Billy nodded. Although Lucas seemed to step aside slightly, he wanted to see firsthand how much chemistry could be seen between the actors; Natalie gave her approval that Billy was the right choice.
-Seems fine to me,- Billy replied. He already longed to take part in the development of the lightsabers; it was a dream nearly come true. In a strange way, it did not feel distant at all.
-It was a great idea to make films for older audiences,- Lucas whispered, since the rating they chose, +12, was due to the slightly gritty atmosphere—one that, twenty years later, would easily be considered +15 or +18, because of certain violent, bloody, or intense scenes that showed the raw and wonderful side of the galaxy.
...
In front of him stood an entire filming crew. Steven Spielberg's hand brought the franchise to life, from demanding angles and projects to handcrafted shots transformed by a director who seemed to work magic with every take. Even then, Lucas held certain ideas about what it meant to secure a great director who could give context to shots with delicacy, and that was precisely what Steven could do for such a long saga.
He told a story and left the story alive. Simply by changing angles, the words remained, without losing the core context of the work.
The scene was art: a fight between Master Sifo-Dyas, ten years earlier, and Count Dooku with a red saber, in which he recreated something dramatic, only to introduce death and its consequences. In addition, Kamino was shown, along with the Count placing the request for the clone army.
-The obvious is the best,- Billy whispered, because he knew it was not a suspense story; it was once again telling a love story, and that was the hardest part.
In the distance, he saw Ewan engaged in a fierce conversation with Samuel L. Jackson. The actor looked completely different from what he usually was, and he would be used relentlessly by Lucas over the next five years, who wanted to create series about key actors and pivotal events, digging deeper into a darker, fuller, and different saga, leaving aside the children's tone.
...