Star Wars Always: Fan edit shows exactly why Star Wars is legendary
Fans have been editing and re-editing scenes from Star Wars for a long time. With Star Wars Always though, we not only get celebrity involvement, we get five minutes that tie in every film, and show just how contiguous, Saga or Anthology, these movies really are.
This was just supposed to be another Tuesday night, and then it happened. Though Star Wars fan films are nothing new, all across social media, on Twitter, on Facebook, on You Tube, the comments and questions from my fellow fans came: Have you seen Topher Grace’s trailer?
Topher Grace has some pretty solid credentials in fandom already. As Eric on That 70’s Show we got to see him and his friends when they first experienced Star Wars in 1977. Grace appears in the much maligned, but occasionally fascinating Spider-Man 3 as the first onscreen Eddie Brock. Grace also appears in the science fiction action homage Predators and plays as against his type as he can as a psychotic killer.
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OK, maybe there’s one role where he plays further against type. He manages to bring all the casual, racist smarm of David Duke to life in the Oscar winning BlacKkKlansman. (Also of course featuring Kylo Ren himself, Adam Driver.)
After the release of BlacKkKlansman an article appeared talking about how Topher Grace would unwind from playing such an evil character by editing movies in his spare time, in this case a two-hour cut of The Hobbit trilogy. Knowing Mr. Grace likes to edit films, no one quite expected the glorious Star Wars Always trailer that appeared on his You Tube page “Lou’s Cafe” Tuesday night. (Follow the link to be blown away like a Death Star.)
Grace did not act alone though. Editor Jeff Yorkes, no stranger to the franchise having edited both a documentary about poster artist Drew Struzan and one about the 30th anniversary of Return of the Jedi was on board, and shared the result on his Twitter as well.
"Why don’t studios make “mega-trailers,” tying all the movies of one franchise together, reminding you why you fell in love in the first place?"
Yorkes is absolutely correct. The Always trailer manages to illustrate several of the thematic threads and character arcs that stretch across all the current ten films. Additionally, the parallels illustrated in Luke’s rise and Rey’s rise, the fall of Ben Solo and Anakin Skywalker, and the remarkable similarities in the last Obi-Wan/Vader duel and Luke’s confrontation with Kylo Ren on Crait tie together the 40-plus year story beautifully.
Need all the movies presented in a five minutes guaranteed to leave you either with goosebumps or tears? Star Wars Always is how you do it. Or, as Patton Oswalt (also a huge fan) tweeted:
"Someone let Topher Grace direct a Star Wars movie. Or hire him to straight-up edit their film. What an eye for image and impact."
The Force is definitely strong in this one. It’s almost enough to make us forget we’re waiting for the Episode IX trailer!
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What moment stands out for you the most in Star Wars Always? Seen some other great fan work worth sharing? Let us know in comments below!