Topher Grace Takes On The Lucasfilm Empire

For those of you who for some crazy reason don’t already follow SlashFilm, some big news broke today of a secret new edit of the Star Wars prequels, and it comes from the unlikeliest of sources: Topher Grace! SlashFilm head honcho Peter Sciretta was invited to a private screening of Topher’s 85-minute cut of Episodes I through III and was given permission to blog a breakdown of what transpired. The bad news is this is possibly the only peak into Grace’s cut of the films we’re likely to ever get, what with the extensive legal ramifications he would be facing should he ever go public with his version. Still, from what Sciretta lays out here, it appears that Topher’s cut is superior to the originals in nearly every way, and despite the fact that a ton of footage was left on the cutting room floor, the story hasn’t been sacrificed in any way, but is actually made more compelling.

Of course, this news leads me to another sorta Star Wars-related site that I’ve been plugging for years (and will continue to plug because the work they do there is awesome): Red Letter Media, specifically their insanely extensive video reviews of the prequels. I know that the prospect of watching three reviews 70+ minutes in length seems daunting, but the points made in each video go beyond mere sci-fi geek ranting and actually make thoughtful observations that can be applied to filmmaking in a broader theoretical sense. Until Topher Grace’s version of the prequels leaks (and let’s hope it does), this is the next best thing to detailing what could have been with regard to Lucas’ rightfully maligned trilogy. So do yourself a favor and check them out.