Phony Trailer of ‘Episode II’ Fools Some ‘Star Wars’ Fans

A fake trailer for “Star Wars: Episode II” has been exciting--and confusing--a mass of “Star Wars” fans since its debut on the Internet last week. More than 200,000 people have downloaded the two-minute short on fan site the Force.Net (https://www.theforce.net), many wondering if it’s the real thing.

Accompanied by vivid sound effects, the “Episode I” theme music and Lucasfilm logos, the trailer opens gracefully with a sky full of stars, then moves to a hazy desert scene with two suns.

Quick shots follow of recently named “Episode II” castmates Hayden Christensen, Jimmy Smits and Christopher Lee, as well as “Episode I” returning veterans Ewan McGregor, Natalie Portman, Samuel L. Jackson and Ian McDiarmid.

But what’s with the four Boba Fetts and Gabriel Byrne and Christopher Walken? The latter two have been rumored to be in the cast but there has been no official announcement from Lucasfilm, which has just started production in Australia for the next installment due in 2002.

The confusion is justifiable at first glance, especially since the trailer is so well-crafted that it looks as if it came straight from Lucasfilm. But a replay reveals: a shot with a field full of warriors wielding light sabers (and dressed in kilts) was adapted from “Braveheart”; Portman’s take, in which a background actor is wearing a short-sleeve, button-down shirt, came from “Anywhere but Here”; Christensen, who makes his debut with a light saber, was lifted from an episode of “Higher Ground,” a Fox Family Channel series in which he was a regular; Smits’ appearance in the interior of a spaceship was taken from his role in the sci-fi TV movie “The Tommyknockers”; and a shot of Walken, who looks more sinister than usual with dark yellow eyes, was procured from “The Prophesy II.”

The spliced-and-diced trailer is the handiwork of a “Star Wars” fan, who goes by the name Anonymous Director--for now. The 25-year-old director, who is a graduate of the USC film school and works as a film editor for a Hollywood post-production house, told The Times he is hesitant to reveal his identity publicly for numerous legal reasons. As he acknowledged in an open letter Wednesday on the Force.Net, “All the material contained in the trailer is illegally duplicated material from copyrighted sources.”

So far, he has nothing to worry about, at least from the Lucasfilm folks, who are more than used to “Star Wars” fan films and generally don’t take legal action, as long as the flicks are not for sale.

“ ‘Star Wars’ films are supposed to be fun,” said Lucasfilm representative Liz Lattanzio. “We love our fans, and the trailer is a nice expression of fan enthusiasm.”

According to Lattanzio, Lucasfilm people have seen the trailer on the Force.Net and thought it was fun.

However, as with all things “Star Wars,” there may be a dark side. After posting the trailer on the Force.Net July 20, the director toted 60 copies down to the San Diego comic book convention. Soon, it was being shown to crowds of hundreds and reportedly was sold for as much as $20 by bootleg video dealers who had duplicated the trailer and were touting it as the real deal. A bootleg copy has even made its way to Ebay, so far garnering a bid of $2.

The Force.Net received angry e-mail responses from many users who felt they had been misled by the trailer, according to Jeff Yankey, editor of the site’s Fan Films section.

“People see what they want to see, and they thought it was the real thing,” said Yankey, explaining that part of the problem was that online sites that have reported on the trailer have linked directly to the download page, rather than to the page detailing the film’s origins and intent.

According to Yankey, the trailer has attracted more traffic to the Force.Net than any other spoof hosted on the site, including 1998’s “Troops” and the Anonymous Director’s previous “Episode II” trailer, which was posted in October 1999 and featured Leonardo DiCaprio, then rumored to be a contender for the role of Anakin Skywalker, now filled by Christensen.

“The biggest headache about it is that some vendors have been untruthful,” Yankey said.

According to the director, the final version of the trailer was created over the last two months. He pulled clips from videos and DVDs, then edited them on an Avid Media Composer system. A work associate pulled together the impressive CGI visual effects using the Discreet Logic Flame system, similar to programs used by George Lucas’ Industrial Light & Magic effects house.

The director painstakingly edited sound files, including subtle waterfall and spacecraft sounds, while his partner replaced swords with light sabers in the “Braveheart” warrior scene and composited a shot of four Boba Fetts (the bounty hunter popular with “Star Wars” followers) using elements from the original “Star Wars” trilogy.

Having received hundreds of positive e-mails from fans in just a few days, the director says he’s convinced that “the real outlet for reaching fans is the Internet.”

“In some ways, we did fool a lot of people, so that’s a little fun, because we did try to make it as realistic as possible,” he said. “I would like as many people to see it, to make people think, ‘What if? What if it is the actual trailer?’ ”

Still, he is worried about burning bridges in the industry, as one of his dreams since childhood has been to work on an actual “Star Wars” movie. He hopes there’s no cause for concern.

“I’m just a fan who is not doing this for any profit whatsoever, [only] for my own practice,” he said. “My friends were so impressed with it, they thought I should put it on the Internet.”

Michele Botwin can be reached at [email protected].