By SUPAFLY VINNIE SNUKA
The Editor of Steel
Though the long-awaited
second chapter of the Star Wars saga, Episode II: Attack of the Clones, is set to hit theaters worldwide on May
16, writer/director George Lucas has chosen Rider’s Student Center
Theater for the world premiere to play a month early from April 4-7.
Lucas, who was
looking for just the right theater to unveil his prequel, found it in the
Student Center Theater, which has a technological superiority that was hard for
the director to pass up.
“My movies can
only be shown in the best of theaters which showcase the latest in breakthrough
video and sound quality,” Lucas explained. “I think Rider’s
theater, with its rattling, blurry screen that cuts in and out during the
films, will be perfect to present the in-and-out mechanisms of the emotional
plot.”
The story takes
place 10 years after the events of The Phantom Menace and reunites Jedi Knights Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan
McGregor of Moulin Rouge)
and Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen) with Senator Padmé Amidala
(Natalie Portman), who they are assigned to protect. However, when a forbidden
love begins to evolve between Skywalker and Amidala, the Jedi finds himself
taking his first steps toward the dark side.
The world premiere
festivities will begin on April 4 as the campus will be transformed into a
fan-center for the red-carpet welcoming of the stars.
“We want
everything to be just perfect for when the actors arrive,” said Marcia
Antillies, Rider’s head of Public Affairs office. “All of our
professors have agreed to dress up as wookies while teaching classes, and the
Security officers have been issued Storm Trooper uniforms for their daily
patrol.”
According to the
director, who first noticed Rider while scouting out theaters for the release
of Episode I: The Phantom Menace
in 1999, the campus may even play a major part in the filming of Star Wars
Episode III: Anakin Goes to School
in 2005.
“I think that
the dreary, muddy, foggy canvas the campus presents will be perfect for
Anakin’s training as a sith [dark jedi]. I’ve spoken with the cast,
and they all agree as well.”
McGregor agreed with
the choice for his own reasons.
“Oh yes, Rider
would definitely be a great place to shoot Episode III, especially since its suitcase school status
would give us the privacy we would need on the weekends,” McGregor
explained.
However, Portman,
who spent time scouting the campus herself, did not agree with McGregor and
Lucas and feels that shooting at Rider will only hurt the integrity of the
film.
“Can you
believe it? They want to put me on a set filled with flippin’ horny
teenagers!” she fumed. “I’ve had it, I think I’m just
going to blow the whole Star Wars
thing off and accept Susan Sarandon’s offer to do Anywhere But Here 2:
This Time We’re Really Not Here.”
Nevertheless,
students and professors alike have begun flocking to the Student Center in
lines that are only matched by those found outside the Registrar’s office
during course selection, in hopes of getting a seat in the theater for the
world premiere.
“I’ve
cancelled all my classes from now until the showing to keep my place in
line,” said a masked calculus professor who refused to provide any name
but Darth Logarithm.
“This is a
once in a lifetime opportunity the Rider community has given us, and I feel
blessed to be able to say I’ll be a part of it,” he beamed.