Grace Creates His Own “Star Wars” Prequels

Lots of Star Wars fans have ideas on how to fix the Star Wars prequels.  (Eliminate Jar Jar)

After the Phantom Menace was released, there was the bootleg cut that circulated on-line.

Now actor Topher Grace has taken it one step further.  According to Collider, Grace hosting a screening featuring his own edit of the prequels.   According to Steve “Frosty” Weintraub, Grace edited the three installments down to a 90-minute presentation and showed it to a group of 50 gathered friends and fans.

Apparently, Grace started by omitting “about 99% of the first movie,” picking things up at the epic lightsaber duel between Darth Maul, Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi. That eliminates most of the child Anakin story (assuming he kept any of the later pieces) and nearly all (except one shot) of Jar Jar.

“After the quick start, Grace’s version of the prequels focuses on a few things: the Anakin/Padme relationship, Obi-Wan trying to figure out who is trying to kill the politicians, and a ton of the action,” Weintraub wrote, though he does note that Grace cut some big action scenes—including lightsaber duels—when they didn’t suit his purpose.

Among the deleted scenes that Grace slipped back in to the flick is a sequence in which Padme takes Anakin to Naboo to meet her family, which Weintraub said “definitely adds to the story.” But the most interesting part of this re-cut seems to be the new ending.

“Instead of having Anakin scream ‘No!’ as he learned that Padme died, Grace’s version shows Anakin getting the Vader costume put on and the film ends with Vader in the center of the screen looking evil,” Weintraub said. “It’s a perfect way to connect the prequel to the original trilogy and it works perfectly.”

Grace says the showing is a one time thing and that his version won’t be seen again.