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Weekend Video: 'Phantom Menace' actors have traveled in many different galaxies
Friday, May 14, 1999
So, where did this Jake Lloyd kid come from?
He stars, alongside the better-known Liam Neeson, Samuel L. Jackson, Ewan McGregor and Natalie Portman, in the first "Star Wars" prequel. You've probably seen a few thousand stories about the movie invading theaters on Wednesday.
If you're not standing in line somewhere, you can do a little homework to help pass the time. You can always rent (or buy, if you're a big spender) the first three films or check out earlier movies starring the cast of "Star Wars: Episode I -- The Phantom Menace." A guide to where you can find them:
JAKE LLOYD -- Until now, the 10-year-old has been best known for playing the son of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Rita Wilson in the holiday comedy "Jingle All the Way." He really, really wants a Turbo Man action figure, which his workaholic dad forgot to buy. Jake provides the only note of authenticity and proves he's perfected the pout and patter of a child with a non-negotiable wish list.
Jake also holds his own against Gena Rowlands and Marisa Tomei in "Unhook the Stars," a Nick Cassavetes film about a widow who becomes a godsend for a struggling young mother.
EWAN McGREGOR -- It might be hard to find another 29-year-old actor who is busier or who has made more movies for every conceivable audience. The costume crowd? Rent "Emma," the 1996 adaptation of Jane Austen's gentle comedy of manners, in which he is dashing newcomer Frank Churchill to Gwyneth Paltrow's Emma Woodhouse.
Glitter girls and boys? Look for "The Velvet Goldmine," which arrived in stores Tuesday and stars Jonathan Rhys-Meyers as a David Bowie stand-in and McGregor as Curt Wild, a rock ringer for Iggy Pop. Unlike "The Phantom Menace," it is rated R for a litany of reasons: strong sexual content, nudity, language and drug use.
Mainstream movie fan? Try "Brassed Off," a charmer about a brass band in a small English mining town fighting for its survival. Pete Postlethwaite plays the ailing band leader, and McGregor and Tara Fitzgerald are members who fall in love. In "Nightwatch," McGregor is a hospital night watchman who becomes the prime suspect in a string of killings. And in the loopy "A Life Less Ordinary," he is a janitor who is replaced by a robot and kidnaps a bored heiress (Cameron Diaz) who knows much more about crime, ransom notes and guns than he does.
Art-house regular? Well, "Little Voice" won't be on video until mid-June, so you'll have to consider "Shallow Grave," a clever thriller about three roommates who find the body of a fourth and a cache of cash; "Trainspotting," for which McGregor shed 28 pounds and much of his hair to play a Scottish heroin addict; or "The Pillow Book," a Peter Greenaway film which casts him as the lover of a Japanese woman obsessed with the surprisingly erotic art of calligraphy.
NATALIE PORTMAN -- Just 17 and already a veteran of Broadway, where she starred in "The Diary of Anne Frank," this is one tremendously talented actress. Critics first noticed her in 1994's "The Professional," in which she played a 12-year-old girl who learns how to kill.
She was Al Pacino's suicidal stepdaughter in "Heat," the daughter of Goldie Hawn and Alan Alda in "Everyone Says I Love You," a wise 13-year-old who develops a crush on Timothy Hutton in "Beautiful Girls," and First Daughter to Jack Nicholson's president in "Mars Attacks!"
LIAM NEESON -- This actor has come a long way since he did a 1984 guest turn on "Miami Vice" in an episode titled "When Irish Eyes Are Crying." He was nominated for an Oscar for "Schindler's List" (he lost to "Philadelphia" star Tom Hanks) and has an impressive list of credits, stretching back to "Excalibur" where he played Gawain.
To get a sense of the breadth of his talent, try renting "Before and After," in which he's a New England sculptor whose son is accused of murder; "Michael Collins," where he handles the title role of the Irish rebel; "Darkman," in which he's a disfigured scientist who uses his skills to fight crime; and "Husbands and Wives," Woody Allen's domestic drama known for its herky-jerky camera movements.
SAMUEL L. JACKSON -- Most of America probably saw this veteran play a bespectacled brainiac in "Jurassic Park" or a hitman in "Pulp Fiction," but he has enough movies to keep a renter busy all weekend and next week. He's a Chicago police negotiator who is wrongly accused of murder and suddenly finds himself taking hostages in "The Negotiator," a philandering husband in "Eve's Bayou," a gun dealer in "Jackie Brown" and the outraged father of a raped girl in "A Time to Kill."
Jackson and Paltrow (as a cocktail waitress-sometime hooker) star in "Hard Eight," a gritty, violent story of gambling, kidnapping and murder from "Boogie Nights" director Paul Thomas Anderson. Another rental you might have overlooked: "Fresh," a sharp urban thriller about a 12-year-old boy who uses his chess-playing skills to escape the drugs and violence in his world. And Jackson turns up in Martin Scorsese's masterful "GoodFellas," as Stacks Edwards, who ends up getting whacked.
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