See “Star Wars” like you’ve never seen it before — just like the writer!
A crew of comedians will act out the climactic scenes of four iconic films — including “Star Wars” — in a show written by people who never saw the originals. The creator of “Never Seen It,” happening Dec. 17 at Park Slope’s Union Hall, said he was inspired by conversations that revealed how many of his friends had missed the foundational films of American pop culture.
“I’ve never seen ‘Jaws’ or any Indiana Jones movie, but I’ve seen ‘Con Air’ a dozen times, and that’s sort of a pattern for me and a lot of people I know,” said Kyle Ayers, who lives in Bushwick.
For the show this Saturday, Ayers and three other film Philistines have written their own endings to “Star Wars,” “12 Angry Men,” “Annie Hall,” and “Miracle on 34th Street.” Through cultural osmosis, the writers generally have a very basic of idea of what their movie is about, but details can differ wildly — and that is where the fun happens for the audience.
“A lot of the fun is watching them play with, play off, or divert from the general idea,” said Ayers. “It’s fun for people who have seen the movie to watch, because they see the obvious differences, and it’s fun for people who haven’t seen the movies, as well, because they’re like ‘Well yeah, this is what I’d say happened too, probably.’ ”
Finding a comedian who had never seen “Star Wars” was easier than Ayers anticipated — it was first on the list when he asked Will Miles what popular films he had missed. His ignorance of the space opera was astounding, said Ayers.
“[‘Star Wars’] is such a pop-culture staple now that I thought even if you hadn’t read it, you’d know beyond the gist of the show. Then I read Will’s script, and it turns out there are some people who really have no idea what’s going on in ‘Star Wars’, and Will is one of those people,” said Ayers. “No spoiler here, but Will has characters named ‘C-3PO’ and ‘Gold Guy’ in his ‘Star Wars’ rewrite.”
The show will also feature Jo Firestone’s take on “12 Angry Men,” Jean Grae’s “Annie Hall,” and Ayers re-writing one of his mother’s favorite Christmas movies: “Miracle on 34th Street.”
“I really tried to focus on the miracle aspect of this one, and I think it happens at a Macy’s? I hope it does,” he said. “Once again, this one gets messy.”
“Never Seen It” at Union Hall [ 702 Union St. between Fifth and Sixth avenues in Park Slope, (718) 638-4400, www.union
