ABOUT THIS EPISODE
Patrick Read Johnson is an accomplished writer and filmmaker who has directed movies like Spaced Invaders, Angus, Baby's Day Out, The Genesis Code and co-wrote the story for the film DragonHeart.
His latest project is the film 5-25-77. It's a semi-autobiographical film about a teenager named Patrick from Illinois who wants to be a filmmaker. Three months before Star Wars: A New Hope opened in 1977, he gets to see a working print at Lucasfilm effects house Industrial Light and Magic. Technically, he's the world's first Star Wars fan. Johnson's semi-autobiographical film 5-25-77 is a loving homage to Star Wars and other '70s sci-fi films. But it's also a fantastic coming of age film that artfully showcases how finding out who you are might be as easy as following your dreams.
The film was shot in 2004, but through various financial setbacks is finally being released this week. In fact, what you'll learn quickly from my conversation with Patrick is that it's hard to separate the man from his film and that the making of 5-25-77 is as much an adventure as what's on screen.
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