Jedi Junkies : An Interview With Mark Edlitz

There’s a lot to be said about the ways that Star Wars has influenced the whole of pop culture. Whether or not you’ve seen Star Wars, you know what a Darth Vader is, and you can talk like Yoda, and you might even equate cinnamon buns with Princess Leia. It’s when you start exploring how deeply Star Wars has infiltrated pop culture and the human psyche that it gets really interesting.

Jedi Junkies, a film by New York City resident Mark Edlitz explores the extreme end of this spectrum in his documentary Jedi Junkies, and there’s certainly a lot of extremity to explore, from those who spend their fortunes filling their homes with Star Wars action figures, to those who write songs about nothing but Star Wars, and plenty of people who have sacrificed what others would see as a ‘normal life’ for their love of Star Wars – and not all of them seem happy about it, either. There’s never been more visible proof of ‘too much of a good thing’.

Largely filmed around the New York area (and coincidentally, in areas I tend to frequent), Edlitz has respectfully assembled a collection of proud geeks for Jedi Junkies. Even if you’re not a fan of Star Wars, it’s a bit revelatory. There are a few universal truths about collecting thrown in for good measure as well. So, we talked with Mark Edlitz about what went into Jedi Junkies.

CQ : What inspired you to do a documentary on Star Wars fans? What did you set out do accomplish?

ME : I’ve been a big Star Wars fan since 1977 when I first saw the film. My Grandma Jean took me to see it (even though she had no interest in it.) I’ve seen the original trilogy too many times to count, and I have a collection of Star Wars action figures. I’ve also been going to conventions since High School. I went to NYU/Tisch Film School. Few years after that I and made a [narrative] feature film called The Eden Myth.

I wanted to make a second feature film and decided to make a documentary, and I wanted to make it about something which I had a real passion for. I asked myself what film would I want to see, and I came up with the concept for Jedi Junkies.

I thought it would be interesting to attempt to explore what made my fellow Jedi Junkies (or Star Wars fans) click. I wanted to try to figure out why they/me/we spend so much time talking and thinking about just a few films and spending gobs of money on the merchandise.

CQ : Are you personally a Star Wars collector or fan, or did the subculture seem interesting enough from the outside to document?

ME : I am a collector. Maybe it’s best to define myself as a “reformed collector”. When I was a kid, I only had Luke Skywalker in Bespin Gear and the Droid Factory. With the Droid Factory, you could make your own robots/droids. I made R2D2, but that was it. Then, in the Nineties, they started to make Star Wars figures again. That’s when I collected as many as I could.

CQ : Were there any revelatory experiences that you had during filming in terms of your own relationship with Star Wars?

ME : I had a couple of revelations – some about me and some about my fellow fans.

I just mentioned that I was a serious collector in the Nineties, which meant I wanted all the figures. Since then, I’ve had two kids, so I didn’t have space/energy/resources to go as hog-wild as a collector. I’ve cut back considerably. I let my kids play with my collection — most of it is not in a box. The kids play with the action figures, land speeder and lightsabers. So, I’ve been able to integrate my love of Star Wars into my family life.

My revelation about the fans is that so many of them take their love of Star Wars and based on their individual passions and interests, are able to create something new. So if you’re into filmmaking (and Star Wars), they make a Star Wars-inspired fan film. If you’re into music (and Star Wars), they make Star Wars-themed music. Same with costuming, collecting… even dance and martial arts, They take it, run with it and put their own spin on it.

The other thing is that fandom (in its own way) is much, much bigger than the films themselves. The films are obviously successful on many levels — including, most importantly, creatively. I think people go to conventions and form their own communities to express a little bit about themselves.

CQ : As I watched the documentary, I noticed that many of the subjects (the people being interviewed) were socially unconventional. Were there any awkward filming moments because of the quirky subjects?

ME : Towards the end of our credits we say: “No Star Wars fans were hurt in the making of this film.” And that’s basically the approach we used in with our interview subjects. When I saw we, I mean my editor Stephen Walker, executive producer Mark Grande, and my producer and best buddy Jerry Kolber.

As filmmakers, we didn’t want to comment on any extreme behavior. We wanted to show it, provide a context for it and then let it speak for itself.

CQ : Is there a favorite clip or event that you had to leave out of the final cut?

ME : We have a lot of outtakes. We’ll try to use at least some of them on the DVD. We have one long five-minute segment on customizing. One collector gives a demonstration on how he customized his Luke Skywalker action figure. He has this great giant box of limbs, legs, heads and body parts of action figures. I was a little sorry to see that segment go.

CQ : What sort of feedback have you been getting?

ME : Feedback so far has been really incredible. The people in the film think it’s a fair and respectful look at them, and Star Wars fans seem to dig it. Even non-hardcore Star Wars fans (yes, they do exist) are saying really positive things about the movie.

CQ : What do you want people to come away from this with?

ME : I’d like them to really enjoy the flick. I’d like them to think it’s funny. And entertaining. I hope Star Wars fans relate to it and that everyone else gets a look at an interesting subculture that they might not know that much about. But mostly, I hope they enjoy it and think it was fun.

CQ : Is this a celebration, a cautionary tale, or both?

ME : That’s a good question. That’s one question that we’d like viewers to answer themselves. We’d hope that they debate it on message boards and at conventions. We hope they visit our website JediJunkies.com and let us know what they think!

CQ : Where is this film available?

ME : I’m really happy to say that JEDI JUNKIES is now available on iTunes and Amazon. Only $2.99 to rent and $9.99 to buy. People can also get it through our website JediJunkies.com.