Reporter gets sneak peak at ''Clones,'' and raves

”Stories this big don’t plop in your lap,” says Ain’t It Cool News muckraker Harry Knowles, who claims two middle-aged ”scruffy-looking types” approached him in Austin March 11 and offered an advance screening of ”Star Wars: Episode II?Attack of the Clones.” ”I figured it was the funniest ploy ever for an indie film guy to show me his ‘Star Wars’ spoof flick,” he recalls. Instead, Knowles purportedly saw an unfinished print of ”Clones,” which he praised effusively on his website. Among the alleged highlights: a gloves-off battle between Count Dooku (Christopher Lee) and Yoda; a surprise appearance by the Death Star; and Jar Jar Binks (reduced to a cameo) greeted with laughter as he joins the Galactic Senate. ”We don’t know how he could have seen it,” insists a Lucasfilm rep, who declined to comment on plot points or the apparent leak. ”But we like the review.”