Category: sequel trilogy

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U.K. casting call for Episode VII? Maybe?

The BBC thinks there may be an open call in the U.K. this week for Episode VII.

UPDATE: Bleeding Cool is pretty sure this is for Star Wars, and their sources say that the script change is not as dramatic as was speculated in the days following the script announcement: “the same characters are being sought as several months ago” and “the building blocks of story are staying pretty much untouched.”

In any case, the listing is for two characters, one for a “street smart and strong” teen girl aged 17-18 and the other for a young man 19-23 who can “appreciate the absurdities in life.”

However, the Twitter account that broke this, @UKopencall is brand new (first tweets began Oct. 30) and hasn’t tweeted about anything else: It’s mostly spamming other accounts about these listings! (Spammers. I hate spammers.) For that reason alone I have my doubts, though the name on the account, Claire Curry, does seem to be a legitimate casting assistant. Lucasfilm did decline to comment for the BBC, and if this was false it would be an easy denial for them… And of course it could be for another Disney movie entirely. You could be the new Not-Elizabeth or Not-Will of Pirates of the Caribbean 5! Whatever the case, if you go: Be careful.

UPDATE #2: There are now open casting calls for the same roles in the U.S.

Dare to believe? The listing is below.

Continue reading “U.K. casting call for Episode VII? Maybe?”

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Disney marketer: Episode VII aimed for “late 2015” release. Or not?

Dennis Barbie, a retail marketing director for Disney, tweeted today that Episode VII will be coming “end 2015,” giving some weight to the rumors that have the movie aiming for a November or December 2015 release date.

Lando, Han and the Falcon in ROTJIn the wake of last week’s report that Disney and Lucasfilm want different dates, word had it that a late 2015 date was the possible compromise.

In a later tweet Barie said it’s “planned for end of CY15 but in the entertainment business you will never know.” We’re not even penciling anything in until there’s an official announcement, but this is certainly worth noting – to help you place your bets if nothing else.

UPDATE: Later…

https://twitter.com/Barbieguitar/status/397887161888174080

Uh-huh.

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Abrams jokes about potential Episode VII locations

J.J. Abrams continues his tour around the U.K. press with an interview in The Scotsman. Their writer may not have run into any potential Oscar nominees in the Bad Robot offices, but he does ask about the potential of shooting in Scotland and/or Ireland:

Abrams laughs at the notion of a Celtic civil war that may yet be settled with recourse to light-sabres (sic.) “Tommy keeps pushing locations in Scotland and Trina, who is a wonderful Irish woman, keeps pushing locations to shoot in Ireland, so I’m just going to put the two of them in a room and see who comes out, and I’ll tell you it’s not going to be Tommy. But joking aside, we are looking all over the place for locations and we haven’t made that determination yet.”

He gets even less on stepping into Lucas’ shoes (“the definition of surreal” and “it is thrilling, it is really thrilling”) and story/casting (“I will say that I’ve been very lucky to work with Harrison a couple of times and he is just a gentleman, and he is as funny and as thoughtful and as wonderful to work with as you can imagine.”)

With that out of the way, the article moves on to the point, Abrams’ new book, S – aka the real reason he’s doing all this press.

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Abrams takes note of Star Wars fan video, other reactions

J.J. Abrams

In an interview with The Times (being subscription-only, it’s summarized by The Telegraph and THR,) J.J. Abrams says he understands the feelings set out in the ‘rules‘ video,

“I would say that (the website conveys) a feeling that we share very much… I loved how Star Wars had that sense of a world far beyond the borders of what you can see and have been told – it’s one of the things it did so brilliantly.

If you watch the first movie, you don’t actually know exactly what the Empire is trying to do. They’re going to rule by fear – but you don’t know what their end game is.

The beauty of that movie was that it was an unfamiliar world, and yet you wanted to see it expand and to see where it went.”

The video was controversial, but let’s not make the mistake of thinking it’s the only fan reaction they’ve taken note of. He also recognizes that “a lot of kids who saw all the prequels when they were young really do identify with those movies as much as my generation identified with the originals.”

The original article also apparently suggests Chiwetel Ejiofor (12 Years a Slave, Serenity) might be involved in Episode VII – but mainly because he was seen in the Bad Robot offices. (Jedi News thinks The Times is on to something with that; We’ll see.)

Meanwhile, Variety columnist Brian Lowry strikes back at Mike Ryan’s piece from the other day on how fans need to calm down. Hey, aren’t we the ones who’re supposed to be sniping at each other? (But seriously, don’t.)

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Roundup: All this has happened before…

Han Solo is sick of your shit.Rumor roundup. In light of today’s THR report, HuffPo’s Mike Ryan points out that quick turnaround and behind-the-scenes turmoil are nothing new for Star Wars. Meanwhile, Gregory Ellwood and Drew McWeeny at HitFix discuss it, and McWeeny has some wise words for fandom as well. I’m getting pretty sick of all the panic and hand-wringing myself.

Merchandise. I’m a little horrified by this, but at least one Jader was happy to hear that Star Wars Crocs are coming. May the fug be with you?

Audio. James Burns and Mark Newbold of Jedi News are the latest to launch a podcast, RADIO 1138, with the help of the vets at Rebelforce Radio.

Your moment of zen. Or not. A supercut of Harrison Ford being angry at people. Meanwhile, at The Onion…

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Report: Lucasfilm wants 2016 release for Episode VII, but Disney holds firm to 2015

SEQUEL TRILOGY RUMORS: Take seriously at your own risk.The Hollywood Reporter goes digging behind the scenes to report that Disney CEO Bob Iger still wants the film out in summer 2015, even though Lucasfilm (if maybe not director J.J. Abrams) would prefer to push it back to 2016. If true, this puts a bit of a snarky spin on that “expected 2015” from Lucasfilm last week.

They also have conflicting sources on a struggle over casting between Abrams and Kathleen Kennedy, and, of course, the assurance that this sort of thing is nothing out of the usual.

In any case, I wouldn’t go expecting a solid release date announcement any time soon.

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Discussion: One year of Disney, Lucasfilm, and Episode VII

Bob Iger and George LucasIn a matter of hours, it’ll be a full year since the Lucasfilm sale to Disney was announced. We still don’t know that much about Episode VII – most of the confirmed information still fits on one page at StarWars.com – but we can be confident that they’re working on it, at least.

Will we get any news today? The rumor mill was pretty convinced at one point, but after last week’s announcement, who can say? We’ll keep an eye out.

In the meantime… With a year to digest, what are your thoughts? Are you (still?) excited for the future of Lucasfilm and Star Wars?

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Roundup: Speaking sense on the Episode VII rumors

Rumors. Bryan Young and Bobby Roberts discuss last week’s big scriptwriting development on the latest Full of Sith. Seems like Bobby’s being hearing the same things as McWeeny and Faraci. They speak sense, so listen and calm yourselves.

Meanwhile, on the weekend Harrison Ford scoop, Blue Sky Disney revives the “Han Solo gonna die” thing from early on.

Flashback. In the midst of all this, HuffPo’s Mike Ryan looks back at Leigh Brackett and her Empire Strikes Back draft. All this has happened before… And Tor digs up some of Carrie Fisher’s thoughts on Leia from the infamous beach blanket bingo issue of Rolling Stone.

Ugh. The Sarlacc got a mention on last week’s Once Upon A Time in Wonderland.

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Rumor: Harrison Ford has deal for Episode VII as moves made towards fifth Indiana Jones film

Ford in Ender's Game

This morning, Jedi News‘ Jedi Master SQL reports on Lucasfilm’s negotiations with Harrison Ford. A verbal agreement has been in place for him to reprise Han Solo since before the Disney deal, and the financial matters were hammered out over the summer. The sticking points were apparently Ford wanting to see Solo’s development over the full arc of the films – not just Episode VII – and a commitment for another Indiana Jones film. A multi-film deal has now been agreed on.

SEQUEL TRILOGY RUMORS: Take seriously at your own risk.Ford didn’t get a guarantee for Indy 5, but there will be an outline for the film by the end of 2014, with it going forward for a 2016 release if all parties agree. (Lingering question: Besides Ford himself, Steven Spielberg, and George Lucas, as in the past? Or will Lucas – and possibly Spielberg – pass the franchise on to other filmmakers, as has been done with Star Wars?) There are so many questions (Shia LaBouf and his burned bridges?) that if this is anywhere near true, I don’t expect anything Indy to be announced when Ford’s involvement in Episode VII is confirmed. Ford has been very open recently about wanting to play Indiana Jones again, but remember, all this is just rumor at this point.

And yesterday, SQL pointed out that Lucasfilm named two production designers (officially) on Episode VII, a highly unusual move, and maintains that the November 11th, 2015 release date he reported earlier is still the target.

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Episode VII: Lawrence Kasdan and J.J. Abrams now taking on script duties, key crew members confirmed

Star Wars logoWell, this isn’t the news we’ve been expecting… It looks like Episode VII has said goodbye to screenwriter Micheal Arndt. StarWars.com has announced that J.J. Abrams and Lawrence Kasdan are now penning the script for Episode VII.

“I am very excited about the story we have in place and thrilled to have Larry and J.J. working on the script,” Kathleen Kennedy said in a statement. “There are very few people who fundamentally understand the way a Star Wars story works like Larry, and it is nothing short of incredible to have him even more deeply involved in its return to the big screen. J.J. of course is an incredible storyteller in his own right. Michael Arndt has done a terrific job bringing us to this point and we have an amazing filmmaking and design team in place already prepping for production.”

It’s unclear if any of Arndt’s script will be used, but I don’t think it looks likely… Whatever the case, I’m sure the rumors will be coming momentarily.

The announcement confirms a number of other production roles, including sound designer Ben Burtt and many others. (/Film has a nice rundown.) It also says “location scouting, production design, casting, and costume design are already underway” and states that “shooting is scheduled to begin Spring 2014” for “an expected 2015 release.”