In the news: George Lucas loos back at Star Wars, his future for the original trilogy characters

Associated Press has a look back at George, touting that he’s glad to leave Star Wars behind: “Lucas’ accomplishments marked a one-of-a-kind revolution. He sneaked into a Hollywood that no longer had the verve or nerve to make the weird, giddy, goofy Saturday matinees of his youth.”

MTV interviews George Lucas: “Han and Leia probably did get married,” Lucas conceded. “They settled down. She became a senator, and they got a nice little house with a white picket fence. Han Solo is out there cooking burgers on the grill. Is that a movie? I don’t think so.”

MSNBC catches up with Hayden Christensen: “It was absolutely overwhelming, just from the aspect of getting to act behind a mask,” Christensen said. “That is a very freeing position to act from, and to have that mask be the mask of Darth Vader is extremely empowering.”

Even Mark Hamill can’t escape the frenzy: “And I said, ‘There’s no way this will fail’ because it’s got a sense of humor. It’s the key element that most science fiction films don’t have, which is a sort of arch sense of humor. Now, we’re playing it completely straight, but it’s inherently absurd. I mean, I can’t tell you how much we laughed on the set to have Alec Guinness in a scene with a big, furry dog that’s flying a space ship.”