Chewbacca returns! (“He knows what he did.”) Below the cut, the rest of Ford’s appearance.
Rest in Peace, Richard LeParmentier
Word has spread quickly through the fan community that Richard LeParmentier, who played Admiral Conan Motti in Episode IV, has died.
Those who can’t quite place who Admiral Motti is will know him as the first guy Vader force chokes in A New Hope. He often told the story that his ability to make his neck do strange things was what garnered him that awesome moment that probably freaked out every little kid just that much more about Darth Vader.
Admiral Motti was made even more famous when George Lucas jokingly gave him the first name of Conan while on the Conan O’Brien Show.
He could be found at many different conventions, regaling everyone with stories of his time in show business. He loved Star Wars fandom and getting to interact with them.
Jaders Bryan Young and Janine Spendlove knew him well and have written a lovely tribute to him.
In the news: Star Wars vs. Star Trek vs. startups?
British chat show host Jonathan Ross argues for his answer to the ancient geek question, Star Trek or Star Wars? to The Times. While he finally sides with Star Trek, he does offer this about Star Wars:
I think I love Star Wars mainly because it took all the cool stuff I loved in comic books and science fiction novels and finally put them up on the big screen. And I no longer felt like an outcast.
Meanwhile, Forbes tries to look at both franchises as a model for startup companies:
These were David and Goliath stories. Little guys, taking on impossibly big challenges. Irresistible stories of human aspiration. What happened over time? They became Goliaths themselves; they lost their inner David, their startup spirit.
..and then points to Firefly for not turning into a Goliath, by being canceled.
Awesome photo totally snagged from GeekTyrant and their Ultimate Star Wars vs Star Trek page.
Video: Harrison Ford on Star Wars on Letterman
Exactly what it says on the tin, by which I mean Letterman does most of the talking. Below the cut, Ford tells a cannibal joke.
Continue reading “Video: Harrison Ford on Star Wars on Letterman”
Anthony Daniels announced for Celebration Europe; “not sitting by the phone” for Episode VII call
Reed announced today that Anthony Daniels (C-3PO) will be among the stars at Celebration Europe.
He also did an interview with Digital Spy, where he sidestepped sequel talk:
“Look, it’s all very early days and I don’t want to wear anybody out by speculating or letting you waste your energy by saying ‘What do you think?’
“I’m certainly not sitting by the phone, but it’s always nice when it rings. Do you know what I mean?”
Still, he can certainly afford to be vague: C-3PO is one of the characters that few expect to be totally absent from the new movies.
Film critic Roger Ebert has died
Roger Ebert, perhaps the most well-known film critic of the past several decades, has died after a long battle with cancer, his longtime paper the Chicago Sun-Times has announced.
Only days ago, Ebert posted his last blog entry, annoucing “a leave of presence” and further plans for RogerEbert.com. “Thank you for going on this journey with me,” he wrote. “I’ll see you at the movies.”
Ebert reviewed films for 46 years in the Sun-Times and for 31 on TV. After losing part of his jaw in 2006 and being unable to speak, he turned to the internet. His Twitter account, @ebertchicago, was a must-follow for anyone interested in film.
Ebert, along with his colleague Gene Siskel, was the first film critic I ever knew, and perhaps the only one whose reviews I read consistently. Siskel & Ebert & the Movies, which aired Saturday mornings in Detroit, was a regular staple of my childhood.
And to bring it back to Star Wars… Only weeks ago, a 1983 video of Siskel and Ebert defending Return of the Jedi was making the rounds again. Of course, George Lucas has never been much for critics, and one of the monsters in 1988’s Willow was named “Eborsisk” for the pair. (They weren’t singled out: General Kael got his name from The New Yorker’s Pauline Kael)
Ebert was one of the greats: He could be funny and biting, but classy, plus a truly engaging writer. He will be missed.
Harrison Ford on J.J. Abrams: “A wonderful talent. Extraordinary guy.”
Harrison Ford isn’t talking Episode VII yet – but he has plenty of praise for director J.J. Abrams, who he worked with in 1991’s Regarding Henry
“I think he’s fantastic,” Ford said in a recent interview. “I did his first movie, ‘Regarding Henry,’ with Mike Nichols. A wonderful talent. Extraordinary guy.”
He also played coy on playing Han Solo again, sort of: “Um, I don’t even want to discuss that. It’s great. Ain’t it great?” He was a little more cagey in his MTV interview:
“It might be nice, depending on the circumstances, to revisit any one of those characters. What interests me now is the opportunity to work at all and to work in ambitious projects. I can’t think that way,” Ford said. “What I’m looking for is the next opportunity, the next ambitious opportunity. It doesn’t matter if it’s one of those. If it’s one of those, great. If it’s not, that’s fine too.”
And on past criticisms of George Lucas:
“I might have said things in the past that were characterizations of how I felt at the time,” he said. “That was then. This is now. It doesn’t matter.”
Celebration Europe: Carrie Fisher attending
Reed and StarWars.com today revealed that Carrie Fisher will appear at Celebration Europe. Fisher has appeared at several domestic Celebrations, but this’ll be her first CE.
Fisher will hold court with Warwick Davis on the Celebration Stage.
Ian McDiarmid on Palpatine’s past and (possible) future
SciFiNow talked to Ian McDiarmid on his Star Wars character. He talks about Palpatine’s spinoff potential and even calls the Darth Palgueis novel ‘fascinating.’
But the highlight is perhaps his own thoughts on the character, and the possibilities going forward:
“I thought Sith were just somehow born evil, that’s what they were. But I’ve… with reference to a few things that George has said, I realised that that’s not true. He might well have a tragic arc too, but I don’t know. And even if he does I’m not sure we’ll ever see it. But obviously, if we did and if it happened it would be something that would be completely fascinating to do and it would be like building a Shakespearean character.
“Also the great thing about these movies is that George doesn’t give much away in advance to anybody,” McDiarmid continues, “which is good because that’s what a good storyteller should do, you should really want to know what’s going to happen next or how it all started.”
“And that’s all there in George’s head, and he’s released it, I suppose, in one way or another over the last few years. And although, of course, Disney now owns the franchise, George is there very much as a creative consultant and I’m sure they’ll be very grateful for that. And those storylines will still continue to emerge from that sort of databank, that extraordinary databank which is his brain.
For all the squee over Plagueis, I never really felt that it revealed much about Palpatine’s own motivation: The character himself is still very much a mystery, and I can how exploring that could be more fruitful with all the EU’s restraints removed. But somehow, I doubt that spinoff is very high on the list…
George Lucas wants to start… An art museum?
Now that he’s sold Lucasfilm and retired, George Lucas has a new plan: An art museum in San Francisco.