Category: star wars

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Rumor: Benicio del Toro for Episode VIII?

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The Wrap is reporting that Benicio del Toro “has the offer” to play the villain in Episode VIII. You may recognize del Toro as The Collector from Guardians of the Galaxy, and (more interestingly, perhaps) he was at one point in talks to play J.J. Abrams’ Khan in Star Trek Into Darkness.

Variety is doubling down with their own sources. They say Lucasfilm really wants an A-list talent in the part – and that they also met with Joaquin Phoenix. (And The Hollywood Reporter makes three.)

del Toro would be a nice get for Star Wars, so it’ll be interesting to see if this goes through. Episode VIII, which is being directed by Rian Johnson, is currently set for a May 26, 2017 release.

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Lucasfilm did not authorize that one GQ spread

Schumer-3If you’ve been poking around fandom at all the past few days, you may have run across comedian Amy Schumer’s “risqué” GQ spread featuring Star Wars. (That’s the tamest picture at right, though none of them are particularly shocking if you’ve ever been exposed to a base level of frat-boy humor. I do like to assume we’re all adults here.) I haven’t written it up (beyond a tweet) before because, quite frankly, I thought it was just kind of dumb and clearly a publicity play.

It certainly bothered many who thought that Lucasfilm may have been involved, though. So here’s their brief statement on the matter:

It’s not surprising that GQ would want to capitalize on the cultural cachet of Star Wars, but Lucasfilm and Disney did not authorize, participate in or condone the inappropriate use of our characters in this manner.

GQ probably isn’t going to get sued over this, but you can rest easy knowing that LFL did not sign off on a lightsaber blow job. (For the record, I find folks using this as an excuse to slam Amy Schumer’s looks just as inappropriate, so don’t bother to play that card here.)

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Spoilerphobes beware: LEGO leaks give us a few more names from The Force Awakens to chew over

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The toy leaks for The Force Awakens have begun.

Earlier today, From Bricks to Bothans posted a few leaked images of two upcoming LEGO sets from the film. One is an (officially) unrevealed X-wing that we saw at a certain filming location, and the second is the Millennium Falcon. Both include multiple mini-figures – and the Falcon one gives us a few new names. (Though it’s noteworthy that both Finn and Rey remain just ‘Finn’ and ‘Rey.’)

FBTB has since deleted the images, but since they’ve been widely distributed across the internet, I’m putting them up below the cut. Check them out, or not…

Continue reading “Spoilerphobes beware: LEGO leaks give us a few more names from The Force Awakens to chew over”

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The catchup: Guillermo del Toro’s Star Wars idea and more from SDCC

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Guillermo del Toro would pitch Lucasfilm a Jabba the Hutt film in the style of The Godfather. I would have expected something a little more out-of-the-stock-fanboy-box from del Toro, but I’m sure he could knock it out of the park if it ever happens.

→ Also from SDCC: Gary Whitta on the Star Wars symphony performance; Where the behind-the-scenes reel music came from; How Mark Hamill walked the con floor; How is it that Star Wars only got a #3 in buzz?

→ BB-8 is on the cover of the latest issue of Make.

→ Daniel Craig says he doesn’t have a role in The Force Awakens, and also apparently takes the piss out of Simon Pegg, because why not?

→ In the wake of SDCC, Making Star Wars dropped a few new rumor/spoilers, as they are wont to do. First up, what happens directly after Return of the Jedi and more on Jakku; Some stuff on where Han is as The Force Awakens begins. And who is playing that new X-wing pilot we heard about last week?

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What we learned from The Force Awaken’s behind-the-scenes teaser

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For those of us who didn’t get to be in Hall H and treated to a live concert, the behind-the-scenes video was the highlight of The Force Awakens panel in San Diego. So, naturally, we obsess. Yesterday I looked at the panel itself, but today is all about screencaps. Or, you should probably watch the video again…


I do read spoilers, but I am trying to keep them out of this. Still, enter at your own risk…

Continue reading “What we learned from The Force Awaken’s behind-the-scenes teaser”

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The Force Awakens at SDCC: Princess Leia, General Hux and Harrison Ford


Sure enough, there was no trailer for The Force Awakens at SDCC, but we did get this sweet behind-the-scenes video, which includes our first look at Carrie Fisher as Leia.

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The panel consisted of J.J. Abrams, Kathleen Kennedy, Lawrence Kasdan, John Boyega, Daisy Ridley, Oscar Isaac, Adam Driver, Domhnall Gleeson, Gwendoline Christie, Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill, and even Harrison Ford, who joked about his leg.

We got new pictures of Kylo Ren (Driver) and Captain Phasma (Christie,) but the big reveal was General Hux, Gleeson’s character. “He’s British, so yeah,” Gleeson said when asked how evil his character was. (Driver was far more shady about it.) Gleeson also let slip that the First Order has a ‘Starkiller Base.’ Oh, and the turkey-thing from the first Force for Change video showed up, and his name is Bobbajo. (The spelling is straight from Pablo!)

Ford was the final guest to come out, sounding happy and proud about the film. Harrison Ford! Happy! (Hitfix has the quotes!)

Oh and, hey, let’s see how long this stays up:


All the folks in Hall H were treated to a free concert featuring music from the films and a fireworks finale. I’m not even jealous, because the video is so amazing and the first thing about this movie that has made me cry. I am a Star War, too.

Tweets from the panel!