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Today in The Force Awakens: Making of book canceled?

tfa-bts-ridley-jjAlthough it was never officially announced, it appears that The Making of Star Wars: The Force Awakens book from Mark Cotta Vaz and J.W. Rinzler has been canceled. A listing for the book appeared before the movie – usually a reliable indicator – and it was pushed back to October before the film’s release. However, it now it no longer appears on the publisher’s site, and Florian at Jedi Bibliothek found a listing on BookManager that says it’s been canceled..

All-out cancellations are rare, but I don’t expect we’ll get any word on the reasoning anytime soon. (Again, it was never actually announced.) My only guess is that it may have something to do with the lawsuit over Harrison Ford’s on-set injury. Note the incident isn’t mentioned in the official behind-the-scenes documentary on The Force Awakens Blu-ray – and may be off-limits until the legal issues have been worked out. Everyone loves the original trilogy Making of books, but here’s hoping we won’t have to wait 30 years for this one.

→ Speaking of the accident… Something we overlooked during the big Rey parentage debacle was J.J. Abrams revealing exactly how Ford’s injury actually helped the film.

→ A great new behind the scenes video from Discover Ireland.

→ Casting director Nina Gold talks about finding Daisy Ridley and John Boyega (plus some Game of Thrones folks) in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter.

→ Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy and actor Oscar Isaac are among of Time’s 100 most influential people.

→ Custom BB-8s created by Star Wars stars and luminaries, being auctioned for charity.

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Wear Star Wars Every Day: Week 16

Here’s the week in review for #WearStarWarsEveryDay! No new donations to Collateral Repair Project this week, but I celebrated the Star Wars Dark Side Half and then kicked off my run of Star Wars Celebration wear as it was the anniversary of Star Wars Celebration Anaheim! Some of that Celebration apparel, two shirts and a hat, was donated by Kristen! This review for Week 16 covers April 15 to April 21 of my wearathon, and an update on fundraising for Collateral Repair Project, a non-profit organization that provides emergency assistance, education, and community support to urban refugees.

How long will my Celebration streak last? Will I make it to April 30, the day that the first Celebration started in 1999? If you have a favorite clothing item from Celebration that you want to let me borrow, better send it quick! Also, I want to turn May into a showcase of Star Wars fandom, highlighting different fan efforts such as websites, podcasts, costume clubs, collecting clubs, artwork, etc. So if you’ve got something cool to donate or lend, like a club shirt, hat or costume item, send it on over, and I’ll promote your fandomness. Get the shipping info here.

In pledge news, my push to increase the per-day total pledge is still at $4.15/day, but there’s also another way to support my continued effort – you can sign up for monthly giving on the GoFundMe! In week 15, an anonymous donor has started with $10/month. This is like adding another $0.33 per day, and it is automatically set up, just as easy as making a one-time donation! So help me out, and make a per-day pledge!

Get more info on what Wear Star Wars Every Day is all about, or make a donation or a per-day pledge!

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Out this week: Star Wars #18

Star Wars #18This Wednesday will bring Star Wars #18 to the comic shops.

Looking at what’s already on the shelves, our own James interviewed author Pablo Hidalgo about the updated Star Wars Character Encyclopedia on StarWars.com.

Next week’s big release is Claudia Gray’s Bloodline, a Leia-centric novel that answers a question or two raised by The Force Awakens. (You can get a look at the first three chapters by subscribing to a newsletter from Playcrafting.) Look for my review on the release date, May 3.

Bloodline may be locked, but there have been minor shifts in the release dates of our next significant ROTJ-TFA bridge novels. Chuck Wendig’s Aftermath: Life Debt moves up a week to July 12, while the third book in the trilogy, Empire’s End, goes back a week to January 24. Our release schedule has been updated.

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Rumor: Royals to have Episode VIII cameos?

@KensingtonRoyal: The Duke and Prince Harry come face to face with Daisy Ridley's @starwars head cast @PinewoodStudios

The Daily Mail is reporting that Princes William and Harry filmed cameos during their Episode VIII set visit last week, alongside Daisy Ridley, John Boyega and… Benicio del Toro?

Given this is the Mail, a publication not exactly known for being on the up and up, and that there was no sign of del Toro at the official set visit… Well. We’ll see. The Mail also uses a character name for del Toro that I believe originates from the recent Reddit posts.

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Yes, those Episode VIII Reddit ‘spoilers’ are bullshit

viiiThere have been two so-called leaks come out at Reddit in the week or so, but neither of them are really worth putting any stock in. The first, from last week, is quite frankly so ridiculous that I’m sure sure why anyone is believing it in the first place. (Well, it’s the internet.) A few things in it ring possible to me (I’ve had similar speculative thoughts regarding the Benicio Del Toro character, for instance) but that means nothing.

The second has since been deleted, but Da7e over at Latino Review has reproduced part of it, and in any case this one has been flat-out denied several times by Pablo Hidalgo. Though note, he’s getting out of the debunking business, which is probably a good call.

But as we well know, however, it pays to be very, very cynical about ‘leaks’ this early in the process. Don’t believe everything you read! Particularly on Reddit.

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Royals visit Episode VIII set; first look at a returning starfighter?

The U.K.’s Duke of Cambridge and Prince Harry visited the set of Episode VIII at Pinewood Studios on Tuesday, meeting director Rian Johnson, stars Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Mark Hamill, and many more. Click on the gallery pics for tweet links and captions.

@KensingtonRoyal: The Duke and Prince Harry come face to face with Daisy Ridley’s @starwars head cast @PinewoodStudios
@KensingtonRoyal: Time for a lightsaber battle! @starwars @PinewoodStudios
@KensingtonRoyal: Next up: a visit to the @starwars costume department @PinewoodStudios
@KensingtonRoyal: Prince Harry has made a new friend…
@KensingtonRoyal: …and so has The Duke!
@KensingtonRoyal: The Duke meets Luke Skywalker @HamillHimself and @starwars director @rianjohnson
@KensingtonRoyal: Prince Harry receives some piloting advice from @HamillHimself
@KensingtonRoyal: Thank you @starwars for a fantastic day @PinewoodStudios!

There were fairly few revelations, naturally, but we do see Prince Harry in an A-wing, which could be either a red herring (from Rogue One, even?) or actually slated to return in VIII. We don’t get a complete look at the ship, at least not enough for a non-prophead like me to spot any differences. Journalist Rebecca English has a similar pic from a different angle.

And there’s also a video of the princes with BB-8, and another at the Mirror. I also collected more images and video from journalists.

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Today in Episode VIII: Oscar Isaac speaks, possible costume descriptions

viii-0prodtease-rey2Oscar Isaac spoke briefly to the Los Angeles Times about Episode VIII, comparing the experience to “making an independent film,” and saying that “Rian [Johnson] is definitely going to places and investigating things that haven’t really been done in the ‘Star Wars’ universe.”

In spoiler corner, Making Star Wars has descriptions of Luke Skywalker and Rey’s costumes, while The Movie Bit has pictures of the setup-in-progress at Ceann Sibéal. UPDATE: Artist Natalia Trykowska has drawn the outfits based on MSW’s description.

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Wear Star Wars Every Day: Week 15


#WearStarWarsEveryDay has now completed 15 weeks! In this update on my charity fundraising project, I cover Day 100! We had two one-time donations this week (Abdul and Anonymous), putting the GoFundMe up over $1,100! Plus, this week most of the clothes I wore were lent by three people: MediocreJedi, Margaret, and Christian. Plus I announce the winner of the prize drawing for the Poe Dameron cover version of Star Wars Insider #146! Is it you? This review for Week 15 covers April 8 to April 14 of my wearathon, and an update on fundraising for Collateral Repair Project, a non-profit organization that provides emergency assistance, education, and community support to urban refugees.

Going into week 16, I’ve started a run of Celebration apparel, in honor of the one-year anniversary of Celebration Anaheim, so if you have a favorite clothing item from Celebration that you want to let me borrow, better send it quick! I’m also planning to turn the month of May into a streak of fan clothes, highlighting different fan efforts such as websites, podcasts, costume clubs, collecting clubs, artwork, etc. So if you’ve got something cool to donate or lend, send it on over, and I’ll promote your fandomness. Get the shipping info here.

In pledge news, my push to increase the per-day total pledge is still at $4.15/day, but there’s also another way to support my continued effort – you can sign up for monthly giving on the GoFundMe! An anonymous donor has started with $10/month. This is like adding another $0.33 per day, and it is automatically set up, just as easy as making a one-time donation! So help me out, and make a per-day pledge!

Get more info on what Wear Star Wars Every Day is all about, or make a donation or a per-day pledge!