Jonathan Aris (Sherlock, The Game) has a part in Rogue One, the BBC’s Lizo Mzimba reported today. Aris will be playing Senator Jebel, according to his page on Spotlight. (The Rogue One listing has since been removed.)
Spoilerphobes beware: New The Force Awakens summary on the scene
For those going full spoiler, here’s a new wrinkle: TheForce.Net has a new summary of The Force Awakens, which seemingly claims to be from someone who’s read the novelization. (Seemingly.) It overlaps with some of what we’ve heard from the Making Star Wars camp, but there are some pretty key differences. Who’s right? Who’s wrong? I don’t know, and I’m not fully buying into anything, but there’s certainly a part of me side-eyeing this new entry into the game. (And, shocker, apparently it’s something that’s been floating around Reddit, always a sign of quality.)
It does reference some new thinking on the lightsaber we see in the second trailer that’s been kicking around lately… I think that bit may have some merit, but it’s neither here nor there at this point.
→ Speaking of MSW, they have a more complete description of the film’s last act, prompted by a new report on a major character death from some site called Epicstream.
→ For those who don’t want to delve into something lighter, Mythbuster Adam Savage revealed a new old effect that he actually saw being filmed.
→ And a little behind-the-scenes of scooping with Grantland’s profile of Umberto Gonzalez, aka El Mayimbe of Heroic Hollywood, late of Latino Review. (His last Star Wars scoop, concerning Colin Trevorrow and Episode IX, features heavily. It has yet to be confirmed.)
And also with you: Best #StarWars and #TheForceAwakens tweets for July 8-21
These past few weeks, we’ve has SDCC (in real time) several reveals, and our first Episode VIII casting rumor. Plus, Slave Leia! Again! We really need a movie soon, guys.
Continue reading “And also with you: Best #StarWars and #TheForceAwakens tweets for July 8-21”
Rumor: Benicio del Toro for Episode VIII?
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.
Spoilerphobes beware: New concept art, aliens and LEGOs
Some new concept art for The Force Awakens has surfaced, as has a LEGO list (though no more pictures) and some light has been (maybe) shed over what we learned from the last LEGO leaks…
Continue reading “Spoilerphobes beware: New concept art, aliens and LEGOs”
Out this week: Kanan #4, new Insider
Wednesday brings us Kanan: The Last Padawan #4 (preview) as well as the latest Star Wars Insider, #159.
The first Aftermath excerpts are away!
Entertainment Weekly has the first excerpts from Chuck Wendig’s Aftermath, Del Rey’s entry in Journey to The Force Awakens.
It features a brief section set on Coruscant, Wedge Antilles (who we now know is one of the book’s main characters,) plus a character who first debuted in another of the new canon novels. (Now with a promotion.)
Much of the excerpt was up on Random House’s online catalog earlier today, but has since been removed.
Aftermath, along with the rest of the Journey books, goes on sale September 4.
Lucasfilm did not authorize that one GQ spread
If 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.)
George Lucas to be honored by Kennedy Center, Disney
George Lucas is among those who will receive Kennedy Center Honors this year, it was announced today. Other honorees include Cicely Tyson, Rita Moreno, Carole King and the Eagles. They’ll be celebrated at the Center’s annual gala on December 6 in a ceremony that will air on CBS December 29th.
Before that, however, Disney will name Lucas a Disney Legend at D23 in August.
Spoilerphobes beware: LEGO leaks give us a few more names from The Force Awakens to chew over
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…