Ewan on new film, nudity, Star Wars

Ewan McGregor has a film coming out, and thus he was on NPR the other day. You can listen to the segment (Or not: NPR provides a transcript,) but here’s some of what he had to say about working on the prequels:

“When I got closer and closer to being cast as Obi-Wan Kenobi, I did question whether it was the right thing for me. Up until that point, I’d been involved in mainly low-budget independent films … and I felt like being part of the [indie British filmmaking] team was my identity as an actor … I didn’t think that ‘Star Wars’ was quite who I was or what I was about. However, the closer I got, the more I wanted to do it … I’m very happy with the work I did in ‘Star Wars’ … I’ve always been quite open with the fact that they were technically quite difficult to make. There’s a lot of green screen and blue screen, and for the actor, there’s very often not another actor to act with — so you were playing to a tennis ball on a stick or a piece of tape on a green curtain, and that’s just not easy. That becomes a very technical exercise.”

Ole Miss students campaign for Ackbar mascot

Some students at the University of Mississippi are looking to get the GFFA’s own Admiral Ackbar as the new mascot for the Ole Miss Rebels.

I hate to bring realism into this, but I don’t think the university is chomping at the bit to share merchandise profits with Lucasfilm. Still, one can’t help but wish the crusaders luck. (You can, too: They’re on Twitter.)

And hey: At my university, a bunch of (I say with affection) freaks once managed to muster enough votes to get Burt Reynolds onto the student council. Anything is possible.

EUbits: Wallace’s Jedi Path, Kemp and JJM interviews, plus a look back at Tales from Jabba’s Palace

Upcoming. Dan Wallace confirms reports that he’s working on a book called The Jedi Path for Becker+Mayer. (Not that it needed confirmation, being in a catalog, but, uhh… I missed it. Sorry.)

Interviews. DaveBrendon talks to Paul S. Kemp and John Jackson Miller about Crosscurrent, Lost Tribe of the Sith and writing Star Wars. On a related note, JJM has posted his final Knights of the Old Republic production notes.

Blogside. Deborah J. Ross (aka Deborah Wheeler) on how she came to write her story ‘Goatgrass: The Tale of Ree-Yees’ in Tales from Jabba’s Palace.