Tag: ewan mcgregor

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Ewan McGregor’s current beard is only the “practice” Obi-Wan

On Jimmy Kimmel Live last night, Ewan McGregor talks about his Obi-Wan “practice beard,” reading William Shatner’s book Get A Life on a prequel set with Ahmed Best, the big Disney+ reveal, and his new movie, Doctor Sleep.

Meanwhile, Hayden Christensen was spotted at Disneyland’s Galaxy’s Edge. The official Disneyland Twitter tweeted the photos and then deleted the tweet, promoting even more speculation as to what secrets he’s keeping. However, note that @StarWars later tweeted the pics themselves.

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Kenobi series confirmed, Mandalorian trailer finally drops!

The Obi-Wan Kenobi series with Ewan McGregor is an official go for Disney+, and we finally have a proper trailer for The Mandalorian!

The Obi-Wan series is “close,” with the scripts written, and it will begin filming next year, as will the Cassian series. Obi-Wan is set eight years after Revenge of the Sith.

And we also got a date for The Clone Wars: February 2020.

There’s also a trailer for Disney+ as a whole, which leans heavily on the old heartstrings:

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Rumor: Ewan McGregor signed on for Obi-Wan project

One of the most persistent Star Wars rumors since Disney bought Lucasfilm has been the return of live-action Obi-Wan. Today, Cinelinx sources report that Ewan McGregor has signed on to reprise the role in what looks to be a Disney+ series.

Given the fandom’s evergreen thirst for Obi-Wan, and Disney+’s willingness to get film stars to reprise their roles for streaming – see Rogue One’s Diego Luna and Alan Tudyk, or many Marvel stars – this is quite plausible.

UPDATE: Now Fantha Tracks is weighing in with a number of additional details: McGregor will direct several of the 8 episodes, and have “a a familiar mechanical co-star.”

UPDATE #2: Giving this rumor a lot more weight, trades Variety, The Hollywood Reporter and Deadline are also reporting it, via their own sources. Reports from the Hollywood trades rank only a smidge below official confirmation, and as we’ve seen many times before, several of them having it independently is a very, very good sign.

D23 is just over a week away, and while we know for sure The Mandalorian will be the star, but the timing here is pretty interesting. The Disney+ panel at D23 Expo is Friday, August 23 at 3:30 p.m. Pacific.

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Rumor: Obi-wan Kenobi standalone film in pre-production for 2020

It’s time for our perennial Obi-wan movie rumor to resurface! This time it comes via the fan site Fantha Tracks, who has a source that claims to have seen documents at Pinewood. A director (perhaps Stephen Daldry, the subject of the last rumor), writing team and even the art department are “in full pre-production mode,” with the movie expected to begin filming after Episode IX is done.

Continue reading “Rumor: Obi-wan Kenobi standalone film in pre-production for 2020”

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Rumor: That Obi-wan movie may finally be happening

I guess all that fan foot-stomping may finally be paying off. The Hollywood Reporter is saying that Stephen Daldry (Billy Elliot, The Hours) is in “early talks” to direct a standalone starring Obi-wan Kenobi. It’s in “the earliest of stages” and there’s no script yet, so I don’t expect we’ll hear anything official from Lucasfilm anytime soon. (EW’s Anthony Breznican also seems positive on it – though again, “very early.”)

It’s not known if Ewan McGregor will return, but he’s been open to the idea ever since the standalones actually became a thing.

Better than Boba Fett, I guess.

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The week in Star Wars: Rogue One, Aftermath and more

ro-ew-deathtrooperIt’s been a busy one, so let’s recap! The big news this week was Entertainment Weekly’s cover story on – the movie’s first. (The issue is in stores now.) Our most extensive coverage is still in the what we’ve learned post, which has been updated to cover both galleries. Additionally, EW covered Darth Vader and Mon Mothma‘s roles in the film. Rogue One also dominated the latest tweet roundup.

Our other big item was the second excerpt from Aftermath: Life Debt, which shows us Leia using the Force and sensing baby Ben.

Also this week: James reached the halfway point on #WearStarWarsEveryDay | Disney’s Bob Iger on the future of Indiana Jones | Here’s one thing from the live-action show we’re grateful didn’t make it to The Clone Wars | Don’t ever talk to George Lucas or his art museum ever again, Chicago.

And finally, here are a few other items we didn’t get to.

→ Ewan McGregor is (understandably!) sick of about being asked if he’d be in another Star Wars movie. (The answer is still yes, though.)

→ The Force Awakens won eight Saturn Awards, including best science fiction film and nods for Harrison Ford and Adam Driver.

→ Chuck Wendig on adapting The Force Awakens for Marvel.

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Rumor: Ewan McGregor in talks for Obi-Wan Force ghost cameo?

rumors-swirl-sw-obiLast time we heard a rumor from the folks at Schmoes Know it was regarding an end credit scene for The Force Awakens. Will Kristian Harloff’s current tweet-scoop be more lucky? An appearance from Ewan McGregor as Force ghost Obi-wan Kenobi isn’t so far-fetched as to be out of the question.

McGregor already had a brief line in The Force Awakens, so maybe this time things will pan out for the Schmoes. We’ll see.

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Amazon is all over the The Force Awakens Blu-ray release date

tfa-poster-horzThere’s still no official word on The Force Awakens Blu-ray release, but Amazon (via) has informed those who pre-ordered that the release date is April 5, just as previously reported. Hopefully this means we’ll get an announcement – and details on the bonus features – soon. UPDATE: And apparently it’s gone again. Guys, c’mon. No one is fooled by this.

→ Ewan McGregor talked about his vocal cameo in The Force Awakens on Jimmy Kimmel Live the other day.

→ Yes, Episode IX will be shot on film, director Colin Trevorrow said last week. In case you thought it would buck the trend.

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Spoilerphobes beware: A couple of old friends showed up (vocally) in The Force Awakens

Rey approaches

No, you weren’t hearing things: Those were the voices of Ewan MacGregor, Frank Oz and Alec Guinness that we heard during Rey’s vision in The Force Awakens, J.J. Abrams confirmed to Entertainment Weekly.

Ewan McGregor came in to record his part (after cartoon counterpart James Arnold Taylor took a shot at it,) as did Frank Oz. Guinness’ “Rey” was isolated from existing audio:

As they worked on editing the dream sequence, Bryan Burk, a longtime Bad Robot collaborator and one of the producers of the film, surprised Abrams one day with the gift of a single word: Obi-Wan Kenobi’s voice saying the name “Rey …”

“I said, ‘That’s cool, is that the thing from Ewan McGregor?’” Abrams recalled. “He said ‘No, we took a line from Alec Guinness saying ‘Afraid.’”

Not only that, but the lilt in his voice from that truncated word happened to fit exactly what Abrams had in mind. “They cut it, and you hear the performance – he’s saying it the way I would have begged Alec Guinness to have said it. It is so crazy perfect,” Abrams says. “So when you hear Obi-Wan talk to Rey it is both Alec Guinness and Ewan McGregor doing the voice.”

Taylor and several other familiar voices can still be heard in various parts around the film – but I’ll leave the specific IDing to those more well-versed in the cartoons than I.