Star Wars with occasional sarcasm
Today, Rolling Stone has an interview with The Rise of Skywalker director J.J. Abrams, who says the film is “the most challenging thing I’ve ever been involved in. By a lot.” Plus, a new photo! He also talks about The Last Jedi, co-writer Chris Terrio, the original idea behind making Rey the hero, criticisms of The Force Awakens, George Lucas and more.
A brand-new photo from The Rise of Skywalker shows Poe flying the Millennium Falcon and an Oscar Isaac interview. Between this and Daisy Ridley’s “four words” is the new-monthly Entertainment Weekly gearing up for another cover story?
Continue reading “Poe flies the Falcon in new still and other Rise of Skywalker news”
The first Star Wars land opened this week in California. Galaxy’s Edge in Disneyland only has one ride running, but that didn’t seem to dampen anyone’s enthusiasm. (Though at least one review did mention it. More reviews: StarWars.com, EW, /Film, Polygon and Hypable.)
But maybe the neatest was seeing the reaction of some of the first fans allowed into the land:
With a net worth of $5.4 billion, George Lucas tops Forbes’ list of America’s richest celebrities. Yes, he’s richer than Oprah.
Jon Favreau had a birthday visit (and some wine!) from George Lucas on the set of The Mandalorian today.
A later post shows the two with Dave Filoni, who worked with Lucas on The Clone Wars and is directing the first episode of The Mandalorian:
Meanwhile, Making Star Wars has had their view altered… . At least briefly.
Jurassic World director Colin Trevorrow, who was the original pick for Episode IX, isn’t going to give any details about his scuttled plans. (J.J. Abrams took over and wrote his own script with Chris Terrio.) But Trevorrow does tell Empire that he got to talk to both George Lucas and Mark Hamill about it.
“I don’t want to talk too much about it because I don’t want to affect the way that fans get to see these films,” he said. “When we were kids, these movies came to us from far away. They were a gift. And the more we talk about how they’re made, the more it reveals that they’re just movies. But they’re not just movies, they’re more than that. Beyond that, I got the opportunity to tell a story that is a celebration of everything I believe in, I got to tell it to George Lucas and I got to tell it to Luke Skywalker, and those are experiences I will cherish for the rest of my life.”
Trevorrow will next direct Jurassic World 3.
Solo isn’t Han’s first brush with a prequel: George Lucas considered having a 10-year-old Han Solo cameo in Revenge of the Sith. Though he decided against it in the end, the idea made it as far as a draft of the script and approved concept art.
Continue reading “A young Han Solo was considered for Revenge of the Sith”
An early report on Solo gave us the impression that George Lucas actually helped direct a small part of the film, now the fuller part of the story can be told. Here’s the scene – of which we’ve seen a brief preview of in commercials – and George Lucas’s part in it, from Variety’s cover story.
Continue reading “How George Lucas helped out on a Solo scene”
Mark Hamill was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame today. You can watch the ceremony – with remarks from George Lucas and Harrison Ford, including a brief tribute to Carrie Fisher – or check out the reports from Variety, StarWars.com, and Entertainment Weekly.
No coverage of Solo: A Star Wars Story would be complete without asking on the film’s turmoulous director issues, and Entertainment Weekly does go there, with the usual vague and polite responses from Kathleen Kennedy and Ron Howard on the issue of original directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller.
But the story begins and ends with George Lucas and Ron Howard, from American Graffiti to the set of Solo where – on Howard’s very first day – Lucas came to visit.
Continue reading “George Lucas helped direct a small part of Solo”