Star Wars with occasional sarcasm
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:
The fifth Indiana Jones movie won’t be coming in July 2020, Variety says today. (It was moved to 2020 way back in 2017, back when they first scheduled IX.) They’re following an earlier report from Collider, which says that the film has a new writer, Solo’s Jonathan Kasdan, replacing David Koepp (Jurassic Park).
Steven Spielberg and Harrison Ford “remain committed”. The previous film, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, came out in May 2008.
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”
The Solo junket was today, and you bet there’s a lot of press forthcoming. The most interesting bit (so far) comes from Entertainment Tonight, which brought in Harrison Ford to suprise Alden Ehrenreich. And then there’s that.
Continue reading “Now there are two of them: Harrison Ford surprises Alden Ehrenreich during press”
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.
Harrison Ford may have finished up his run as Han Solo, but he did have some input on Solo, in the form of insight on the character.
“What [Ford] did so beautifully for Alden was he talked a lot about what he remembered when he first read Star Wars, and what George had done with Han. Who the character was and the conversations he had for so many years with George about how that character developed,” [Kathleen] Kennedy says. “He gave Alden that kind of insight which was invaluable. There were several times in the course of making the movie where Alden would actually recount some of the things that Harrison had pointed out. I think that was really, really helpful to him.”
We also get confirmation that Solo is keeping Han’s backstory as an orphan, and how that played into his bond with Rey in The Force Awakens.
While the 40 years of Star Wars panel was light on news, it was fairly heavy on the feels. The much-vaunted surprises turned out to be George Lucas (as predicted,) Harrison Ford (who I don’t think anyone expected) and Billie Lourd, who took part in a truly epic tribute to Carrie Fisher.
I don’t think there was a dry eye in the house after the tribute video (above,) and it was only enhanced by the reveal of John Williams and the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra playing Princess Leia’s theme. They followed up with the Main Theme and the Imperial March, just in time to allow us to regain our composure.
The video does contain a look at Fisher on-set in The Last Jedi, but in the scheme of things that feels secondary. And while the panel did mainly focus on the first 6 films, it’s really only appropriate that it ended the way it did. Tomorrow, we’ll look ahead.
In her new book, The Princess Diarist, Carrie Fisher admits that she and Harrison Ford had an affair while filming the first Star Wars.
And thousands of Star Wars fans cried out: “We know!” (Or, well, suspected, as it’s been insinuated by Fisher and others many times in recent years.)
“I didn’t say anything to anybody for years but it’s not like anyone’s deeply affected by it anymore,” Fisher told People magazine. At the time, Ford was 33 and married with two kids; Fisher was 18.
Radar got their hands on an early copy of the book and are spilling more details, but Fisher is urged journalists to “read the book before they write their stories” in a follow-up with People.
Fisher did give Ford a heads-up and a draft of the book, but he has yet to comment. (Don’t hold your breathe.)
The Princess Diarist is out next Tuesday.
The Force Awakens production company, Foodles Production, has pled guilty in the hydraulic door accident that injured Harrison Ford during the filming of The Force Awakens. The weight of the door was compared to that of a “small car.”
Ford broke two bones in his left leg in the incident and was airlifted to a hospital. Foodles will be sentenced on August 22.
Talking to Variety, composer John Williams says he has every intention of returning to score his eighth Star Wars film.
“If I can do it, I certainly will. I told Kathy Kennedy I’m happy to do it, but the real reason is, I didn’t want anybody else writing music for Daisy Ridley,” he quips.
Williams also says he has no intention of retiring. His next film, before VIII, will be Steven Spielberg’s Ready Player One.
Williams received the American Film Institute’s Life Achievement Award Thursday night. The ceremony, which features Spielberg, George Lucas, J.J. Abrams, Harrison Ford and more paying tribute, will air on TNT June 15th at 10:00 p.m. ET/PT.