Star Wars with occasional sarcasm
It was rumored several weeks back that the producers of the Ender’s Game movie were pursuing Harrison Ford to play Colonel Hyram Graff, and today it’s been confirmed that he’s signed on for the role.
The adaption of Orson Scott Card’s well-known novel, which will star Hugo’s Asa Butterfield as Ender, has been in the works for years – soon after The Phantom Menace, Jake Lloyd was being considered for the lead.
While at the 30th anniversary screening of Raiders of the Lost Ark, Steven Spielberg talked a bit about the early development of Indiana Jones by him and his friend George Lucas, their friendship, about the restoration of Raiders of the Lost Ark (for eventual Blu-ray release), and being hopeful for Indy V.
When Harrison Ford came out, he said he’s up for a fifth time as Indiana Jones, and thinks the key is expanding the audience’s understanding of the character. Also, Harrison Ford in Jurassic Park? Spielberg offered the role of Alan Grant to him.
Rounding out their coverage, the LA Times also did a retrospective on the Raiders of the Lost Ark toys from the 1980s.
EDIT: While Spielberg commented that the newly cleaned up version of Raiders of the Lost Ark that they were screening was going to be eventually used for the Blu-ray and he noted that that Blu-ray release would not have any changes from the 1981 theatrical release, Spielberg later commented that he regrets making changes to E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial for its 20th Anniversary DVD, saying, “I realized what I had done was I had robbed people who loved E.T. of their memories of E.T.”
He went on to say that the E.T. Blu-ray would be the original 1982 theatrical version, and not contain the unpopular 2002 revisions, such as digitally replacing police guns with walkie-talkies.
Billy Dee Williams shared his insight with El Paso’s What’s Up Weekly about Lucas’ modifications to the original trilogy, and his relationship with the character of Lando Calrissian, and with Colt 45 commercials. On parodying Lando in Robot Chicken:
“I make fun of myself, so why shouldn’t I make fun of Lando? It worked, and the fact that I can make fun of it means it worked. And people enjoy it. When I do Seth Green’s Robot Chicken, I enjoy doing that stuff. It’s a lot of fun for me, and it keeps the character alive.”
Meanwhile, Carrie Fisher has mentioned that maybe she’ll don Princess Leia’s metal bikini once again, with one condition:
“I will do it if a whole bunch of women over 40 come to Yankee Stadium. We’ll put everyone in metal bikinis, and we will sit around and laugh and talk about the old days when we ate a lot.”
Harrison Ford revealed that he no longer sees people as fans, but as customers, and that “I don’t see myself as a sex symbol these days.”
Star Wars in sports: We know that one of George Lucas’ daughters, Katie, has followed her father’s footsteps in writing for The Clone Wars, but what of Amanda Lucas? She’s a MMA cage fighter, and gets the win in a recent bout in Japan (complete with Yoda-speak headline).
Star Wars in politics: Part of a headline from Talking Points Memo: Rick Perry’s Star Wars Problem: Apparently, it’s Al Gore. Meanwhile, on The Colbert Report, U.S. Ambassador to the UN Susan Rice compares September in the United Nations to the Mos Eisley Cantina – do they both have a pesky no-droids-allowed policy?
We’ve got the entertainment, sports, and politics covered. Stay tuned for Star Wars in weather and traffic.
I heart prequels: What makes the prequels so great? International House of Geek picks their top ten great things from the Star Wars prequels, from the Jedi Order to the score to battle scenes to Ewan McGregor. Not quite sharing the love (though sharing a few favorites), one of Tor’s bloggers picks five great things from the prequels, and five classic trilogy fizzles. Over at Big Shiny Robot, Bryan makes the case that Episodes I-III are more liked than is generally thought.
The soft side of the Force: Check out these plush Star Wars characters and these crochet granny square TIE Fighters.
This Artoo unit has a sweet motivator: Two times the R2-D2! Check out this remote controlled LEGO Artoo and place an order for a custom knitted R2-D2 sweater.
The planet that it’s farthest from: A war photojournalist visits some of the Star Wars filming sites in Tunisia this summer, and comes across the Mos Espa set, Owens farm, Jawa rock and more.
Making the lists: General Grievous pops up in io9’s list of computer generated characters that actually look cool, Darth Vader is on Total Film’s list of horrible movie bosses (Hey, if your boss chokes you on the job and you die, there’s no workman’s comp claim!). And of course, Jabba the Hutt makes Andrew Liptak’s list of sci-fi gangsters not to mess with.
Who’s scruffy looking? Ewan McGregor’s facial hair in Revenge of the Sith (along with the beards of Harrison Ford, Samuel L. Jackson and Ian McKellan) gets rated on The Men of Whisker Wars Rate Famous Screen Facial Hair.
Speaking of beards, Sunday is the Star Wars Day at the San Francisco Giants ballgame, where the cool giveaway is a three-sided statue of Brian “Fear the Beard” Wilson in carbonite, a more traditional Han Solo in carbonite and a Giants / Star Wars logo.
Following up with the announcement that Ridley Scott is returning to helm another Blade Runner film, producer Andrew Kosove is not interested in having Harrison Ford return to the Rick Deckard role. Kosove told the LA Times blog: “But if you’re asking me will this movie have anything to do with Harrison Ford, the answer is no. This is a total reinvention, and in my mind that means doing everything fresh, including casting.” Kosove, from Alcon Entertainment, also reports that the earliest that shooting could begin would be early 2013, meaning that the soonest that the film could be out would be 2014.
Following the Blade Runner buzz:
Deadline reports that Ridley Scott has committed to directing and producing another Blade Runner movie, almost thirty years after the release of the first cult sci-fi classic. No details yet on whether the new film for Alcon Entertainment, will be a sequel, prequel or reboot to the dystopic franchise that had Harrison Ford portray a cop hunting down replicants, robots that look human in a corporate-controlled urban future.
MTV gleaned from Ford in July that he hasn’t rejected a return to the Deckard role, and that he was in touch with some of the new film’s people. A new Blade Runner won’t be Scott’s first return to one of his masterpieces – he’s currently working on Prometheus, which an Alien prequel – sort of.
With Scott returning to his earlier works, it seems that the 1980s-remake bandwagon is nearly complete – all we need is a reboot to E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial and a sequel to The Abyss.
At least Chewbacca is safe.
On Jimmy Kimmel last night…
This is one of several parts of an excellent interview that Ford did with Favreau for Cowboys and Aliens. Above, he talks about the Star Wars casting process.
He talks about Irvin Kershner and ‘I know’ in this one:
(via)
Fake-pundit fun. Stephen Colbert blasted Mike Huckabee for his comments on Natalie Portman’s pregnancy. “Look, I’m no fan of single mothers either. But it’s Natalie Portman we’re talking about. That kid she’s pregnant with is Luke Skywalker,” Colbert said. “So logically, if you’re against her pregnancy that means you’ve aligned yourself politically with Emperor Palpatine. You’re alienating all of Tatooine. It’s a swing planet.” Of course Tatooine is a swing planet.
Serious matters. An atheist group in the U.K. has launched a campaign to convince folks not to write down “Jedi” on their census forms as a joke. No word on how they feel about ‘real’ Jedi. (via)
Legal. Lucasfilm is back in court again – the British Supreme Court this time – over the Shepperton studios stormtrooper replicas.
Random. Harrison Ford is helping to develop a Facebook game. Okay, so it’s an environmentally-concious Facebook game… But it’s still a Facebook game. Which I guess is better than watching him get his chest waxed again.
