The latest trailer for Thor: The Dark World reportably contains some of the footage that was shown at Comic-Con, and also features plenty of Loki.
Below the cut: New looks at Ender’s Game and The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
Harrison Ford: Abrams is a “great storyteller”
Harrison Ford returning to SDCC… For Ender’s Game
Harrison Ford infamously made his San Diego Comic Con debut for Cowboys and Aliens back in 2010… And he’ll be returning this year to promote Ender’s Game.
I wouldn’t necessarily count on any Episode VII announcements regarding Ford and the other all-but-confirmed returning actors, as they may still be negotiating and we’ve heard nothing about any Star Wars panels yet… Plus Celebration Europe is the very next week, so Lucasfilm may chose to take advantage of the post-SDCC lull and reveal any big news in Germany instead.
Lucasfilm doesn’t show up in the SDCC exhibitor list, but the so-called Del Rey/Lucasbooks booth (#2913) looks a little too big to be just a single licensee on the map… Where it shows a giant Lucasfilm logo. Data entry mixup? In any case, hopefully they leave the snakes at home this year.
Episode VII bits: Fisher, Ford still not signed either; Irish locale rumors get specific
In a recent interview with Extra’s Mario Lopez, Carrie Fisher talks about bipolar disorder and, when asked about Episode VII, says: “We could get back together at Comic Con or one of those things, you never know.” But she also says she ran into Harrison Ford recently and he “doesn’t know,” so everything remains up in the air. (And it was only last week that Mark Hamill said he hasn’t signed a deal.) San Diego Comic Con is a major venue for giant announcements – it’s not so far-fetched that we might see an Episode VII panel and a major announcement of some sort there. But July 18 isn’t so far away, so don’t get your hopes up too high that anyone will be signed by then.
Location. Another report of Ireland being a contender for Episode VII filming from Clare People, this time a bit more specific: The Burren, which does look appropriately alien.
Who else wants in? The recent lineup of folks who wouldn’t say no to Lucasfilm: Daniel Radcliffe, the rumor-mongered John Noble, Josh Holloway and, of course, Joss Whedon bemoans that he’s too tied up for it.
Of course. William Shatner jokes that he’ll be “playing the bastard son of Leia and Jabba.”
Trailer park: Harrison Ford harnesses the minds of children for war, because why not
And it’s the first trailer for the Ender’s Game adaption, which really wants you know that a bunch of these actors have been up for/won Oscars. (Ford was nominated for Witness in 1985, which I can’t blame anyone for forgetting
) Book fans may want to check out io9’s spoiler-full screencap study of the trailers.
Below the cut, Simon Pegg and Nick Frost go pubbing, George Clooney and Sandra Bullock get lost in space, and… Alien folksingers, because why not?
Mark Hamill at the Return of the Jedi screening!
Mark Hamill was the surprise guest at Entertainment Weekly’s CapeTown Film Festival after the Return of the Jedi screening tonight. And naturally there’s already video of him talking about the droids and doing a Harrison Ford impression.
Here are reports from IGN’s Eric Goldman and AICN’s Eric Vespe. He’s talking about him and Carrie being in Episode VII like it’s a done deal. (He hasn’t talked to Ford recently.) From Goldman’s article:
After the crowd cheered this statement, Hamill added, “That’s what the challenge is, is to try and meet expectations of what you guys want. I think there’s nothing wrong with CGI, but I think you have to have a balance, because the camera perceives the width and the depth and the weight – even if it’s a miniature model, the camera just realizes that. So when you have too much CGI and the clouds are CGI and the trees are CGI and the buildings are CGI, you’re getting to a point where the figure in the shot is like a hybrid of an animated film and live-action. And I want it to have an organic look so that we don’t get into Roger Rabbit territory.” He then added, with a laugh, “But I don’t imagine that the priority is what I want!”
He talked about how he believes to focus of the new films will be the next generation, and that his role will be more Obi-wanesque: “Heavy on the Jedi mind tricks, less on the lightsaber duels.”
Vespe stuck around for the second Q&A, where Hamill got asked about the Expanded Universe:
Hamill has never read any of the books or other extended universe stuff. “People say to me, “Dude, you’re married to Mara Jade! She’s smokin’ hot!” I go, “That would have been nice if they had thought of that when I was actually involved! You know, because it’s the ultimate good news/bad news joke. The good news is there’s an attractive woman in the universe, only one, the bad news is she’s your sister.”
Read both recaps – Hamill says we probably know more than he does about VII at this point, but he does still manage to talk quite a bit. Enjoy it while you can… And hope we get an official announcement soon!
UPDATE: Here’s a full video of one of the talks, thanks to Jason Ward!
Video: Harrison Ford not answering Star Wars questions, confronting Chewie on Kimmel
Chewbacca returns! (“He knows what he did.”) Below the cut, the rest of Ford’s appearance.
Video: Harrison Ford on Star Wars on Letterman
Exactly what it says on the tin, by which I mean Letterman does most of the talking. Below the cut, Ford tells a cannibal joke.
Continue reading “Video: Harrison Ford on Star Wars on Letterman”
Roundup: What is Peter Jackson doing with Episode VIII?
April Fools! Here’s one we missed: First Showing spotted what appears to be an Episode VIII script or treatment that appears very briefly in Peter Jackson’s latest Hobbit behind-the-scenes video, which was released on Monday. Of course, there are also appear to be scripts that say The Silmarillion, which I don’t believe anyone even has the film rights for, so take it as you will. I’m sure you can guess how I’m leaning. Well played, hobbitses.
Box office. The Motley Fool predicts that Episode VII will make a lot of money. Not just a a lot of money (because duh) but that it will go where only James Cameron has gone before: To make $2 billion worldwide. Well, if anyone can, it would be Star Wars… Right?
People. J.J. Abrams talks Star Wars and Star Trek with SFX, while Harrison Ford’s lips are sealed on Entertainment Tonight Oh the humanity. Or maybe he’s just tortured his publicist enough this week.
Back… To the future! Movies.com gathers some Lucas’ quotes on earlier plans for extending the saga.
Harrison Ford on J.J. Abrams: “A wonderful talent. Extraordinary guy.”
Harrison Ford isn’t talking Episode VII yet – but he has plenty of praise for director J.J. Abrams, who he worked with in 1991’s Regarding Henry
“I think he’s fantastic,” Ford said in a recent interview. “I did his first movie, ‘Regarding Henry,’ with Mike Nichols. A wonderful talent. Extraordinary guy.”
He also played coy on playing Han Solo again, sort of: “Um, I don’t even want to discuss that. It’s great. Ain’t it great?” He was a little more cagey in his MTV interview:
“It might be nice, depending on the circumstances, to revisit any one of those characters. What interests me now is the opportunity to work at all and to work in ambitious projects. I can’t think that way,” Ford said. “What I’m looking for is the next opportunity, the next ambitious opportunity. It doesn’t matter if it’s one of those. If it’s one of those, great. If it’s not, that’s fine too.”
And on past criticisms of George Lucas:
“I might have said things in the past that were characterizations of how I felt at the time,” he said. “That was then. This is now. It doesn’t matter.”