Star Wars with occasional sarcasm
Our big news out of Kathleen Kennedy’s Celebration Europe panel: John Williams has officially signed on to score Episode VII!
That was it as far as announcements go from Kennedy’s panel this morning. StarWars.com liveblogged it, and I’ve collected the tweets on Storify.
David Collins has the ‘ground report’ from Essen, above, as Celebration Europe officially kicks into gear. Of course our news of the day was in regards to The Clone Wars S5 on Blu-ray. The panel itself was recapped by the folks over at Star Wars Underworld.
The folks at StarWars.com recapped Doug Chiang and Iain McCaig. (No, no sequel art! Hey, it was a long shot.) They also live-blogged Anthony Daniels and International Fan Clubs. And the highlights of the Ian McDiarmid event.
Meanwhile, Bleeding Cool’s Craig Skinner was not particularly impressed with Attack of the Clones 3D – though apparently the room was less than optimal.
(You’re following @jamesjawa, right? Other Twitter fan MVPs include @TGP73 and @TheSWU. #StarWarsCelebration is the tag to watch!)
Newswatch! Saturday is the big one, with Lucasfilm president and Episode VII producer Kathleen Kennedy! Her panel begins at 10:30 a.m. CEST (4:30 a.m. EDT. Yes, I will try to be up. On a Saturday. We are born to suffer.) But if we’re going to get any movie news this weekend, it’s probably going to come from her first.
The rest of the day’s not so bad, either. At 12:30 p.m. CEST (6:30 p.m. EDT) Leland Chee will join Pablo Hidalgo for a look at the Holocron. It’s probably the closest Germany is going to get to an EU panel. Of course, it happens to be running against fan’s first look at Rebels – also 12:30 p.m. CEST – with Dave Filoni, our second most likely panel to produce big news. Which one will StarWars.com liveblog? MYSTERY.
There’s a Doug Chiang panel at 3:30 p.m. CEST (9 a.m. CEST,) a Master’s level trivia challenge with Filoni, Hidalgo and Chee at 5:30 p.m. (11 a.m. EDT) and then the night wraps up with Carrie Fisher at 6:00 p.m. CEST (Noon EDT.)
Profiled. USA Today interviews Kathleen Kennedy about her career, Lucasfilm, and women in film.
Imagine this? Al Pacino told a London audience that he turned down the role of Han Solo in Star Wars, the BBC reports. “That role was mine for the taking but I couldn’t understand the script,” he said. He also turned down Die Hard and Pretty Woman.
Dak! Our pal John Morton has been blogging for StarWars.com! He even profiled a few CJers!
Neat stuff. The next Star Wars mega-LEGO is an almost 2,000-piece Ewok Village. It’ll set you back $249.
The president of Lucasfilm, Kathleen Kennedy, will be heading to Germany for her first Celebration in July, Reed revealed today.
“When I joined Lucasfilm, I immediately saw the true passion shared by Star Wars fans around the world,” Kennedy says. “I’m thrilled to attend my first Star Wars Celebration and see in person that energy that makes the Star Wars experience so special.”
Kennedy is executive producing Episode VII, so there’s a chance we might actually get some movie information…
Yesterday in the mail, I got a form letter from Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy as a response to my letter expressing my support for releasing as much bonus content for The Clone Wars as they could. Basically, it restated their position to wind down the show, and hinted at the new animated series.
Nothing really new revealed, but it seems that their position to end the show is solid. The letter had no real mention of the ‘bonus content’ but does mention that it is more than just Dave Filoni working on the new series: “many members of his Clone Wars team” is also in the letter.
Still, nice to know that my letter was received and that they are willing to engage fans on a one-on-one basis. Here’s the full text of the body of the letter (or just click on the image to read the main text):
Continue reading “Saving the Clone Wars: Lucasfilm’s Kathleen Kennedy responds”
In another interview out of CinemaCon (previously) Kathleen Kennedy talks about being a role model for women, joining Lucasfilm and most notably, secrecy and Episode VII. With the internet, she says, you have to ’embrace,’ ‘recognize’ and ‘acknowledge’ that there are things fans are going to be chomping at the bit for.
This isn’t quite an acknowledgement that they’re going to be giving us tons of info, but hopefully it does bode well for our friends at StarWars.com and how much access they may get in covering the production and filming of the upcoming movies.
Corporate shenanigans. Jedi News spotted an interesting mention in a recent Variety story on Bob Iger and who might suceed him at Disney: “Many expect theme park and resorts chief Thomas Staggs to land the CEO role, although there are rumblings that Lucasfilm’s Kathleen Kennedy also may now be in the running.” Well, business isn’t exactly our division, but I suppose it wouldn’t be out of the question.
In other news, Kennedy and ILM have signed a “co-operation deal” with Chinese VFX company Base FX, both Variety and The Hollywood Reporter have reported. Hrm.
Another name in the hat? Jonathan Frakes (Star Trek: The Next Generation) wouldn’t mind jumping ship to Episode VII, Big Shiny Robot learned in a recent interview.
Randomly… Star Wars will be the first movie to be dubbed in Dine, the official language of the Navajo, KJZZ reports.
ClevverMovies talked to Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy at CinemaCon (where she was named Pioneer of the Year) and got a few tidbits about Episode VII (J.J. Abrams is only signed for one) and spin-offs.
Lucasfilm is “determining what those spin-offs are going to be right now.” and she expects they’ll get some great talent” to helm them.
Big Shiny Robot, for the record, takes her evasiveness on IMAX and 3D as an indirect ‘yes.’
Kathleen Kennedy is the The Hollywood Reporter‘s cover story and naturally, it begins with how she convinced J.J. Abrams to take on Episode VII:
Famously plain-spoken, she summarizes her pitch like this: “Please do Star Wars.” And she had cards to play. Not only was Oscar winner Michael Arndt (Little Miss Sunshine, Toy Story 3) writing the script, but Lawrence Kasdan, who wrote 1980’s The Empire Strikes Back and 1983’s Return of the Jedi, was on board to consult. Abrams “was flipping out when he found out that Michael and Larry were on the movie already,” says Kennedy.
Abrams tells THR, “I learned firsthand how incredible and persuasive she is.” Some — but not all — of his reservations were dispelled. “The thing about any pre-existing franchise — I’d sort of done that,” he says. “But when I met with Kathy, it was suddenly very tantalizing.”
Kennedy goes on to discuss Lincoln’s Oscar campaign and her partnership with director Steven Spielberg, including this cute tidbit of how George Lucas approached him about hiring her:
Lucas called to raise the issue during a dubbing session on Lincoln. “He actually asked for her hand in business,” says Spielberg. “I wasn’t going to stand in her way.”
We learn that she’s commited to Lucasfilm for 5 years, splitting time between San Francisco and Los Angeles, her start in the business, meeting husband Frank Marshall and more.
As for Lucas? Spielberg says he’s ready to stay retired:
Asked whether he believes Lucas can really keep his distance, Spielberg doesn’t hesitate. “I completely know he can do that,” he says. “He’s ready to start living without the burden and weight and responsibility of this huge corporate asset.”
In short, if you’re curious about Kennedy, this article is a good place to start!
Practice safe media. Amy Ratcliffe writes about Star Wars rumors (like Monday’s Zack Snyder-fest) and how some movie news sites report them. I am in 100% in agreement with her plee for fans to “use your noodle.”
We report rumors, yes. Do I believe them all? Of course not. Hell, in a previous round, I got so angry at people misusing the term ‘confirmed’ that I wrote a whole post about it. The internet is a crazy place and things spread like wildfire, but please, please please be smart about these things. The rumors aren’t going to be going away any time soon, no matter how hard you wish they would.
Sorry, nerds. Joss Whedon totally wanted to direct Episode VII but, you know, The Avengers 2. And S.H.I.E.L.D. Damn his hard-earned success!
Oh, and… The guy who directed Looper says “it would be very hard to say no to.”. Okay.
“This deal is getting worse all the time.” Harvey Weinstein offered Kathleen Kennedy an Oscar (for Lincoln) if she cast him as a stormtrooper.