ABC’s Nightline takes a look at how Grand Moff Tarkin and Princess Leia were recreated for Rogue One.
John Knoll on bringing back Tarkin for Rogue One
John Knoll discusses the choice to and methods of resurrecting Peter Cushing’s Grand Moff Tarkin for Rogue One with the New York Times.
Eye Candy: Searching LIFE for Star Wars
A couple months ago, the LIFE photo archive went up in Google, fully searchable. Plenty has been done with them since then, but it didn’t occur to me to look for Star Wars until today. There isn’t a ton there – the bulk of images that come up are from The Phantom Menace premiere – but there are a few things of interest, like Time covers, some vintage toy pics and this shot of Carrie Fisher, Alec Guinness and Mark Hamill at a party celebrating the tenth anniversary of A New Hope. You get about the same amount of shots searching for just George Lucas, and even more for Harrison Ford, but clearly Sir Alec wins. (Wait! Was it really a party for ANH? Now I doubt.) But perhaps most amusingly: Jar-Jar and Madeline Albright? Or Peter Cushing in Hamlet?
Off the fannish track, two of the more interesting uses I’ve seen around the web have been Jezebel’s The Way We Were features and Typophile’s book cover meme.
In the News: LFL’s Richard Kerris, Zazzle, 3-D, Canada Spectacular, Blame Society Productions, Portman ponders politics, and Grand Moff Artkin
- Interview: VFXWorld talks to Richard Kerris, Lucasfilm’s Chief Technology Officer, about technology, The Force Unleashed, and The Clone Wars.
- Licensees: Zazzle featured in USA Today, which can’t tell the difference between Padme and Leia.
- From the ‘WE KNOW’ files: James Cameron ‘confirms’ that Star Wars will be rereleased in 3-D.
- Fandom: Chad Vader folks in The Badger Herald.
- Events: Star Wars Spectacular returning to Welland, Canada.
- People: Natalie Portman considers politics as a future career option. If she got elected, would that up the collectible value of those Padme Senatorial Gown figures?
- More People: Peter Cushing, artist? If you were hoping for something all creepy and Hammer-inspired, sorry: The art looks like something my grandmother would have a bad print of on her wall.
Plastics make everything possible
George Lucas will be the 50th Toy Hall of Fame inductee next year. (via NerfHerdersAnonymous)
In other Lucas news, card collectors have a chance to get a one-of-a-kind card with a ‘cut signature’ from Alec Guinness, Peter Cushing, or George himself.