Last week we… Recovered from Celebration Europe, found out who the new Doctor is and…Yeah. Okay. Onward!
The Foodles-Lucasfilm connection, solved?
Yes, there are the legal documents and all that, but where does the Foodles name actually come from? Big Shiny Robot has a inkling: Foodles happens to be the name of a restaurant near the pre-Presidio ILM headquarters. Curiouser and curiouser…
Celebrations to go without numerals from here on out
Verifying what many of us had already guessed, TheForce.Net says that Lucasfilm has told them that future Celebrations will no longer use the roman numeral designations, but be called by their location and/or year – so instead of Celebration VII, the 2015 convention is offically “Star Wars Celebration 2015” or “Star Wars Celebration Anaheim.”
The decision seems a little odd as, with Episode VII, the cons would still actually line up with their corresponding movies. Is it a hint that the conventions will be moving to a yearly schedule to keep up with the spin-off films as well as the Episodes?
The Celebrations began with Episode I in 1999, and were tied to movie release years during the prequels. After Revenge of the Sith and Celebration III (2005) the U.S. Celebrations kept to the triennial schedule with Celebration IV (2007) and Celebration V (2010.) With 2012’s Celebration VI, the con was moving to a biannual schedule. What the future holds for them after 2015… Well, we’ll see, I guess.
Still, Celebration VII will remain Celebration VII in our hearts… Or at least, our tags.
Lucasfilm: Episode VII still shooting in 2014
They wouldn’t comment on the Foodles alias, but a Lucasfilm representative did tell Big Shiny Robot that as far as the shooting schedule for Episode VII goes, “nothing has changed.” Kathleen Kennedy said only days ago that filming won’t start until next year.
Rumor: Is ‘Foodles’ the Episode VII pseudonym… And is filming closer than we thought?
Jedi News reports that Episode VII pre-production is working under the pseudonym Foodles Productions Ltd., and that they’ve booked their block at Pinewood for 10 years, with facilities construction already underway for shooting as early as August 2013.
We’ve previously heard that filming was likely to begin in early 2014.
UPDATE: Jedi News did a bit more digging (and explaining!) on Foodles…
UPDATE #2: And now LFL is denying that filming begins in August.
Video: Warwick Davis and Anthony Daniels
Warwick Davis and Anthony Daniels chat about filming Return of the Jedi, Episode VII and the Disney sale after their panel at Celebration Europe.
4 things we learned at Celebration Europe
Another year, another Celebration… And now we can rest. For a few weeks, anyway. For those of you who weren’t in Germany, who didn’t wake up before dawn to catch news out of Germany, or who maybe just had other stuff to do this weekend, here are the headlines.
“Real locations and special FX”
Kathleen Kennedy inferred that we’ll be seeing more of a mix of effects – not just the digital stuff, which is pretty much inevitable, but also some more traditional model-based effects and such as well. HitFix’s Drew McWeeny addresses this – and the staggering pressure that Episode VII has to live up to:
I love that much of what I’ve been hearing seems to match what Kennedy is saying. I’ve heard that Lawrence Kasdan is considered by everyone else in the process a pretty great resource, and a really lovely collaborator. And I’ve heard that ILM is building a lot of actual models for this film, that they plan to shoot the models and digitally composite on a much larger scale than the last trilogy. It’s an aesthetic choice, evidently, and I find it very exciting to imagine big ILM model units working to build out the world.
Kennedy knows the gig, she’s clearly taken the time to understand what’s going on with fandom – and I don’t think she’s the only one. This is, as McWeeny said, a fragmented fandom. There are a lot of voices, and the stakes for this movie, for the whole franchise, are high. Will they manage to please everyone? Probably not: There are fans who will love or hate Episode VII no matter what. But I think it’s a good sign that they’re willing to try, and that shows in what little they’re willing to tell us so far. What’s behind closed doors? Hopefully something even better.
John Williams
Of course this was the big ticket news out of the con, and while I understand being disappointed that we didn’t get more, it’s still rather reassuring to have Williams back on board.
There’s been some confusion about whether he’s back for just one movie – the official site says just Episode VII, but apparently onstage, Kennedy said he was coming back for all three. And maybe that’s the plan, but just not on paper yet. In any case, it’s good news.
Rebels
We may not have the whole enchilada yet, but Dave Filoni did give fans enough to sate their appetites, it seems. He made it clear that the style is very much based on Ralph McQuarrie, that the stories will be told in order and showed off some concept art… One of which may be Alderaan.
And the Wookiee Gunner points out that we’ve actually been seeing new ship The Ghost all along! Tricky, tricky.
Celebration VII
And we have our next convention! In all honesty, I welcome the gap: We could all use a little time and space to save, as much as Lucasfilm will need the time to prepare. Let’s not forget, the Celebrations started as a way to get fans excited about the new movies… And think how much they’ll have to show us a month or so before the thing even comes out!
The venue change isn’t much of a surprise… But I really doubt we’ve seen the last of Orlando. After all, Disney does have two theme parks.
Alas, Celebration announcements always bring a round of disappointment: We all want it close to us, but there are a lot of people to please and no matter where the thing is, some folks aren’t going to be able to come. The convention center may not be as cavernous, the plane tickets may not be as cheap, etc. It’s sad but there’s no pleasing everyone, ever. We all just have to deal, one way or another, and wait to see how the experts surprise us.
But still, I’m hopeful about California and very happy with the return to the original pre-movie schedule. Hell, I might even go to the theme park for once. Might.
And remember, news hounds: Patience. They’re not going to give us everything at once. They’re going to dribble it out slowly, they’re going to deny things, the rumors will keep flying. (All this has happened before… All this will happen again.) It’s our lot to wait it out and see what emerges.
CONFIRMED: John Williams to score Episode VII
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.
Ryan Gosling’s reps deny Episode VII interest
He’s the biggest new actor associated with the sequels so far, but Ryan Gosling is not pursuing a role in Episode VII, the actor’s representatives tell The Huffington Post. They also point out that the actor has recently said he’d like to take a break from acting.
And no, they haven’t heard back from Zac Efron’s people yet.
Of course, at this point a denial doesn’t mean much… And remember, J.J. Abrams denied, too!
Rumor: Ryan Gosling, Zac Efron up for Episode VII?
Is it April Fools already? Latino Review’s Kellvin Chavez is reporting that Ryan Gosling and Zac Efron are up for roles in Episode VII – and that Leonardo DiCaprio has already passed.
Chavez doesn’t know what role Efron could be up for, but apparently Gosling auditioned for the role of Luke’s son.
Gosling is among the hottest actors in Hollywood right now, and while I wouldn’t count on him – yes, he’s probably big enough these days to turn down Star Wars if the mood strikes – I also don’t entirely hate the idea. After all, how many people do you hear referencing his time as a Mouseketeer these days, as opposed to his meme? He’d be a pretty big get for any franchise.
Efron, on the other hand, has the opposite problem – he’s hard-wired to his Disney tweener past, namely as one of the stars of the High School Musical ‘franchise.’ Will the world ever be able to take this guy seriously? (On the other hand, he didn’t suck in Hairspray.) He was one of the Disney folks you saw photoshopped into every other Star Wars image a few months past. It was eye-rolling then – but expect to see those images a lot more as this rumor disperses out through the internet. With additional Gosling. Whoo.
I, as always, remain skeptical.