John Knoll, who was visual effects lead on the prequel films, just got promoted to Chief Creative Officer at ILM. This means his influence will be felt on Star Wars and on other films for a long time to come! Congrats to Mr. Knoll!
You can read the whole press release here.
Before she was Ahsoka Tano, the former Ashley Drane appeared in a low budget flick from 2003 called “Prey For Rock & Roll,” starring Gina Gershon. It’s a gritty, sweaty, punky tale of some chicks in a rock band. It’s got smoking, drinking, tattoos, and of course, lesbian love scenes. Ashley’s role was “Punk Rock Girl” and if you suffer through this whole trailer, you’ll see her at the end saying, “Rock awwwn!”
Rock on, Ashley! Rock onnnn!!
The Clone Wars picked up another nomination today, this time for Best Animated Series from the Broadcast Television Journalists Association Critics Choice Awards (whew!). You can see the full list of nominees here.
Yay for finally recognizing “The Middle” and star Eden Sher, boo for ignoring the best new series this season, History’s “Vikings.”
By the way, SMGO.TV has taken up the cause for Clone Wars.
Late last week, Hayden Christensen and his brother Tove launched a new film production company with some Russian investors called Glacier Films (back in the ’00s, they ran Forest Park Pictures together out of L.A.). They’re going to crank out low budget features, including one starring Hayden called “American Heist.” The announcement and launch party were at the Cannes Film Festival.
Variety has details and gossip site Just Jared has pix from the party.
(P.S. Normally I don’t do the People magazine stuff here, but I figure as long as I’m talking about Ewan, Natalie, and Joel in a new movie together I may as well let you know what Hayden’s up to.)
Natalie Portman’s Western “Jane Got A Gun” has had a revolving door and musical chairs of cast members, along with a director who split early on. Jude Law and Bradley Cooper came and went pretty quick. Fellow PT alum Joel Edgerton went from one role (bad guy) to another (good guy). Stepping up to fill the bad guy shoes is none other than Ewan McGregor, making this film even more of a PT reunion and definitely worth checking out! The full story is here. And already Ewan is getting ready for the part, changing his appearance so that he looks like an evil hipster cattle rustler.
J.W. Rinzler’s “The Making of Return of the Jedi” won’t come out for several months yet, but he’s already previewing the book since the movie came out 30 years ago this week.
A couple of pieces have appeared on The Huffington Post. Today, there’s this piece on how there was some preliminary planning done on the prequels back in 1981. At the time, Lucas didn’t envision Yoda as a warrior (“Jurassic Park” must’ve changed his mind), he said that anyone could use the Force but the Jedi were just better practiced at it, and the timeline of Anakin turning to the Dark Side was tweaked a little bit as well as his motivation, but you can recognize a lot of what happens.
Interestingly enough, Rinzler also had this to say in yesterday’s HuffPo article:
“Already with “Jedi,” you have another generation of filmgoers going to the theater. And for people like me, “Jedi” was already a kind of “The Phantom Menace” in that we’re like, “You’ve got to be kidding me with these Ewoks. I just cannot relate to this. These are little people in suits and it looks ridiculous.” There’s already a generational divide. But those kids who were seven and eight who saw Jedi — for a lot of people, “Jedi” is their favorite film. And (Guillermo) del Toro is saying it will be the same way for the prequels.“
Not that long ago in our own galaxy, a guy named Joey Lemberg recreated TPM with action figures and home-made sets. Originally shot on VHS, it’s been uploaded on YouTube for all to enjoy. H/T Matthew Krizanits:
Bob wins the Star Wars Prequel Appreciation Day contest.
Among three entries it was tough, but he pulls it out by making connections with the fewest number of people fastest:
1. Samuel L. Jackson –> Kevin Bacon
Samuel L Jackson was in “Goodfellas” with Robert De Niro. Robert De Niro was in “Sleepers”, with Kevin Bacon.
2. Ewan McGregor –> Jimmy Stewart
Ewan McGregor was in “Valiant” with John Cleese. John Cleese was in “An American Tail: Feivel Goes West” with Jimmy Stewart.
3. Natalie Portman –> Audrey Hepburn
Natalie Portman was in “Garden State” with Ian Holm. Ian Holm was in “Robin and Marian” with Audrey Hepburn.
4. Hayden Christensen –> Sterling Hayden
Hayden Christensen was in “Revenge of the Sith” with James Earl Jones. James Earl Jones was in “Dr. Strangelove” with Sterling Hayden.
5. Liam Neeson –> John Wayne
Liam Neeson was in “The Haunting” with Bruce Dern. Bruce Dern was in “The Cowboys” with John Wayne.
Thanks for playing!
TPM was released 14 years ago today, May 19, 1999.
ROTS was released 8 years ago today, May 19, 2005.
I still need to tweak it, but here it is! Enjoy.
