Jake Lloyd For Smucker’s

Back in 1998, just a year before TPM came out, young Jake Lloyd appeared in a series of ads for Smucker’s, America’s #1 purveyor of spreadable fruit products.

Watch a pre-Anakin Lloyd eat some PB&J with a pal supposedly back in the ’50s:

Star Wars Weekends: Final Clone Wars Edition?

Star Wars Weekends kicks off this weekend at Walt Disney World. It occurred to me this might very well be the last year Clone Wars cast will play a prominent part of the event now that the show’s off the air. James Arnold Taylor is hosting, Ashley Eckstein is debuting more Her Universe goodies (head’s up…the new Padmé shirt will be available at the event in case you’re going), and several other Clone Wars stars are set to appear.

Here’s the guest list:

May 17-19:

Ray Park
Jeremy Bulloch
Dee Bradley Baker

May 24-26

Ray Park
Warwick Davis
Jim Cummings (Hondo on Clone Wars)

May 31-June 2

Warwick Davis
Tim Rose
Sam Witwer

June 7-9

Billy Dee Williams
Peter Mayhew
Tom Kane

Ahmed Best For Wendy’s; Keira Knightley For Chanel

Eddie had linked to this Wendy’s ad on The Phantom Menace: The Holiday that also starred Ahmed Best. Here he jams with that ginger from all of those recent Wendy’s ads to extol the virtues of the fast food chain’s fish sandwich:

Keira Knightley got married last weekend. Waa-waa-waa-waaaah. Sorry, fellas. As a consolation prize, here’s her sexpot ad for Chanel from 2011:

ET Online Prequel Vids

I missed this on 5/4, but Jedi News caught ET Online (Entertainment Tonight) posting some interviews with the prequel crew from back in the day:

http://et.tv/10yPGeZ

Hamill Sticks Up For Prequels

Last night, Mark Hamill made a surprise appearance at the 30th anniversary showing of ROTJ sponsored by Entertainment Weekly in Hollywood, CA. During his chat session, he spoke about Star Wars past, present, and future. But he also took a few minutes to address the Special Editions and prequels:

Don’t complain to Mark Hamill about the Special Editions or the prequels. Hamill noted that his son Nathan helped keep him abreast of new developments in Star Wars fandom. “He’ll say, ‘Oh my god, Dad, Greedo shoots first now!’ I’ll say, ‘Wait, wait, wait. Let’s put this in perspective: Who cares?’” That led Hamill into a full-throated defense of the Star Wars prequels: “Jar Jar was supposed to be irritating! He’s irritating to the other characters in the movie!” He concluded by arguing that Lucas had earned the right to make Star Wars films in the manner he wanted. “Those aren’t sorta the movies he wanted them to be, they’re exactly the movies they wanted to make,” said Hamill. “And I’m not gonna criticize them at all.”

Gollum Thanks Jar Jar

From Jedi News…

Andy Serkis had named on IGN his favorite motion capture performances and had included Ahmed Best’s performance as Jar Jar. Sweet! Best had even Tweeted back his appreciation.

Now isn’t that…precious?

Wanna Buysa Some Stocksa?

Last week I first saw an ad on t.v. for iShares.com, featuring a sharp-dressed jazzman. Even though the caption says “musician,” he looks like he works an upper six figure job by day and jams all night with his pals. He must be killing it on the stock market! While watching the ad I kept thinking, “This guy looks familiar.” Well, leave it to Eddie to instantly recognize who it is, none other than Ahmed Best:

Given the sheer number of commercials our PT crew have appeared in, whether it’s bizarre Japanese ads or artsy ads for posh products, I wonder if I should just make it a regular feature…

Vote For Clone Wars Voice Actors

The BTVA Voice Acting Awards has nominated James Arnold Taylor, Ashley Eckstein, Corey Burton, Nika Futterman, and Sam Witwer for their roles on The Clone Wars. David Tennant is nominated for his guest shot on the show. Moreover, the cast is nominated as an ensemble.

(Dee Bradley Baker is nominated for his part on The Legend of Korra. And there’s a nomination for Mark Hamill on a totally unrelated show.)

What a great message it would send if we scored as many wins as possible for our Clone Wars crew. Be sure to vote!

Another Warm Fuzzy PT Reunion

I was perusing the May issue of the scholarly journal In-Style Magazine where I came upon an interview with former Uncle Owen Joel Edgerton. Edgerton was mostly discussing his part in the upcoming “The Great Gatsby,” but he mentions that he was growing a beard for his next project, a Western starring Natalie Portman. (Edgerton joked about “lighting up the screen together again” since their interaction was short in Star Wars.)

The flick’s called “Jane Has Got A Gun.” I have no idea when it comes out but Natalie also produces the movie and it also features Bradley Cooper, but he was never in Star Wars. Not yet anyway…

Christopher Lee Signs For Official Pix

Christopher Lee recently did a signing for Official Pix. Now you have the golden opportunity to add to your collection that signed Count Dooku or Saruman photo for $200. Hey, it’s not as though you’re just going to bump into him walking down the street.