Feb 29 STAR Wars sound supremo Ben Burtt has been talking to AICN, it's a long interview, so for a look go here.
Feb 28 LOOKS like the race to be Anakin may have been temporarily halted. An English actor who is reportedly in the running for the role has been told casting has been put on hold for the time being as the script is not yet completed.
None of this is confirmed - as ever - but thought it was interesting. You would have thought a few minor changes to a script wouldn't affect who Anakin would be or what they were after, but what do I know?
The actor in question is Philip Stevens, 20, who lives near Halstead, in Essex.
Feb 26 LOOKS like Harrison Ford may have brought Traffic to standstill. Ford is said to have pulled out of the new drugs' movie he was meant to be doing with Catherine Zeta Jones. Yahoo reports that Ford has left the project, in order to do a 'yet to be determined' action film. The report also says that Zeta Jones herself isn't signed up for sure yet and that an April start date was not set in stone.
FOR anyone old enough to recall anything befoer the age of CD, you can now buy The Phantom Menace soundtrack on vinyl. Shop StarWars is offering the limited edition $39 record with a double gatefold case. Order it by going here.
MORE of The New Jedi Series is on the way. Hero's Trial is the first of two books in the Agents of Chaos duology. Written by James Luceno and due out in October, it will follow Han Solo's life after Vector Prime, and how he uncovers a conspiracy uncomfortably close to home.
WHAT was your worst Star Wars memory, that's the unusually self-effacing question on the official page. You can pick from
Feb 25 IT seems half-term at schools around the UK has meant a return to the cinemas for The Phantom Menace. It was showing at Colchester's Odeon cinema on Friday and Saturday mornings, and presumably at many other venues around the country.
THE Star Wars Homing Beacon has gone out again to subscribers of the official site. It tells of a question and answer session George Lucas has at the University of California. Lucas said "Five years from now I'm going to be doing a lot of different things--most of it will probably be television because I like that a lot. And more internet television which I'm trying to put together."
He went on to say he was interested in a historical series, like the Young Indiana Jones series, He added: "I want to do things that are not really attached to a network, where I don't have to make compromises. It will be pretty esoteric. I don't know how popular it'll be, but it's something I want to do. I figure that when I get done with Star Wars, I'll have earned the right to do it."
Feb 24 ANYONE going to Orlando in May is in for a good time, Disney has announced four weekends of Star Wars mania. Visitors will be confronted with everything from cuddly ewoks to Darth Maul.
Feb 23 DAVE Prowse, alias Darth Vader, was in the Daily Star today, returning to the role that made him familiar to millions of children in the Seventies - the Green Cross Code Man.
The Star said: "Actor Dave Prowse, now 64, and sporting his famous green and white costume, returned to street duty despite three hip ops. The man who played the role from 1970 to 1980 was again telling kids to 'Stop, look, listen'.
Dave
helped children cross Abbey Road in London, made famous by The Beatles.
Feb 22 NOT strictly Star Wars this, but a company has got in touch to promote its special-looking contact lenses. You can turn yourself into Darth Maul or just stand out with them, they're here if you'd like a look.
DAVE Prowse was on Channel 4's The Big Breakfast this morning. But he wasn't playing Darth Vader, he was in his other well-known guise as The Green Cross Code Man. Dave was in full uniform, helping people across the Big Breakfast's own 'street'.
Dave
was listed in the New Year's Honours List this year for his services to road safety, where
he promoted the Green Cross Code as the Green Cross Code Man. He went on to do a radio
show where he said he'd love to be in Episode III as Vader again but as yet had not been
approached. He also said James Earl Jones had been asked to go back and record seven
minutes of lines.
WHEN it comes to barmen, they don't come much more miserable - or ugly - than Wuher. But now the Mos Eisley barman is to be immortalised in plastic, as a new figure is set for release in a few months. There was general uproar when it was discovered that he may be withdrawn from Hasbro's production line, but now he is to make his debut in the world of plastic figures, according to the official site.
Feb 21 FROM Vader's lightsaber to Indiana Jones' Holy Grail, George Lucas' archive collection is priceless. The official site has published a feature on it and explains how that, even with digital technology, the costumes and props are needed now more than ever.
Slightly old news, but it's reported that Hugh Quarshie (Captain Panaka) has been signed up to do Episode II.
Feb 20 THERE'S now a new humour section among these pages. With songs, lists and links to some of the funniest and strangest Star Wars sites you're ever likely to come across. Go here to check it out.
LUCASARTS has added some excellent screen shots for the forthcoming Force Commander strategy game. There's also a teaser video and more character details.
US presidential candidate John McCain may have lost out to George Bush jnr but he redeemed himself a little by entering to make his final speech to the sound of Star Wars.
Feb 19 THE official site is updated with a pic of some of the stars relaxing in the Mos Espa set between takes.
CLASSIC cartoonists Sergio Aragonés and Mark Evanier have come up with Sergio Stomps Star Wars, a paraody about a disastrous visit by the pair to Lucasfilm.
Aragonés gets a bit too near to ILM's computers and choas erupts, says the official site. The one-shot comic, published by Dark Horse Comics, features cameos by Lucasfilm, ILM and Fox folk.
A SPECIAL award for contribution to cinema has been awarded to Industrial Light and Magic by Empire magazine.
Scott Farrar accepted the award and praised Empire for its efforts to promote ‘the film industry and many of the projects to which ILM has contributed. ‘and the readers for all their support.’
Feb 18 GEORGE Lucas has been unusually outspoken during a trip to see students recently, reports TheForce.net. It said Lucas hit back at criticism jobes by saying: "How, in any credible way, could you take an orange amphibian and say it is a racial stereotype for African Americans?”
It adds that when one reporter was told Jar Jar said 'misa' rather than 'I' the guy thought he meant 'mister' and concluded that was demeaning.
Lucas also spoke about how he makes his films in a documentary style, prefering the actors to work with each other than to the camera.
RATHER curiously imdb.com has now removed Simon Jordao's name from being the actor to play Anakin.
NORMALLY I wouldn't bother updating on every Anakin rumour cos it's getting a bit tedious, but this one's a bit odd. Internet Movie Database (IMDB) has a Simon Jordao listed as playing 'Anikin' in Episode II. While it's almost certainly wrong, it does seem strange a normally excellent site would do this - it's probably just an anagram of something rude!
TOY Story 2 has overtaken The Phantom Menace for the biggest weekend opening in the UK.
Feb 17 GEORGE Lucas has hit back of critics of his decision not to release the Star Wars films on DVD. On the official site the reason given, as before, is a lack of time. The site adds that the idea that the non-release will encourage pirates is "absurd", that the delay is to increase demand is false and that there will definitely by a DVD, but not this year.
It also said that although the Laserdisc version of TPM is coming out in Japan, only the soundtrack is digital and so any DVD copies would only be marginally better than video.
ANAKIN-hopefuls are to meet with George Lucas, as casting director Robin Gurland narrows the field. Submissions are still being taken though.
THE Phantom Menace has been slated by readers of SFX magazine. The movie was voted the worst of last year and the second most embarrassing thing of 1999 - coming second only to Jar Jar Binks.
Bizarrely it was also voted second best film of the year, behind The Matrix. In the Keanu Reeves Award for Wooden Acting, Ewan McGregor won for his Obi-Wan role, Jake Lloyd was second, Natalie Portman fourth, Liam Neeson fifth and the entire cast came eighth. SFX editor Dave Golder said: "Fans who have been championing the Star Wars films for over 20 years felt betrayed by what they saw as a kids' film."
HARRISON Ford is to star opposite Catherine Zeta Jones in a Channel 4 mini series which is to be made into a film. Traffik is based on a 1989 BAFTA-winning drama about international drug dealing. It will be Ford's first independently-produced film and he will forego his normal $20million fee.
Feb 15 RAY Park's site has defended a
decision to cancel the Imagine Con event in America. Larry Bore, of Hollywood
Management, said "It was agreed that we would attend providing airline tickets were
booked and paid for by January 15th 2000 and at that time we would sign a contract.
"Despite the fact that Mr. Prescot sent an email confirmation that he had sent
payment on January 19th, no payment was made. Numerous attempts were made on our part to
work with them, but email and phone requests were ignored. I had no alternative to cancel
the proposed agreement on February 2nd, 2000."
THE Phantom Menace has been nominated for three Oscars in the Sound, Sound Editing and Visual Effects categories.
As expected there were no nominations for the major prizes (best film/actor etc) but it was surprising that the film was not mentioned in the Best Score category.
IN contrast The Phantom Menace also received eight nominations for The Razzie Awards, given to the worst films of the year. Wild Wild West also got picked in eight categories and Star Trek's William Shatner was named as one of the worst actors of the century. Winners (sic) will be announced on March 26.
EVER fancied working for Mr Lucas? The official site has some tips from Rick McCallum, which include not hoping too hard cos most of the production jobs are filled, and visiting www.ilm.com or www.lucasfilm.com if you want more details.
Feb 14 THE tale of the Jedi Council will be told in a new four series from Dark Horse Comics. The official site has revealed the Jedi Council series will start in June.
And Darth Maul will be featured in his own six-part series in September, in what will be his first comic appearance in a non-Phantom Menace title. That may all seem a long time to wait in a place far, far away but to tide things over Dark Horse has announced comics for May and June.
Dark Horse Extra 23: May 3, Star Wars 18 Emissaries to Malastare Part 6 of 6: May 24 and Star Wars: X-Wing Rogue Squadron - June 7.
LUCASARTS has added some screen shots to its forthcoming PC strategy game Force Commander.
Feb 13 PRESIDENTIAL candidates George W. Bush and John McCain have got in to a slanging match - over Star Wars.
Reuter's has reported that Bush hit out at McCain for feeding canapes to lobbyists he campaigns against, while McCain thought he was like Luke Skywalker battling the Dark Side.
He continued, a little bafflingly: "We're just like Luke Skywalker, they're coming in from everywhere, but we're going to make it," he said.
Nice to see they're sticking to the important issues, can't wait for the lightsabre duel in the White House.
RAY Park's official site has announced he will not be attending Imaginecom 2000 in America in April, allegedly for the non payment of appearance fees. The site did however say it would be announcing some new dates soon.
Darth Maul actor Park is not new
to controversy, the Sun newspaper in England criticised him for charging £15 an
autograph. The site did however offer signed TPM videos and new signed prints of Maul.
THE script for Episode II is still being finalised, according to the official site. In the latest of its Homing Beacons, sent to subscribers, it tells how the film's producer Rick McCallum has moved to Australia full-time in preparation for the start of filming in June.
He said: "The Australians love Star Wars, I'm very excited to be here, but we have a lot of work ahead."
Feb 12 SEEMS even The Times newspaper in the UK has got caught up in the rumours. In today's edition noe page lead repeats Variety story that the next film will be more racially balanced. It says casting director Robin Gurland sent out messages to agencies asking for a diverse mix of actors. It also quotes Lucasfilm as dismissing the story.
Writer Grace Bradberry added: "The new diversity should please critics but Star Wars fans are unlikely to care."
Feb 11 THE official site has taken the extremely unusual step of hitting back at a Variety report claiming Episode II would be more racially balanced.
A statement from Lucas' director of communications Lynne Hale said at present Robin Gurland was only casting for Anakin, and had met 300 candidates. It added that although there were many rumours about who was in the running they were all false.
It went on to say the Variety article was totally wrong in claiming there was a role for a Native American and that it would not fit in to a Star Wars universe.
Sounds like someone obviously got a bit upset when they read Variety, unless of course they're about to name Anakin and want a bit more publicity.
STILL with the official site, it has launched its own poll for the first time, asking visitors if they would like a star, unknown or themselves to be Anakin. Again, sounds like they're stoking the fire of publicity a bit.
STORMTROOPERS had a pretty rough time of things, so as way of a tribute there is now the Tomb of the Unknown Stormtrooper site, which is pretty cool and very funny.
Feb 10 ANOTHER Anakin rumour... Cruel Intentions star Ryan Phillipe is said to be in with a shot at the role, along with the world and his dog...
THE Phantom Menace has overtaken Jurassic Park as the number two best-grossing movie ever. TPM has now raked in $922million, two million more than the Dinosaur film. However it isn't going to catch number one Titanic, which took $1.8billion.
THE official site has some updates, with an explanation from Lucas about why droids were important, and some pics of the craft from Episode I
Feb 9 SAMUEL L Jackson, Mace Windu, is to be immortilised at Madame Taussaud's Waxworks in London. The Phantom Menace and Pulp Fiction star will join dozens of legendry figures at the attraction.
Jackson was recently named the hardest working actor of the Nineties with film after film.
English tennis star Tim Henman is another celebrity to be cast in wax.
RADIO One DJ Simon Mayo announced on his show that the new Sith Lord would be Robert Carlyle. This is obviously 100 per cent unconfirmed but it sounds plausible.
Carlyle, for anyone who doesn't know, was in British-hit Trainspotting, The Full Monty, Plunkett and Maclane and of course played the bad guy in Bond's The World is Not Enough.
JAKE Lloyd is helping out in a
Get Caught Reading 2000 a campaign to encourage reading from the Association of American
Publishers. There is an exclusive pic of Jake on the official site
For more information on the 'Get Caught Reading' campaign, visit their web site.
JOHN Williams, Star Wars musical maestro amd all-round genius, is 68-years-old today.
JAMES Earl Jones
Feb 8The owner of www.tatooine.com looks to have settled a dispute with Lucasfilm. Lucas' people wrote to the web site operator telling them to stop using the name, and now it looks like they are about to do just that.
The case got news coverage all over the world and now Lucasfilm is to take over the name, although the current owner did manage to get a few concessions, such as hits to the site still counting as his for the time being. Makes you wonder why that and not the myriad of other web sites out there that are obvious Star Wars names too.
Feb 7 CARRIE Fisher has turned up third instalment of the Scream horror movies. Carrie, who played Leia in the original trilogy, plays a woman moaning about her failure to get a part in Star Wars. Her previous cameos have included The Blues Brothers.
Feb 6 WITH a little over a week to go before the Oscar nominations come out, it's time to start second-guessing and supposing we know what's going on. The Phantom Menace is likely to be nominated in several technical categories, although its chances of picking up best actor/actress/film look about as likely as a Stormtrooper being able to hit the broad-side of a barn on a clear day.
The nominees for the 23 categories will be announced on Feb 15. Here's our fairly optimistic guess as to where Star Wars could figure.
Art Direction - Cinematography - Costume Design - Directing - Makeup - Original Score - Original Song Sound - Sound Effects Editing - Visual Effects
If you've any other ideas let me know here.
IN AMERICA Mark Hamill was on Mad TV on Saturday night playing Miss Swan's father. As well as being funny there were also some Star Wars moments.
THE official site is updated with a question about how specific Lucas is in directing vehicles or characters. And the answer? Sometimes a lot, sometimes he leaves it up to the designers, which apparantly puts the fear of God into them.
THERE'S also an interesting piece from Irvin Kershner who said the only reason he got Chewie to do some welding at the start of TESB was because it was the only thing where you could see what he was doing.
Feb 5 JEFF Garner is Anakin Skywalker, at least that could soon be the case according to Ain-it-Cool news. They name Garner as the unlikely actor who could land the part very soon. Hailing from Indianapolis, he has been in several theatre productions but more interestingly met Ray Parks at a karate competition last year. Parks was reportedly impressed and Lucasfilm then also took an interest.
According to one souce "Vader has been cast" and he is an "unknown farmboy from Indiana". Click here for the full report and a pic of Garner.
Feb 3 Ain't it Cool today questions why Lucas will put out a Laser disc in Japan - but not a DVD. They received an e-mail stating it would come out on April 7, giving pirates the perfect opportunity to make excellent DVD copies.
The e-mail read: "Star Wars: Episode 1 The Phantom Menace” (1999) (LBX) on Laserdisc. This disc will be coming out on April 7th in Japan and we should be the first in the U.S. to get it. The price is $ 110.00 plus shipping. Presented on three sides in CLV on two discs. The disc will be THX certified and letterboxed to Cinemascope (2.35:1) width. Pre-orders should be in by February 15th.
Orders will be filled on a first come first served basis. Please place your orders as soon as possible so you don't miss out on this important disc."
Which kinda blows the argument about 'being too busy to do it' out of the water.
The Force.Net has an interesting article which adds weight to the idea that Star Wars may come out on DVD sooner than thought.
It reports that Fox and Lucasfilm have picked Technicolor to produce the VHS tapes rather than Deluxe. The relevent bit here is that Deluxe does not produce DVD but Technicolor produces both tapes and DVDs.
The article adds that while no-one would officially comment Technicolor can put out 50 million units a year while Deluxe hasn't gone into the market yet.
At the same time it could just be a shrewd long-term move and almost certainly doesn't mean a DVD release is imminent.
Feb 2 Natalie Portman's been getting more attention during her Caribbean holiday. Earlier in the week the Sun pictured her bathing and now they have exclusive shots of her topless.
The Sun said the sequel to the earlier pics was worth waiting for and quotes one holidaymaker as saying: "She looked amazing". Pics are by Eliot/ J Fraser
The nominations for this year's awards from film magazine Empire have been revealed. The Phantom Menace does reasonably well, with a nomination for best British actor going to Ewan McGregor, although curiously not for Liam Neeson.
The only other mention it gets is for best director, with George Lucas. Thriller The Sixth Sense and sci-fi movie The Matrix dominate the nominees.
Feb 1 The second novel in the New Jedi Order series from Del Rey is due for release this week. The official site has an excerpt from Dark Tide: Onslaught by Michael A Stackpole that's worth a look. Vector Prime was the first of 22 books to be released last year and was set 25 years after the destruction of the first Death Star.
The official Ray Park site has been updated with plenty of new pics. There's also an offer to buy a collectors' edition of The Phantom Menace video, signed by Ray, and a new video with him in should be up there soon.
Jan 31 Seems the Sun newspaper in England has gone a little Star Wars crazy. First it had a crossword clue which read "Which Star Trek planet did Queen Amidala rule over?" - when of course it should be Star Wars.
And today it has pictures of the aforementioned Amidala, or Natalie Portman, bathing off the paradise island of St Barts in the Caribbean.
