May the Farce be with you. ... Thanks to Oric for the link.
-- Geoff Boucher
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"STAR WARS: IN CONCERT," L.A. LIVE NOKIA THEATRE, OCT. 7-8
Anthony Daniels is one of the most famous voices of the "Star Wars" franchise thanks to his zesty portrayal of the persnickety droid C-3PO. Now the British actor is also becoming a face of the franchise as the narrator of "Star Wars: In Concert," which is touring arenas with more than 100 musicians, elaborate lighting and special effects, film props and, of course, the signature music of John Williams.
The tour just kicked off in Anaheim and this week it arrives in downtown L.A. at the Nokia Theatre. (You can find tour dates and ticket info here.) Hero Complex contributor Liesl Bradner caught up to Daniels; her interview is below. --Geoff Boucher
LB: What would the "Star Wars" movies would be like without John Williams' music?
AD: I saw chunks of it in 1976 when I was dubbing my voice without sound. It wasn’t until George [Lucas] added a Stravinsky track that the scene came alive and suddenly you had a feeling about that particular scene. It echoed the loneliness and bleak setting of remote desert. Music is the absolute direct mouthpiece to your feelings and soul. It makes you feel something. It manipulates your feelings very quickly. I believe John Williams’ music in this case is within itself as much its own character as any of the other characters in "Star Wars."
LB: Do you play any instruments?
AD: Sadly no. But I do appreciate the music. It's so multilayered and every time I listen I notice how a new instrument struck me, like the trombone or piano.
LB: If "Star Wars" hadn't come along, what do you think you'd be doing right now?
AD: It came out of nowhere. And I didn’t want the job at first. I wanted only to be on stage, a serious actor. But some force came over me and changed my mind. Here I am 33 years later. I never, ever dreamed I’d be on stage in front of 14,000 people. All I ever wanted to do was act.
LB: Are you disappointed the franchise never went forward past the death of Darth Vader in "Return of the Jedi"?
AD: Certainly not. I was very happy with the original film ending with the destruction of the death star.
LB: What was it like to wear the suit?
AD: I got better and better at putting it on and off. I could do it in five minutes. I’m glad those days are gone. I was in it for 33 years. Now I’m thrilled to be standing on a stage in a neat dress suit made of wool and silk.
LB: How do you feel knowing that the droids are the only characters who appear in all six films?
AD: Actually, I was the only [actor] to appear in all of them. R2-D2 became fully digital in the last two films. So there was a lot of green screen in those last two. It's more fun to have someone there. The droids are prophetic characters that got pushed around.
LB: What's your favorite among the films?
AD: The first [in 1977]. Because it had a simplicity and innocence. There were interesting characters and interesting situations and locations. A very direct and intelligent story.
LB: What would you say is the best part of the concert?
AD: That's tough to say. It's made up of parts. The sum is larger that the parts. The visual impact is palpable. The lighting, the scale of it, a three-story high LED with projected images. The arena was thrilled with the first note of music. It went straight into the "Star Wars" theme. From that moment on the audience was completely excited. Mouths were wide open.
LB: Does the symphony-type setting appeal to younger audiences?
AD: Most definitely. I met some people after the show and one was this 5-year-old boy dressed as Anakin, and I asked him what his favorite part of the show was and he said, "I liked the music -- I really liked the violin." Plus, there is the exhibit with the props and costumes which is fun for them.
LB: What do you hope people will take away from this experience?
AD: A completely new look from a different direction from something audiences know very well. Hopefully it will evoke feelings about when they first saw "Star Wars." The story of faith, destiny, redemption and sin. People can revisit the movie and the music is synced live with images. John does a wonderful, rolling score of music that evokes classical styles and complements the movies. George asked him to write in this way. I hope that people will take away all sorts of elements of music and maybe they will venture to try Beethoven or Tchaikovsky or say, "Let's go to a concert where musicians pick up wood and string and brass and make music." The concert is a master class in showmanship and music.
-- Liesl Bradner
"STAR WARS IN CONCERT" TOUR DATES AND TICKET INFO
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Photo credits: Anthony Daniels photo courtesy of the actor's official website. "Star Wars" still (showing Daniels as C-3PO with Mark Hamill and Alec Guinness) and cast photo both rom Lucasfilm.
Whatever they paid John Williams for the music he created for "Star Wars," it wasn't enough. The sound of the great space opera is as singular and powerful as its alien visions, maybe even more so in some instances. John Horn is back writing for the Hero Complex, he sent over this look at the new traveling "Star Wars: In Concert" production. -- Geoff Boucher
With the pop culture landscape cluttered with things like "Star Wars" Lego pajamas, a Princess Leia slave costume (just in time for Halloween) and the long-ago-banished “Star Wars Holiday Special,” is it any surprise that composer John Williams was a little nervous about a laser-filled "Star Wars" concert?
Williams has won five Oscars, a boatload of Grammys and, at 77, still stands atop Hollywood's movie score food chain -- he shares a screen credit on the new "Harry Potter" blockbuster. So when the producers of “Star Wars: In Concert” approached Williams several years ago with their plans for a live show that would wed Williams' symphonic compositions with "Star Wars" footage and rock 'n' roll arena staging, he hardly leaped at the chance.
"John was very reluctant in the beginning. He was very skeptical; he didn't want to do it," says Steve Cohen, the director of "Star Wars: In Concert." "His biggest concern was the quality of the performance."
It wasn't just that Williams wanted accomplished musicians playing his often-complex orchestrations. Lucasfilm, the company controlled by "Star Wars" creator George Lucas, also needed to be assured there wouldn't be dancing stormtroopers.
"We took a no-compromises position," says Howard Roffman, the president of Lucas Licensing. "John Williams and George Lucas shared exactly the same concern -- that the music had to be presented in the right way, with a great orchestra, and with great acoustics."
Four years later, it looks as if the conditions have been met.
After a two-performance tryout in London in April, "Star Wars: The Concert" is launching its national (and future worldwide) tour in Southern California this week. After performances at Anaheim's Honda Center on Thursday and Friday, the concert will be presented Oct. 7 and 8 at downtown's Nokia Theatre.
The roughly two-hour show represents an unusual combination -- for many "Star Wars" fans, perhaps the first time they'll be seeing a symphony orchestra. But don't expect contemplative silence between movements. Every instrument will be amplified (a lot), and in addition to the lasers, you'll see flames and smoke -- the staging is so elaborate, it takes 12 semi trucks to transport the show from city to city.
Belgium's Dirk Brossé will conduct an 86-piece orchestra (drawn from local musicians, the Boston Pops and the Philadelphia Chamber Orchestra) and an 60-voice choir performing a "Star Wars" montage that Williams assembled and, in some cases, re-orchestrated.
As the orchestra plays and the choir sings, a giant high-definition LED screen (measuring 60 feet wide and 35 feet tall) will show clips from all six movies, the footage matched to the music. The footage unfolds in rough chronological order but also is organized around musical themes -- a little romance here, the rise of the dark side there.
For the first time, audiences will be able to see a fully digital Yoda in "Star Wars: Episode 1 -- The Phantom Menace," as Lucas recently excised the poorly executed Yoda puppet that originally was part of the film. Anthony Daniels, who lent his voice to the golden protocol droid C-3PO in all "Star Wars" movies, narrates the proceedings.
"We tried to make a show that no one's experienced before," says Gregg Perloff, who is producing the program with Another Planet’s Spencer Churchill and Steve Welkom. "We wanted to put it together with a symphony mentality but in an arena with the scope of a rock 'n' roll concert."
The concert's targeted audience consists of three constituencies: "Star Wars" enthusiasts, older rock'n' roll fans looking for a new kind of live show, and, a distant third, classical music aficionados. "If you look at the numbers, there are a lot more people today consuming 'Star Wars' than consuming classical music," Lucas' Roffman says.
While it's certain those music devotees will be in the minority, the show's organizers are hopeful that the grown men who wear Darth Maul costumes to "Star Wars" conventions might somehow be smitten by an easy-to-digest taste of an adagio, glissando and rondo. "A lot of us are fans of symphonies but have never been to the symphony," Perloff says.
Director and designer Cohen, who recently put together Elton John and Billy Joel's "Face 2 Face" touring rock show, said he wasn't sure his combination of "Star Wars" music, film and staging would work until the show had its two-day preview in London.
"A concert is a solemn event in a lot of ways, so that was a risk," he says. But the audience -- which included Lucas -- responded favorably if not a bit subdued, Cohen says. "I'm hoping and praying that a lot of the audience reaction here will be a lot more vocal," Cohen says. Williams and Lucas were unavailable to comment, but both have endorsed the show. Lucas has licensed his "Star Wars" rights to Another Planet for the concert and maintains absolute approval and a cut of the ticket sales.
Lucas' Roffman says an integral part of the concert will be eight separate displays of "Star Wars" memorabilia, including costumes, props and Williams' sheet music, complete with handwritten notations. The never-before-shown selections, which will be exhibited in glass-enclosed cases placed inside the lobbies of the venues hosting the concerts, include costumes for Jedi masters Kit Fisto and Plo Koon and weapons and armor from the inhabitants of Coruscant and Tatooine. Two dozen videos, each running about eight minutes, will explain how movie sequences were made, from rough drawing to finished film.
But for all the digital trickery and futuristic hardware on display inside and outside of the auditoriums, "Star Wars: In Concert" is ultimately about the music and exposing a new audience to classical compositions.
"It's like getting kids to eat their broccoli," Daniels says of using "Star Wars" to expose classical music neophytes to what oboes, cellos and timpani sound like. "Put a little cheese on it, and they won't notice. People who come to this will realize that music does not just come off a silver disc or out of an iPod. I want people to see the work."
-- John Horn
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Photo credits: Lucasfilm.
Check out this story from the U.K.'s The Guardian (with links added by yours truly). What's next, you won't be able to bring battle-axes to the theater to see "The Hobbit"? I'm hoping this guy gets a fancy attorney, you know, one who speaks Klingon and carries eight-sided dice in his briefcase... -- Geoff Boucher
Tesco has been accused of religious discrimination after the company ordered the founder of a Jedi religion to remove his hood or leave a branch of the supermarket in north Wales.
Daniel Jones, founder of the religion inspired by the "Star Wars" films, says he was humiliated and victimised for his beliefs following the incident at a Tesco store in Bangor.
The 23-year-old, who founded the International Church of Jediism, which has 500,000 followers worldwide, was told the hood flouted store rules.
But the grocery empire struck back, claiming that the three best known Jedi Knights in the "Star Wars" movies – Yoda, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Luke Skywalker – all appeared in public without their hoods. Jones, from Holyhead, who is known by the Jedi name Morda Hehol, said his religion dictated that he should wear the hood in public places and is considering legal action against the chain.
"It states in our Jedi doctrination that I can wear headwear. It just covers the back of my head," he said. "You have a choice of wearing headwear in your home or at work but you have to wear a cover for your head when you are in public..."
THERE'S MORE, READ THE REST
Here's the Jedi faithful getting even more grief...
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Use the Force, Mr. President.
President Barack Obama, light sabre in hand, hosted an event on the South Lawn of the White House on Wednesday with the White House Office on Olympic, Paralympic and Youth Sport, Chicago 2016 and United States Olympic Committee (USOC) to promote Chicago's bid for the 2016 Summer Olympics. (Michael Tercha/Chicago Tribune) You can read the related story here.
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Johnny Depp is a tough act to follow, so Disney Parks and Resorts Chairman Jay Rasulo brought in the heavy artillery today to announce plans to update the Star Tours attraction at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim and Disney's Hollywood Studios in Orlando, Fla.
Rasulo deadpanned that he had some "bad news" for the Disneyphiles attending the D23 Expo -- Star Tours would close in Oct 2010. On cue, Stormtroopers marched on stage as the martial sound of John Williams' "Imperial March" played. Darth Vader appeared on the giant screen overhead, and intoned, "The Emperor is most displeased with plans to close Star Tours."
Rasulo said Star Tours would reopen on 2011 as a 3-D simulation that, among other facets of the ride, recreates the pod-racing scene from "Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace." The audience donned 3D glasses to watch a sequence, in which the space-age vehicles veer through canyons, across the flats and speed into the arena on Tatooine.
"If that doesn't fire you up," Rasulo said. "You're in the wrong meeting."
At a news conference after the presentation, Rasulo said there would be physical changes to the ride -- although he offered few additional details. He said "Star Wars" creator George Lucas has been involved in every aspect of the attraction and the storytelling.
"Ever since we did our original Star Tours attraction with George, the relationship with Imagineering has been very, very close," Rasulo said. "We strive for authenticity in everything we do. This is a Lucas idea, this is Lucas storytelling, interpreted by Imagineering."
The first Star Tours attraction opened at Disneyland in January 1987, and is believed to have been the first to adapt flight-simulator technologies for a theme park show. In it, visitors board a Starspeeder 3000 piloted by an android, careen through a giant frozen comet and join an intergalactic dogfight between the Rebel Alliance and the evil Empire. Yoda was not in the sequence shown, but last year Frank Oz, the voice of the diminutive green Jedi, told the Hero Complex that he had recorded new dialogue for the ride upgrade.
--Dawn C. Chmielewski
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PHOTOS: Disney / Lucasfilm
Check out this clip from the new Star Tours, Guests aboard Starspeeders join in a high-speed pod race through the desert canyons of Tatooine:
Wow, look at that.
Left to right, Harrison Ford (Han Solo), David Prowse (Darth Vader), Peter Mayhew (Chewbacca) and, in foreground, Carrie Fisher (Princess Leia), Kenny Baker (R2-D2) and Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker).
I chatted with Mark Hamill yesterday for a Comic-Con International preview story I'm working on and he spoke about the period you see in the photo above. "Of course none of us knew what this thing was going to become, there was no way of knowing," said the actor who became part of our pop-culture collective memory with "Star Wars" in 1977. "I never imagined that here, more than 30 years later, we'd still be talking about this movie."
Hamill will be at Comic-Con this year (I'll tell you more about his latest projects on Monday) and Friday (July 24) is Star Wars Day at the convention (details to come on that as well). May the Force be with you...
— Geoff Boucher
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CREDITS: "Star Wars" cast photo courtesy of LucasFilm. Darth Vader in the bathroom photo by Ian Pool.
Tom Selleck has certainly enjoyed a lot of success in his long career but I will always feel sorry for the guy. That's because he came this close to getting the role of Indiana Jones in "Raiders of the Lost Ark." According to Hollywood lore, Selleck was Steven Spielberg's early choice to wear the fedora but, due to the star's contractual obligations, the role eventually went to some guy named Harrison Ford.
Why am I bringing this up now? Well, I came across this fun mash-up of the "Magnum P.I." opening sequence and "Star Wars" and for some reason my first thought was Selleck's watching it and rolling his eyes. "Oh, great, this guy again, copping my mojo..."
The makers of the mash-up did some painstaking work here to match up with the original opening sequence, as you can see in the side-by-side below...
-- Geoff Boucher
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I'm a big fan of lists, so is Jevon Phillips, a star contributor here at Hero Complex. Here's his take on a recent tally of the women of sci-fi....or is that sigh-fi? -- G.B.
As usual, there's a lot to dispute about anyone having a top so-and-so list, but Totalscifionline.com's 25 women who shook up sci-fi isn't too startling. "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," "Battlestar Galactica" and "Star Trek" are the only franchises with multiple entries on the list (and rightfully so). Sigourney Weaver's Ellen Ripley of "Alien" fame was named First Lady of Sci-Fi.
Of course, there were parameters, which the site laid out like so:
We've limited ourselves to TV and film - SF and fantasy literature probably warrants a further list all of its own - and in those instances where multiple actresses have portrayed a character, we’ve written who we believe gave the most definitive performance in brackets. No doubt there are many characters you feel we’ve left off.
Yeah, yeah -- and the site does include a more in-depth examination of each choice. There will be debate over ones who didn't make it. I really like River Tam on "Firefly" -- but it was short-lived -- and the women of "Cleopatra 2525" and Carrie-Anne Moss as Trinity in "The Matrix" and ... well, let's stop there. And there may be some on the list who deserve to be higher. Wonder Woman and Xena, 22 and 23? Hey, I like Leeloo and Claire bear, but not over those two icons.
Again, it can be debated (Lois Lane! "Bionic Woman!") until we're all breathless, but give the site credit for taking on the task. Here's their final list. Let the comments flow.
The 25 Women Who Shook Sci-Fi:
1) Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver, "Alien" series)
2) Buffy Summers (Sarah Michelle Gellar, "Buffy the Vampire Slayer")
3) Starbuck (Katee Sackhoff, "Battlestar Galactica")
4) Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson, "The X-Files")
5) Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton, "Terminator," "T2")
6) Princess Leia Organa (Carrie Fisher, "Star Wars" series)
7) Rose Tyler (Billie Piper, "Doctor Who")
8) Sam Carter (Amanda Tapping, "Stargate SG-1")
9) Nyota Uhura (Nichelle Nichols, "Star Trek")
10) Leeloo (Milla Jovovich, "The Fifth Element")
11) Claire Bennet (Hayden Panettiere, "Heroes")
12) Storm (Halle Berry, "X-Men")
13) Pris (Daryl Hannah, "Blade Runner")
14) Catwoman (Michelle Pfeiffer, "Batman Returns")
15) Barbarella (Jane Fonda, "Barbarella")
16) Sarah-Jane Smith (Elisabeth Sladen, "The Sarah-Jane Adventures" / "Doctor Who")
17) Mikaela Banes (Megan Fox, "Transformers")
18) Susan Ivanova (Claudia Christian, "Babylon 5")
19) Number Six (Tricia Helfer, "Battlestar Galactica")
20) Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew, "Star Trek: Voyager")
21) Willow Rosenberg (Alyson Hannigan, "Buffy the Vampire Slayer")
22) Wonder Woman (Lynda Carter, "Wonder Woman")
23) Xena (Lucy Lawless, Xena: "Warrior Princess")
24) Sydney Bristow (Jennifer Garner, "Alias")
25) Marina (Stingray)
-- Jevon Phillips
Photo credits: "Aliens" - 20th Century Fox. "Star Wars" - Lucasfilm Ltd. "X-Men" - 20th Century Fox. "Xena Warrior Princess" - Reuters.
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Toronto photographer Ian Pool has a bit of fun with the Dark Lord of the Sith, above. It's part of a stylish series of artful spoof shots by Pool, who presents pop culture heroes and villains in revealing private moments -- such as Wonder Woman trading her magic lasso for a dominatrix's leather whip and the Hulk trying to control his temper while waiting for his pet pooch to do his business in the park. You can check out the whole gallery of images right here. (You can also see the talented Pool's work beyond fanboy motifs at his base website, which is right here.)
--Geoff Boucher
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Darth Vader photograph courtesy of Ian Pool. "Return of the Jedi" image courtesy of Lucasfilm.
It was 26 years ago today that "Return of the Jedi" hit theaters. Sure, there were a few regrettable moments in it, not least among them the ludicrous notion that Ewoks carrying sticks and stones could somehow defeat a deployment of armed Imperial stormtroopers. I was a 13-year-old kid in a theater in South Florida and I remember thinking, Why have the Rebels been so worried about these guys if they can't even handle a tribe of midget teddy bears?
But there were also a lot of great things about the movie. Not least among them Leia's slave-girl outfit. Actress Carrie Fisher remembers wearing it as well; to celebrate the anniversary, here's a snippet of her hysterical roasting of George Lucas from an AFI tribute a few years ago.
--Geoff Boucher
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Wanna see the authentic "Dallas" opening sequence? You can find that here.
-- Geoff Boucher
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Today is, of course, Star Wars Day since, well, "May the 4th be with you" is just fun to say. To mark the day here's a photo gallery that follows the career trajectories of actors who passed through the George Lucas universe. For many of them, well, the motto might have been: "I've got a bad feeling about this..."
-- Geoff Boucher
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Last November, I talked to Frank Oz for a story about the future of three franchises, "Star Wars," "Star Trek" and "Battlestar Galactica." It was an absolute treat to chat with the witty and wise Oz, and as the conversation wound down, I had to ask him about his standing in the world as "the voice of Yoda" -- I was curious how that particular role as the Jedi elder had resonated in his own life.
"People ask me to do it all the time, and as I rule I just don't," said Oz, who was down at the Ritz Carlton in Orange County. "I have a real respect for the character, and I think you start to lose that if you just do it for silly things."
My next question was a natural one: So when was the last time you did the voice?
"It was not long ago at all, I was recording dialogue for the new Disney ride."
Whaaaaa?
It turns out Oz had been in the studio putting down new tracks of dialogue for a major overhaul of Star Tours, the Disney ride that made its official opening in early 1987. Oz realized he had spoken out of turn and, through the folks at Lucasfilm, asked that I sit on that little tidbit until there was something more detailed to share with the public. A scoop was promised, and since I didn't have all that much info I agreed to wait for it -- especially considering that Oz and his family were on vacation and he took the time to come to the phone and help me with a big piece that greatly benefited from his contribution.
Now I see that Slashfilm has a story on the ride update so the jig is up. It's my own fault for not checking back more often with the Lucasfilm folks, but, well, these types of projects are hard to keep quiet anyway. Here's a snippet from the piece by Peter Sciretta, which reveals that a secretive production has been underway in West Hollywood:
The ride really hasn’t been updated since it opened in 1987. It’s not the total podracer reboot that was rumored a few years back, thank God. I’m hearing that its essentially the same ride but updated. It sounds to me like they might be shooting the footage in 3D, but I’m not sure.
Our source reveals that the revamp will incorporate prequel characters (like Naboo citizens and Geonosians) along with many aliens from the original trilogy (Aqualish. Bith, Rodians, etc). In the action sequence, the Star Tours vehicle is now going to be chased by Boba Fett. C3PO and R2-D2 are still the hosts, and Anthony Daniels will be recording his parts this week. Admiral Ackbar holographically communicates with the Star Tours vehicle. Right now they’re shooting mostly green screen footage, as it is the middle part of the production timeline.
It's funny, I just recently went to Florida with my wife and kids and we made it by Disney World. My son, Ben, who is 7, took his first ride on Star Tours and adored it. He's a huge "Star Wars" fan and he loved the silly escapade (which, by the way, features the voice of Paul Reubens, a.k.a. Pee Wee Herman, as the daffy robot pilot). Looks like sometime soon he will get a whole new adventure. I'll be a bit sad to see the original herky-jerky ride go the way of the "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" ride, which was my childhood favorite. But, sentimentality aside, the old ride is certainly dated and, compared to the rollicking Indiana Jones or sleek Buzz Lightyear rides, it must seem like a museum piece to many in the Xbox generation. Here, check out this flashback, which really takes me back:
-- Geoff Boucher
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In these hard economic times, perhaps the wise investor should consider converting all their money to the Empire's currency. I mean, look what it's done for George Lucas...
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One of the great April Fools' gags this year was over at the über-nerd merchant site ThinkGeek, where they posted a faux product that was truly powerful in the ways of The Force. It's a Tauntaun sleeping bag for kids! The bedtime product is shaped like the lizardy, camel-faced llamas from the ice planet Hoth, and even has cozy, plush intestines! Then there's the glowing light-saber zipper so, every morning, your giddy tot can pretend he's Han Solo slicing open a furry beastie friend before facing the frigid morning! Best of all, this Tauntaun smells better on the inside than the outside -- well, at least until junior rebel fighter has a nighttime accident during that long camping weekend.
Check out the product description, it's genius. Also, the person who sewed the whole thing together has written a bit about the backstory of the spoof.
Big fun but, um, how long before we can get one for real? Seriously, Mr. Lucas, is this really any creepier than selling kids General Grievous underwear? Look, you sign off on the idea, get these bags made, and I'm buying two. Well, if they're under $100.
-- Geoff Boucher
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Photo: ThinkGeek
WIZARDS OF HOLLYWOOD: JOHN DYKSTRA
This is the third installment in our series "Wizards of Hollywood," where we shine a spotlight on the masters of movie magic, the effects specialists who can dazzle us with screen images of liquid robots, giants and goblins, ferocious dinosaurs or just a special human soul who ages in reverse. Today, guest contributor Liesl Bradner interviews John Dykstra.
Two-time Oscar winner John Dykstra is considered one of the true forefathers of visual effects. His credits include "Star Trek: The Motion Picture," "Batman Forever" and "Hancock" and was a producer at the launch of the original "Battlestar Galactica" television franchise. He won his first Oscar for the original "Star Wars," for which he was special photographic-effects supervisor, and his second for "Spider-Man 2" and is now immersed in the challenges presented by period combat as the visual effects designer on the Quentin Tarantino film "Inglourious Basterds." He was on the set in Berlin when he spoke to Bradner by phone.
My most memorable scene was the opening shot in the first "Star Wars." It was one of the first shots we finished and it proved that at least a large part of the new technology we were applying to the visual effects for the film was going to work.
[Director] George Lucas, [producer] Gary Kurtz and the studio were all making a large wager when they financed the creation of the original Industrial Light & Magic facility. Wise or not, we weren't doing things in a traditional way.
EXCLUSIVE: This is the second part of an interview with J.J. Abrams about his cinematic voyages aboard the Starship Enterprise. Today he talks about his concerns that "Star Trek" is "clearly in the shadow" of George Lucas. He also addresses premature talk of a "Trek" sequel: "I'm in the middle of lunch and someone asks, 'What do you want for dinner?' "
You can read part one here.
"Star Trek" is back. The 11th film in the storied franchise returns to theaters in May and this time the director is J.J. Abrams, who was just 2 months old when the original television series premiered in 1966. Abrams has conceded that he was never an impassioned fan of "Trek" but his take on the mythology promises to be intriguing considering his television success with "Alias," "Lost" and "Fringe" as well as his work as director of "Mission Impossible III." He talked to Hero Complex about navigating his movie through the neutral zone that lies between hard-core "Trek" fans and average summer moviegoers.
GB: Is it your sense that you are winning over skeptical fans to this point?
JJA: You know, I would think that especially fans of "Star Trek," which is an optimistic universe, a universe about working together and the possibility of the human endeavor, you would think that people who appreciate that wonderful portrait of the future and that universe would be open to literally going to a place no one has ever gone before. I'm very optimistic that fans of the show, even the purists, will be willing to embrace the spirit of Roddenberry and once they see these actors doing this extraordinary work, I think they will not have to intellectualize it all, they'll simply enjoy the experience. It's a cliche now to say "Where no man has gone before" because it has been the vernacular now for more than 40 years but if you actually think about it -- and actually remind yourself that we live on this planet and we are creatures inhabiting in this space with undefined limits and with technology that will invariably come -- "Star Trek" is positing a future that is incredibly inspiring. If you can get past the cliche and make it real and relevant, there's something very exciting about that. This is not "Star Wars" which happened a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away. This is us and our future.
GB: Can you talk a bit about the story of this film?
JJA: This story is ultimately about a guy who is full of unbelievable potential but he is aimless, he is lost. He ends up finding a path that takes him beyond his wildest dreams. It helps him find his purpose. That's a great story in any situation, in any culture. There is something about that spirit of innovation, collaboration, possibility, adventure and optimism that is inherent in what "Star Trek" was.
GB: How much did you go back to the various "Trek" shows, films, novels, etc., to research the mythology? I imagine at some point sifting through all of it would become a counterproductive exercise.
JJA: I looked at a lot of the episodes of all the series that came after the original "Star Trek" but because we are focusing on the original series I didn't really need to know every episode of "Deep Space Nine" or "Voyager" or even "Enterprise." But, yeah, I watched episodes, I read up a lot, I watched the movies, I talked to people, whether it was our "Trek" consultant or one of the two writers [Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci] about what it would mean to do what we wanted to do. We have one producer, Bob [Orci], who is a complete Trekker and another in Bryan Burk who had never seen an episode of the show ever. And it was a great balance. We could make sure it passed the test of the ultimate fan and the ultimate neophyte and make sure that it was equally entertaining to both parties.
MICKEY ROURKE IN "IRON MAN 2"?: In a testimony to the benefits of clean, good living, Mickey Rourke may join Robert Downey Jr. in the armor-plated 2010 blockbuster "Iron Man 2." At least that's the rumor that Michael Fleming is floating in the trades, a tidbit timed to land right before the Golden Globes this weekend, where Rourke might put a headlock on the best actor trophy after his career-reviving turn in "The Wrestler." Even if the casting decision is a myth, it's a fact for the next few days and will be repeated a million times. Here's what Fleming writes: "In what would mark his first studio film since resurrecting his career with 'The Wrestler,' Mickey Rourke is in talks to play the heavy in 'Iron Man 2,' the Marvel Entertainment sequel that director Jon Favreau begins shooting this spring. Rourke is in discussions to play a villain described as Tony Stark's Russian alter ego, a heavily tattooed bruiser who is in the arms trade and battles Iron Man in his own nuclear-powered armored suit. The script -- which is still being written -- is a guarded secret, but speculation is that villain is likely comic-book nemesis Crimson Dynamo." (NOTE: I think we should assume that when Fleming wrote "alter ego" he actually meant "counterpart," but he works hard so let's all let it slide.) [Variety]
GEORGE LUCAS PERFECTS MIND CONTROL: In a startling development, George Lucas has apparently figured out a way to harness The Force in everyday settings, a development that may signal the end of the world's energy crisis. But first, of course, Lucas is using the breakthrough to make an expensive toy. Mike Snider has the story: "The Force Trainer (expected to be priced at $90 to $100) comes with a headset that uses brain waves to allow players to manipulate a sphere within a clear 10-inch-tall training tower, analogous to Yoda and Luke Skywalker's abilities in the 'Star Wars' films. No, you're not tapping into some 'all-powerful force controlling everything,' as Han Solo said in the movies. But you are reaching out with mind power via one of the first mass-market brain-to-computer products. 'It's been a fantasy everyone has had, using The Force,' says Howard Roffman, president of Lucas Licensing. Mind-control games may be the coming thing: Mattel plans to demonstrate a Mind Flex game (also due this fall), which uses brain-wave activity to move a ball through a tabletop obstacle course, at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas on Thursday. In the Force Trainer, a wireless headset reads your brain activity, in a simplified version of EEG medical tests, and the circuitry translates it to physical action. If you focus well enough, the training sphere, which looks like a ping-pong ball, will rise in the tower." [USA Today]
HUNGRY LIKE THE WOLF: (UPDATED) Congrats to Taylor Lautner (who will forever be Shark Boy to me). He had been angling to stay aboard the "Twilight" box-office express by reprising his role as Jacob Black in the second film, "New Moon," but there was some doubt because of a rather hairy situation -- the baby-faced Jacob of the first movie becomes big-scary-werewolf Jacob in the second film. But "Twilight" author Stephenie Meyer posted this announcement today quoting "New Moon" director Chris Weitz saying that Lautner, who has bulked up for the role, will indeed be back: "I'm very happy to announce that Taylor Lautner will be playing Jacob Black in 'New Moon' and that he's doing so with the enthusiastic support of Summit Entertainment, the producers, and Stephenie Meyer. The characters in Stephenie's books go through extraordinary changes of circumstance and also appearance; so it is not surprising that there has been speculation about whether the same actor would portray a character who changes in so many surprising ways throughout the series. But it was my first instinct that Taylor was, is, and should be Jacob, and that the books would be best served by the actor who is emotionally right for the part. I think that fans of Twilight the book and the movie will be surprised by the Jacob Black that Taylor will bring to the screen in New Moon; and I'm looking forward to working with him and the rest of the cast in realizing the film." [Stephenie Meyer's website]
THE ECONOMY IS MY FOE!: I buy many of my comics (and a lot of my son's "Star Wars" toys) at Amazing Comics in Long Beach and I was distressed when, on a recent visit, I found the huge store had been reduced to half its previous size and learned that its stock of back issues is now in storage. I didn't get a chance to talk to the owner but I assume that's not a positive sign of the store's health. Then I read this story by business journalist Muhammed El-Hasan about another Southern California store: "Not even Superman could rescue Third Planet Comics & Games from this recession. The popular Torrance comic book and gaming store at 3631 Pacific Coast Highway will shut its doors Monday after about 13 years in business. 'The deciding factor in this decision is that sales have fallen to a level where we can no longer meet our obligations,' owner Robert North wrote to customers in an e-mail the day after Christmas. In the message, North said his employees 'fought valiantly over this past year' to keep the shop in business." [The Daily Breeze] (Sad stuff. Are you folks hearing about similar situations out there?)
CLINT EASTWOOD, MY FAVORITE: OK, he's never played a superhero and I guess the closest he ever came to making a sci-fi movie was (gulp) "Firefox," but anybody who loves movies has to love Clint Eastwood. And even though we journalists must forever keep our impartiality about the people we write about, I have to say he might be my all-time favorite person to interview. In today's Los Angeles Times, we have a special issue of The Envelope on the Golden Globes this Sunday and I'm happy to say I wrote the cover story, an interview with Eastwood about his great new film, "Gran Torino," and if you have a moment to read it, I think you might enjoy it. I also did a big story with Eastwood on the enduring impact of the "Dirty Harry" films and the misunderstood legacy of the first film, if (like me) you can't get enough when it comes to the most thoughtful tough guy in Hollywood history.
ON THIS DATE: Oh, what a golden day it was in Honolulu on this day in 1950 when Erin Gray was born. The vivacious actress was perfect as the strong, smart and brave Col. Wilma Deering on "Buck Rogers in the 25th Century" and, sorry Lynda Carter, she replaced a certain star-spangled amazon as my childhood ideal of heroic womanhood. Oh, if only she had been given a chance to play Lois Lane! To celebrate her 59th birthday today, let's all watch out for space vampires. (To see some video of Erin Gray as Wilma Deering and during a Hero Complex interview this past summer, keep reading to the bottom of this post)
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