Live Action Star Wars TV Show Closer To Reality

A live action Star Wars television series has been talked about since 2005 when George Lucas first mentioned the show and the Clone War animated series while doing promotion for Star Wars Episode III Revenge of The Sith.

Lucas and a group of writers started writing scripts for the 100 episode series way back in 2007, but now comes the first news that casting for the series is underway.

MTV spoke with Star Wars bit part actress Rose Byrne at the Knowing press junket and she said:

“A lot of my friends have been auditioning for it”

While it’s not an awful lot to go on it does look that Lucas will once again unleash the force once more.

As a huge Star Wars fan (I have no idea how many DVDs and VHS copies I own) I have to admit that I haven’t watched the last animated movie or it’s television counterpart. It’s animation – I just don’t get animation.

However, I may just get excited by a live action series – if it’s done right. Television is a new frontier for narrative story telling and I feel that if Lucas has developed the series correctly then it could be a good show.

I know that there an awful lot of Lucas haters out there who feel that he has milked the Star Wars cash cow for all it’s worth, but I believe that we have to give this series a chance – lets see some previews before we bash it.

Don’t expect to see any familiar faces in the show – it’s due to be set in the 20 years between Episode III and Episode IV but with no major character making an appearance.

If Lucas is only casting at the moment I’d say that the show is probably another two or three years away due to the technical effects and because I’d imagine that they’d want a few episodes in the can before they premiere on television.

Screen Rant will have more news on the live action Star Wars series when we get it.

Star Wars: The UK Musical??

After the mostly abysmal “prequels” that George Lucas inflicted on die-hard Star Wars fans (The Phantom Menace was so painful that I thought of suing on the grounds of emotional distress), take heart: it may actually get worse.

Lucas is planning to stage a musical version of the Star Wars series, distilling 13-plus hours of film into a 90-minute musical extravaganza. But don’t despair: it’s not as bad as it sounds. Les Miserables Clone Wars, it is not.

Instead, it will be an orchestral production to accompany clips from the movies, not R2-D2 belting “The Phantom Menace of the Empire,” as The Times reports:

[A]lthough actors [will] be used to narrate the story, it will not be a stage musical. The production…will be more like a classical music concert performed in front of a cinema screen…at the O2 Arena in southeast London.

The audience at the 17,000-seat venue will watch key scenes from the film as 86 musicians from the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra play extracts from John Williams’ score….

The idea behind the adaptation of the films was to allow audiences greater participation. [The producer] said: “It is a lot different to sitting down and listening to the record. As a film it is very much a one-way experience. We are trying to bridge that a little bit to make it a two-way experience.”

Another reason is almost certainly to make Lucasfilm and George Lucas more money. A DVD of the event is almost certain to hit shelves next year, just in time for Christmas. Now if only Lucas would focus on making episodes seven through nine, rather than milking the fruits of his earlier labors, I just might get excited.

Or maybe not. The Times also reports that Jar Jar Binks will be in the London musical production. Say it ain’t so, George!

SOURCE: LA Times

Feedback: Star Wars becomes stage spectacle

Star Wars fans are to feel the force of the seminal sci-fi films and their iconic soundtracks on stage in a major new show, which will launch next year.

Star Wars Snap Shot

In Star Wars: A Musical Journey, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra will play a live score as excerpts from the six films are shown on a cinema screen.

The show has been put together by director George Lucas’ company Lucasfilm and composer John Williams.

It will premiere at the O2 arena in London in April before a European tour.

It will not be a traditional musical with actors playing characters from the films, but will feature live narrators.

The six Star Wars films have been edited down to two hours for the show, and Williams has “painstakingly rewritten” the music he wrote for the movies, a statement said.

Models and props

The Royal Philharmonic will use an 86-piece orchestra and an accompanying exhibition will feature original models, props, costumes and production artwork.

David Campbell, chief executive of AEG Europe, which runs the O2, said: “Star Wars holds memories for practically everyone.

“John Williams is THE composer of our times, and fans will be thrilled to know that both he and Lucasfilm have contributed fully to this new production.

“To have the premiere at the O2 is a real coup for us, and I know there will be a lot of very happy Star Wars fans out there when they hear the news.”

The show will open at the O2 on 10 April. Tickets, costing between £30 and £100, will go on sale on Monday.

Meanwhile the lightsabre used by Luke Skywalker in Star Wars has been sold for $200,000 (£133,000) at an auction of Hollywood memorabilia in Los Angeles.

Actor Mark Hamill used the prop, which was made from an old photography flashgun, in both the original Star Wars: A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back.

Interview – George Lucas on Star Wars 3-D & More!!

George Lucas ventured down to Hollywood from his empire at Skywalker Ranch to present the American Cinematheque’s 23rd annual award to one of his favorite Jedis, Samuel L. Jackson, and ComingSoon.net intercepted the man behind some of pop culture’s most iconic mythologies. Lucas gave up a handful of plans that were not quite as secret as the plans to the Death Star, including his intentions for a fifth “Indiana Jones” adventure, and 3-D-ifying the classic “Star Wars” films.

ComingSoon.net: You had huge success this summer with “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.” Are you seriously thinking about another one? Harrison Ford’s said there may be plans afoot.
George Lucas: Yes – we’re looking for a “MacGuffin,” which is an object that he goes after. They’re very hard to come by!

CS: Would you want to keep the whole family together for a film – Indy, Marion and Mutt?
Lucas: It really depends on what it is Indy goes looking for and then how the story falls out of that, and then how convenient or inconvenient to have the group there.

CS: A while back when we spoke you were planning to take the six “Star Wars” films and put them into a 3D format. Is that still something you’re working towards?
Lucas: Oh yeah. The technology is very difficult. It exists – it’s just extremely expensive, and so what we’re trying to do is figure out a more practical way of pulling it off.

CS: And what about “Red Tails,” the project with the Tuskegee Airmen that you’ve been wanting to do for some time now – there’s progress there?
Lucas: We’re casting that right now and we’re shooting in the spring.

CS: Do you have a director lined up?
Lucas: Yes, we have Anthony Hemingway directing.

CS: Do you think you’ll be directing a film again any time soon?
Lucas: Not for a while. I’m getting rid of all my development. Everything that I’ve ever developed is going to be finished in about a year, a year and a half or two, and then I’m going to go do my own films.

CS: You’re here in L.A. to pay tribute to Samuel L. Jackson. Of all the actors in Hollywood who would’ve killed to lobby you for a part in the “Star Wars” prequels, why was Sam an actor that you felt fit your plans enough to bring into “Star Wars”?
Lucas: To be honest, he’s the only one who asked, actually. He didn’t really lobby for it. He was on a talk show and someone asked him what movie he would’ve liked to be in or that he would like to be in that he hadn’t been in and he said “Star Wars.” So I called him up and said “Is that true? Do you really want to be in ‘Star Wars’?” He said “Yeah – as long as I’m a Jedi,” and I said “Well, I have a little tiny role, but it grows if you’re willing to do the three movies.” He said “I’m in.” It was just like that. He didn’t look at it like “This is a chance to make a whole bunch of money, a chance to do a big thing.” He just did what was asked of him and tried to make it as good as he possibly could.

Source: comingsoon.Net

Need a new coffee table book? How about one on Lucas Arts?

Rogue Leaders: The Story of LucasArts — In 1982, George Lucas saw potential in the fledgling videogame industry and created his own interactive-entertainment company. Twenty-five years and dozens of award-winning games later, LucasArts has earned a prestigious place in the industry and in the hearts of gamers everywhere. Rogue Leaders is the first substantive survey of a videogame company—a deluxe compilation that traces its history through never-before-published interviews. In addition, more than 300 pieces of concept art, character development sketches, and storyboards have been lavishly reproduced to showcase the creative talent behind such videogame classics as The Secret of Monkey Island, Grim Fandango, and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, as well as games that were never publicly released. A thrill for millions of videogame and LucasArts fans around the world.

Rob Smith is the editor-in-chief of PlayStation: The Official Magazine. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.

George Lucas is the creator of the Star Wars saga and the Indiana Jones series. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Source: Chronicle Books

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