Cameras roll on final Star Wars movie

The Herald-Sun ^ | 30jun03 | MICHAEL OWEN-BROWN

[yankeedame]

Cameras roll on final Star Wars

By MICHAEL OWEN-BROWN
30jun03

THE republic is crumbling, the forces of evil are massing and a legion of science-fiction fans are quivering in anticipation.

The last chapter of Star Wars starts filming today at Sydney's Fox Studios.

Almost 1000 crew will work on the $173 million production, which stars about about 60 Australian actors. Fans can watch parts of the filming on webcam.

The film, due for release in 2005, will focus on young Jedi warrior Anakin Skywalker being seduced by the dark side of the Force on his way to becoming Darth Vader.

Also, Senator Palpatine orders the destruction of the Jedi order on his way to becoming emperor.

Lucas said the film was darker than the others.

"Let's face it, all the bad guys win in the end, all the good guys are dead except for a couple, so it doesn't have a happy ending," he said.

The film stars Ewan McGregor, Natalie Portman and Hayden Christensen. Australians Joel Edgerton, Jay Laga'aia, Genevieve O'Reilly, Bruce Spence, Kristy Wright and Warren Owens also feature.

[Dr. Frank fan]

Bump for anti-Rachel Weisz sentiment. She does nada for me either, I just don't get it.

[Xenalyte]

BOOOOOOring. Were I so inclined, I'd take Rachel Ward any day.

[GunnyHartman]

Empire Strikes Back was the last good star wars movie. The series has deteriorated rapidly ever since.

[Doctor Stochastic]

Are they filming Number Nine now? I thought they would do Number Three before that. Oh, well. Four was good. Five and Six were poor. I gave up after that.

[Green Knight]

But the love story in Terminator takes all of 5 minutes, in Ep 2 it's the entire B plot. Obviously we need them to make whoopy at some point for the plot but did we really need 45 minutes of "I can't fall in love with you it violates the Jedi code" "I can't fall in love with you I must lead my people", blah blah blah blah. See there's love stories, there's chick flick love stories then there's painfully monotonous distracting from the muvie insipid stupid love stories. Ep 2 went for the later when they could have and should have gone for the former.

Good point, and agreed. Just thought you were referring to not wanting to have that in your original post. Didn't see til later where you said that they should've done it differently. I agree it could've been done better, though.

I'm pulling for 1st season of B5 for my birthday... actually I'd really like second season but both would be too much and I want them in order.

I actually put those on my birthday list (I give 10-item birthday wish lists to my brother and sister. Hey, what's the harm in regressing to childhood one day out of the year? ;) ), too. Though I asked for the 2nd season, first. I'd want them in order, too, but the 2nd season's better than the first, so why not? Besides, I've seen the series so many times that I don't really need to own the 1st season right away.

I've saw both movies three times in the theater (different groups, and I know from previous experience I have no interest in seeing Star Wars movies on the small screen, I'm not some purist snob or anything I'm just not drawn to them on the small screen), and they get better the next time around mostly because you know which parts of the movie to ignore.

Good point. That's probably it. Knowing when Jar Jar is coming up, I can just hit the Skip button and zoom right past it, so I don't have to be annoyed by it.

Both movies had a lot of potential and could have been great, but Lucas isn't a good actor director and he really needs somebody to clean up his scripts. There's a reason why Empire is the best of the original trilogy and so far the best of the whole series.

Yeah, Empire's by far my favorite, too. And totally agreed. Lucas needs to work with someone when writing a script, and hand the directing reigns over to somebody else. For the most part I like both movies, but they could be SO much better with better directing, subtracting a character or two, and tweaking the dialogue here and there.

Remember Han Solo was really only rogish is a movie and a half, by the time he gets thawed out in Return he's completely turned into comic relief (a character change I'm still bitter about).

One of the problems I had with ROTJ right there. That and the predecessors to Jar Jar, the Ewoks.

I'm sure Ep3 will be just like 1 and 2 all the way down to the crappy title. And I'll see it three times, and bitch about it for the rest of my life. In some ways I have to honor Lucas' brilliance, how many other guys can make a movie the fans know they won't like but they all go see it anyway?

I know what you mean. The Curse of the Fanboy. ;-) Still, as long as the overall product entertains me, even if parts are clunky or annoying at times, I'm happy.

[discostu]

Being a second generation Trekkie I've also learned there's an intrinsic value to entertainment that you can complain about. Well do I remember with Trek movies 2 through 6 going out to the theater with my mom and a Trekkie friend of ours hours early to sit in line with the other dweebs to gripe about the last movie (if you're hardcore you can even gripe about Wrath of Kahn) and talk up the new one (and watch the marathon on channel 18 on somebody's portable TV)... good times. So I'm sure one way or the other I'd be griping about Eps 1 and 2 (and 3 eventually), I just wish Lucas didn't make it so easy.

[Green Knight]

I don't much enjoy griping, myself. If something starts sucking then I stop watching. I hardly ever watched Voyager in the last two seasons, and I hardly ever watch Enterprise. You can only take so much. And the way Star Trek's going, it's going down the drain, fast. The Cynics Corner had a funny comment about the state of Star Trek. It's not dead, the way it was after TOS got cancelled. It's UNDEAD. A shambling mound of dessicated flesh which is a mockery of what it was in life. Somebody at Paramount needs to realize that Berman and Bragga are only qualified to scrub toilets and fire them.

[discostu]

I like Enterprise, and it should be really hitting next season when we get fully embroiled in the arc story (which is suspiciously similar to the Crusade story afte B5, only with time traveling bad guys). Voyager was pathetic, it's not even cannon, I let 95% of that series pass me without notice. But we also have to take a real look at TOS, it's been built up in our memory but when you get right down to it there's a lot of cheese in TOS, it's fun cheese but it's certainly not the halmark of brilliant sci-fi we like to say it is.

[Green Knight]

Voyager was just awful. I have NEVER seen a cast where so many of the characters were just outright unlikeable. I started out disliking Neelix and Harry from the beginning, but by the time I stopped watching, I also disliked Janeway, Chakotay, and the by then sissified Paris. I might not have liked Tuvok, as well, except that he never got any screen time. I stopped watching Enterprise sometime early in the 2nd season. It was just getting boring and stupid. I did watch the finale, though, which was good, and I'll give it another chance next season, but I don't have much confidence in Berman and Bragga. Even if they're ripping off B5, they'll still find some way to muck it up.

As for Trek in general, my personal favorite is DS9. I realize the premise is most likely a rip-off of B5 (As JMS pitched the idea to Paramount previously), but the show itself after about the 2nd season is damned good. And of course, that's the one in which Berman had the least influence. You're right about some of TOS (Spock's Brain?) but the good part about it is that there were some fantastic episodes. It had dreck, but it had gold, too. Something which can't be said of some of the latter Star Trek series'.

[katana]

It's all a matter of taste, but I actually think The Empire Strikes Back is the best of the lot. Lucas didn't direct that one and it thereby was endowed with reasonably intelligent dialog, clever plotting, better than film school editing, and less raw corn than any of the others. IMHO the Attack of the Clones was just plain awful, so I'm not holding my breath for the next one.

[discostu]

A friend of mine and fellow FReeper always rooted for Voyager to die. I never could figure out why they kept acting like the Federation, in that situation you become technology pirates and steal and con your way back home. By remaining dedicated to the episodic structure with things basically ending in the same situation they started every episode they lost what could have made the show great. Imagine Voyager if they have to count torpedoes, it really could have been good.

Enterprise had some issues in the second season but I like most of the characters so it kept me interested. I like the fact that they had to find a way to get the ship fixed after getting beat up, showed them building towards that arc structure.

DS9 got really good after everybody stopped watching. That's of course because the evil writers moved over to Voyager and got replaced by people with skill.

What was great about TOS (and something they almost never try to capture in the knockoffs) was that it was fun. Every now and then they tried to be smart (and sometimes even succeeded) but most importantly it was fun. None of the Treks since then would dare do I Mudd, even when DS9 "did" Tribbles they missed out on the best parts, simply forget A Piece of the Action or Shore Leave. TOS to me is embodied by the line "brain brain and brain what is brain", dumb, campy, over the top, but always a fun ride.

[ewing]

I think Rachel Weitz is getting better, she was acutally quite good in a recent crime flick called 'Confidence' with Dustin Hoffman but I agree that she wasnt doing much for anyone in the Mummy series.

She's actually a pretty good serious actress.

[Dr. Frank fan]

She's actually a pretty good serious actress.

I'll take your word for it. Whether or not she's a good actress wasn't the main thrust of my comment... ;-)

Seriously, my impression is that she's meant to be some kind of beauty or sex symbol. And I just don't see it.

[LanPB01]

I'd like to hear more about how you prefer Rachel Ward over Ms. Weisz. As always, I encourage you to describe your preference in great detail, and how you think both of them would respond to your tender touch.

[ewing]

Rent 'Confidence' when it comes out on DVD and get back to me.. she was plenty sexy enough in that film for me

[ewing]

[ewing]

[jonalvy44]

maybe if he finally lets Annakin go nuts it'll be cool. ep II he cut away from the Tuskin Raider camp way too quickly. In Ep I he allowed his best character, Darth Maul, get killed off way too easily.

And let's see...While Senator Amidala is away, let's see if...Jar Jar will fill in for her. Anything ridiculous with that?

[RoughDobermann]

Seriously, my impression is that she's meant to be some kind of beauty or sex symbol. And I just don't see it.

It see it, personally. Both of them actually...

[StoneColdTaxHater]

The 30 year old virgins are all aquiver! I wonder when the camp outs outside the move thaters will begin.