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.

[sweetliberty]

"There are alot of threads today that could make one begin to see an eerie parallel between the storylines of EP's I&II and the current direction of our government."

I must admit, I thought the same thing.

[sweetliberty]

"I loved all of them, including the last two"

Me too, they're just different from the original three, but I still liked them, though not quite as much.

[InvisibleChurch]

[CathyRyan]

I might pay money to see Jar Jar strangled.

[commish]

I really hope so. I know Lucas said he wouldn't continue, but that could change, or perhaps he could pass the torch to someone else while remaining the final say. It always seemed at the end of "Return of the Jedi" that there was more to be told.

If he does do the final three I hope he follows Timothy Zahn's Heir to the Empire Trilogy -- to me the three best Star Wars books other than "Truce at Bakura" (Which incidently fillw the gap between Episode 6 and "Heir to the Empire"

The three Zahn books are :"Heir to the Empire". "Dark Force Rising", and "The Last Command"

They follow Grand Admiral Thrawn's attempt to reconstitute the Empire and overthrow the New Republic. Luke , Han, Leia and company are all back, plus the seductive Mara Jade (The Emporer's hand) is introduced.

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

That's what I heard from Lucas himself. After 1, 2 and 3 there was supposed to be Episodes 7, 8 and 9 that chronicled the further adventures of Luke Skywalker et. al.

The almighty dollar will determine the fate of the Jedi.

[discostu]

If you get a chance to go to a convention Zahn is at do so. Great guy, best GOH TusCon has had (last year) during my time with the conventions, gives good panel, and his wife Anna is even cooler.

[sharktrager]

The love story is necessary because it produces Luke and Leia.

[CoolPapaBoze]

I found Episodes I and II to be two of the most unintentionally funny movies I have ever seen. The writing was amateurish at best and the Emperor, et al, ought to be more afraid of being beaten into submission by all the wooden acting than anything the rebel alliance might do. Contrary to a previous post, the "fight" between yoda and that other guy was hysterical. Seeing that little green puppet flying around, flipping through the air was something right out of the rabbit attack in Monty Python's Holy Grail.

Thank God I saw these on cable and didn't waste my money seeing them in theaters. I think Lucas really screwed the pooch with these three installments. He had created one of the most memorable stories in cinematic history with the first three movies, these really tarnish that legacy because they are a joke.

[colorado tanker]

I think Lucas said he'd be willing to license someone else to do the final three.

Mara Jade would be a fun character to see.

[sharktrager]

Ummmmm....That's Leia and her mom dude. That's nasty.

[DoughtyOne]

When I first read of his plans to make nine movies, I thought he had a mesage he was trying to tell. This raised my interest. Now it seems that was kindof a marketing ploy. If your sending a message, you don't stop until it's told.

Bah humbug.

[LanPB01]

Here's my bold prediction based on nothing but pure speculation - Palpatine really doesn't know that the spirit of a Sith Lord resides within him. That's why (in Return of the Jedi), The Emperor keeps taunting Luke and demanding that he strike him down. Once free of Palpatine's body, the Sith spirit would then inhabit Luke, who's anger and rage has just pushed him over to the dark side.

[discostu]

The love story is unnecessary because it's boring as hell. Better to give them an exciting story that contributes to the action, have them go into an "action's over" embrace at the end of Two (like happens in so many action movies with a hero and damsel) and she's preggers in 3. This long drawn out "oh I can't fall in love with you" junk was Harelquin Romance pap.

[StriperSniper]

begin to see an eerie parallel between the storylines of EP's I&II and the current direction of our government.

That's another good reason to hate that Binks thing, he/she/it represents the "Do something!", "There ought to be a law", and the "i'll trade some liberty for (false)security" Soccer Moms! And I guess the Senators that applauded Binks are the rest of the Sheeple.

[ewing]

[Thoro]

Let me guess.... Lucas hasn't had the good sense to get someone else to direct the movie and to write the dialogue yet, has he?

Of course not. He's going to be too close to the film and surrounded by yes-men, yet again. Any co-writer or co-director that he does bring on will be rendered impotent because Lucas is incapable of objectively seeing what he's doing to the product.

The warning signs were there in the unnecessary cartoon CGI additions(Jabba jazz band anyone?) and awful character revamps(Greedo shooting first, Luke screaming as he falls) to the theatrically released Special Editions.

I gave up hope of another true Star Wars movie after the travesty that was "The Phantom Menace" which introduced virgin births, a purely genetic hereditary Force, Darth Vader yelling "yippee!", fart jokes, a race commentator using modern day slang(this trend continues in AotC), and CGI cartoon characters among many other ill-concieved ideas.

The magic is gone. Star Wars wasn't Star Wars because of Lucas's vision. It was Star Wars because of the tempering of Lucas's vision by other people in the production team. There were people that could tell him no.

At this point, all I want is the original theatrical trilogy on dvd minus any of that awful special edition crap. I know I'm not the only one: www.originaltrilogy.com

[LanPB01]

There was a scoop on aintitcool.com yesterday showing a blurry picture which supposedly was Anakin from the upcoming film. The site took the picture down fairly fast.

[commish]

The love story is unnecessary because it's boring as hell. Better to give them an exciting story that contributes to the action, have them go into an "action's over" embrace at the end of Two (like happens in so many action movies with a hero and damsel) and she's preggers in 3. This long drawn out "oh I can't fall in love with you" junk was Harelquin Romance pap.

Exactly, The way Han and Leia's love blossomed under stress in IV-VI was the way this one should have been handled too. I can see the "Puppy Love" angle on the part of Anakin, But Amidala should have fallen for him in Ep II -- then bring in the conflict of his Jedi Oath after they have given in to the Passion of the first kiss etc. That would have been more like Anakin anyway -- He and Darth vadar were never this wishy washy " Oh I can;t it's forbidden wuss" -- it would have been "KISS ME NOW!" then "Oh god what have I done"

[discostu]

We have of course all read the cool ghost body interpretation of the first trilogy http://www.brunching.com/lukeside.html

IMHO Lor was onto more than he jokingly admits. It's clear that Palpatine wanted to die in front of Luke, so the whole Sith Lord possession thing you laid out might not be too far off the mark, but probably not unknowing. Darth apparently knew too which is why he chucked the Emperor down the big hole.

Luke's temptation to the Dark Side would (IMHO) really blow if he gave in. Too much like father like son, he needs to rise above it. It would be cool to see like Uncle Owen's real kid come in as a Sith heavy though.