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The 7 best Star Wars parodies...

2009-02-24T08:33:00.001-08:00

The 7 very best Star Wars parodies ever!
Everyone on Earth has parodied, quoted, or otherwise referenced Star Wars at some point in their lives. Rob rounds up the best parodies out there in other media...
Rob Mclaughlin

Star Wars is one of the most parodied movies of all time. How could it not be? - it's totally iconic and completely changed the face of sci-fi forever. Here's a definitive list of the best Star Wars parodies ever:

The Adam and Joe Show

Back in the mid-1990s, before the onslaught of Star Wars nostalgia, before YouTube and before George Lucas did something unmentionable to most people's childhoods by creating episodes 1-3, Adam Buxton and Joe Cornish were still messing about in their toy box.

Dusting off and setting up their old Kenner Star Wars figures, Adam and Joe produced numerous parodies, routinely casting R2D2 and C3P0 as a gay couple and Obi-Wan as a drunken Geordie. The most unmissable episode contained a classic Crystal Maze parody that had the cast of toys trying their very hardest to beat the Crystal Dome and win the pony trekking holiday in Wales.

Robot Chicken

Ever wondered what was in the hatch Luke opens in the bottom of the At-At in Empire? Well, Seth Green and co. revealed that and so much more in a special episode of Robot Chicken from last year. A bone of contention with the makers of Family Guy (taken in good humour - check out Peter and Chris' chat in Blue Harvest) that Green got out his special before Seth McFarlane, this is a cheap and cheerful take on all six Star Wars films.

Blue Harvest - Family Guy

Airing a few weeks later than the aforementioned Robot Chicken special, the producers of Family Guy went to town with this fantastic take on Star Wars. Having Chris as Luke and Horace ( the creepy old guy) as Obi-Wan was fantastic, if disturbing, but casting Peter and Brian as Han and Chewie was a stoke of genius. I'd be hard pushed to pick the best moment of the episode - Peter singing along to the John Williams score ("Mr John Williams, everybody") while tackling tie-fighters? Orr trying to get a discarded sofa on the Millennium Falcon on their escape? Regardless, this double act is what makes this one of the best planned and funny parodies of the first Star Wars. Roll on their take on Empire!

Spaceballs

While not Mel Brooks' best work, there are still some great jokes in Spaceballs. While some of the gags are obvious and puerile, for every miss there are a hundred and one hits to make you smile - like Ludicrous Speed, Dark Helmet playing with his figures or the insane Spaceballs The Movie being filmed live and watched on the video by the guys making the film (you know the bit). Plus there's John Candy as Barf the Dog and an unexpected capture of stunt doubles all wrapp up in the usual Mel Brooks insanity.

Star Wars Holiday Special

Okay, it's not a parody. But the Star Wars Holiday Special was really just a beer-fuelled cash-in on the insane popularity of Star Wars - surely no-one did this for any reason beyond the paycheck? For those of you who've tried to watch it, I salute you. Really, this is for hardcore fans only - watch with care (and through your fingers!).

Cops

One of the earliest pieces of online viral marketing, this great Star Wars parody replaces the cops from, um, Cops with Stormtroopers. With superb special effects and a great script the ten minute show takes a look at Jawa society, and finds out what really happened to Aunt Beru and Uncle Owen with the help of a handy thermal detonator.

Tag & Bink Are Dead

This Dark Horse comic features two inept rebels who unwittingly are part of each and every main turning point in the Star Wars movies. Whether it's telling Anakin how to woo Padme with bad poetry and professions of love, or taking a tie-fighter for a joyride (in the ‘that’s no moon’ speech in episode 4), Tag and Bink are, according to the comics anyway, responsible for the fall of the Empire every bit as much as the rebels from the movie. So if you ever wondered who nicked Chewbacca’s medal at the end of Star Wars or who was really under the cool-looking Red Imperial Guard uniforms in Jedi then this mini series will keep you informed.

Source : Den of Geek

SAG To Honor James Earl Jones

2008-10-07T09:00:00.000-07:00

Famed Actor To Receive Life Achievement Award

Legendary actor James Earl Jones will be honored with the Screen Actors Guild's Life Achievement Award for his career achievements and humanitarian accomplishments, the organization announced Thursday.

A veteran of stage, film and television, Jones is known to movie fans worldwide as the voice of Darth Vader in the "Star Wars" films and the voice of Mufasa in "The Lion King." His other big screen roles include "The Hunt for Red October," "Patriot Games," "Field of Dreams" and "The Great White Hope" -- which earned him an Oscar nomination.

Jones' television credits include his Emmy-winning turns in the series "Gabriel's Fire" and television movie "Heatwave." He also played author Alex Haley in the groundbreaking miniseries "Roots: The Next Generations." He has also provided his voice to the cable news slogan, "This is CNN."

"James Earl Jones' distinguished career on stage, in film, on television, in commercials and as a vocal presence without peer commands our admiration and respect," SAG President Alan Rosenberg said in a statement. "His long and quiet devotion to advancing literacy, the arts and humanities on a national and local scale deserves our appreciation. It is our honor to bestow the Guild’s highest tribute on this extraordinary actor."

Jones' previous honors also include a National Medal of Arts in 1992, and a Kennedy Center honor in 2002. SAG previously honored Jones in 1995 with an Best Actor nomination for his portrayal of South African priest Stephen Kumalo in the film "Cry, the Beloved Country."

In Thursday's announcement, SAG noted Jones' advocacy for literacy. SAG said Jones has long been a spokesman for Verizon and an integral part of the Verizon Foundation’s Literacy Initiative, which gave him the opportunity to travel the country reading to children while talking to them about the importance of reading in their lives.

"In my family, we say the love of reading and book learning is in our bone memory," Jones said in a SAG statement, referring to the significance reading has had in his life. "We would never think of not learning to read and getting an education. My great-great grandparents secretly learned to read when they were slaves and indentured servants. They passed on their love of reading to my great-grandfather who, as a free man, amassed a modest library and encouraged his family to read his books and revere them."

Jones, 77, will receive his SAG honor at the organization's 15th annual ceremony on Jan. 25 in Los Angeles.

Source : www.thepittsburghchannel.com

Bring Back Star Wars: Return Of The Jedi Reunion

2008-09-16T02:59:00.000-07:00

Channel 4 is getting ready to reunite the cast of the 80s hit Sci-Fi movie, return Of The Jedi.

Bring Back Star Wars will see comic Justin Lee Collins race around the US trying to get them to attend a reunion bash.

Top targets include Harrison Ford (Han Solo), Carrie Fisher (Princess Leia) and Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker).

Mark Hamill Snubs Channel 4 Star Wars Reunion

Actor Mark Hamill has refused to take part in a Star Wars reunion show, because Channel 4 refused to pay him £25,000.

It was hoped that Hamill, who played the infamous Luke Skywalker in the original three Star Wars movies would agree to participate in the ‘Bring Back Star Wars’ show that is being fronted by comedian, Justin Lee Collins.

However, he wanted too much money, more than Channel 4 wanted to (or could afford to) pay. An insider told The Sun:

“There’s no way we’d pay Mark so much money. Fortunately Carrie [Princess Leia] is with us and is brilliant.”

Bring Back Star Wars: Carrie Fisher Opens Up About Harrison Ford Affair

Whilst filming for the Channel 4 special, Bring Back Star Wars, Carrie Fisher has opened up about her affair with Harrison Ford.

The pair had a fling whilst recording the first Star Wars movie and the actress, who played Princess Leia said: “I went on the film saying, ‘I’m going to have an affair’, like it was a kiwi, an exotic fruit - because I had never had one.

“I had a crush on Harrison for sure. Harrison is great fun when he’s had a few drinks.”

The 51-year-old added: “I’m going to get in so much trouble”, before revealing: “Once I left the room and came back and he was in the closet not wearing a lot of clothes.”

Defending George Lucas and His Critically Trashed 'Wars'

2008-09-16T02:50:00.000-07:00

Last month, George Lucas gave the world a new Star Wars movie, and for the first time in the 31-year history of the franchise, the Empire struck out. The Clone Wars — a computer-animated action flick designed to launch a new series for Cartoon Network that premieres Oct. 3 — has grossed only $33 million in three weeks despite an impressive show of marketing force. More withering were the reviews, which blasted the movie into tiny chunks of Alderaan. This magazine gave it an F. Roger Ebert gave it a star and a half and groaned: ''Has it come to this?'' And supergeek Harry Knowles said it reeked like so much bantha poodoo, it nearly stopped him from buying Hasbro's new $150 Millennium Falcon toy.

But the haters got it wrong — about The Clone Wars, about Lucas (''Sellout''? What does that even mean these days?), and about the current state of Star Wars in general. Missing from much of the overheated bashing of The Clone Wars was the crucial point that it was made for kids, not the grown-ups for whom the original trilogy remains (ridiculously) sacred. Several reviews simply revisited and rehashed the bitter disdain many adult Star Wars fans have for the prequel trilogy. I get that bitterness. But my young Star Wars-loving children don't, nor do the kids who were raised on the prequels and (heresy!) actually liked them.

The Clone Wars is simply too well produced to justify virulent disdain and too insignificant to prosecute the Lucas-legacy argument. The movie is a small pleasure, which is only a problem when you expect huge things from a Star Wars film. Today's kids have no such expectations. For them, Star Wars is a stream of content — books, comic books, toys, micro-cartoons, videogames, DVDs, and, soon, a TV series. This new generation sees no distinction between movies and their merchandise, and that's just fine with them. Expect to see more of it. After all, the biggest movie franchise (Harry Potter) and the most-talked-about youth TV show (Gossip Girl) are literary franchise accessories. In Hollywood, the buzz phrase is ''transmedia properties,'' where movies are but one of many separate conduits for a story. It's a tricky, in-process idea, one that, if executed creatively and with integrity, portends an inventive new form of storytelling in its own right — and Star Wars is leading the way. The Clone Wars will not be remembered as a great animated movie — or an awful one, for that matter. But it might be remembered as part of a larger pop moment that is wiring the future of entertainment.

Source : www.ew.com

Tokyo's dancing Stormtrooper

2008-09-16T02:47:00.000-07:00

G4 TV invades the Sideshow Booth!

2008-07-26T00:36:00.000-07:00

Scott Klauder of Sideshow Collectibles gives us(G4) a tour of their workshop and some of the highly-sought after works of art that they produce, including Hellboy, General Grievous, and Snake Eyes.

Pitt and DiCaprio Are A Couple of Bastards

2008-07-16T13:27:00.000-07:00

Rumors abound of Brad Pitt and Leonardo DiCaprio starring in Quentin Tarantino's upcoming Inglorious Bastards. Quentin already met with Pitt in France on Tuesday just days after Brad's significant other gave birth to twins, helping to overpopulate the world she's trying to desperately save from hunger.Tarantino will meet with DiCaprio on Thursday, allegedly to pitch him a role in the movie shooting this fall in Germany and France. Tarantino wants DiCaprio for the role of Hans Landa.

Quentin Tarantino has just gone out with his long-anticipated script Inglorious Bastards about World War II.

I scored the awesome script and took a look. ALSO PLEASE NOTE THAT TARANTINO spells Bastards with an E as in Basterds.

Here is a preview of Tarnatino’s kickassery!

My name is Lt. Aldo Raine, and I’m putting together a special team. And I need me eight soldiers. Eight – Jewish – American – Soldiers. Now y’all might have heard rumors about the armada happening soon. Well, we’ll be leavin a little earlier. We’re gonna be dropped into France, dressed as civilians. And once we’re in enemy territory, as a bushwackin’ guerilla army, we’re gonna be doin one thing, and thing only, Killin Nazi’s. The members of the Nationalist Socialist Party, have conquered Europe through murder, torture, intimidation, and terror. And that’s exactly what we’re gonna do to them. Now I don’t know about y’all. But I sure as hell, didn’t come down from the goddamn smoky mountains, cross five thousand miles of water, fight my way through half Sicily, and then jump out of a fuckin air-o-plane, to teach the Nazi’s lessons in humanity. Nazi ain’t got no humanity. There the foot soldiers of a Jew hatin, mass murderin manic, and they need to be destroyed. That’s why any and every son-of-a-bitch we find wearin a Nazi uniform, there gonna die. We will be cruel to the Germans, and through our cruelty, they will know who we are. They will find the evidence of our cruelty, in the disemboweled, dismembered, and disfigured bodies of their brothers we leave behind us. And the German will not be able to help themselves from imagining the cruelty their brothers endured at our hands, and our boot heals, and the edge of our knives. And the Germans, will be sickened by us. And the Germans, will talk about us. And the Germans, will fear us. And when the Germans close their eyes at night, and their subconscious tortures them for the evil they’ve done, it will be with thoughts of us, that it tortures them with. But I got a word of warning to all would be warriors. When you join my command, you take on debit. A debit you owe me, personally. Every man under my command, owes me, one hundred Nazi scalps. And I want my scalps. And all y’all will git me, one hundred Nazi scalps, taken from the heads of one hundred Nazi’s or you will die trying.

-Lt. Aldo Raine aka Aldo the Apache

That folks is pretty much the jist of what Tarantino's masterpiece is about. Per Seth Rogen, Jews got laid because of Eric Bana in Munich. If that is the case, then Jews are going to be having 70’s era Hugh Hefner style orgies because of the eight badasses of Tarantino’s INGLORIOUS BASTERDS! The Basterds are not in the prisoner takin business. The Basterds are in the killin Nazi business. And cousin business is boomin according to Lt. Aldo. The role of Lt. Aldo has been offered to Brad Pitt who would be on some serious crack if he passes on this.

The above monologue was taken from the opening of the 2nd chapter of 5 titled: Inglorious Basterds – my favorite chapter. Don’t get me wrong, Chapter One: Once Upon a Time … Nazi Occupied France , Chapter Three: German Night in Paris, Chapter Four: Operation Kino, Chapter Five: Revenge of the Giant Face are very solidly written. Chapter 5 is a nailbiter.

If you took the bad guy swagger of RESERVOIR DOGS, the uber coolness and structure of PULP FICTION, throw in the revenge angle of KILL BILL, set it in World War II – you get INGLORIOUS BASTERDS.

My favorite basterd? SGT. Donny Donowitz aka THE BEAR JEW. He bashes in German soldier’s skulls with a baseball bat. According to the German legend, The Bear Jew is a Golem. An avenging Jew angel, conjured up by a vengeful rabbi, to smite the Aryans!

Where there are good guys, there are bad guys and the main bad guy of this 165 page epic is COL. HANS LANDA aka THE JEW HUNTER. An evil fucker and a delicious role for someone like Tim Roth.

Plot-wise, what is INGLORIOUS BASTERDS about?

The bastards have to take part in OPERATION KINO, go behind enemy lines and bomb a movie theater in Nazi occupied France which is premiering Goebble’s (Hitler’s right hand man) latest German propaganda war film. A French Jewish teenager named SHOSANNA (her family is massacred by Col Landa in Chapter 1), flees to Paris, where she winds up running the movie theater that the bastards have to bomb.

Shosanna has her own plans for the German hierarchy on premiere night.

Hands down, the script was the most enjoyable read of the year for me so far. Again, a masterpiece.

Killer dialogue, excellent execution, and master craftsmanship by Tarantino.

The script is supposed to go into production this October to premiere in Cannes next May.

Source www.latinoreview.com

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed

2008-07-16T13:13:00.000-07:00

Story :

The next chapter in the Star Wars saga, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed , tells the story of Darth Vader’s Secret Apprentice, a mysterious figure trained by the menacing Sith Lord, to hunt down the last of the Jedi.

Set in the dark times between Episodes III and IV, the story is both a continuation of the prequel trilogy – exploring the aftermath of Order 66, which called for the immediate execution of all Jedi, and focusing on the continued rise of Darth Vader – and a direct bridge to the Original Trilogy. The Force Unleashed will forever change the fate of the Galaxy and explain key plot points that directly lead into events in Star Wars: A New Hope.

The Secret Apprentice’s journey takes him across the Galaxy—from the Wookiee homeworld of Kashyyyk to the junkyard planet Raxus Prime and the mushroom-covered planet, Felucia.

He is aided in his dangerous missions by a loyal sidekick PROXY - a prototype holodroid with amazing abilities, and an alluring Imperial pilot named Juno Eclipse.

The Apprentice will clash with powerful enemies, including the spirited Zabrak warrior Maris Brood, Jedi Master Shaak Ti, and General Rahm Kota, a hard-boiled Jedi soldier who senses that the Apprentice is destined to become something far greater than just Darth Vader’s servant.

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed will be released on September 16, 2008 in the United States, September 17 in Southeast Asia and Australia, and September 19 in Europe.

JULY 16 ***UPDATE***

LucasArts Producer Hayden Blackman visited our E3 stage and offered Morgan Webb an incredible hands on demo with the highly-anticipated action title, 'Star Wars: The Force Unleashed'.

'Star Wars: The Force Unleashed' will be out September 16th on Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii and DS, Sony PS3, PS2 and PSP platforms.

Hollywood memorabilia auction

2008-07-16T12:53:00.000-07:00

Hollywood memorabilia from Indiana Jones, Star Wars and Back To The Future at auction...

They are among items of classic Hollywood movie memorabilia going under the hammer later this month.

The Holy Grail is from Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade, the third instalment in the hit Harrison Ford franchise. Made of gold-painted fibreglass, it could be yours for £12,500.

The two tablets held aloft by Charlton Heston in 1956 film The Ten Commandments carry an estimate of £25,000.

Most expensive lot of all is a model TIE fighter from the original Star Wars movie of 1977, which featured in the climactic trench dogfight against the Death Star. Despite measuring just 18 inches high by 14 inches wide, it is expected to fetch up to £100,000.

The Profiles In History auction www.profilesinhistory.com runs from July 31 to August 1 in California and features more than 1,000 lots.

Jack Nicholson's axe from The Shining, Clint Eastwood's Colt Walker pistol from The Outlaw Josey Wales and C-3PO's rubber shoes from Star Wars are all up for grabs.

The sale features a substantial collection of superhero costumes, including the red and blue outfit worn by Christopher Reeve in Superman and Superman II,

Michael J Fox's hoverboard from Back To The Future is set to fetch around £25,000.

Fans of the late Heath Ledger, currently drawing rave reviews in The Dark Knight, have the chance to buy one of his costumes. A coat he wore in The Patriot has a starting price of just £500.

Star Trek fans are spoilt for choice - among the lots are 74 original scripts from the 1960s TV series and a pair of Vulcan ears from Star Trek III: The Search for Spock.

Bidders can also snap up Sir Ian McKellen's Magneto outfit from X-Men, an original ray gun from sci-fi classic Forbidden Planet, Lou Ferrigno's prosthetic nose from The Incredible Hulk and a set of matching silver space suits worn by Mike Myers and Verne Troyer - aka Dr Evil and Mini-Me - in Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me.

Profiles in History president Joseph Maddelena said: "This sale features over 1,000 unique pieces of Hollywood history, from the silent era to modern sci-fi classics and everything in between. This incredible collection represents a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to acquire some of the most important visual effects pieces ever created for modern cinema."

Death Star II by FX

2008-07-14T10:03:00.001-07:00

“Don’t be too proud of this technological terror you’ve constructed…”

Yeah, yeah, compared to the power of the Force it’s a tinker toy, we know. But, when it comes to replicas, the second Death Star (which is an order of magnitude more complex a model than the original), is the ultimate power in the galaxy.

The DS2 is the Mount Everest of models to create – there is no filming miniature that demands more of it’s creator, requires a stronger set of master-class skills to craft, and to have successfully completed one puts you in an small and elite club, indeed.

And The FX Company built one – from scratch.

Remember how I said we’d make good on last week’s lack of an FX Friday? Well, I hope you’ll agree this covers the tab, with interest:

The FX Company Death Star II is one of the only 1/20,000 scale, screen-accurate replicas around (see the little, tiny arrowhead-shaped spaceship in the gallery? That’s a Super Star Destroyer.) The FX DS2 is 34 inches in diameter, weighs over 100 pounds, contains some 600 soft white LEDs, uses over 2,000 linear feet of architectural styrene, has thousands of windows, and is constructed of acryllis, styrene, pine, brass and polyurethane resin. And, for those aching to blow away Aldaraan (or the cat), the Super Laser is remote-controlled!

In every possible way, this replica is over the top, including the price – $50,000 commission to own the terror of the Rebellion.

Now, the pictures:

Free to Follow His Heart Right Back to ‘Star Wars’

2008-06-29T12:46:00.000-07:00

FUTURE generations will never need to establish a George Lucas museum, because George Lucas has already built one for himself. On either side of the Golden Gate Bridge he has constructed himself two temples where “Star Wars” is made and worshiped: at his Skywalker Ranch in Marin County and his newer office complex, the Letterman Digital Arts Center at the Presidio, he has gathered all manner of relics honoring his six-film saga, from the imposing (life-size replicas of the villains Darth Vader and Boba Fett) to the self-congratulatory (a Yoda fountain) to the self-deprecating (a carbonite block encasing the much loathed Jar Jar Binks).

Like religious shrines, these buildings both consecrate and confine the man for whom they were built.

Using the freedom and the fortune he has amassed largely on the astronomical success of “Star Wars,” Mr. Lucas has accumulated unparalleled creative resources; his next film could be anything from a sweeping epic to one of the intimate personal narratives he has often said he would like to make. Instead his next two ventures will be “Star Wars” projects, no less ambitious than his previous films yet potentially less commercial. And they come at a time when even the “Star Wars” faithful wonder if Mr. Lucas’s continued mining of this fantasy world has anything more to yield.

A few weeks ago Mr. Lucas, who is 64 with a full white beard, was visiting his Presidio offices somewhat reluctantly, on a layover between the European and Japanese premieres of his latest “Indiana Jones” movie. “I love making movies; I’m not the biggest fan of selling them,” he said, seated in the librarylike Lucasfilm boardroom, stocked with books about real-world military history and novels like “Quo Vadis.” “But since I’m in the selling mood, that’s what you’re here for. I’m doing all my selling for two more weeks. Then I’m sold out.”

He was pitching a computer-generated animated movie called “Star Wars: The Clone Wars,” which Warner Brothers will release on Aug. 15 and which will introduce an animated television series with the same title that will have its debut on the Cartoon Network this fall.

Despite his vows to the contrary Mr. Lucas did not conclude his “Star Wars” epic with his 2005 film “Revenge of the Sith,” the third in a trilogy of prequel movies that grossed more than $1 billion in the United States alone. As far back as 2002 he was contemplating an animated series that would take place between Episodes II and III of his prequels, fleshing out the adventures of the Jedi knights Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker (who is doomed to become the evil Darth Vader), and explore heroes, villains and planets glossed over in the prequel films.

For Mr. Lucas this was an opportunity to revisit imaginary turf that gives him great personal satisfaction. “Star Wars,” he said, is “a sandbox I love to play in.”

“It’s not a matter of trying to prove anything to anybody,” he added. “I don’t have to.”

But his enduring interest in “Star Wars” hints at a lesson that his filmmaking peers have already learned: that it is sometimes easier for them to make big movies than small ones. As his longtime friend and collaborator Steven Spielberg wrote in an e-mail message: “All of us would like to make these little personal films that sneak into theaters under the radar. Sadly, for George and myself, and others who have enjoyed and endured great success — ‘under the radar’ has become a no-fly zone.”

Mr. Lucas began pursuing his “Clone Wars” projects about three years ago when he summoned the technological might of his company’s research and development division to start building Lucasfilm Animation, now a pair of studios at Big Rock Ranch — part of Skywalker — and in Singapore. (Lucasfilm declined to discuss budgets, but Mr. Lucas said that building a similar operation in the 1980s — the era when he sold a start-up computer-animation business called Pixar to Steven P. Jobs — would have cost him $60 million to $100 million.)

Next he hired a team of young “Star Wars”-obsessed artists who revere Mr. Lucas as if he were Yoda himself.

“He’s the guy,” said Dave Filoni, director of the “Clone Wars” show and movie. “Chewbacca exists because he named him, thought him up, put him in the cockpit.”

The two men worked closely together (Mr. Filoni is a former director of the Nickelodeon action cartoon “Avatar: The Last Airbender”) to hone the anime-inspired look of “The Clone Wars” and develop scripts, often drawing upon unused ideas Mr. Lucas had been stockpiling since the original “Star Wars” was released in 1977.

Then Mr. Lucas took the unusual step of waiting until the first 22-episode season of “The Clone Wars” was nearly finished before pitching it to television networks in late 2007. There were no immediate takers. Fox Broadcasting, the sister company of 20th Century Fox, which released the live-action “Star Wars” movies, passed. And the Cartoon Network, which had broadcast a series of traditional 2-D animated shorts called “Star Wars: Clone Wars” from 2003 to 2005, was lukewarm about the project.

That tepidness may have stemmed from some viewers’ dissatisfaction with the “Star Wars” prequels, with their stilted dialogue and baffling politics. Or it may have indicated that “Clone Wars” wasn’t compatible with a prime-time network schedule. “It didn’t fit any of the molds that everybody had,” Mr. Lucas said. “It’s not ‘SpongeBob SquarePants,’ but at the same time it’s also not ‘Family Guy.’ ”

Mr. Lucas said that Warner Brothers became interested only after he decided to produce a theatrical “Clone Wars” film (having been encouraged by the animation results he saw), and the film studio convinced its corporate siblings at the Cartoon Network to give the television series another look. (Executives at Warner Brothers and the Cartoon Network, both divisions of Time Warner, gave slightly different chronologies but did not dispute this element of Mr. Lucas’s account.)

For Time Warner the “Clone Wars” collaboration is more than a one-time opportunity to share in the money-minting “Star Wars” franchise. “It’s the relationship with Lucasfilm that we’re very excited about,” said Dan Fellman, president for domestic distribution of Warner Brothers Pictures. “Not just on the Cartoon Network but possibly for live-action television down the road.”

Sure enough, Mr. Lucas is already developing a live-action “Star Wars” television series, and Time Warner would love to demonstrate that one of its cable channels (like TBS, TNT or HBO) could give it a good home.

But the question remains: Just because new “Star Wars” can be made, should new “Star Wars” be made?

Some “Star Wars” aficionados — even those who have worked with Mr. Lucas on “Star Wars” projects — are ambivalent about his continued plundering of a science-fiction property that has already spawned numerous comic books, video games and novels, not to mention six movies.

“I think it’s the easiest thing to do, because he doesn’t need to come up with a whole new thing; everything’s established,” said Genndy Tartakovsky, the animator who directed Mr. Lucas’s previous “Clone Wars” shorts for the Cartoon Network. Speaking as a fan, Mr. Tartakovsky said, “I appreciate that, but there’s so much more that he could explore.”

Mr. Lucas said he had no urgent or compelling reasons for returning to his most popular characters and mythologies, except that he can and enjoys doing so. As an illustration he pointed to his work with Mr. Spielberg on “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.”

“I mean, why do we have to make another ‘Indiana Jones’?” Mr. Lucas said. “There was no point to it, other than, gee, this might be fun.”

But to the extent that “Star Wars” had kept him from fulfilling his promise to return to making more personal, smaller-scale films, Mr. Lucas lamented this distraction. “You get sidetracked easily,” he said with a chuckle. “I do, anyway.”

And he was deeply pessimistic about the marketplace he will face when he someday releases a movie that is not set in a galaxy far, far away. “Maybe it ends up in a festival somewhere,” he said. “Maybe it ends up in half a dozen theaters around the country for a couple weeks.”

As he so often does, Mr. Lucas took a lesson from the experience of his friend and mentor Francis Ford Coppola, whose most recent film, “Youth Without Youth,” received a small independent release that was hardly on the scale of his “Godfather” movies. (In the United States the film played in just 18 theaters and grossed less than $250,000.)

“Did you see it?” Mr. Lucas asked rhetorically. “Uh, no. Did you even know it came out?”

Responding to questions sent via e-mail Mr. Coppola agreed that the films he now makes, and that Mr. Lucas says he intends to make, had little chance at achieving blockbuster status. “We make films for ourselves,” he wrote. “If no one wants to see them, what can we do?” (With a parenthetical shrug, Mr. Coppola added: “Emotion does much better at the box office than philosophy.”)

Other former colleagues of Mr. Lucas argued that new “Star Wars” projects have provided technological boons for the entire film business, yielding Industrial Light and Magic, Mr. Lucas’s pioneering special-effects company, and EditDroid, the digital film-editing hardware that was a forerunner to the Avid editing system.

“He does it in a way that might begin as self-serving and then of course is a bonanza for the whole industry,” said Sid Ganis, the president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, who was a Lucasfilm executive during the 1980s.

Mr. Ganis added that Mr. Lucas possessed “an intuition that he stubbornly sticks by.”

“There’s something in him, when you’re told, ‘No, it’ll never work,’ it’s motivation to keep it going,” he added.

And as Mr. Lucas would be the first to remind you, he has proved his detractors wrong many times in his career, from the film executives who thought “American Graffiti” would work better as a television movie to the industry colleagues who warned him not to finance “The Empire Strikes Back” with his profits from “Star Wars.”

When he works on the “Star Wars” properties he owns outright, Mr. Lucas has the freedom to ignore the input of others. In the case of “The Clone Wars” he is financing the series himself and charging Time Warner licensing fees to distribute the film and broadcast the show. (A person with knowledge of the company’s animation operations, speaking anonymously to avoid offending Mr. Lucas, said that the earliest episodes of “The Clone Wars” probably cost $750,000 to $1.5 million each.)

“It’s much easier for me to just do the show I want, say, ‘Here it is, do you wish to license it or not?’ ” Mr. Lucas said. “That’s it. There’s no notes, no comments. I don’t care what your opinion is. You either put it on the air or you don’t.”

But Mr. Lucas’s creative independence cannot shield him from the larger realities of the film business. He is not planning, at least right away, to go head to head with more established animation studios like DreamWorks, Disney and Pixar. The mid-August release of the “Clone Wars” movie — an unusually late date for a new “Star Wars” film — was scheduled in part to avoid competition with recent offerings from these studios.

It is also exceedingly likely that “The Clone Wars” will be the lowest-grossing “Star Wars” movie ever; Mr. Lucas said he would be satisfied if the film made $100 million domestically. (“Revenge of the Sith,” by comparison, grossed $380 million.)

When he is not, say, testifying before a House subcommittee about classroom technology or appearing at Cannes with his frequent companion, Mellody Hobson, the president of the investment firm Ariel Capital Management, on his arm, Mr. Lucas has plenty of new projects to keep him busy.

He is already working on the second and third seasons of “The Clone Wars” and forging ahead on his live-action “Star Wars” television show. Then, he said, he would seek other films and television series for his animation studio and continue to develop “Red Tails,” a long-in-the-works feature film about the Tuskegee Airmen that he is producing.

And after that, who knows?

Mr. Lucas pointed back to his very first feature film, “THX 1138,” a dystopian work of science fiction released in 1971, one that at the time he believed would be his one and only shot at directing a movie exactly as he envisioned it. (The movie’s critical and commercial reception very nearly proved him right.)

All that his wealth has bought him, Mr. Lucas said, is the opportunity to make more films the way he wants to. “I’ve got more shots,” he said. “I can go and make half a dozen ‘THXes.’ I’ll lose everything I put into them, guaranteed. But I can have a lot of fun doing it.”

Source : The New York Times June 29 2008

Michael Turner Passes Away at 37

2008-06-29T10:33:00.000-07:00

We here at Comic Book Resources are very sad to report that artist Michael Turner has died after a long battle with cancer. He was 37. Aspen Comics’ Vince Hernandez told CBR News Saturday morning that Turner passed away Friday night at 10:42 Pacific Time at Santa Monica Hospital in Calfiornia. The news spread quickly at Wizard World Chicago, during what would have otherwise been a riotous night at the hotel bar, the mood suddenly turned somber with remembrances of Turner from friends and acquaintances. A minute of silence will be observed during Wizard World Chicago Saturday afternoon.

Turner is an artist best known for his work on books like “Witchblade,” where he got his start in comics, moving on to titles such as “Black Panther,” “Superman/Batman” and his very own creator owned series “Fathom” and “Soulfire” through his publishing company Aspen Comics. A prolific artist, he’s done work for both DC Comics and Marvel Comics, and has provided covers to some of the best-known comics published in the last ten years, including Brad Meltzer’s “Identity Crisis.”

In 2000, Turner was diagnosed with cancer -- chondrosarcoma in the right pelvis, which resulted in his loosing his hip, 40% of his pelvis and three pounds of bone. What followed was 9 months of radiation. The cancer has gone into remission and returned multiple times since he was first diagnosed.

For anyone who’s met Turner, they’re likely to tell you what a genuinely nice guy he was and how his spirit for life was higher than anyone else they had ever met. Oddly, my path crossed with Turner’s numerous times. We both live in Los Angeles, and on at least five different occasions we would run into each other at clubs or special events around the city. He seemed like the kind of guy who was up for anything and had a great sense of adventure, especially as evidenced by his love and excellence at water-skiing and martial arts.

Last year during Comic-Con International in San Diego, I invited Michael Turner out to the CBR Yacht for an interview. He was happy to come out to the boat. His colleague and friend, Vince Hernandez, called me the Saturday afternoon the interview was scheduled to say they were running late, but were on their way. I went to the end of the dock to greet them and there, off in the distance, was Michael, Vince and a friend of theirs walking slowly towards our slip. They were walking slowly because Michael was on crutches, recovering from the latest round of surgeries and treatment. It was a hot day, but there was Michael, making his way to the boat with a smile on his face. His strength of will was truly inspirational.

The resulting interview was a wonderfully sweet one. I remember talking with him about his comics, his covers, his health and much more. After the interview he and his crew hung out on the boat for a while, enjoying the calm moment away from the convention with a soda and good conversation.

Sadly, that video interview never made it on to the site (not for anything to do with Michael or the content of the interview), but we’ll make sure that video is encoded this week and published in his memory and so that all of you can see what sort of man Turner was.

Turner’s fight with cancer was truly inspirational. He fought it with dignity and grace.

Rest in peace Michael...

Diablo III

2008-06-28T10:54:00.000-07:00

Diablo III - Cinematic Trailer #1

Diablo III - Artwork Trailer #1

eFX Collectibles Newsletter

2008-06-23T00:59:00.000-07:00

Click on image to see it in full size.

McKellen Reprising Gandalf In Hobbit

2008-06-19T23:29:00.000-07:00

British actor Ian McKellen told Empire magazine that he will reprise the role of the wizard Gandalf in Guillermo del Toro's upcoming movies based on J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit, the Reuters news service reported.

The 68-year-old star played the part in the hugely successful Lord of the Rings trilogy directed by Peter Jackson. Mexican filmmaker del Toro has been named to direct two films based on The Hobbit, which Jackson will produce and co-write.

"Yes, it's true," McKellen told Empire. "I spoke to Guillermo in the very room that Peter Jackson offered me the part, and he confirmed that I would be reprising the role. Obviously, it's not a part that you turn down; I loved playing Gandalf."

Del Toro, whose credits include Pan's Labyrinth, will move to New Zealand for the next four years to work on both Hobbit films with executive producer Jackson, according to New Line Cinema and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios.

The studios have said that filming will begin in 2009, with tentative release dates set in 2010 for the first film and 2011 for the sequel.

The Colbert Report "George Lucas" Pt. 1-2

2008-06-17T07:04:00.000-07:00

Effects master Stan Winston passed away

2008-06-16T14:16:00.000-07:00

Work included 'Jurassic Park,' 'Terminator'

Stan Winston, one of the great names in special effects, has died at age 62.

The Oscar-winning visual effects artist died at his home Sunday evening surrounded by family after a seven-year struggle with multiple myeloma, according to a representative from Stan Winston Studio.

Winston won visual effects Oscars for 1986's "Aliens, "1992's "Terminator 2: Judgment Day" and 1993's "Jurassic Park,” for which he created animatronic dinosaurs that complimented the film’s digitally-animated creatures.

For decades, Winston’s robotic/animatronic creatures were the best in the industry and his prosthetic makeup was among the best available. “Iron Man” visual effects supervisor John Nelson “Stan was the man when it came to making those kind of prosthetic effects, he was the guy. If you look at the litany of other good people in the business, they tend to be people who worked for Stan.”

Stan Winston Studios did the practical Iron Man suit for this year’s Marvel/Paramount blockbuster but Winston himself was not actively involved with the shoot.

Steven Spielberg, who worked with Winston on several films, said in a statement “Stan was a fearless and courageous artist/inventor and for many projects, I rode his cutting edge from teddy bears to aliens to dinosaurs. My world would not have been the same without Stan. What I will miss most is his easy laugh every time he said to me, ‘Nothing is impossible.’”

“It was a perfect compliment to the stuff that we were doing,” said Dennis Muren, who supervised the digital effects on “Jurassic Park.”

“His creatures would work with the actors and when you put the two together the audience was confused, and sometimes we were too, about who had done what.”

But Stan had always said it shouldn’t be all one or all the other, it should be a combination of the two.”

Eric Roth, executive director of the Visual Effects Society said “It’s a big loss. Our industry has lost one of its giants, someone who has had a tremendous impact on helping tell stories with the use of effects.”

Producer Gale Anne Hurd, who worked with Winston on the “Terminator” franchise and on “The Relic,” exprssed shock at the news, as Winston had refused to discuss his illness outside his intimate circle.

Hurt recalled that she and helmer James Cameron first approached makeup artist Dick Smith to do the prosthetic effects on “The Terminator.” Smith declined but recommended Winston, saying “One day you’ll thank me.”

Hurd said of Winston. “He never looked at anything as a problem, it was always an opportunity. I never saw him defeatist, regardless of what may have happened. And he had an incredible childlike passion for films and for makeup effects and animatronics. Having him on set, regardless of whether you were going into your 19th hour or your first, he always gave 100 % and inspired everyone around him.”

The conference room at Winston’s Van Nuys studio was long one of the most effective sales tools any effects company could hope for, with life-sized creatures including the queen alien from “Aliens,” the lunging out of the walls toward the conference table on all sides.

Winston is survived by his wife, Karen; a son, daughter, brother and four grandchildren.

Volitan "Flying Fish" is half ship, half X-Wing

2008-06-16T04:31:00.000-07:00

The Volitan, or the "Flying Fish," is a concept design for a boat that would run green over the great big blue. It harnesses both the power of the wind and the Sun, using solid sails and an array of panels along its wings to trap solar energy and keep the ship's battery charged. The Volitan's wings are controlled by an onboard computer, which tracks light and wind direction to maximize the boat's performance by turning the wings appropriately. The computer can also perform actions such as folding the wings up against the hull when weather conditions get rough.

The Volitan solar ship is designed by two Turks, Dr. Hakan Gürsu and Sözüm Doğan of the Designnobis Studio, and it won first place in the Transportation category and the Nautical/Boats sub-category at the IDA 2007 Design Competition. Check out the video and pictures below for renders, detailed pictures and sketches of this environmentally-friendly vessel.

Volitan - A funny movie is a click away

Star Wars: Where Science Meets Imagination

2008-06-16T02:31:00.000-07:00

A tour with C-3PO

Anthony Daniels (better known as C-3PO) hosts a tour (motiontween1easy.swf) of the Star Wars: Where Science Meets Imagination exhibit at the Science Museum of Minnesota in St. Paul.

Star Wars: The Clone Wars In Theaters and on Television in 2008

2008-05-24T01:09:00.000-07:00

A new era of Star Wars entertainment begins in 2008 when Star Wars: The Clone Wars, from creator George Lucas, premieres as an all-new feature film in August, followed by the television series debut in the fall, in a partnership announced today between Lucasfilm Ltd., Warner Bros. Pictures and Turner Broadcasting System Inc.

Produced by Lucasfilm Animation, Star Wars: The Clone Wars takes audiences on incredible new Star Wars adventures, combining the legendary storytelling of Lucasfilm with an eye-popping, signature animation style. Star Wars: The Clone Wars will open in North American theaters Friday, August 15. International release dates will be announced soon.

"I felt there were a lot more Star Wars stories left to tell," said George Lucas, executive producer of Star Wars: The Clone Wars. "I was eager to start telling some of them through animation and, at the same time, push the art of animation forward."

The theatrical debut of Star Wars: The Clone Wars is only the beginning of all-new Star Wars adventures that continue in the fall when the long-awaited television series premieres on Cartoon Network, followed by airings on TNT. Details regarding international broadcasts will be announced shortly. Star Wars: The Clone Wars showcases an entirely new look and feel to the galaxy far, far away -- combining the expansive scope of the Star Wars Saga with state-of-the-art computer-generated animation. Each week, viewers will see a thrilling, 30-minute "mini-movie" created by the talented artists at Lucasfilm Animation.

On the front lines of an intergalactic struggle between good and evil, fans young and old will join such favorite characters as Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Padmé Amidala, along with brand-new heroes like Anakin's padawan learner, Ahsoka. Sinister villains -- led by Darth Sidious, Count Dooku and General Grievous -- are poised to rule the galaxy. Stakes are high, and the fate of the Star Wars universe rests in the hands of the daring Jedi Knights. Their exploits lead to the action-packed battles and astonishing new revelations that fill Star Wars: The Clone Wars.

"Warner Bros. and Turner are uniquely positioned to deliver on the enormous potential of The Clone Wars because together they offer a world-class opportunity: the theatrical and home-video distribution of Warner Bros. and the broad reach of the Turner Networks," said Micheline Chau, President and Chief Operating Officer of Lucasfilm Ltd. "This terrific combination hits the key demographic groups, ranging from kids to adults, that make up the Star Wars audience."

Dan Fellman, Warner Bros. Pictures President of Domestic Distribution, added, "This is a breakthrough project -- returning Star Wars to the big screen in a completely new way while beginning an exciting new chapter in George Lucas' legendary saga. We immediately felt that it would be a fantastic theatrical event and are thrilled to be bringing it to moviegoers."

"Nothing like this has ever been produced for television," said Stuart Snyder, President/COO Turner Animation,Young Adults & Kids Media. "For 30 years, Star Wars has shown that it appeals to a huge breadth of fans. The Clone Wars on Cartoon Network will be appointment television for everyone in the family. We're thrilled to be working with Lucasfilm again and very excited to be playing a role in bringing this remarkable adventure to viewers."With a new story each week, Star Wars: The Clone Wars continues the tradition of thrilling stories, astonishing visuals and extraordinary music that have always been the hallmarks of the Star Wars Saga.

Lucasfilm Animation, which is based in Marin County, Calif., with a studio in Singapore, has produced more than 30 all-new episodes of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, and production continues on even more exciting episodes.

Star Wars: The Clone Wars Theatrical Trailer

http://www.apple.com/trailers/wb/starwarstheclonewars/trailer1/target="_blank

Source www.starwars.com

eFX e-mail Teasers

2008-05-03T18:02:00.000-07:00

Besides having some teaser images of their upcoming Attack of the Clones Clone Trooper helmet, and Ralph Mcquarrie Darth Vader concept helmet, eFX announced that their original pre-order date for the 500 piece Stormtrooper helmet run has been canceled.

Here's what eFX has to say :

As many of you know, we had originally announced that the pre-order day for our very first product, the Stormtrooper Helmet, was to be on May 5, 2008. However, since eFX is a brand new company, we are going to initiate many new groundbreaking ideas that some many even consider "sacrilege" since they will break some old "traditions". We have decided to scratch the whole pre-order process and establish a WORLDWIDE on-sale date when the product will be available the same day whether you are on Los Angeles, Tokyo or London! We will try to announce the availability date at least 30 days in advance. We think that our collectors will appreciate and like this new process.

Be able to see images of the actual product before you purchase allows you to better plan your finances since you will know exactly when your credit card will be charged. This eliminates the frustration of waiting an uncertain amount of time before you actually receive your product.

It seems the email newsletters going out have random images showing new eFX products. Known so far are :

Ralph McQuarrie Concept Darth Vader helmet
Episode 2 Clone Trooper helmet
Episode 4 Obi-Wan Kenobi Lightsaber
Red 5 X-Wing Fighter
Stormtrooper helmet

WB's 'Terminator' to open May 2009

2008-05-03T17:37:00.000-07:00

McG film stars Christian Bale, Sam Worthington

Warner Bros. will open McG's Christian Bale starrer "Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins" on May 22, 2009, the start of Memorial Day weekend.

That puts two tentpoles on the same date, even though the release calendar for summer 2009 is still relatively open.

Twentieth Century Fox had already staked out May 22 for the bow of the Ben Stiller sequel "Night at the Museum II: Escape From the Smithsonian." First film grossed $250.9 million domestically.

Warner will distribute the pic in North America through a deal with Halcyon Co., which owns all franchise rights to the "Terminator" series.

The last film in the franchise, "Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines," bowed in 2003 and grossed $150.4 million domestically.

"T4" begins lensing in New Mexico for two months on May 5. The state has become a favorite locale for producers because of its production tax incentives.

Storyline is being kept under tight wraps, but plot is part of a planned three-picture arc that begins after Skynet has destroyed much of humanity in a nuclear holocaust. A group of survivors led by John Connor (Bale) struggles to stop the machines. Sam Worthington ("Avatar") is in talks to star as well.

Guillermo del Toro to direct 'Hobbit'

2008-04-24T17:57:00.000-07:00

In a major step forward on “The Hobbit,” Guillermo del Toro has signed on to direct the New Line-MGM tentpole and its sequel.

The widely expected announcement -- which had been rumored for several weeks -- came Thursday afternoon jointly from exec producers Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh, New Line president Toby Emmerich, and Mary Parent, newly named chief of MGM’s Worldwide Motion Picture Group.

Del Toro’s moving to New Zealand for the next four years to work with Jackson and his Wingnut and Weta production teams. He’ll direct the two films back to back, with the sequel dealing with the 60-year period between “The Hobbit” and “The Fellowship of the Ring,” the first of the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy.

New Line is overseeing development and will manage production. Both pics are being co-produced and co-financed by New Line Cinema and MGM, with Warner Bros. distributing domestically and MGM handling international.

Del Toro won’t leave for New Zealand immediately as he’s still in post-production on U’s “Hellboy 2,” due out in July. His previous pic, “Pan’s Labyrinth,” was released through New Line’s Picturehouse and set a record as the highest grossing Spanish language film in U.S. box office history.

The official signing of Del Toro comes four months after New Line settled a lawsuit with Jackson over “The Lord of the Rings” and announced that it had agreed with MGM to turn J.R.R. Tolkien’s “Hobbit” into two live-action films. Sam Raimi had been preceived as the initial front-runner as director but Del Toro had emerged in recent months as the likely candidate.

The studios didn’t give a start date on production and don’t yet have a script. Though no screenplay deal’s been set, it’s expected that the “LOTR” scripting team of Jackson, Walsh and Philippa Boyens will collaborate with Del Toro.

With Del Toro blocking out four years for the project, it’s likely that the studios are aiming at starting shooting next year and releasing the films in late 2011 and 2012.

Jackson’s WETA stages, post-production and visual effects facilities -- built for “The Lord of the Rings” -- will be used for both films. And New Zealand will again be the site of Middle-earth, with the story centering on Bilbo Baggins taking the Ring of Power from Gollum.

Article taken from www.variety.com

Q&A with Robin Chaudhuri of Atlanta Cutlery/Museum Replicas Ltd. & Windless Studios, regarding their newly acquired Star Wars license.

2008-04-22T07:49:00.000-07:00

My name is Christopher Plummer, Founder and Co-Artistic Director of the Rockland Shakespeare Company and the Pen & Sword Theatre Troupe in New York. I am also a lifelong Star Wars fan (An incredible 30 years and counting!), a (pending) member of the wonderful Star Wars costuming enthusiast group, The Fighting 501st and a proud member of Philip Wise’s Rebelscum forum community! (Where else can you be referred to as a ‘Scummer’ and be proud if it?!) I have known and worked with Robin Chaudhuri, a really wonderful person who works for a great company called Atlanta Cutlery/Museum Replicas Ltd. (Yes, another MR in our licensed Star Wars company fleet!), for a number of years. He was gracious enough to take time out of his busy schedule to allow me to interview him regarding his company’s thrilling new Star Wars licensing agreement with LucasFilm Ltd. People have been waiting a long time for this particular license. So, without further ado, here is my interview with Mr. Chaudhuri. Strap yourselves in. This is going to be fun!

CP: Hi Robin, great to speak with you again, today! A lot of people have been waiting for this announcement, so let’s get right to it!!!

CP: What is your name and title at Atlanta Cutlery/Museum Replicas Ltd.?

RC: Name, rank and serial number? This is going to be fun… Robin Chaudhuri, Sales & Distribution Manager for Atlanta Cutlery Corp, Museum Replicas Ltd & Windlass Studios, although my hat can change from day to day.

CP: How long have Atlanta Cutlery/Museum Replicas Ltd. been in business?

RC: Proudly we’ve been around and growing steadily since 1971. And since 1996 we’ve been under the guidance of Windlass Steelcrafts which started way back in 1943 doing work for the British Dept of Defence (which the family still does today). They’ve given us manufacturing capabilities we never dreamed of and opened the door for worldwide distribution.

CP: How many licenses does Atlanta Cutlery/Museum Replicas Ltd. currently hold?

RC: Oh, let me count the ways…currently our licenses include, GI Joe, Forgotten Realms, The Phantom, The Wheel of Time, Marvel (Thor, Captain America, Submariner, Blade, X-Men, Iron Man, Dr. Doom, Thanos), Showtime’s The Tudor’s, Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed, World of Warcraft and of course (drum roll) Star Wars! -Which includes all six feature films and Star Wars: Clone Wars coming to theaters this August and TV this fall.

CP: What are some of the major licenses that are held?

RC: Definitely Star Wars & Marvel jump to mind. I’m not sure you could do better than Jedi Knights and Iron Man right now followed by World of Warcraft.

CP: How did this new and exciting partnership with Lucas Film Limited come about? (How did you acquire this coveted license?)

RC: I’d like to say it was my electric personality that swayed them, but since you know me that won’t fly. It didn’t happen overnight that’s for sure. We’ve been manufacturing collectibles and movie props on sets since 1996, most collectors own or have seen our products for years without even knowing it. What frustrated us the most during this time was that many companies we made collectibles for weren’t fans, but business men. We kept seeing opportunities lost and the fan community not being listened to and so finally stepped from the shadows to acquire these great properties ourselves. The blend we have of business sense and enthusiasm is really rare. Anyway, it was being known as a manufacturer and presenting that extensive resume that keeps the door open. As you know we manufactured for Master Replicas and were sad like most fans when they couldn’t continue, so we stepped in and things went from there.

CP: What kind of product does your particular license include specifically? (are there any gray areas?)

RC: It includes all six feature films plus the newest installment Star Wars: Clone Wars coming in August. It includes all characters and I do mean all, for high-end, screen worthy clothing ensembles with accessories plus full sets of armor. We will be working very closely with Lucasfilm archival personnel, physical samples from the archives, swatches, 3-D files, cut patterns, etc. to bring out the most screen accurate clothing ensembles ever offered. So our license is for all the characters from iconic Han, Luke, Leia, Anakin and Obi to auxiliary characters like Boba Fett, Imperial Officers, Rebel fighters, Biker Scouts you name it. If it’s in the films we’ve got the character. Oh and for the first time ever, fully licensed and endorsed, complete sets of armor! Yes, Storm Troopers, Sand Troopers, Clone Troopers, Biker Scouts, Boba, Jango and more. I’ll geek out here; I’ve always wanted a suit of armor direct from the archives so I’ll be in line for one too!

CP: From which films/shows are you licensed to produce product?

RC: I’m happy to say all of them. The galaxy is far too cool to miss anyone.

CP: Does this conflict or work in concert with eFX and what they plan on producing?

RC: We don’t feel there is any conflict and are glad to see eFX still producing high end LE props. We do not have a prop specific license, but clothing and armor license. We can produce any accessory needed to complete a look, but will not be producing individual props per se. We’ve seen some amazing fan made outfits that may be lacking just a piece or two like a screen accurate robe or boots and we feel they should have access to these without breaking the bank, that’s why clothing will be accessible individually as well as sets. So we see eFX as a partner and when possible we will be working with them to come out with replicas that compliment each other. We just don’t see how more great Star Wars collectibles is a bad thing.

CP: What will your initial product plan consist of?

RC: Great question, where do you start when a galaxy opens up to you? Our 2008 line up will consist of Luke, Han & Leia plus Imperial Officers (both colors and multiple ranks) from episode 4: A New Hope. We wanted the hero outfits to be true to the character, but also exciting and unique so we chose the ones seen in the ceremony at the end. Plus the classic Storm Troopers (with some variants, I’ll tease that out there). We won’t stop there though, Anakin and Obi will be given the royal treatment from Episode 3: Revenge of the Sith. Our goal is to offer balance, something from each trilogy that makes sense and compliment each other. We also feel it very important to give men AND women something to get excited about. For instance the ladies can look forward to the screen worn jewelry, belts, shoes, even hair extensions to complete a look! Our lines will go well into 2010 and beyond so don’t fret if you don’t see your persona yet.

CP: Will the costumes be replicas of pieces that were used in filming or will they be idealized versions of what people 'thought' they saw on-screen? (This is always a bone of contention among collectors)

RC: They will be as close as is humanly possible to the screen worn versions. …Again with all the bells & whistles. Keep in mind that in the 70’s, there wasn’t the thought to keep wardrobes around for posterity or an after market of collectors like today. Throw in that some garments were true one-offs like Padme’s gowns (we’re doing some of those too) or the past decades may have seen a particular textile go extinct so that’s why we say as close as humanly possible. A few things just don’t exist any longer in any way for reference. What is extremely rare and very cool in our opinion is that we also plan to make all layers of an outfit, even the ones you don’t see on screen. In addition most fans don’t realize all the little unseen details that were done to the various outfits to get the garments to look right or sit perfectly depending on the scene. These little details will be there also. Some of the material is still being made from the original outfits, but most isn’t which means we need to custom make many of these garments from scratch. The research we are doing with Lucasfilm makes incredible accuracy still possible though. Naturally as the films evolved and interest grew more and more of this valuable reference was kept safe and these incredible outfits have been made available to us.

CP: Will there perhaps be room for a duel offering of actual replicas and idealized versions?

RC: Not at first. But there is no better feedback than the loyal fans and you never know…

CP: Will pieces or certain components of these costumes and armor be available separately (like was available with your superb Lord of the Rings line of costumes and armor) or will people have to purchase them altogether?

RC: We feel both ways will be very important. All our clothing ensembles will be offered as complete outfits or you can purchase pieces separately. As I said, many fans have had a great deal of time to create outfits on their own and may only need a few items to push them over the top. You should feel part of the Star Wars galaxy and be proud to own this piece of movie making history. The more access to them the better. That said, our armor outfits will be offered as complete sets only, at least at first.

CP: Costuming, specifically 'Trooping' with The Fighting 501st, has become a very popular pastime for Star Wars enthusiasts, will people be able to 'Troop' in these costumes, specifically the armor?

RC: What’s the use of being a Clone Trooper or any other if you can’t troop, fight, frolic (OK, maybe not frolic). No cheap plastic here. We want to be able to move and enjoy a good blaster fight just like you, so you’ll have that aspect to the armor. We’re paying particular attention to the material and will do our best to come up with a material that looks, feels and plays the part without breaking, denting and have minimal scratching. Of course we realize some of you will do this on your own for a battle damaged look. Steve Sansweet has told us how important these specific aspects are to the fan base and we need to make sure that’s incorporated into the design.

CP: Will any of these pieces be strictly limited (as in numbered editions) or will enough be made to satisfy the hunger for individual pieces/sets?

RC: Yes and no. Many of the clothing ensembles will be available for a limited time- for instance we may offer Luke’s ceremony jacket for a year giving us the chance to offer another outfit or piece, so you’ll have a series of garments that can be offered for each character. We feel the armor sets may be limited however to an edition size, but no final decision has been made on it yet.

CP: Will all pieces come with a COA and product description?

RC: Absolutely.

CP: What, if anything will accompany a full set of armor or a costume? Is there a certain display option? For instance, a mannequin of appropriate height for certain characters male and female?

RC: Packaging and the experience of unveiling beautiful pieces will be very important to us. The Star Wars experience should be felt every step of the way. The clothing for instance will come in full length, custom made garment bags and boxed for protection. We liken the care to a wedding dress, which we hope some of these will become. Yes, height will be very important for a mannequin. Display is a very personal thing, but we’ll have a few display options available as separate sku’s, starting with male & female height specific static mannequins that would come with a plaque. Our “deluxe” option will be a height specific mannequin you can pose so screen shots and iconic poses can be reenacted. Then there is a third option which will blow you away, but that’s for a later discussion.

CP: What is the planned timeframe/release schedule that collectors and other potential buyers can expect for most of the pieces? How many will be released per year and at what frequency?

RC: You’re members are ahead of the game here. I’m happy to say you have the scoop. This is our first public discussion about any of this. We hope to have some prototypes available to view at the International Costume Show in March, and some outfits may start shipping by August, but we’ll really show the line off in July at Comic Con at the Lucasfilm Pavilion.

CP: What price points can we expect for the various pieces (What price range)?

RC: Full ensembles could easily range from $350 for a gown to over $1500 for a full outfit. Remember you’re getting archival quality with detail never offered before plus the important accessories. We should have movie memorabilia and Star Wars fans drooling all over the place. Hmmmm, maybe, we should provide bibs with each outfit?

CP: Will a payment plan be available?

RC: I’ll be honest; we hadn’t thought that far ahead. Possibly for the Trooper armor, but since the other ensembles are available as pieces it’s pretty easy to create your own payment plan.

CP: Who has the final say on which characters costumes will be available for all the rabid fans to get their hands on and display in their collections? I think collectors are often unaware as to how certain products are put forth for production. For instance, is it all coming from within your company or a combination of AC/MR and LFL? Does fan input bear any fruit?

RC: I do! No actually you the fan does. We work hand-in-hand with as many fans as possible, attend shows and consult groups like the 501st plus we receive continual feedback from the great folks at Lucasfilm. Nobody knows better than them after 30+ years. This is what steers us.

CP: Does the costume that Anthony Daniels wore constitute a costume in terms of coming under your license umbrella or is that a 'No-No' this time around due to Sideshow having a 1:1 scale C-3PO forthcoming?

RC: Sideshow does amazing work and we’re happy to say we’ll be working directly with them. Not only will they distribute many of our items, but their creative team’s input is helpful. They have a license for 1:1, full scale statues in essence and we have the license for moveable working/wearable replicas. This is a bit more of a gray area for us though and if we head into the direction of droids we’ll get everyone on the same page before we act.

CP: Is this strictly a Star Wars license or a broader LFL license? *cough* INDY *cough*

RC: There’s no doubt Lucas Licensing has many great properties and we have discussed some with them. Keep in mind though a license usually covers a single movie, game or book and that’s enough to keep a company busy for a while. I know it seems like we may only have one license with them and it’s worded that way, but in reality we have eight to contend with at one time when you consider the six feature films, Clone Wars the animated series, Star Wars: Clone Wars movie and the TV series. And don’t forget the live-action series in the works. We’d like to be everywhere at once, but had to take a hard look at our focus and honestly don’t feel we could ever give Star Wars the justice it properly deserves if we were attempting other things as well that were equally iconic.

CP: Are you going to have various sizes (S/M, L/XL, etc.) for all the costumes or are they going to be actual replicas of the pieces worn and tailored for each actor?

RC: We plan sizes, because these should not only look good on display, but as good on you as possible too. Probably two sizes for each outfit except the gowns which require a more tailored fit and these would be in 4 sizes. There will be minimal adjustability for each also to fit a range of body types. Nothing extreme though, we need to preserve the look and integrity of each ensemble. Armor is undecided at this point, but we are leaning toward the general screen size with straps that allow some adjustability.

CP: What can we expect in the future from this new and exciting line? What is planned past the initial offering?

RC: Geeze, I don’t know where to begin or end. For us the Star Wars Galaxy is a real, living world that continues to change and grow. Rest assured you can expect about 4-6 new clothing ensembles per year (to include men & women, sorry no Wookies) and a new set of Trooper and/or other armor each year as well. Save those pennies, I know I will.

CP: Thanks for taking the time to answer some burning questions about your company’s thrilling new line, Robin!

RC: Thank you, Chris and all the dedicated fans out there. Without you, none of this is possible.

Interview taken from www.rebelscum.com

eFX announces first product!

2008-04-16T15:46:00.000-07:00

Stormtrooper helmet coming soon from eFX Collectibles. Check out their website and then be sure to sign up for their new mailing list so you'll be kept up to date with this sure to be exciting new Star Wars prop licensee!

http://www.efxcollectibles.com/

Update :

From eFX Collectibles:

eFX ANNOUNCES JULY 8, 2008 AS THE ON-SALE DATE FOR THE STORMTROOPER(tm) HELMET

We are very excited to announce that our very first product, the Episode IV: A New Hope(tm) Stormtrooper(tm) Helmet will go on sale Tuesday, July 8, 2008. In the U.S. it will be available on our website, http://www.efxcollectibles.com/, and Star Wars Shop will have a very limited quantity, as well.

- Full size Stormtrooper(tm) Helmet

- Asymmetrical, hero version

- Worldwide Edition: 500

- Digitally scanned and cast of an original screen used helmet

- Fiberglass construction with fully padded interior

- 2 sets of “bubble” lenses, grey and green

- Display Stand

- Numbered Plaque and Plaque Stand

- Certificate of Authenticity

ORDERING INFORMATION AND RULES

- Order date and time is July 8, 2008 at 9AM Pacific Daylight Savings Time.

- THIS IS NOT A PRE-ORDER. Product will be ready to ship in 3-5 business days.

- The limit is 1 (one) per person on the first day. If any remain after the first day, you can order a second one. Any order with more than 1 (one) helmet or duplicate orders on the first day will result in the cancellation of BOTH orders.

- Ordering will be via http://www.efxcollectibles.com/ ONLY, no phone or mail orders.

- Payment by VISA, MasterCard and American Express ONLY.

- Please review our Return Policy on our website before purchasing.

- International customers can purchase either through an authorized retailer in their country or on our website. However, if you order directly from us, you will be responsible for all shipping costs, duties, taxes and other fees.

As we had announced previously, if you ordered a Stormtrooper(tm) Helmet DIRECT from Master Replicas and your order was cancelled, you will have priority ordering for this helmet. And now It is even easier since Master Replicas has graciously agreed to verify anyone whose order was cancelled, so you can stop trying to hunt down your cancellation e-mail. So, if your order was cancelled and you are interested in purchasing one of these helmets, please e-mail Amy your contact information with the best time to contact you during business hours, at customerservice@efxcollectibles.com and she will contact you to give you the ordering instructions.

You must contact Amy by July 1, 2008 to reserve your helmet.If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Amy at customerservice@efxcollectibles.com

Star Wars actor Kenny Baker taken ill on plane.

2008-04-15T03:54:00.000-07:00

Star Wars legend Kenny Baker is expected to be back home in Preston this weekend after being taken ill.

The 73-year-old, who played robot R2D2 in the sci-fi classic, suffered problems with his long-standing asthma condition on his way back from attending film conventions in the US city of Chicago earlier this week.

He is recovering in a private hospital in Manchester and is expected to be back at his home in Ashton-on-Ribble in the next few days.

His son Kevin, 35, said his father, who is 74 this year, was "doing okay" and relaxing in hospital after being taken ill on a plane on Wednesday and rushed to hospital when he touched down in the UK.

He said: "It is just a recurring problem with his asthma which he has suffered with for a while now, it is nothing serious just something that flares up every now and then."He just loves going to these conventions and meeting his fans, he gets on so well with the other guys from Star Wars and hates turning down any opportunity to appear.

"I am sure he will want to get going again as soon as he is out of hospital, but I am going to have to try and slow him down a bit."

The 3ft 8in star was rushed to hospital after touching down at Manchester Airport, with friends initially fearing he was "seriously ill" although medics later put his condition down to his asthma.

Now a father-of-two and a grandfather-of-six, Kenny shot to fame in 1977 when he was picked by Hollywood director George Lucas to star in the original Star Wars movie having previously been a circus and cabaret worker.

He went on to star in all six movies in the series, including playing an additional role as Paploo the Ewok in Return of the Jedi in 1983.The actor regularly travels the globe attending conventions and was part of the official party at the Star Wars Celebration Europe, commemorating the film's 30th anniversary, in London in July last year.

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed

2008-04-10T14:27:00.000-07:00

Story :

The Secret Apprentice’s journey takes him across the Galaxy—from the Wookiee homeworld of Kashyyyk to the junkyard planet Raxus Prime and the mushroom-covered planet, Felucia.

He is aided in his dangerous missions by a loyal sidekick PROXY - a prototype holodroid with amazing abilities, and an alluring Imperial pilot named Juno Eclipse.

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed will be released on September 16, 2008 in the United States, September 17 in Southeast Asia and Australia, and September 19 in Europe.

***UPDATED*** JULY 16

Lucas Interview From Total Film Magazine

2008-04-09T16:27:00.000-07:00

Q&A with Harrison Ford

2008-04-09T15:41:00.000-07:00

By now, more than three decades into his leading-man career, Harrison Ford has earned the right to be compared to Hollywood's all-time greats. At 65, he's a star in the tradition of Clark Gable or Gary Cooper-as rugged, clear-eyed, and dry-witted as the characters he plays. Ford's legacy includes some of the most beloved movies ever made, and six of the highest-grossing, including the Indiana Jones and Star Wars films. He has also worked hard behind the scenes on a number of pressing environmental issues. But it's his everyday aspect, starting with his lopsided grin and grumbled delivery, that makes him an audience favorite. Without Han Solo's questioning smirk, Star Wars might have been just another spaced-out fantasy.

This month, the actor picks up his trademark bullwhip for another crack at chasing treasure. After years of false starts, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull will arrive in 4,000 U.S. theaters and be dubbed in more than two dozen languages. Ford recently sat down with Reader's Digest in Los Angeles and freely shared his feelings about stardom, money, and the maternal skills of his girlfriend, Calista Flockhart. In fact, this father of four loves having a child in his life again. "It's made me just a tiny bit less self-centered," he says. Now, that's a leading man.

RD: You've played so many heroes. Do you feel like a hero when you look in the mirror?

Ford: Decidedly not. And I haven't purposefully set out to play heroes. I'm interested in playing the character who finds himself in extraordinary circumstances. But he's really either just saving himself or acting in the service of something that's important to him.

RD: Who do you look at in the real world and say, "That's a hero"?

Ford: The people who devote themselves to serving humanity at the cost of being less comfortable and less protected than the rest of us. They are policemen, firemen, and those who bring to the attention of the world things that are critical to its health and well-being.

RD: You just finished your fourth turn as Indiana Jones. What was it like to put on that fedora again?

Ford: After 20 years, the costume still fit, which was encouraging. And the character came back with the clothes. I think some trace of Indiana still resides in that leather jacket, hat, and whip.

RD: What can't you do at 65 that you could do at 45?

Ford: Eat too much! Actually, I was able to do all the things that I did in the past, and maybe even more because of the advances that have been made in safe stunt work.

RD: That jacket, hat, and whip are in the Smithsonian. What is it that makes Indiana Jones so cool?

Ford: It's the places he goes and the extraordinary adventures he has. The audience loves the ride, the creepy-crawly things, the near misses, and the pursuit of evildoers.

RD: How has Calista Flockhart changed you as a person?

Ford: She's brought a child back into my home. My youngest, other than [Calista's son] Liam, is 17. It's a wonderful opportunity to be part of a child's growing up, which is always an endless springtime. You see the blossoming and the growing and the nurturing and the payoff.

RD: What kind of mother is Calista?

Ford: The best in the world. She's a mother by choice -- she adopted Liam before we met, as a single parent, which is an awesome responsibility to take. She's devoted herself to Liam and has done a really wonderful job raising him. I'm happy to now have a part of the job.

RD: Are you a different father to Liam than you were to your other four children, who are grown now?

Ford: Naturally enough, I'm a little bit more mature.

RD: Do you think you are softer and gentler than you were in the past? Some people affectionately describe you as a bit of a grump.

Ford: I don't feel grumpy. I think it's a characterization for the sake of humor.

RD: You've worked with Conservation International for 15 years. Are you optimistic that we can solve issues like global warming?

Ford: Absolutely. Let me give you one example. Twenty percent of greenhouse gas emissions comes from the burning of croplands and deforestation. That's greater than the entire transportation sector, by a long shot. Burning the residue of a crop after it's been harvested is a widely practiced method in many parts of the world, but it's not productive. And if we can keep forests standing, they sequester carbon; they're the lungs of the planet.

RD: You have 800 acres in Wyoming. Is that in part to conserve the land?

Ford: It has a conservation easement on a good portion of it. I wanted to be steward of a piece of undisturbed land. It's my ambition to leave that behind.

RD: Can you describe your favorite spot on the property?

Ford: There's a walk to the Snake River that branches off through the cottonwood forest. It crosses a couple of streams. I can make that walk in my mind with spectacular detail. [The property] is teeming with wildlife.

RD: Do you feel a certain responsibility to be philanthropic because of who you are?

Ford: Not for who I am but for what I've come to have. When I came into an unseemly amount of money, I decided it would be appropriate to become involved in a variety of issues. But I don't much believe in celebrity spokesmen. I want to affect people's lives in more anonymous ways, though my pursuit of environmental issues has become well-known.

RD: Your movies have grossed $3 billion. Is money all it's cracked up to be?

Ford: Money is really only important if you don't have any.

RD: You don't have to work. What drives you to continue making movies?

Ford: I'm not a person who can occupy my time with recreation. I need a challenge. I need the intellectual stimulation. I'm a member of a community on each film, working in concert to try to bring an idea to life. It's a great job.

RD: Is there a piece of Jedi wisdom that you carry with you?

Ford: "May the Force be with you" is charming but not important. What's important is that you become the Force -- for yourself and perhaps for other people.

RD: What's one movie that always makes you laugh?

Ford: Dumb and Dumber. I'm easy for comedy, unless it's based on hurting people.

RD: Junk food that's most irresistible to you?

Ford: I love the food off those taco trucks that are set up in Los Angeles wherever there's a lot of landscaping going on.

RD: What useless talent do you have that nobody knows about?

Ford: I have real chops at ironing.

RD: If you could take over one person's job for just a day, whose would it be?

Ford: I'd like to be George W. Bush, and boy, I'd get a lot done. You'd remember me for a long, long time.

Taken from Readers Digest...

UPDATED :

Harrison Ford at Late Night with Conan O'Brien

London Toy Fair '08

2008-03-27T13:00:00.001-07:00

Q&A with George Lucas

2008-03-26T18:46:00.004-07:00

A tightly winding country road led me through the dry Marin County hills early on a sunny November morning. I made a right turn onto a private road, and pulled up to a guard booth. A young man was seated inside. On the upper sleeve of his uniform shirt was a red patch bearing the words skywalker ranch. He got on the phone to check that his boss, George Lucas, really had a nine a.m. appointment, and then told me to go ahead.

I drove past a guesthouse, a private fire station, and a hillside covered in grapevines. Up ahead was the main house, a monstrous version of the ideal American family home circa 1930. This is not Lucas’s residence, but the place where he spends his workdays. His head of public relations, Lynne Hale, was waiting on the steps of the grand front porch. I parked my rented hybrid and followed her through the front door; she led me upstairs and into a large corner room, Lucas’s office. She pointed to a certain chair and told me it was his favorite. I said, “I won’t sit in that one, then,” and we shared a nervous laugh. Then Lucas stepped into the room.

I had interviewed Lucas once before, for the February 2005 Vanity Fair cover story on Star Wars: Episode III—Revenge of the Sith, but that had been by phone. I had been informed, for that one, that he would give me 10 minutes of his time. But once I asked him about “mitichlorians,” which are the physical manifestations of the Force in his elaborate Star Wars universe, we were off to the races, and the interview lasted more than an hour.

Lucas came up with the idea for Indiana Jones in the early 1970s, at around the same time he was hatching his Star Wars saga. To better understand some of the obscure talk that follows, readers should know that each of the four Indiana Jones movies concerns the search for a supernatural object, which Lucas sometimes refers to as the MacGuffin. In Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), the sought-after object is the Ark of the Covenant, which contains the Ten Commandments. In Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984), it’s the Shankara Stones, magical artifacts well known in the East. In Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989), the object is the Holy Grail. There were many others in Lucas’s TV series The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, which ran from 1992 to 1996 on ABC and the USA Network. In Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, which is scheduled for a May 22 release, the supernatural object is … well, I’ll let Lucas explain, below.

Lucas is a very soft-spoken billionaire. His speech pattern is a jumble of quick bursts that alternate with long pauses worthy of an absent-minded professor. In his favorite chair, he sat in a slumped posture, Nikes up on the coffee table. Over the years he has complained about how much he dislikes writing scripts, directing movies, and serving as the head of Lucasfilm Ltd.—which are his three main professional activities.

During our conversation, he made sure to point out that Star Wars: Episode I—The Phantom Menace, something of a flop with critics in 1997, is the highest grossing of all his movies. Later, in fascinating detail, he described the machinations of storytelling in general and of creating Indiana Jones in particular.

His detractors say he’s in it for the money, but after interviewing him twice and watching his movies repeatedly, I’m convinced he’s driven by a huge, restless imagination.

How did you feel about the reception to Revenge of the Sith? And did you complete the story to your satisfaction?

I’m happy that the whole thing is finished, finally, so that was very satisfying, to have it complete and in one piece. It was a great sense of completion. I was happy with how it turned out—as well as I could have hoped. The reception is always lukewarm for those movies, so that’s not new.

There were a lot of great reviews mixed in.

I notice that people only remember all the good reviews. The only one that got better reviews than that and moved the needle slightly toward good reviews was Empire. That was the least successful of the movies.

In box office?

Yes. The most successful, in terms of worldwide box office, was Phantom Menace. So that’s the number one. [Laughs.]

Kids prefer the prequel trilogy.

People who are over 40 love [Episodes] IV, V, and VI and hate I, II, and III. Younger people like I, II, and III and don’t like IV, V, and VI, or they like I, II, and III better and think IV, V, and VI are kind of boring and slow. And of course the older people say, “Oh, I, II, and III—it’s too jittery, too fast, too complicated, it’s too digital,” or whatever they want to say. But definitely one generation has grabbed hold of one of them, and the other generation has grabbed hold of the next one. One of the key characters that helped us realize what was going on was Jar Jar Binks, because the kids that are under 10 years old, he’s one of their favorite characters. For people over 40, they cannot stand him—it’s a hate thing. You know, they’ve always been for 12-year-olds, and that’s never changed. People don’t want to think of it that way. They want to think those films are for grown-ups. Even though they were 10 years old when they saw it, it’s still very important to them, so, for them, it’s a grown-up movie, as opposed to a kids’ movie. The pre–Jar Jar Binks was 3PO. Everybody hated 3PO. I mean, it was like they couldn’t stand him. It really had to do with his character. They don’t like his character, and they don’t like Jar Jar Binks—but they’re not designed to be likeable characters.

They’re comic relief.

Well, they’re comic relief, and they’re kind of annoying, but they’re designed to be like that.

They try to put the brakes on the action.

Yeah. Lethal Weapon, I know a lot of people who don’t like Joe Pesci in the Lethal Weapon movies—I love Joe Pesci, I think he was a great asset to that movie, but he’s not a very likeable character. People don’t realize that things are done for a lot of different reasons. But, hey, in the end, I’m very happy with it, and that’s what I care about.

I like the change in tone between the two trilogies. The second trilogy is dense.

It’s also about young people. I knew I was in trouble when I started that, when I started with a 10-year-old. If I was working with a studio, that would never happen. But that’s the story, and I’m going to tell the story. A lot of people look at it and say, “Those things are no-brainers. They’re always going to make money,” but at the time it was 50-50 whether it was going to be what it turned out to be, which was successful, or More American Graffiti, which was not successful. You just never know. Making an assumption that a film is going to be a giant hit is a dangerous assumption.

You know, people think, “Indiana Jones … ,” but if it’s screwed up, then it won’t be that big of a hit. But I don’t think it’s going to be screwed up. I think this Indiana Jones film would be a giant hit regardless of whether the first three were there or not. This is a very funny, adventurous, and exciting movie—maybe not as fresh as the first Indiana Jones film was, because then we weren’t competing with action pictures. Maybe once in a while there was a Bond film, but that series languished, so there wasn’t much in that arena. The biggest surprise with Indiana Jones was the fact that here was a fresh, exciting, exuberant action picture that, from my point of view, was reasonably realistic, considering it was in the Saturday-matinee-serial mode. But there wasn’t anything in there that was so outlandish. It was all credible. A slight stretch of the believability quotient, which we held onto very carefully.

But now, since then, people have gone berserk. Now there’s five or six action pictures every year. One gets bigger than the next, more outlandish than the next, then on top of that you throw comic-book heroes into that mix and they can do anything. So it doesn’t have that kind of same spin on it, but it might be interesting for people to see a movie that is reasonably credible, and still has all the action, and is also very funny. It’s a very unique little niche that a lot of people have tried to get into, but very few people have made it. A few people have, but only about 10 percent of the people that tried. We try to keep a sense of immaculate realism in the film, even though it’s predictable.

Indy can get hurt.

It’s one of the few times when the hero gets beat up and he also looked like he got beat up, and he actually continues through the movie looking beat up. He didn’t suddenly the next day come out, “Oh, yeah, my broken neck, my broken nose, that’s all fixed now, nothing like a good night’s sleep.” … One of the reasons we do a lot of stunt work is, somebody did do it and somebody did survive it. That was even harder on this one than before. Because before, we were sort of playing with ourselves, and James Bond had already gone to the moon side, unbelievable. From Russia with Love was the only one that sort of said, “We’re gonna try to make this realistic.” Which is fine.

So we don’t feel we have to compete with the genre at large, either the believable part or the comic-book part. We just had to make a good story and tell it well, and, yes, it’s an action movie, but it’s important for us that there’s a real supernatural mystery going on. Only Indiana Jones films are supernatural mystery movies. They’re always going after some supernatural object. It’s not a pretend object. It’s not something that we made up. It’s something that actually exists, or people believe exists—whether it does or not is in dispute. But for every person who says, “I don’t believe that,” there’s another person who says, “Well, I believe it. I heard about it, and I saw it,” and there’s stories. Even with the lost ark, when we did it, there were always people saying, “People are going to think it’s Noah’s Ark, people don’t know what that is,” but there’s information that comes up around it. It was the same thing with Steven [Spielberg] with Jaws. They said, “Let’s make it a 30-foot shark.” He said, “There is no such thing as a 30-foot shark. They have caught a 21-foot shark. We’ll make it a 24-foot shark.” That’s where the difference is. We try to keep it within the realm of reality, but stretch it just a bit to make it more interesting and have more fun with it. And also, it’s based on some kind of real mythology that exists that people actually believe in. Shankara Stones was a bit of a reach, [laughs] but in Asia it’s not. As many people believe in the Shankara Stones as believe in the Holy Grail. That’s just Western, Eastern audience. But it’s the same thing with the Holy Grail. The Holy Grail has mythical connotations, has been ascribed with several powers, but nothing very specific. So we had a time when we were going to do it and we rejected it, and we thought we better add to it some sort of healing property, to give it something to grab onto—which have been alluded to in the history of the Holy Grail.

That movie, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, holds up. Is the story responsible for the speed of the action?

Well, you’d be surprised. When you break those movies down, in terms of the relationship between sitting around talking and hard-core action, they’re all about the same. And the hard-core action, there isn’t that much of it, relative to some movies, like Speed. Speed is pretty much action from beginning to end. Some movies are just completely action. Indiana Jones films aren’t.

You have the opening set piece, then a university scene …

Yeah, it’s a very stylized kind of thing. We start the movie with the end of another movie, the end of an adventure, and then he goes back to the school, and we have him in school, and he starts a new adventure. That’s always consistent in all the movies. And usually the beginning teaser is around 15 minutes, give or take 5 minutes, and in that, it goes pretty fast. Then it sits around for a while. You know, it’ll probably sit around for half an hour, with nothing happening. Even in the first Indiana Jones, it takes quite a while to get to the fistfight in the Tibetan bar. And then, after that, you sit around for a long time—it’s mostly a mystery from then on, until the snake sequence. Because there’s a lot of energy, and because it starts off so fast, you’re kind of trying to catch up with it, and then, when it relaxes, you’re sort of saying, “Oh, thank goodness, I can catch up now and figure out what’s going on.” And then we sort of kick in this mystery. There’s always a mystery of something or other. And so that usually takes over, and it’s interspersed with action set pieces as the story demands it.

You need respites in the action, so the audience won’t get tired of it.

Yeah. Indiana Jones aren’t action movies. They’re primarily mysteries with a supernatural object. So it’s kind of like X-Files. X-Files came out of this idea—instead of taking archaeological objects, they took Bigfoot and aliens and psychological mythology instead of the physical—but it amounts to the same thing. It amounts to a belief in the supernatural.

Do you remember where you were when you came up with Indiana Jones?

I was in my office. The first idea that came up was when I was working on American Graffiti. I have a tendency, when I’m working on one thing, to doodle around and work on other things, to avoid what I’m doing. And it came out of that, before I even had a deal to write American Graffiti.

And that came out of [Francis Ford] Coppola challenging you?

He just said, “Look, why don’t you, for your next thing, if you’re going to continue in this world of theatrical features, why don’t you try something funny, warm, and fuzzy?” I’d been working on Apocalypse Now, which, when I was working on it, was more of a satire, more like Dr. Strangelove—but we couldn’t get that movie made at that time.

That was with John Milius?

John Milius wrote the first draft, and he was writing on it, and we sort of got the script done, and so about the time I finished THX, I was ready to go on to Apocalypse Now. We started to prepare it … [but] it was kind of a hopeless exercise. So I said, “O.K., well, I’ll do American Graffiti instead,” and so then I was working on American Graffiti, and that’s when I came up with it. Saturday matinee serial—that was the initial thought, was the Saturday matinee serial.

Were you living in San Francisco then?

Yeah, I’ve pretty much lived here all my life.

I mean, were you living in the city then?

No, I was over in San Anselmo. [Thinks about it.] At that point, I lived in Mill Valley, a little place in Mill Valley.

Did you come up with an Indiana Jones treatment or outline?

I had a bunch of things like that. I’d given it to Phil Kaufman. I’d given it to a couple other people, saying, “Here, do this movie, this is great, this’ll be fun,” and people would start and sort of fiddle with it and drop out to do something else. So I couldn’t get anybody interested in it, and it wasn’t until Steven, when I basically told him the story on the beach. I just told him the story and he got it like that. [Snaps his fingers.] He had a lot of enthusiasm.

That was when you were waiting for the grosses of Star Wars to come out?

Well, not quite. He had taken time off from Close Encounters, the editing of it, but Star Wars had been out for a few weeks. I left the day it had opened, and I didn’t call anybody or ask anybody or anything. The first I knew Star Wars was a hit was CBS News, with Walter Cronkite saying, “Oh my God …”

You were in Hawaii?

I was in Hawaii, then Steve came—“Oh, it’s a giant hit. You really ought to call Fox and find out what’s going on.” So we knew.

Is Indiana an independent film, like the last Star Wars movies?

Well, it’s all but independent. But when I did Star Wars, the original idea was one movie. It was going to go from Darth Vader coming in the door killing everybody, to Luke Skywalker realizing that Darth Vader was his father, to them in essence being redeemed. That was the movie. The only problem was, it was 250 pages. And at that point I had $3 million to make it with, so it was like, Yeah, right, that’s not going to happen. So that’s when I said, “Well, maybe I’ll just do the first act,” because it was a three-act thing. And I said, “Well, I’ll just make that the first act, and I’ll put those two on the shelf, but I will get this made, I will get this thing made.” So most of the deal points were really designed for if the film failed—and the chance was 9 out of 10 that it would—that I would be protected in terms of being able to do the sequels that I wanted to do, if nobody else did. So that was how I got those rights and everything. And then the next step was in order to really make the leap of having control over my films, which is really what it’s all about. I put all of the money I had, all the money I made on American Graffiti, all the money I made on Star Wars, and I put it up against doing The Empire Strikes Back. So that was everything I owned—my house, everything was put into Empire Strikes Back. That was about the same time we were gonna do Indiana Jones, and, if I had more money, I would have financed both of them, but I couldn’t possibly do that. I mean, I almost lost everything on Empire, because it went over budget. So I made a very tough deal for that film, which everybody in town turned down, every single studio.

You mean for Raiders?

For Raiders. The toughest deal anybody had ever seen. Finally, Michael Eisner looked not at what he wasn’t getting, but looked at what he was getting. And he was worried primarily about the fact that I said I could get this thing done for $20 million, and he didn’t believe it, because Steve was attached, and I said, “Steve is my friend. I’ve sat down, I’ve talked to him, and we’re going to pull this thing off.” Steve had just come off three giant, huge, mega-disaster movies, 1941, Close Encounters, and Jaws. Both went double over budget, double over schedule. Of course, he was forgiven over Jaws, because it was a mega-hit. He was sort of forgiven over Close Encounters, because it was a big hit, but 1941 was not, and, therefore, they don’t forgive anymore. And I had talked with Steven. He was a friend of mine, and I knew that he didn’t want to do that. He was caught in some circumstances beyond his control. And I said, “We’ll just do this very tightly. We’ll do it like television, and these are the rules, and that’s how we’re gonna play,” and he agreed, and so I had complete confidence in him.

Like the Danish Dogma rules, but these were B-movie rules.

Yeah, they were B-movie rules, and Steve worked in television—he knew how to do this. And he just needed to be pulled back and say, “Hey, we’re in the real world here. This is what we’re gonna do.”

He hasn’t gone over budget since 1941.

Well, not really. Mostly he’s never gone over budget. And his budgets and his schedules are very small. Steve and I make our films, at the most, around 70, 75 days, and that’s just what we do. We don’t do 150 days. I never have. I sort of moved up from 30 days to 70 days, and he moved down from over 100 days. All these people now, making movies for 150, 200 days, it’s outrageous. It saps everybody’s creative energy, and it costs way too much money, and a lot of these movies now, it’s costing $300 million, and that’s outrageous. I mean, I’m used to the $100 million tent-pole mega-buster, $115 million, or something like that, the low hundreds. This one [Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull] cost a little bit more than that, but of course it’s got Steve and I and Harrison in it. If you subtract us from the mix, then it’s down to a more reasonable amount of money. This is the first time I’ve ever worked in Hollywood.

So you had to play nice with executives?

No. We don’t talk to them. It’s just the way it’s done. It’s very, very expensive. More crew members. More people. More expenses. More demands. If I had done it the way I did all my other movies, we would have saved money. But Steven wanted to stay home. He didn’t want to travel all around the world. He wanted to be with his kids. Family comes first.

So you didn’t go to Australia, like you did for the last Star Wars films.

Yeah. We shot in Hawaii, and on the East Coast, New Haven, and we shot in New Mexico, and Los Angeles.

Were you there a lot?

I checked in on the set. The great thing about working with Steven is, it’s minimal supervision. We agree on everything, and so, it’s not like I say, “Well, you wanna cover it this way?” There’s nothing to do. We think very much alike. Ron Howard and I do the same thing. It’s not like, “What are you doing?” or anything like that. We’re very simpatico. So that’s easy. I’m producing a whole bunch of other stuff, too. Steve can direct and produce things—I can’t. But I can produce four or five things at once.

Karen Allen is a strong presence in the first movie. There’s something about her,

and she and Indy have a history.

They do have a history, and they had a great relationship in the first film, so this is continuing the story of their relationship, which is a lot of fun, and she’s a great character. Again, Steve and I, in the end, are storytellers. We may get accused of being overly emotional, but, you know, we’re of that theory that art is the communication of emotions. That’s what it is. What does art do that something else can’t do? It’s communicate on an emotional level, not on a rational level. So we go for the heart, and try to make it as exciting as possible. Then that blends with what I call circus, which a modern critic would call an amusement-park ride, which is, you know, the gladiators, or horse races, or football teams, or things like that, which are exciting and are emotional.

What do you see as the difference between the Indiana Jones character and Han

Solo?

Well, they’re both cynical characters. It’s hard for a writer to write a particular kind of character—especially if you’ve written several of them—and have them be completely different, because they come out of you. And then you put the same actor in the characters, it makes it even harder, because, unless the character is written to compensate for the fact that you’ve got the same actor—which is why I was sort of reluctant to put Harrison in the role in the first place. But it has some similar qualities, which, most distinctively, is cynicism.

This movie is set in 1957, is that right?

Yeah.

Were you tempted to give it that Hitchcock action-movie look? Or did you want to stick with the matinee-serial look?

Well, we’re sticking with having it look pretty much the way the other ones did. Steven decided, and that was out of my control. I mean, I had a lot to say about the 50s. Ultimately, he wanted it to feel like the other movies, and it does. And the scary part of this movie, ultimately, is that it looks like it was shot three years after Last Crusade. The people, the look of it, everything. You’d never know there was 20 years between shooting. And I think people will be amazed. It’s like sitting in a big old comfortable chair you sat in: “Gee, it’s just the same.”

Did you see a lot of B science-fiction movies?

Yeah, I was 10 years old when that was going on. The one that I remember the most was the least science fiction-y, which was Forbidden Planet.… There’s a whole genre of movies just exactly like Republic serials that had a heyday, like 10, 15 years, because this was really before television, so it sort of took the place of what television shows are like today. Television shows are like B movies, but some of them now on cable are like A movies, but generally it’s just stuff. You watch it, and it’s fun, and it’s great, it’s exciting and all that stuff. The idea was, you take that B genre and move it to the next level. Before Saturday Republic serials, there were silent comedies which were basically like that, the entertainment cannon-fodder.… I was happy that I could say, “Well, this has roots. It’s sort of an homage to a particular genre, and it fits and it works and all that stuff.” That’s what really got me started. And it got me very inspired, and after 15 years we finally got it right. Because it’s one of those things like, we didn’t have to do it. Steven knew as well as I did, because by the time we really got down to the end, I’d already done the pent-up-expectation movie, which was Phantom Menace, and I said, “You know, we’re not going to win on this—at all. We live in a new world now. Critics will hate it. The fans will hate it. But it’ll probably do well, and the only reason we can ever do this is to have fun.”

And maybe after five years people will accept it.

Well … the motivation for the whole thing, to go more than three, was to have a good time. We had fun making those movies, they were fun movies, we liked them, and … of course it’s hard to go home again. Things change. But the eerie part of this movie—I call it the Motion Picture, the Movie of Dorian Gray, because nobody changed. Everybody looks exactly as they did, Steven is directing exactly as he did, and everybody had a wonderful time. And I think we got a great movie. I know the critics are going to hate it. They already hate it. So there’s nothing we can do about that. They hate the idea that we’re making another one. They’ve already made up their minds. And all they’re going to do is go to the movie to say they saw it, but they could already write their review today. The fans are all upset. They’re always going to be upset. “Why did he do it like this? And why didn’t he do it like this?” They write their own movie, and then, if you don’t do their movie, they get upset about it. So you just have to stand by for the bricks and the custard pies, because they’re going to come flying your way. You know it’s gonna come. Will this be Titanic? Probably not. Will this do O.K.? I think, yes, it will. So there’s not much to worry about.

Do you remember first meeting Steven Spielberg? And are you more colleagues or friends? Do you talk about personal things, or is it mainly about movies?

We’re friends. We’ve been friends forever. He saw THX—I didn’t really know him then—when we were students. He came over to U.S.C. to get one of the camera guys to shoot this film Amblin’ he was doing, this camera guy who was a friend of mine. I’d heard about him then. To do this real movie on 35-mm. When we did Raiders, we just did it without thinking of if it might destroy our relationship. But we ended up doing it and we ended up working well together. We’re very much alike. We think very much alike. There’s not a lot of arguing. We have the same agenda, creative agenda, which is to make people feel emotions, make people feel like they’ve had an experience, and we complement each other. So in that way it’s been a great adventure for us. And in the beginning we had a relationship where, if we had a disagreement, Steven would say, “This is why I think it should be this way,” and I would say, “Well, O.K., look, it’s your movie, you do it the way you want.” “Wait a minute—you’re the producer. It’s your movie. I’ll do it the way you want.” So out of that, we compromised into something that worked, because nobody wanted to do it just because they had the power to do it.

Will he give a cut to you soon?

He’s editing, he’s editing.

Will you take a pass at it?

Well, I’ll go over it. But all I am is a different point of view. I’ve tried to recut his stuff before, and it’s really hard, because he shoots it exactly the way it’s supposed to be. We joke that he shoots the movie and I shoot around the movie. When I shoot, I shoot all kinds of footage, I’ll shoot everything I can, and then get it in the editing room and make a movie out of it. He makes a movie before he shoots it, so he knows exactly what he’s doing. That’s very hard to do. That really is genius. He can see the movie in his head and he can articulate it and make it happen just the way he sees it, and it turns out perfect. You can be kind of like John Ford, which is, you shoot everything in a wide shot and then cut it together. Yeah, that’s fine, but we don’t live in that world anymore. This world is cinematically more complex. You have to have more angles, more shots, more things to make it move. We’ve graduated quite a bit from the slow, single-camera reality that existed a long time ago. Now people expect things to really move—and to do that and still know where all the pieces are going to be, I haven’t worked with anybody who can do that as well as Steven. It’s amazing to watch him do it. But we’re friends first and collaborators second.

Did you see the new Coppola movie?

Mmm-hmmm. I saw it quite a while ago. He’s doing what I want to do.

You’ve said you’re going to make experimental movies again.

I’ve been saying it ever since I finished American Graffiti. [Laughs.] But you get to a point where you just want to enjoy the creative process, and we’ve all gotten to a point where we’ve earned that, so now the thing to do is to take advantage of it to make movies to express ourselves, without too much outside interference, and let the chips fall where they may. Those guys have won all their awards, they made all their money, we’ve all done our stuff—there’s nothing left to do except have fun. I’m one of the few who slipped through this entire process making the movies I wanted to make without too much interference. I had a little bit on the first couple, but I bought my way out of that whole thing. Steven has managed because he loved Hollywood. He loves the studios, he loves the system, and he goes along with it, so he doesn’t fight.

He can function within the system.

He functions within the system. He rides the horse. The horse goes where he wants to go, and they go together.

Q&A with Steven Spielberg

2008-03-26T18:46:00.003-07:00

I was staring at a framed sketch of Rockwell’s Triple Self-Portrait when Spielberg entered the room, so the first thing I asked was whether he draws or paints in his spare time.

Spielberg: I’ve never been able to draw anything other than stick figures.

So when there’s storyboarding to be done, do you give someone else a little template or something?

No, I do them all myself. Then I turn over my little stick figures to professional storyboard artists, and they make me look good.

I grew up on your movies and have been showing them to my kids, and we just watched Close Encounters and E.T.

How old are your kids?

Twelve and nine.

And they saw Close Encounters?

Yeah, I thought they were ready for it.

What did they think?

They loved it.

Did they understand the man’s personal obsession?

Yeah, they loved it, and the reversal with the mashed potatoes, they really loved that. I was wondering what you’ve done with your own kids. Do you show them Jaws at some point?

I don’t really have a schedule of when I want to show my children my movies. They usually ask me to see Indiana Jones, which I think is fine for my younger kids, but then they’ve asked me to see Jaws and even Saving Private Ryan and Schindler’s List, and when they ask me these questions, I pretty much have to evaluate their relative maturation, because kids, even in the same family, mature at different rates. For instance—I don’t want to name names, because kids in the same family like to protest the unfairness of one child gaining a privilege over another—I have a couple of kids who saw Schindler’s List when they were younger than the average audience that would be permitted by average parents to see that story.

Like under 10?

Not under 10. Not at all. No one’s seen Schindler’s List in my family under 15. No one has.

That sounds about right.

The important thing is, you’ve got to know your kids, and you’ve got to know them as individuals. I love my kids as individuals, not as a herd, and I do have a herd of children: I have seven kids.

What are the ages?

From 10 to 30.

What age do you set for Jaws?

I haven’t shown Jaws to my 10- or 11-year-old, and I won’t. I showed Jaws to Sawyer when he was, I think, 13. Because then they use the argument, “Dad, I was bar mitzvahed last week. Everybody said today I’m a man, and you still won’t let me see Jaws?” Sometimes the kids outsmart me. It is PG, but that was before the PG-13 rating. Today Jaws would obviously be PG-13.

Just because of the menace, the feeling of it, even more than the blood.

Yes, yes, yes.

I guess Temple of Doom ushered in the PG-13 rating.

The story of that was, I had come under criticism, personal criticism, for both Temple of Doom and, you know, Gremlins, in the same year. I remember calling Jack Valenti [then the president of the Motion Picture Association] and suggesting to him that we need a rating between R and PG, because so many films were falling into a netherworld, you know, of unfairness. Unfair that certain kids were exposed to Jaws, but also unfair that certain films were restricted, that kids who were 13, 14, 15 should be allowed to see. I suggested, “Let’s call it PG-13 or PG-14, depending on how you want to design the slide rule,” and Jack came back to me and said, “We’ve determined that PG-13 would be the right age for that temperature of movie.” So I’ve always been very proud that I had something to do with that rating.

You made movies when you were a kid, and people who know your work know that. Do you give your own kids movie cameras? Do they fool around with that stuff the way you did when you were a teenager?

Always, yes. Our kids have always had video cameras in their lives. We have two cameras at home. We have the high-def camera that I use to take all the family videos. Then we have a second camera that is a smaller Canon high-def camera that our kids are allowed to use. When you look at the tapes of the movies the kids make, it’s all very eclectic. The kids can only really employ that camera. They can’t use the family camera, because that is … you know.

So they can beat it up a little bit?

Well, the family camera’s sort of out of reach, and I just try to get my kids to take as many videos as they possibly can, because I can learn more about my kids based on their role-playing on video.

I gave my kids a camera, and they built a snowbank, and it’s all crashes.

Our kids role-play. They put on different accents, they put on different costumes, and they role-play. It’s wonderful to see, and it’s a wonderful window into the imaginations and the personalities of your children, when they show you, with pride, something they made that’s completely improvised. And it really is quite an insightful tool for moms and dads to get to know their kids better by.

Have your kids gone as far as to edit and add sound and things like that?

No, our kids don’t like to use the software, the tools. They pretty much do it the way I did it in 8-mm.: they cut in the camera.

When you set out to make a movie, you’re setting the tone or the mood for your entire year. I’m sure it’s difficult to know you’re going to Poland to film Schindler’s List for a few months, as opposed to doing an Indiana Jones movie. Does it carry into your home life and your thoughts?

Well, for one thing, I don’t know what I’m in for. Most of my presumptions about a production are usually wrong. For instance, with Schindler’s List, I was pretty certain that whatever came my way in Poland I could tolerate, and just put my camera between myself and the subject, and protect myself, you know, by creating my own aesthetic distance. And immediately, on the first day of shooting, that broke down. I didn’t have that as a safety net, and immediately I realized that this was about to become the most personal professional experience of my life. It was a devastatingly insightful experience, but it’s something I still haven’t gotten over. I think back on the production of Schindler’s List with very sad memories, because of the subject matter, not because of the working experience. The working experience was nearly perfect, because everybody held on to each other in that production. We formed a circle. It was very therapeutic, and for a lot of people, it changed their lives. A lot of the actors, a lot of the crew, it changed their lives. It changed my life, for sure. But then other productions that I’ve gone into with a blithe spirit, thinking, This film’s a pushover. It’s often when I take that attitude, the movie turns around and runs me over as if it were a tank. And so I’ve tried my best to stop second-guessing what the working experience is going to be like. Because I’m usually wrong.

I was watching the extras on the Amistad DVD, and it brought up the point that if you’re re-enacting history, it’s inevitable that the actors and everyone on the crew are going to feel it. The actors had to wear real chains, and it was a difficult experience.

Yeah, and I think it turns cynical people into very mindful people. I certainly thought I could withstand any image that I helped to put up on the screen, even images from history, but sometimes they’re hard to look at, and especially hard to look at when they’re being performed live right in front of you—maybe a little easier to look at when they’re on the screen, actually. But sometimes the re-creation of a very painful time in history, it feels like, to the people who are standing on the front lines of moviemaking, it feels like you’re recording history, not re-creating it. Now, I’m not fooling myself—we are re-creating it, which means it will never be 100 percent accurate—but it’s accurate enough that usually it slams us down pretty hard.

Now you’re coming back to Indy after doing Schindler’s List, Saving Private Ryan, Amistad—heavy stuff. Do you have different muscles that you’ve developed? Did you just go back into Indy mode to make an Indy movie?

Well, for me, making the latest installment of Indiana Jones was like getting back on the bicycle I hadn’t ridden in 18 years. And I was able to keep my balance without training wheels. I was sort of amazed that all of us got our Indy legs back in the first couple of days of shooting, and that was the good news. It was a real reunion, with the sweetest memories we shared from 1980 through 1989, when we made three Indiana Jones features. And to have Karen Allen back, and to get Harrison back in such great form! I screened the movies for myself, too. I screened the films back-to-back before I began directing the fourth one.

How do you watch them?

I watch them with my cinematographer. We went down to a screening room here and we saw one a day.

Is that Janusz Kaminski?

Janusz. We watch them on the screen.

And he wasn’t the cinematographer for the first three.

He wasn’t. Douglas Slocombe shot the first three Indy films, and his lighting style defined a genre of serialized action adventure. I needed to show them to Janusz, because I didn’t want Janusz to modernize and bring us into the 21st century. I still wanted the film to have a lighting style not dissimilar to the work Doug Slocombe had achieved, which meant that both Janusz and I had to swallow our pride. Janusz had to approximate another cinematographer’s look, and I had to approximate this younger director’s look that I thought I had moved away from after almost two decades.

From the 90s onward, your movies do look a little different. Munich is beautiful-looking and—

They’re all different. They’re all different. I think every movie I’ve made after Indiana Jones, I’ve tried to make every single movie as if it was made by a different director, because I’m very conscious of not wanting to impose a consistent style on subject matter that is not necessarily suited to that style. So I try to re-invent my own eye every time I tackle a new subject. But it’s hard, because everybody has style. You can’t help it. It just comes off you like pollen. I mean, if you’re a bee, you’re a bee, but at the same time I try very hard to work a little out of the box every time I make a choice. And I had to go back to a box that I had helped invent in the 1980s to accomplish this task of bringing Indiana Jones back to life in the 21st century.

I was wondering, since the story is set in 1957, if you were tempted to get that beautifully crisp 1950s Technicolor look Hitchcock had in North by Northwest.

We went right back to the blazing Technicolor style of the first three installments.

But I feel like the Indy movies are almost an update of a 1930s look. There’s something about them that feels warm, like 30s movies, and Hitchcock had a sharp style in the 50s.

This wasn’t that kind of a style. For Munich, I certainly tried to bring an early-70s Hollywood style, a cinéma-vérité style, with zoom lenses, and a lot of the tools that were used to make movies in the 70s, one of my favorites being The Day of the Jackal, the Fred Zinnemann film. But I didn’t want to update Indiana Jones to the 1950s beyond hair, makeup, costumes, and cars. I wanted it to look very similar to the first three pictures.

Which had the spirit of the old serials.

I never wanted to get away from the B-movie, pulp feeling of the entire cliff-hanger era of the 40s and 50s, the old Republic serials.

Hitchcock is funny, because he had a pulp sensibility but a very polished look.

Yes, he does, very much so. But Hitchcock also storyboards everything, and everything is done by the numbers in the order that he places them. He paints by numbers. Hitchcock’s most brilliant work is done privately, with the sketch artist, and so I think he spends the greatest amount of creative energy on the planning stages, and then when he goes to make a movie, he sticks very closely with the battle plan. And so his movies are, for me anyway, like perfect, pre-meditated murders. And he’s wicked. Hitchcock films have a wicked, deadly glint in the eye, and that’s the pollen that Hitchcock has left behind. But at the same time, his films are very different, one from the next. Lifeboat is much different from North by Northwest. North by Northwest is much more of a Hollywood genre movie, whereas Lifeboat is like a stage play.

Harrison Ford gets overlooked. An Indy movie is not like a Star Wars movie, where you have an ensemble of actors. What do you see that a layman wouldn’t see in a performance like his?

Harrison had the same problem I had. He’s spoken the words of so many different writers, and he’s been involved in so many different genres in 18 years, that we both wondered if we were going to be able to go back home together and be who we were. I mean, we’re both older—and we both look a bit older, I think, certainly—but at the same time Harrison needed to recapture the caustic, laconic spirit of Dr. Jones, and certainly he was going to have to manage the action, and he did both of those things amazingly well, far beyond what I expected. And he just did it so brilliantly and so effortlessly. He was just a little more out of breath after every stunt, just a little more, and so was I.

What’s the emotional range of Indiana Jones? Can he feel despair? Or is he just a machine to go forward and make the action happen?

Indiana Jones was never a machine. I think one of the things we brought to the genre—and we didn’t coin the genre; it’s been around a lot longer than we’ve been around—but one of the things that George [Lucas] and I and, originally, Larry Kasdan, the writer of Raiders of the Lost Ark, brought to the genre, was the willingness to allow our leading man to get hurt and to express his pain and to get his mad out and to take pratfalls and sometimes be the butt of his own jokes. I mean, Indiana Jones is not a perfect hero, and his imperfections, I think, make the audience feel that, with a little more exercise and a little more courage, they could be just like him. So he’s not the Terminator. He’s not so far away from the people who go to see the movies that he’s inaccessible to their own dreams and aspirations.

He’s not even Bond. Bond’s not a superhero, but he’s more impenetrable.

Bond’s more impenetrable, and I think to the credit of the Bond series, Daniel Craig allowed James Bond to suffer. And that was brilliant. It was brilliant of Martin Campbell and Daniel Craig and certainly Paul Haggis, who wrote the last draft, to allow Bond to go where Indiana Jones had been.

He was a great presence in Munich. Daniel Craig was like a time bomb, and I kept waiting for him to go off, but he never did. He never wavered.

Yes, he never wavered.

The women of Indiana Jones are different from Bond girls. There was a deeper connection between Indiana Jones and Karen Allen than there is between a Bond girl and Bond.

Well, a Bond girl—if James Bond gets fresh, a Bond girl will slap James across the face. But Marion Ravenwood will haul off and punch Indiana Jones’s lights out. She was always the feisty spitfire in a leading-lady action heroine that I had admired growing up watching movies, especially watching the old movies from the 30s, when women held their own against men, where women could win the day, like Irene Dunn, like Ann Sheridan, like Barbara Stanwyck. And writers knew how to write for women in the 30s and 40s.

Alison Doody, from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, was more like a Bond girl.

She was more like a Bond girl, but she was also a betrayer. She betrays Indy, but she’s more like a Bond girl. But not Kate [Capshaw, the co-star of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, who is also Spielberg’s wife]. Kate wasn’t a Bond girl at all. When push came to shove, she could stand alongside Indy and knock out thuggies.

When there’s an action sequence in Indy and your other movies, you always have clarity. You never wonder, “Who’s that guy punching that guy?” But in recent action movies, there’s more confusion on purpose, on the part of the director, to create a feeling of chaos on-screen. You don’t seem to go for that.

No, I don’t go for that. I go for geography. I want the audience to know not only which side the good guy’s on and the bad guy’s on, but which side of the screen they’re in, and I want the audience to be able to edit as quickly as they want in a shot that I am loath to cut away from. And that’s been my style with all four of these Indiana Jones pictures. Quick-cutting is very effective in some movies, like the Bourne pictures, but you sacrifice geography when you go for quick-cutting. Which is fine, because audiences get a huge adrenaline rush from a cut every second and a half on The Bourne Ultimatum, and there’s just enough geography for the audience never to be lost, especially in the last Bourne film, which I thought was the best of the three. But, by the same token, Indy is a little more old-fashioned than the modern-day action adventure. I tried very hard, and I hope I succeeded, in not re-inventing the genre, because that would not make it an Indy movie. I just didn’t want to re-invent Indy in a way that would deny that these movies are more based on 1930s Hollywood pictures than anything else.

How do you get a movie to have speed? Is it partly the story?

Part of the speed is the story—it’s the story. If you build a fast engine, you don’t need fast cutting, because the story’s being told fluidly, and the pages are just turning very quickly. You first of all need a script that’s written in the express lane, and if it’s not, there’s nothing you can do in the editing room to make it move faster. You need room for character, you need room for relationships, for personal conflict, you need room for comedy, but that all has to happen on a moving sidewalk.

You went through a number of scripts.

I did.

People have read about Frank Darabont. Is it true you liked his script?

Very much. I very much liked Frank’s script.

Was it set in the 40s?

It was set in the 50s.

With latter-day Nazis coming at Indiana Jones?

Yes. And I quite liked Frank’s script, but George and I had a disagreement over it, and George and I have always agreed to agree. So when we take each other’s temperatures, if I really am passionate about something, George will give in to me, and if George is really passionate about something, I’ll pretty much go his way. And in this case George was passionate that this was not the story he wanted to tell at this point in the Indiana Jones saga. And I think it’s a wonderful script.

Is that leaving room open for another one?

Oh, I don’t know. I haven’t even thought about that. I’m still in the cutting room. I can’t even think beyond the next cut.

So what stage are you in now?

I’m in my second cut, which means I’ve put the movie together and I’ve seen it. I usually do about five cuts as a director. I haven’t ever directed a film where I haven’t made five passes through the movie, and that takes a long time.

And what’s the process? Do you send the fifth cut to George?

I send my fifth cut to [composer] John Williams and the sound-effects people. They will soon be getting the cut, and John Williams will start writing the music.

Is editing enjoyable?

I love editing. It’s one of my favorite parts about filmmaking.

As long as you have the stuff and you’re not regretting what happened on the set.

Yeah. The best news is that, when I saw the movie myself the first time, there was nothing I wanted to go back and shoot, nothing I wanted to reshoot, and nothing I wanted to add.

Do you remember the first time you saw George Lucas?

I met him in 1967. I was a student at Cal State Long Beach. George was at U.S.C. He had made a short film called THX 1138. And there was a film festival, I think involving student films from all over California. They were having it at U.C.L.A., I think Royce Hall. I met George backstage. I was blown away by his short film, and Francis Coppola introduced us.

Were you an undergraduate at the time?

I was in my second year at college. There was no film program at Long Beach State, so I was on weekends making 16-mm. films on the side. And I was hanging around Universal. That was ongoing. I put all my classes Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. I was shoving 15 and a half units into Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, and having no classes Thursday and Friday so I could come to Universal and hang out with the directors and editors and sound mixers.

So when you met George Lucas, did you go out for a beer?

No, it wasn’t until a couple of years later that we became friends, because some writing friends of mine, Hal Barwood and Matthew Robbins, were very close to George, and they put us together a second time, and that’s when George and I became fast friends.

Was it through movies or also a friendship?

It was a shared passion and a personal friendship.

George told you the first Indy story in Hawaii?

He had called me up and he said, “Do you want to come to Hawaii? I need to get away for the opening of Star Wars. Do you want to join me?” So I got on a plane, and joined him and his wife, and we were in Hawaii, and we were just waiting for the grosses. Waiting for the morning shows to be reported, because I think the movie opened at 10 o’clock in certain theaters. We got word about three in the afternoon or so, or four in the afternoon. The sun was still up. I remember George got word that all the 10-o’clock-in-the-morning shows had sold out all across the country. And at that point George was the most giddy I had ever seen him in all the years prior to that that I had ever seen him. He was just beside himself, with relief more than anything else. He had been inward for a long time, waiting for those numbers, and then he turned to me, he said, “So what are you going to do next?” And I told him that I wanted to, for the second time, approach [film producer] Cubby Broccoli, who had turned me down the first time, to see if he would change his mind and hire me to do a James Bond movie. And George said, “I’ve got something better than that. It’s called Raiders of the Lost Ark.” He pitched me the story, and I committed on the beach. We started a tradition of building lucky sandcastles. So we used to build sandcastles in Hawaii, and if the sandcastle withstood the first high tide, the film was a hit. If the high tide overran the sandcastle, we were going to have to struggle to make our money back. That was our superstition and that was our tradition.

What beach was that?

At the Mauna Kea. On the big island.

A white-sand beach?

White-sand beach.

I was curious if you’d seen Knocked Up and the scene where the main character says he loves Munich, because Jews kick ass.

I loved Knocked Up! I called [director] Judd [Apatow] to compliment the movie, and Judd sent me the uncut improvisation, the uncut Munich improv that didn’t show up in the film. They just used about the first third of it, but it goes on another two minutes. So Judd sent me the entire scene to look at, and it was fantastic.

Are you going on with a Lincoln movie or Chicago 7?

I’m developing Lincoln and developing Chicago 7. We’re in the process right now on Chicago 7 of doing a feasibility study of what actors are available.

Does it look like that would be before Lincoln?

I don’t want to say it’s a done deal, but it’s possible that will be ready for me before Lincoln.

I saw that [playwright-screenwriter] Tony Kushner is working on Lincoln.

Not anymore. There’s a strike. All my writers are on the picket line.

You’ve had this dual career of entertainments and very serious movies.

All the films, every movie … If a movie is going to be a reflection of any kind of a real-life situation, it has to have all the sine waves of real stories, meaning there’s absurdity, there’s comedy, there’s tragic loss, there’s huge impenetrable forces chasing you down, and then there’s redemption at the end. Every movie is really just a distillation of a moment in time, a moment in someone’s life, but filmmakers and writers love to shove every possible option into those moments, so the audience gets to experience an entire life in a couple of hours. So every movie strives to achieve that.

It surprised me, re-watching your movies, that A.I. feels almost the most tragic out of all of them.

It is the most tragic—but not out of all of them.

Even in Schindler’s List and Amistad, there’s some redemption for the main characters in the end.

I never saw redemption for the main character at the end of Schindler’s List. I saw that, at the end of the Holocaust, there were witnesses who could testify to the Holocaust’s existence, and without those survivors there would have been no witnesses to ever speak the truth about the great murders. There wouldn’t have been any eyewitnesses to illuminate for the rest of the world the greatest crime that has been perpetrated against the human race. So I never saw the end of Schindler’s List as being anything other than that, without those 1,200 survivors, there wouldn’t have been anyone to tell the tale. And that was important to me. But in a sense there’s a darker outlook with A.I., because somehow A.I. is about the end of the entire human race that is superseded by the Frankensteins that man has put on the planet in the greedy effort to make a boy who could love you. But the boy himself is not human, he’s next to human. A substitute love child, you know, is almost a crime, and the human race pays for that crime. And so I think it’s a very tragic story, and I think I was as true to Stanley Kubrick’s vision as I possibly could be.

George Lucas tends to write about fathers and sons, and you often write about mothers and sons. The new Indy movie, I assume, is another father-son story.

I wouldn’t say it’s a father-son story. The new Indy movie is about a great quest, an amazing quest—and that’s all I’m gonna say. [Laughs.]

Keys to the Kingdom - Indiana Jones IV

2008-03-26T18:46:00.001-07:00

When we last saw him, nearly 19 years ago, everybody’s favorite archaeologist was literally riding off into the sunset after having found the Holy Grail. This seemed as though it had to be the end of the adventure series that had gotten its start with Raiders of the Lost Ark, the big summertime blockbuster of 1981. But then, on the morning of June 18, 2007, Steven Spielberg, the director of the Indiana Jones movies, and George Lucas, who came up with the idea for the franchise, found themselves facing cast and crew on an empty piece of land in Deming, New Mexico. “How time flies,” Spielberg said, raising a flute of champagne, in a moment captured on video, which ended up on YouTube. “No one’s changed, we all look the same. I just want to say: Break a leg, have a good shoot, do your best work, and here’s looking at you, kids.”

Before the day was out, the temperature had reached 97 degrees. Probably no one felt the heat more than the star, Harrison Ford, who, at age 65, was back in his distinctive costume. “It’s a very bizarre costume, when you think about it,” Ford says. “It’s this guy sporting a whip, who’s off usually for someplace really hot in his leather jacket.” He says he got right back into the role once he suited up. “There’s something about the character that I guess is a good fit for me, because the minute I put the costume on, I recognize the tone that we need, and I feel confident and clear about the character.”

After 79 first-unit filming days, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull was a wrap. Like the earlier movies, it is a Lucasfilm Ltd. production distributed by Paramount Pictures. Aside from the New Mexico location, the film was shot in New Haven, Connecticut; Fresno, California; and Hawaii, with significant work taking place on lots built at Downey Studios, in southeast Los Angeles.

On May 22, the movie will hit approximately 4,000 U.S. theaters. The story is set in 1957, and this time Dr. Jones goes up against cold-blooded, Cold War Russkies—led by Cate Blanchett in dominatrix mode—instead of the Nazis he squashed like bugs in previous installments. Making a return alongside Ford is Karen Allen, as Marion Ravenwood, Indy’s pugnacious true love, last seen in the first film (since retitled, rather inelegantly, Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark). Rising star Shia LaBeouf joins the cast in a role that no one connected with the film will confirm is the love child of Indy and Marion.

Once the final cut is locked, it will be dubbed into some 25 languages for an ambitious international release. The masses—lately thrilling to the lethally blank Jason Bourne, the totally out-to-lunch Jack Sparrow, and that earnest wand waver Harry Potter—will be asked once more to embrace a fedora-wearing hero of the 1980s with roots in the jungle serials of the 1930s.

It’s not a bad bet. Lucas, 63, and Spielberg, 61, have made 13 of the all-time 100 highest-grossing movies, in terms of worldwide box office, either separately or as a producer-director duo. They are big-time spellbinders in a league with P. T. Barnum, Walt Disney, and the Wizard of Oz. The Indiana Jones series alone has grossed more than $1.18 billion worldwide—and that’s before you add in the comic books, young-adult novels, and figurines.

But once upon a time, in the faraway 1960s, Lucas and Spielberg were upstarts banging at the palace doors. Hollywood was run by men who were the age they are now, tough guys who weren’t going to give way without a fight. At age 18, Spielberg sneaked away from the tram route of the Universal Pictures tour and stepped onto a soundstage. He was a movie-crazed kid who had already made a full-length feature, Firelight, an 8-mm. sci-fi extravaganza starring his sisters, and he wanted in.

The next day he showed up on the lot wearing a suit, his dad’s briefcase in hand. It was a disguise good enough to get him past the guards. He settled into an empty office and “worked” at Universal all through that summer of 1965, making himself known to the cinematographers and directors, creating for himself an unofficial, on-the-fly internship. While attending California State University, Long Beach, Spielberg continued to visit the lot. On weekends he shot a 23-minute 35-mm. movie about two young hitchhikers, called Amblin’. He won a real job on the strength of it, as a director in Universal’s television wing. So there he was, a boy wonder among grizzled veterans, turning out episodes of Night Gallery, Columbo, and Marcus Welby, M.D., honing the craft he would put to use in a career spanning everything from The Sugarland Express (1974) to Munich (2005).

Lucas was more of an accidental filmmaker. As a skinny diabetic kid growing up in the dusty Northern California town of Modesto, he wanted to be a racecar driver—in those days driving fast and fixing cars were his chief talents—but his dream died soon before his high-school graduation, when he flipped over in his own Fiat Bianchina. The wreck almost killed him. After two years of community college, he applied to the University of Southern California’s film school. He moved downstate against the wishes of his strict father (who considered the film industry vile), and soon made a name for himself with a series of prizewinning experimental shorts. His U.S.C. films earned him a paid Warner Bros. internship that led him to the set of Finian’s Rainbow, a musical being shot by just about the only young director back then, 28-year-old Francis Ford Coppola, who pushed Lucas to learn how to write scripts and create accessible movies. Lucas went on to do just that on a grand scale, and he pulled it off largely outside the system. With his considerable winnings he built Lucasfilm, his very own, leaner version of Hollywood, now based in San Francisco’s Presidio and on a large property in rural Marin County.
In 1967, Spielberg had seen a Lucas short, Electronic Labyrinth: THX 1138 4EB, at a student film festival held at U.C.L.A.’s Royce Hall. “I met George backstage,” Spielberg recalls. “I was blown away by his short film, and Francis Coppola introduced us.” They met again in the early 1970s, when Lucas was in L.A. to cast his second feature, American Graffiti. A gang of young cinéastes was gathering at a Benedict Canyon hovel that had been Lucas’s home in his U.S.C. days, and where he was staying again while in town. Among the group was Spielberg, who was working on his script for The Sugarland Express. “I’d come in at night after casting all day,” Lucas says, “and that’s when we became friends.” As the decade rolled along, blockbusters by Spielberg (Jaws) and Lucas (Star Wars—now called Star Wars: Episode IV—A New Hope) changed the industry.

Lucas left Los Angeles the day Star Wars opened in 1977 to hide out at Hawaii’s Mauna Kea resort, on the Big Island. Spielberg soon joined him, and they talked over their plans. “I told him that I wanted to, for the second time, approach [film producer] Cubby Broccoli, who had turned me down the first time, to see if he would change his mind and hire me to do a James Bond movie,” Spielberg says. “And George said, ‘I’ve got something better than that. It’s called Raiders of the Lost Ark.’ He pitched me the story, and I committed on the beach.”

Lucas had first conjured the bullwhip-happy archaeologist in the early 1970s, when he was living on almost nothing in Mill Valley, north of San Francisco. It was right around the time he dreamed up Star Wars and was honing the American Graffiti idea. “I have a tendency, when I’m working on one thing, to doodle around and work on other things, to avoid what I’m doing,” he says. Just prior to that, he had been working, with brawny writer-director John Milius, on a script for Apocalypse Now (which Lucas was going to direct, before the project wound up in Coppola’s hands). “We started to prepare it,” Lucas recalls, “and there was no studio that would go near it. The army wouldn’t cooperate at all. It was kind of a hopeless exercise.”

That’s when he had a vision of Indiana Smith (as he originally named him). Here was a film hero who might be able to bring back the cheesy excitement of the 1930s-vintage Republic Pictures serials Lucas had seen on TV as a kid. “Saturday matinee serial—that was the initial thought,” he says. With a little more care, better production values, and a dash of irony, this type of thing could be transformed into something of interest for a 1980s audience.

Loaded with comedy and hairsbreadth escapes, Raiders of the Lost Ark was the highest-grossing film of 1981. Ford, who had played the cocksure, cynical Han Solo in Star Wars, made a perfect professor of archaeology who’s not so mild-mannered when he goes off campus. The movie spawned two sequels: the dark, over-the-top Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984), made while Lucas was going through a painful divorce, and the more tender and slapstick father-son picture, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989), in which Indy wins the respect of his dad, a withholding grump played by Sean Connery.

But it wasn’t quite the last crusade. From 1992 to 1996, Lucas supervised The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, a TV series which ran first on ABC, then on the USA Network, and won 10 Emmys. While filming a 1993 episode in which Ford made a cameo appearance, Lucas happened on something that gave him the idea for a fourth movie installment. He mentioned it to the actor, who wasn’t too impressed. Lucas later told Spielberg about his new concept, only to find that the director wasn’t so hot on the idea, either, although generally warm to the notion of a fourth film.
But Lucas was adamant. It was this idea or nothing.

Tucked into a corner of the Universal Studios lot is a cluster of two-story, Southwestern-style buildings. This is the Amblin Entertainment production house, the place where Spielberg works when he’s not shooting a movie. The little campus is populated with union carpenters, development girls in funky hats, and nervous Hollywood courtiers who wait their turns in a clay-tiled foyer. When Spielberg meets you in his homey conference room, he looks you in the eye and asks interested questions. He’s affable, cheerful, engaged—“present,” in L.A. parlance. It’s easy to picture him running a sane, happy movie set. At the time of our interview, he’s between sessions of editing the new Indy.

“I’m in my second cut, which means I’ve put the movie together and I’ve seen it,” he says. “I usually do about five cuts as a director. The best news is that, when I saw the movie myself the first time, there was nothing I wanted to go back and shoot, nothing I wanted to reshoot, and nothing I wanted to add.”

My glance strays to a side table, where headshots of actors under consideration for his likely next directing project, Chicago 7—about the conspiracy trial that grew out of protests at the 1968 Democratic convention—lie on the surface. Among them I spy Will Smith, Taye Diggs, Adam Arkin, and Kevin Spacey; Sacha Baron Cohen (as Abbie Hoffman) and Philip Seymour Hoffman (as William Kunstler) are also linked to the project, which has a screenplay by Aaron Sorkin. (It should be noted here that Chicago 7 will be partly based on Chicago 10, a new documentary produced by Graydon Carter, Vanity Fair’s editor, and Brett Morgen, the film’s director.) After Chicago 7, Spielberg will probably go on to direct Lincoln, with Liam Neeson in the title role.

A lot has changed since the last Indiana Jones movie. For one thing, Spielberg, known in the 70s and early 80s as a director of hugely popular but lightweight pictures, brought his famously fluid camerawork to the darker Schindler’s List (1993), Amistad (1997), and Saving Private Ryan (1998). With Artificial Intelligence: A.I. (2001), Minority Report (2002), and War of the Worlds (2005), he made science fiction that hit harder than E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial (1982) or Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977). At the same time, action movies went through a major evolution. A bald monk flew. So did Keanu. Jackie Chan chopped necks while moving like Astaire. Travolta wiped blood off a windshield. Spidey killed baddies between bouts of emo-boy angst. Batman got the Christian Bale treatment (thin, dark, intense), and a computer-generated Yoda battled Palpatine. Jason Bourne crunched the bones of his pursuers in films that came out great despite looking as if they had been edited in a Cuisinart. In this atmosphere, can Indy compete?
Rather than update the franchise to match current styles, Lucas and Spielberg decided to stay true to the prior films’ look, tone, and pace. During pre-production, Spielberg watched the first three Indiana Jones movies at an Amblin screening room with Janusz Kaminski, who has shot the director’s last 10 films. He replaces Douglas Slocombe, who shot the first three Indy movies (and is now retired at age 94), as the man mainly responsible for the film’s look. “I needed to show them to Janusz,” Spielberg says, “because I didn’t want Janusz to modernize and bring us into the 21st century. I still wanted the film to have a lighting style not dissimilar to the work Doug Slocombe had achieved, which meant that both Janusz and I had to swallow our pride. Janusz had to approximate another cinematographer’s look, and I had to approximate this younger director’s look that I thought I had moved away from after almost two decades.”

Spielberg promises no tricky editing for the new one, saying, “I go for geography. I want the audience to know not only which side the good guy’s on and the bad guy’s on, but which side of the screen they’re in, and I want the audience to be able to edit as quickly as they want in a shot that I am loath to cut away from. And that’s been my style with all four of these Indiana Jones pictures. Quick-cutting is very effective in some movies, like the Bourne pictures, but you sacrifice geography when you go for quick-cutting. Which is fine, because audiences get a huge adrenaline rush from a cut every second and a half on The Bourne Ultimatum, and there’s just enough geography for the audience never to be lost, especially in the last Bourne film, which I thought was the best of the three. But, by the same token, Indy is a little more old-fashioned than the modern-day action adventure.”

The script, Spielberg says, can provide the blockbuster pace. “Part of the speed is the story,” he says. “If you build a fast engine, you don’t need fast cutting, because the story’s being told fluidly, and the pages are just turning very quickly. You first of all need a script that’s written in the express lane, and if it’s not, there’s nothing you can do in the editing room to make it move faster. You need room for character, you need room for relationships, for personal conflict, you need room for comedy, but that all has to happen on a moving sidewalk.”

When it came to the actual shoot, Spielberg reports, he and his star were able to get their Indy legs back a day or two into filming. “I mean, we’re both older,” he says, “and we both look a bit older, I think, certainly, but at the same time Harrison needed to recapture the caustic, laconic spirit of Dr. Jones, and certainly he was going to have to manage the action, and he did both of those things amazingly well, certainly far beyond what I expected.”

In a separate interview, Ford says he was just glad to come through filming unscathed. “In the first one, I tore the A.C.L. in my left leg,” he says, “and then, in the second one, I ended up with a bad back injury and had to have surgery in the middle of filming. But in this one, I was pretty much uninjured.” That’s not an easy feat, especially since Ford was doing many of his own stunts, and part of Indy’s appeal is his tendency to get the crap beaten out of him. “I always wanted to make sure the audience understood the pain,” Ford says, “so that they could participate and enjoy the triumph. That was always a very big part of my ambition for the character, to allow the audience to see his fear, allow the audience to have a chance to see him work his way through the problem, not to be one of those characters that you know is going to succeed. I guess you know that Indiana Jones is finally going to succeed, but I think you don’t know how many bumps he’s going to take before it happens.”

While Spielberg feels at home in Hollywood, Lucas is more of a loner. Because of his distaste for L.A., his suspicion of its guilds and executives, he works 400 miles to the north, on his 4,000-acre Skywalker Ranch, where olive trees grow in neat lines atop a ridge and grapevines cover hillsides. The main house, an idealized version of an American family home circa 1930, stands off by itself. Lucas occupies an upstairs corner office, which has the feeling of a master bedroom but with a large desk taking the place of a bed.

At nine a.m. he is holding a can of Diet Coke. He looks like an undersize bear. When he starts talking about Indiana Jones, a character he acknowledges is not dissimilar to Han Solo, his enthusiasm rises, breaking through his natural reserve. “It’s a classic movie archetype,” he says. “Clark Gable played that role forever, the same role, which is the freelance cynic who eventually comes around, whether he’s a newspaper reporter or a pirate. Humphrey Bogart would play it with a little bit more of an edge. Harrison plays that part really well and can play it with a certain amount of humor, which makes it really charming. And the idea originally for both Han Solo and Indiana Jones is he’s in over his head all the time and kind of treading water. In Solo, he’s got a lot more bravado and he’s actually better at what he does. He can actually handle it. Indiana Jones gets in over his head and he can’t handle it. It’s only by sheer, last-second skill, or luck, or whatever, that he actually gets himself out of it. You can’t create a character like that without knowing that someone like Harrison can have the right, befuddled, oh-my-God-I’m-gonna-die look. And you’re right there with him. He’s Everyman. He’s us. ‘That’s exactly what I would look like if I were in that situation.’ And it’s an honest look. It’s not contrived. A lot of those guys now try to copy that, the better-looking movie-star types who try to do it. In the end, Harrison is a movie star because he’s a character actor. He is like Clark Gable, who was also a character actor, and Humphrey Bogart, who was a character actor. Those people were not Adonis, superhero guys. But that’s why they’re so endearing. That’s why everybody loves them. That’s why they’re so much fun to watch on-screen, because they’re vulnerable.”

The Bourne movies, the last two of which were directed by United 93 virtuoso Paul Greengrass, have made an impression on Lucas also. The series seems to have become the new action-movie gold standard, or at least a widely admired point of reference in filmmaking circles. Lucas says he appreciates the Bourne movies for their relative believability. “The thing about Bourne,” Lucas says, “I would put that on the credible side, because he’s trained in martial arts and all that kind of stuff, and we know that people in martial arts, even little old ladies, can break somebody’s leg. So you kind of say, O.K., that’s possible. But when you get to the next level, whether it’s Tomb Raider or the Die Hard series, where you’ve got one guy with one pistol going up against 50 guys with machine guns, or he jumps in a jet and starts chasing a car down a freeway, you say, I’m not sure I can really buy this. Mission: Impossible’s like that. They do things where you could not survive in the real world. In Indiana Jones, we stay just this side of it.”

The first building block of any Indiana Jones movie, according to Lucas, is something called the MacGuffin. The term, popularized by Alfred Hitchcock, refers to an object or goal that kicks the story into action and drives it to the third act. Hitchcock held that the less specific the MacGuffin the better. In his 1959 suspense classic, North by Northwest, the men chasing Cary Grant are after microfilm containing “government secrets”—that’s all the audience learns about why the film’s villains cause the hero so much trouble—and Hitchcock considered that to be a perfect MacGuffin, because it was so wonderfully vague. While Lucas agrees with his predecessor on the importance of the MacGuffin, his conception of the device differs significantly from Hitchcock’s. Rather than seeing it as a gimmick with the function of getting things rolling, Lucas believes that the MacGuffin should be powerful and that the audience should care about it almost as much as the dueling heroes and villains on-screen.

He feels he had an excellent one in Raiders of the Lost Ark. The much-sought-after Ark of the Covenant not only held the Ten Commandments but also functioned as “a radio to God” and possessed enough Old Testament power to smite those who looked on its treasures. If the Nazis were to gain control of it, instead of good old Indy, well, you can imagine the consequences. But a first-rate MacGuffin is hard to find, and Lucas says he was not completely satisfied with those he had for Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (the sacred Shankara Stones, which, for reasons no audience can keep straight, must be retrieved in order to save kidnapped village children from an Indian death cult) and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (the life-giving Holy Grail, which comes in handy when Indy’s dad is dying).

“I’m the one that has to come up with the story, and the MacGuffin, the supernatural object that everyone’s going after … ” Lucas’s voice trails off. He is seated in a favorite chair, its cushions lumpy and dented. “The Ark of the Covenant was perfect. The Shankara Stones were way too esoteric. The Holy Grail was sort of feeble—but, at the same time, we put the father in there to cover for it. I mean, the whole reason it became a dad movie was because I was scared to hell that there wasn’t enough power behind the Holy Grail to carry a movie. So we kept pushing to have it function on some level—and to make it function for a father and a son. To make it that kind of a movie was the big risk and the big challenge, but also the thing that pulled it out of the fire. So, at the end of it, I was like, No more of these, baby. We’re done. I can’t think of anything else. We barely got by on the last one!

“At that point I had kind of retired,” he continues. “I was raising my kids, I was running my companies. The last thing I wanted to do was go off and do another one of these things. And it stayed there for quite a while, until I was doing Young Indiana Jones, and I was actually with Harrison, shooting a little piece for it, and I was up in Wyoming, where he lives, and I came up with this MacGuffin, which was sitting there right in front of me, and I said, ‘Well, why didn’t I ever see this before?’ ”

When Ford and Spielberg both rejected the idea, Lucas dug in. He hired screenwriter after screenwriter to make his MacGuffin the linchpin of a new Indy story. “So this went on for 15 years,” he says. “And finally we got to a point where everybody said, ‘Look, we’re not doing that movie.’ And I said, ‘Well, look, I can’t think of another MacGuffin. This is it. This works. I know this works.’ And then we stopped. I just said, ‘O.K.,’ and that’s about the time I started Star Wars again. But then Harrison was kind of interested. And I said, ‘I won’t do it unless we can have that MacGuffin. Without the MacGuffin, I will not go near this thing.’ ”

Ford can laugh about Lucas’s obstinacy now. “He’s a stubborn sucker,” the actor says, “and he had an idea that he kept pushing into script form, and then they’d run it by me, and I’d usually rebel, and, finally, you know, one script came along that really struck me as being smart, not working too hard to give reference to the other films, but that carried on the stories we had told so far in a logical way. The character was allowed to age, and we found ourselves in a different period of time, and what I read was a great script, so I said, ‘Let’s go, let’s make this one.’ ”

The eventual shooting script bore the name David Koepp, a writer-director whose screenplay credits include War of the Worlds, Spider-Man, and the first two Jurassic Park movies, which were directed by Spielberg and leaned heavily on Lucas’s Industrial Light & Magic special-effects shop. An earlier pass, which Spielberg loved and Lucas didn’t, was written by Frank Darabont, the writer-director of The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile, and The Mist. I ask Lucas if each version had made use of the prize MacGuffin. “Mmm-hmmm,” he says. “They’re all the same.”And then (spoiler warning) Lucas gets a little more (spoiler alert) specific: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull will apparently nudge our hero away from his usual milieu of spooky archaeology and into the realm of (spoiler Code Red) science fiction. “What it is that made it perfect was the fact that the MacGuffin I wanted to use and the idea that Harrison would be 20 years older would fit,” Lucas says. “So that put it in the mid-50s, and the MacGuffin I was looking at was perfect for the mid-50s. I looked around and I said, ‘Well, maybe we shouldn’t do a 30s serial, because now we’re in the 50s. What is the same kind of cheesy-entertainment action movie, what was the secret B movie, of the 50s?’ So instead of doing a 30s Republic serial, we’re doing a B science-fiction movie from the 50s. The ones I’m talking about are, like, The Creature from the Black Lagoon, The Blob, The Thing. So by putting it in that context, it gave me a way of approaching the whole thing.”

As New Age devotees already know, fossilized skulls made of quartz crystal actually do exist. But are they truly, as those who believe in their powers claim, pre-Columbian objects of Mayan or Aztecan origin? And do they really harbor supernatural properties, like the “skull of doom,” supposedly dug up by early-20th-century archaeologist F. A. Mitchell-Hedges? This is a matter of some dispute, right up there with the existence of Big Foot or Atlantis. In the world of Indiana Jones, however, as with the Holy Grail and the Ark, one goes with the legend.

Crystal skulls have already appeared in four Indiana Jones young-adult novels and as part of an Indiana Jones ride at Tokyo’s DisneySea theme park. In an episode of the TV series Stargate SG-1, they had alien origin. In Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, it would seem, based on the above hints, that here, too, the crystal skulls are somehow tied into things, or beings, not of this world. What Lucas says—and he won’t say more—seems to support earlier Internet speculation that the scenes filmed in New Mexico may be set at Area 51, the Nevada military base which, according to conspiracy buffs and the creators of The X-Files, has been the site of U.F.O. and alien research.

No one outside of the filmmakers will know for sure until May 22, but it would be pretty cool if it turns out that Emperor Palpatine had dropped a crystal skull on Earth. Or maybe one was left behind by the skinny dudes from Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Or maybe it’s, like, E.T.’s cell phone. :)

Whatever, Lucas is convinced he won’t please everyone. “I know the critics are going to hate it,” he says. “They already hate it. So there’s nothing we can do about that. They hate the idea that we’re making another one. They’ve already made up their minds.” At least the legions of Indy geeks will be pleased, right? “The fans are all upset,” Lucas says. “They’re always going to be upset. ‘Why did he do it like this? And why didn’t he do it like this?’ They write their own movie, and then, if you don’t do their movie, they get upset about it. So you just have to stand by for the bricks and the custard pies, because they’re going to come flying your way.”

Spielberg and Lucas both have Norman Rockwell originals hanging in their workplaces, among them The Peach Crop (Lucas) and a sketch of Triple Self-Portrait (Spielberg). That affinity makes sense. Rockwell, the popular American artist, was loved in his own time by millions of Saturday Evening Post readers and dismissed by serious critics. But in 1999, 21 years after the artist’s death, New Yorker art critic Peter Schjeldahl was quoted thus in ArtNews: “Rockwell is terrific. It’s become too tedious to pretend he isn’t.” Collectors too are taking notice: a Rockwell canvas, Breaking Home Ties, sold for $15.4 million at a 2006 Sotheby’s auction.

Spielberg and Lucas, similarly, have been slammed. Like Rockwell, they take everyday moments and blow them up into the stuff of myth. Also, as with Rockwell, it looks like their reputations will only rise. If you check out the American Film Institute’s 2007 list of the all-time 100 greatest American movies, you’ll see Spielberg represented with Schindler’s List (No. 8), E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial (No. 24), Jaws (No. 56), and Saving Private Ryan (No. 71), and Lucas making the grade with Star Wars: Episode IV—A New Hope (No. 13) and American Graffiti (No. 62). The first movie to combine their sensibilities, Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark, checks in at No. 66. Movie-lovers can argue, but there it is: a reasonable take on the American films that will make posterity’s cut.

Although Lucas is sometimes accused of forcing actors to mouth wooden dialogue between the fantastic bouts of action that fill his movie’s frames, he certainly has a penchant for populating his huge stories with domineering fathers, virtuous mothers who die, the most villainous villains imaginable, and naïve heroes who are not quite equipped to win the day. Neither he nor Spielberg is sly or subtle, and neither one shies away from the big moment—a necessary quality in making blockbusters.

Ford, who has a closer working relationship with both men than probably any other actor, has special insight into how they do it: “First of all, they both have incredible chops as directors,” he says. “They both are wonderfully capable film directors, and I think they have an ambition to communicate their ideas. Strange as it seems, that’s not always the case with directors. I think it derives from a kind of empathy and an understanding of how the world works and how people behave. And I think they also understand the culture so well that they are able to satisfy their own ambitions for a film and at the same time include the audience in the process. Neither of them is ashamed of making audience films.”

The Indy series has succeeded, Lucas believes, largely because of its reliance on well-made stories. “There’s a difference between throwing a puppy on a freeway and watching what happens and constructing a story,” he says. “You don’t just put your main character in jeopardy and then that becomes entertainment. That’s why so many people have failed at this. Even though they may make some money, it doesn’t get to the level that the Indiana Jones films do. They’re a lot more complex than that. They’re like little watches that have a lot of pieces in them.” And if you don’t like the key piece at the center of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull—the MacGuffin—you’ll know who to blame.

Fantasy League

2008-03-26T18:45:00.002-07:00

The Force is definitely with Travis Ho. Like millions of computer-science students before him, the 19-year-old Singaporean's lifelong fantasy has been to work for Lucasfilm, the empire launched 30 years ago by George Lucas, the creator of Star Wars. Ho, however, did not have to journey to a galaxy far, far away; Lucasfilm came looking for him.

Eighteen months ago, the digital-art powerhouse launched its first overseas studio in Singapore. The 170 employees come from 33 nations, and together they make sure that Luke Skywalker's animated cloak swings naturally in the TV series Clone Wars and that Jackie Chan slides effortlessly down the Eiffel Tower in Rush Hour 3. Like their colleagues back at Lucasfilm's San Francisco headquarters, the Singapore crew members work in jeans and decorate their cubicles with their favorite Star Wars action figures. But while years of experience and Yoda-level technical skill are prerequisites for joining Lucasfilm's U.S. team, the developers and animators in Singapore were hired less for their résumés than for their artistic eye. Students like Ho at Asian universities are its top potential recruits. "Our experiment is to take the most talented, passionate artists we can find and give them the necessary technical know-how," says Gail Currey, vice president and general manager of Lucasfilm Animation. The company's goal is to turn Singapore into a base for a new style of animation that combines East and West and could serve as a template for other U.S. studios expanding abroad.

Lucasfilm is the first major production studio to set up shop in Asia, but competitors are right behind it. For years Hollywood has cut costs by outsourcing post-production--the editing, sound mixing and special effects that turn raw film into a blockbuster movie--to overseas firms. More than 90% of the animation for American films and television shows is processed in Asia, mainly in Japan and South Korea. Now, however, the $100 billion animation industry is rushing to tap the deep pools of young, well-trained artists in countries such as Singapore, China, India, South Korea and the Philippines.

That young Asian talent forms the core of Lucasfilm's Singapore team. Ian Pang, 29 and Singaporean, studied Japanese thinking he would one day have to move to Japan to design video games. "I thought I was going to have to pack my bags; Singapore had no games industry," Pang says. Instead, he now produces the latest Star Wars handheld game from Lucasfilm's 40,000 sq.-ft. (3,700 sq m) office space near Singapore's Changi Airport. Ho, the computer-science student, says he struggled to convince his parents that he could make a living in digital art and gaming. "Having Lucasfilm here really legitimizes the field as a career choice for Asians," Ho says. Not all of Lucasfilm's talent in Singapore is homegrown. Canadian Kalene Dunsmoor, 27, was designing motorcycle decals in Toronto when she sent her portfolio on a whim to a Lucasfilm recruiter. Now she works in Singapore, collaborating with Lucas' iconic special-effects shop Industrial Light & Magic to add computer-generated imagery to films including the Harry Potter and Indiana Jones series. "They were willing to take a chance even though I didn't have conventional experience," Dunsmoor says. "I was willing to travel far from home for that."

Lucasfilm didn't open its office in Singapore just to fulfill the dreams of a few dozen lucky young sci-fi fans. The company's desire to develop these workers into cross-disciplinary, creative thinkers will be crucial to its efforts to turn every Lucasfilm project into a multiplatform, multimedia event. Since arriving at Lucasfilm, both Pang and Dunsmoor have gotten intensive training in classical art, and their more experienced colleagues have helped them sharpen their technical knowledge. Those skills can be applied to any medium Lucasfilm works in, from feature films to TV animation to video games. "We keep talent by letting them work on all our projects, from games to movies to TV. Nobody else in this business gets to do that," says Micheline Chau, Lucasfilm's president and COO. Being able to create content across several disciplines, Chau adds, is "the new world order in entertainment."

It's also, of course, a cost-effective strategy for Hollywood. As paychecks for actors get higher every year, studios are putting more effort into developing films like 300, which proved that gorgeous digital effects can draw box-office numbers as big as any movie star. "It's not just the actors but also elaborate sets, huge [production] crews and worldwide marketing campaigns," says Vivek Cuoto, executive director of Hong Kong-based consultancy Media Partners Asia.

Animation is even cheaper when it's produced in Asia, but Lucasfilm executives deny that cost cutting brought them to the region. Still, the move has allowed them to experiment with new ideas--including its first animated TV show--and take chances on young talent without as much financial risk. The Singapore studio's less experienced artists demand lower salaries than their California counterparts, and Lucasfilm doesn't have to navigate U.S. immigration laws to hire them. And by making use of the 16-hr. time difference between Singapore and San Francisco, Lucasfilm has essentially doubled its productivity.

Lucasfilm's biggest competitor in animation, Disney, has so far limited its creative forays in Asia to teaming up with local companies, using a very different formula with some early success. In June, Disney released The Secret of the Magic Gourd, its first Mandarin-language film made for mainland China. But the movie was produced entirely by Hong Kong-based Centro Digital Pictures. Under Disney's watchful guidance, Centro adapted a classic Chinese bedtime tale, shooting and editing it into a 90-min. live-action feature. Disney then directed the film's marketing and distribution. The Magic Gourd became China's top-grossing children's film ever, generating $2 million in its first two weeks, says John Chu, Centro's founder, who oversaw the production. "It was a matter of finding a story that matched Disney's values but also resonated with every Chinese youngster."

Disney announced a similar alliance last June with India's Yash Raj Films, one of Bollywood's premier studios. The two companies will produce a series of computer-animated films in Hindi using nearly all local talent. Their first co-production, Roadside Romeo, is set for release later this year. "We believe that China, India and Russia are the main strategic markets from which our growth will come in the future," says Jo Yan, senior vice president of sales, co-productions and acquisitions for Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures Asia Pacific. "But at this point we're not arrogant enough to think that we know everything about these markets, so we believe working with key partners is the way to go."

Lucasfilm, on the other hand, believes that its team in Singapore will be an integral part of every film or video game it produces for every market--not just in Asia. "We've always concentrated on making sure our characters have global appeal," says Christian Kubsch, managing director of the Singapore studio. In fact, the company has made Singapore a key part of its strategy. Company execs see it as a launching point for building the brand in neighboring countries like China and India, two of its fastest-growing marketplaces. The Singapore studio will also spearhead Lucasfilm's first animated feature film this year, and its employees will soon make up at least one-third of Lucasfilm's staff.

Asia's fast-growing economies welcome the investment and are putting their resources into nurturing the digital-animation industry. Singapore hopes that by 2018, digital media will generate $10 billion a year, or about 5% of last year's GDP. India's animation sector has grown 50% over the past two years and is expected to attract $950 million in outsourcing contracts with Hollywood studios by next year. The number of animation departments in Chinese universities has quadrupled, to more than 400, over the past five years, and animation supports a nearly $2 billion industry. Thailand has sold popular television cartoon series to China and South Korea and hopes to export more than $2 billion worth of products by next year. Working with local universities to incorporate animation into curriculums, the Animation Council of the Philippines plans to have more than 25,000 digital artists by 2010.

Another, smaller player is the rogue communist state of North Korea. Under the patronage of leader Kim Jong Il, a movie buff, animation is one of the rare sectors in which North Korea is following the global trend. Animation houses from North America, Europe and Asia have all subcontracted work there. The state-owned SEK Studio last year paired up with South Korean animators to produce Empress Chung, a $6.5 million animated feature film based on a Korean Cinderella story.

The bane of any creative industry in Asia--intellectual property protection-- remains the most pressing concern for animation. Chu, who has worked in animation in Hong Kong for more than 20 years, has given up. "There's really nothing that can be done," he says. "The only hope is that someday our product is cheap enough that it's not affordable to counterfeit." Lucasfilm, on the other hand, chose to operate in Singapore because of the country's strict copyright laws and advanced legal system. "We feel comfortable that the infrastructure is in place to protect individual IP," says Kubsch.

For now, Lucasfilm's biggest challenge is snatching up the best talent within Singapore's burgeoning digital-arts community before rivals move in. In November, the studio launched the Jedi Masters Program, a two-year paid apprenticeship designed to attract Singaporean students like Travis Ho. Lucasfilm better move fast. Ho, who won't graduate for another two years, has already co-founded a small video-game development firm that has gotten government and foreign contracts. "It's a small operation," Ho says. "But we're doing pretty innovative stuff for beginners." It's no match for Lucasfilm yet, but who knows? The next George Lucas may be working for him in Singapore.

Animated Clone Wars Theatrical Release?

2008-03-26T18:45:00.001-07:00

Then again, nothing has been decided, though clearly, everybody that heard such a thing may happen got very excitied about it.

Before you read the information below, I'll tell you the news was big enough I knew we had to ask for confirmation from Lucasfilm before posting it. It's a good thing because LFL did have something to say about it. I realize you'll read this out of order, but I want to make sure nobody gets the wrong information.

When I asked Lucasfilm to comment on this news, here's what a Lucasfilm spokesman had to say:

"I'd like to clarify Hasbro comments this AM about the Clone Wars TV series. We see it as a breakthrough animated television series and are exploring a number of innovative ways to introduce it to the public. No decisions regarding release strategy have been made yet."

I followed up with just one question. Is a theatrical release introducing the series in the works and received this response: "It's one of the many things being discussed but we have no decisions yet. For us it's all about finding a creative way to launch a creative TV series."

Below is the specific information about this from the Hasbro Analysts meeting this morning. At the time I asked for comments from Lucasfilm, the meeting was still going on and Hasbro was expected to clarify their comments before the end of the meeting.

Note, that I'll emphasize again, there has been no Lucasfilm decision regarding this and there certainly has been no date set for anything.

During the Hasbro Fall 2007 Analyst Event this morning, they announced the much-anticipated "Star Wars" Clone Wars animated TV series would have a theatrical launch next year on August 8 and then on TV throughout the fall.

You can listen to it yourself at this link. You have to register to listen. The audio you want to hear is about 56 minutes into the presentation. Hasbro Fall 2007 Analyst Event Audio.

Thanks to Commander Voltaire and his friend for the link and news.

UPDATE: Our friend Bill from IHNRadio.com pointed us over to an article at Action-Figure.com regarding this years UK Toy Fair. The writer, Adrian, goes on to speak of how Hasbro keeps areas off limits to the press. See below for a snippet:

"This year, the line off limits to the press was Star Wars.

I couldn't see the logic in this, and so a bit of probing, I got to the bottom of this.

It seems that Clone Wars is going to be big in 2008, and Lucasfilm wants to keep a lot of it hush hush. I don't know much about the Hasbro product, but I do know a bit about Clone Wars.

You all know about the Clone Wars animated Series coming out, right? Well it's hitting this September, and will kick off (in the UK at least) with a cinematic release of the first 3 episodes (note this was confirmed by a couple of Star Wars licensees other than Hasbro). The rest of the episodes will then come out on a yet undecided TV channel."

Nothing has been officially announced yet and no word on how this relates to U.S audiences but lets face it, our hopes are up.

UPDATE #2: Hot on the heels of his last tip, Bill from IHNRadio.com sent in the folliwng:

"I just came across another tid-bit that may be further quasi-confirmation of a theatrical release for the show. This one is from an article published on Time magazine's Time.Com site this past Thursday about the Lucasfilm Singapore Studio. Here is the relevent quote:

"The Singapore studio will also spearhead Lucasfilm's first animated feature film this year, and its employees will soon make up at least one-third of Lucasfilm's staff."

"The LEGO Rep let us into a few spoilers including the fact there will indeed be a feature release in early September here in the UK (a couple of weeks earlier in the US), and he also told us about the characters included with these sets – don’t read the next sentence if you don’t want to know! Rotta is Jabba the Hutt’s nephew or son (there seemed to be some confusion about this) and the first 2 or 3 episodes centre on his kidnapping!"

UPDATE #3: AICN is now reporting about the possible theatrical release but they have a source saying that it would be 4 Clone Wars episodes as opposed to 3 and that they would hit theaters around the same time as Indy 4. I can personally buy that it could be 4 episodes as opposed to 3 but I'm not sure I believe in the spring time frame. Why would Lucas want two projects in the theaters at the same time essentially competing with each other? Doesn't make sense to me, for you'd think he'd want to spread his projects out creating separate buzz for each. Just my take on it. Let's not forget that nothing has been officially announced yet, but we'll keep reporting what we hear.

UPDATE #4: Well we,ve been speculating since the Hasbro meeting and we now have a confirmation. Star Wars is coming back to the big screen in the form of Star Wars: The Clone Wars! Hitting North American theaters on August 15th, the series will then continue with 30 minute episodes on the Cartoon Newtork with repeat airings on TNT. International dates will be released soon.

Lawsuits everywhere... Is THE HOBBIT in jeopardy?

2008-03-26T18:44:00.002-07:00

Is THE HOBBIT the new Don Quixote? Is it a cursed project? Bob Shaye finally works out his deal with Peter Jackson and then he's hit with another lawsuit, this time it's an even bigger one... from the Tolkien estate... technically it's the Tolkien Trust, a British charity that manages the estate.

Why did New Line find it so hard to live up to their contracts regarding RINGS? It seems they owe the Tolkien Estate 7.5 percent of the gross from the movies and didn't pay anything.

Ordinarily we wouldn't cover stuff like this, but instead of New Line just being hit financially the lawsuit that has been filed is also trying to terminate any further development of other Tolkien properties, including THE HOBBIT. Probably especially THE HOBBIT.

Now that doesn't mean THE HOBBIT is dead or even stumbling. It's quite possible this will be settled out of court or even if New Line is found completely guilty, it's possible the judge won't grant that part of the suit. And if they do, what does that mean for MGM? Would they be sole owners of the property then or will the Tolkien estate get full rights to JRR's works again? Lotsa questions... It's not good, but nothing's ruined yet.

Star Wars Actors - Where are they now?

2008-03-26T18:44:00.001-07:00

Alec Guinness - Obi-Wan Kenobi

For an Oscar-winning actor, "Star Wars" proved to be much more of a burden than a blessing. Alec Guinness was already a distinguished actor with accaimed roles on his resume, but would be forever known as "Obi-Wan." He considered the trilogies' fans to be maniacal to an extent and did his best to ignore his presence in the film. However, Guinness was one of the few cast members to recognize the commercial appeal of the film from the beginning and negotiate a percentage of the gross, which allowed him financial security to recede into the stage acting scene and write an autobiography. Guinness died in 2000 at age 86 from liver cancer.

Harrison Ford - Han Solo

While many of the "Star Wars" characters suffered from typecasting, Harrison emerged as an international, sometimes intergalactic leading man. George Lucas first cast Ford in "American Graffiti," next in "Star Wars, " and his role as Indiana Jones solidified his iconic status. Ford went on star as the iconic Jack Ryan of Tom Clancy's novels and tried his luck at the occasional romantic comedy. The action star has yet to win an Academy Award, but he did take home the American Film Institute's Life Achievement Award in 2000. Ford is set to reprise his other Lucas character Indiana Jones for an upcoming fourth installment, but it seems his Han Solo days are over.

Mark Hamill - Luke Skywalker

Luke Skywalker may have saved the empire from galactic evil, but his lightsaber skills left actor Mark Hamill with a little to be desired. Unable to shed his role as Luke, Hamill fled the action screen for the Broadway stage to prove his acting chops trumped his saber skills. However, his biggest success turned out to be his vocal stylings, which gave life to Joker on Fox's animated "The Adventures of Batman and Robin," as well as a number of other animated shows and movies.

Carrie Fisher - Princess Leia

After immortalizing the universe's most fearless Princess in a gold bikini, actress Carrie Fisher had trouble with life beyond "Star Wars." Fisher fell into a whirlwind of drug abuse accompanied by a quick-to-start quick-to-end marriage with Paul Simon. Her first attempts to break free from her typecast were of little note, but Fisher had a memorable turn as Meg Ryan's friend in "When Harry Met Sally." However, she found her calling not onscreen but on paper: writing. Four successful novels and a spot atop The New York Time's best-seller list launched her into a career of comedy-script writing, contributing to movies such "The Wedding Singer" and "Sister Act."

James Earle Jones - voice of Darth Vader

To portray the menacing Darth Vader, George Lucas opted for a classically trained voice: James Earle Jones. Although "Luke, I am your father" will forever live in the minds of "Star Wars" fans everywhere with Jones' imparted poignance, he has become the most disctintive and sought- after voice in the media. In addition to Jones' Oscar-nominated role in "The Great White Hope," Jones, like Harrison Ford, found a calling in films based on Tom Clancy books. His infamous voice can also be heard as the voice of CNN, Verizon and Mufasa in Disney's "The Lion King." Distinguished by both his voice and acclaimed acting skills, Jones has also received one Grammy, two Emmy Awards and two Tony Awards.

David Prowse - body of Vader

David Prowse embodied the most memorable character in the "Star Wars" trilogy, although he received little credit for it. A former body-building champion, Prowse was reportedly never told that his voice would be dubbed over and has held a grudge ever since. Unfortunately, his health began to falter in 1990, when his dormant arthritis problems intensified and ultimately paralyzed both his arms. He now participates in various British arthritis organizations and serves as vice president of the Physically Handicapped and Able-bodied Association. Despite Prowse's lobbying efforts, he did not reprise his role for the fully armored Darth Vader in "Episode III."

Peter Mayhew - Chewbacca

Interestingly enough for a character who's more than 7 feet tall and covered in yak hair, Peter Mayhew embraced his character Chewbacca instead of shedding the fuzz as soon as the scene was cut. He continued to portray the hairy but friendly beast well after the movies were completed, including a cameo at the 1997 MTV Movie Awards. Mayhew was tapped to fill the Wookie suit once again for "Episode III;" his studied movement of the character made a stand in or stuntman merely a sub-par Wookie. English by birth, Mayhew now lives in Texas, visiting science fiction expositions across the company, and in 2005, he took the oath to become a naturalized citizen.

Billy Dee Williams - Lando

Billy Dee Williams rose to screen success in the 1970s, and by far his most recognizable role was as part of the Rebel Alliance, playing Lando Calrissian. He played Batman's unforgettable villain, Harvey Dent in the 1989 film but was unfortunately replaced by Tommy Lee Jones when the moment arrived for Dent's alter ego, "Two-Face," to take the screen in "Batman Forever." His screen status has markedly plunged since his 1970s fame, but he pops up occasionally, making cameo appearances on the sitcoms "Scrubs" and "That 70's Show."

Peter Cushing - Grand Moff Tarkin

After Grand Moff Tarkin met his end on the detonated Death Star in the original "Star Wars," actor Peter Cushing's life took a turn for the quieter. He appeared sporadically in films and TV shows, completed two autobiographies and relegated himself to spectator status for his favorite hobby, bird watching. However, his retirement years did not abandon him as a lost figure in the acting world: in 1989, he was made an officer of the British Empire, receiving recognition for his contributions to acting, both in England and worldwide. Cushing died in 1994 at the age of 81 of prostate cancer.

Frank Oz - voice of Yoda

Frank Oz: the hands, the voice, and the brains behind some of America's most beloved fuzzy friends and actors alike. As the voice responsible for the characters of Miss Piggy, Fozzie the Bear, Cookie Monster, Grover, he earned himself a reputation loud enough to play the voice of the most-respected creature of them all: Yoda. His successful muppet empire is still going strong, while he has also gathered directing credits for a slew of films, including 2006's version of "The Stepford Wives." Oz didn't let Lucas down when the director made the first three episodes; Oz lent his voice to the ancient Sage for his acrobatic lightsaber battle against Count Dooku.

Anthony Daniels - C3P0

Since he cast off the golden armor, English actor Anthony Daniels has not entirely relinquished his "Star Wars" past. Daniels is a contributor to sci-fi 'zines, such as his regular column in "The Star Wars Insider," titled "New Improved Wonder Column." He has also taken an interest in Sci-Fi gaming, publishing a comic book for Dark House, "The Protocol Offensive," which is reminiscent of his former robot persona. Daniels donned the droid suit for the prequel trilogy, although he only did the voice work for "Episode I -- The Phantom Menace."

Kenny Baker - R2-D2

Kenny Baker, a dwarf at 3 feet 8 inches, was free from trilogy stigmas that may have hindered other cast members. Baker, a former circus performer, continued entertaining as a DJ, circus clown and shadow ringmaster. In addition to occasional film roles, including an elf in a 1987 production of "Sleeping Beauty," he also developed his own musical comedy act, The Mini Tones. Baker and C3PO's Anthony Daniels are the only two actors credited with appearances in all six "Star Wars" films. Most recently, Baker made British headlines in 2005 for his arrest for driving while intoxicated.

Amazon.com has purchased J.K. Rowling’s "The Tales of Beedle the Bard"

2008-03-26T18:42:00.002-07:00

Amazon has purchased J.K. Rowling’s The Tales of Beedle the Bard at an auction held by Sotheby’s in London. The book of five wizarding fairy tales, referenced in the last book of the Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, is one of only seven handmade copies in existence. The purchase price was £1,950,000, and Ms. Rowling is donating the proceeds to The Children's Voice campaign, a charity she co-founded to help improve the lives of institutionalized children across Europe.

The Tales of Beedle the Bard is extensively illustrated and handwritten by the bard herself--all 157 pages of it. It's bound in brown Moroccan leather and embellished with five hand-chased hallmarked sterling silver ornaments and mounted moonstones.

There is no easy way to define the experience of seeing, holding, or reading J.K. Rowling's The Tales of Beedle the Bard, so let's just start with one word: "Whoa." The very fact of its existence (an artifact pulled straight out of a novel) is magical, not to mention the facts that only seven copies exist in all the world and each of the never-before-told tales is handwritten and illustrated by J.K. Rowling herself (and it's quite clear from the first few pages that she has some skill as an artist). Rowling's handwriting is like the familiar scrawl of a favorite aunt--it's not hard to read, but it does require attention--allowing you to take it slow and savor the mystery of each next word.

So how do you review one of the most remarkable tomes you've ever had the pleasure of opening? You just turn each page and allow yourself to be swept away by each story. You soak up the simple tales that read like Aesop's fables and echo the themes of the series; you follow every dip and curve of Rowling's handwriting and revel in every detail that makes the book unique--a slight darkening of a letter here, a place where the writing nearly runs off the page there. You take all that and you try and bring it to life, knowing that you will never be able to do it justice. With that, let's dig in and begin at the beginning, shall we? --Daphne Durham

1. "The Wizard and the Hopping Pot" [CAUTION: SPOILERS WITHIN!]

As in her Harry Potter series, garnishing the top of the first page of the first fairy tale, "The Wizard and the Hopping Pot," is a drawing--in this case, a round pot sitting atop a surprisingly well-drawn foot (with five toes, in case you were wondering, and we know some of you were). This tale begins merrily enough, with a "kindly old wizard" whom we meet only briefly, but who reminds us so much of our dear Dumbledore that we must pause and take a breath.

This "well-beloved man" uses his magic primarily for the benefit of his neighbors, creating potions and antidotes for them in what he calls his "lucky cooking pot." Much too soon after we meet this kind and generous man, he dies (after living to a "goodly age") and leaves everything to his only son. Unfortunately, the son is nothing like his father (and entirely too much like a Malfoy). Upon his father's death, he discovers the pot, and in it (quite mysteriously) a single slipper and a note from his father that reads, "In the fond hope, my son, that you will never need this." As in most fairy tales, this is the moment when things start to go wrong....

2. "The Fountain of Fair Fortune" [CAUTION: SPOILERS WITHIN!]

Featured at the top of what may be one of our favorite fairy tales ever is a picture of a sparkling, flowing fountain. Now that we're thirty pages into the book, it has become clear that Rowling enjoys (and is quite good at) drawing stars and sparkles. The beginning and ending of almost every tale appears sprinkled with pixie dust (à la Peter Pan--fans know that Rowling's pixies are less likely to leave such a pretty trail). This first page of the story also features a small rose bush below the text. It is quite lovely, and as anyone who has tried to draw a rose knows, not that easy to pull off--a fact that makes it less likely that Rowling did it to cover up a mistake (the way some of us might). It is a gorgeous way to start, and it gives "The Fountain of Fair Fortune" a lot to live up to. Perhaps this is why the story begins so grandly and with such a perfectly lush and mysterious fairy tale setting: an enchanted and enclosed garden that is protected by "strong magic." Once a year, an "unfortunate" is allowed the opportunity to find their way to the Fountain, to bathe in the water, and win "fair fortune forever more." Ahhhh, such is the stuff of Harry Potter fans' dreams. In fact, this tale stands out as a favorite partly because it follows the quest arc that fans fell in love with in her novels—the kind we still crave.

Samurai Sith Lord

2008-03-26T18:42:00.001-07:00

The signature look of the Star Wars movies has always owed a great debt to the past: the Rebel starships loosely resemble World War II aircraft, or at least "feel" like they do; the blasters are based on actual mid-20th century pistols and machine guns; and the costumes are evocative of several classical styles, including the Nazi-esque uniforms of the Imperial officers and semblance of the Samurai in the costume of Darth Vader.

Japan's Yoshitoku Company recently reversed the life-to-art rule by incorporating some of the Dark Lord's costume features back into the traditional design that helped inspire it. This year, Yoshitoku will be offering a "Samurai Vader" quarter-scale costume to Japanese fans celebrating Tango no Sekku, or Japan's "Boy's Day" festival on May 5.

One tradition of Tango no Sekku includes the displaying of the Samurai yoroi (armor) and kabuto (helmet) by a boy's family in the hopes that it will protect his spirit and ensure good health and prosperity. The yoroi and kabuto, while reduced in scale, require the same level of skill and attention to detail in their manufacture that the original full-size costumes once demanded. This centuries-old craftsmanship has been kept alive in the Yoshitoku Company for the last 300 years, providing the traditional Samurai accoutrements to families celebrating Japan's sons every year (Girl's Day, or Hinamatsuri, occurs on March 3, and includes the display of dolls dressed in traditional female costumes).

Opening its doors in 1711 as a shop selling toys and dolls in what is now Tokyo, Yoshitoku turned exclusively to doll manufacture after the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923. They now enjoy the admiration of the Imperial Household Agency for the imperial family, and even hosted a tutorial on Japanese doll manufacturing for Princess Diana while on a trip to Japan. According to Yoshitoku, this is the first time in their history that a crossover product such as the Samurai Vader has been produced.

"It was challenging for us to blend the entertainment character with our traditional products," a spokesman for the company says. "However, we thought it worth doing when Star Wars marked its 30th anniversary." While the blending of Darth Vader with the Samurai look appears seamless in the final design, the process of reconciling the similar but separate looks took some doing. "Since the Vader helmet itself was originally designed in the motif of a Samurai's kabuto, it was not difficult to find the similarity. However, it took time for us to consider what to add to the costumes in order to blend the sense of Star Wars with the style of traditional Japanese weapons. Also, we had difficulty in making the product appear like the ancient Japanese military commanders would have worn it."

Transforming Vader into a Samurai, or a Samurai into Vader, required the integration of several design motifs that married the traditional with the fantastic. "First, we hit on the idea of adding the 'front crest', which was designed based on the Imperial Icon, to the front of the helmet," says Yoshitoku. "By adding this, the 'leader of the Imperial Army' image is emphasized, as ancient Japanese military commanders used their ancestral family emblems on their front crest. We also added a Vader-like design to the face guard (called a menpo) which features a handcrafted look as if artisans of the past had done it."

Because it was important to maintain the traditional Samurai design motifs while incorporating features of Darth Vader, a specialized designer was brought in. "The design required an advanced design sense," says Yoshitoku, "so we decided to ask Mr. Takayuki Takeya, who is one of the most famous sculptors in Japan, to draw the designs." According to Yoshitoku, Takeya has created several product sculpts for Bandai, a Japanese toy and model manufacturer, and also created sculpts for Alien and Predator statues. Because he is so sought-after in Japan, Takeya was only able to provide design sketches for the Samurai Vader.

"Actual prototype production was done by Mr. Tatsushi Satoh under the lead of Mr. Noboru Kawakami [president of J.A.P. Inc., who produces silver Star Wars accessories in Japan]. The prototype made in the 1/1 size was scanned by a 3-D scanner and a rough prototype was made using a computer-controlled cutting machine. Mr. Sato then finished the prototype by hand and Mr. Takeya himself provided the fine-tuning."

Yoshitoku likes to point out that while some of the costume's parts required state-of-the-art technology to produce, many of its components were created using ancient skills and traditional materials. "Basically, many parts of the helmet (kabuto) and armor (yoroi) are made by hand," says Yoshitoku. "The materials used for each part are similar to those that were used for the real thing. While we can mass-produce the metallic parts that can be duplicated, we still have to assemble those parts by hand. Also, many of the materials include cloth and strings which essentially have to go through the traditional production process. Many of the artisans who master these skills are over 70 years old."

In addition to the helmet and armor, the full ensemble will include a traditional bow and sword. "For the sake of safety, no real blade is attached," says Yoshitoku. "For the image of Vader's lightsaber, we made the sheath (sword case) and bow in red. These [and the costume pieces] are all reduced four times (1/4 size) from its original size."

As the creation of these traditional pieces are considered high art in Japan and require a lot of hand-crafting, they will not come cheap. The kabuto (helmet) with bow and sword will cost about 180,000 yen (about $1,500), while the full ensemble including the yoroi (armor), kabuto, bow, and sword will run 330,000 yen (about $2,700). At this time, these items will only be offered in Japan.