George Lucas on Star Wars: Episode VII casting
Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher and Mark Hamill are all set to return to Star Wars, says none other than George Lucas...
There's a sense that the plans for Star Wars: Episode VII are coming together with some momentum at the moment, as director JJ Abrams gets set to start working on the movie once he's done with Star Trek Into Darkness.
Some more and more solid information has been coming through as well. Earlier this week, Carrie Fisher confirmed that she was back as Princess Leia in Star Wars: Episode VII, although there's been a bit of backtracking since. Furthermore, as we reported today, Disney CEO Bob Iger has confirmed that Lucasfilm is developing standalone Star Wars movies, as well as Episode VII.
Now? George Lucas has been chatting about the new films. The story appeared in Bloomberg Business Week (as reported at The Playlist), and the possible return to Star Wars of Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher and Mark Hamill was brought up. Lucas' response? "We had already signed Mark and Carrie and Harrison - or we were pretty much in final stages of negotiation. So I called them to say, ‘Look, this is what’s going on'", referring to the eventual sale of Lucasfilm to Disney.
Lucas then added that “maybe I’m not supposed to say that. I think they want to announce that with some big whoop-de-do, but we were negotiating with them.”
It looks increasingly like a matter of when rather than if Carrie Fisher, Harrison Ford and Mark Hamill are confirmed to return. We'll keep you posted.
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Yay. That is all...
Sexy
Seriously why are they letting Lucas anywhere near these films
Why is GL even on this? He ruined everything, including my childhood, with the prequals (IMO)- why would disney consult with him about ANYTHING other than how do we spell his name?
I was going to say the same thing. I was hoping he was long gone and would be part of the project in name only. Luckily, he is only commenting on stuff before the Disney takeover so hopefully his influence is non-existent after the takeover.
Read it properly. He seems to be suggesting that they were already working on Episode 7 pre-Disney takeover and had them signed on and then he kept the actors in the loop when the takeover started.
He ruined your childhood? That's kind of suggesting that Star Wars was your childhood, which kind of means George Lucas is your dad. Now you are being a spoiled ingrat brat
Poor Chewie...
And everything in 3D off course I bet! Haven't hear them say anything about that.
I really hope your comment isn't serious and is taking the mick out of people who say such ridiculous things.
this "ruined my childhood" phrase is incredibly stupid
you do realise he created the originals you oh-so adore, right?
Your a scumbag without the s
At the risk of being strapped to a bantha and ridden out of town - I like that Lucas has some input. There is no disputing that the end result of the prequels is embarrassingly bad, however, the concept and basic outline of the trilogy is pretty awesome. The idea that the Sith slowly infiltrates The Republic, then backs a losing army to start a war in order to turn the Republic into an galactic war machine all the while manipulating smaller governments so the coup seems like a democratic decision, then at the last minute using the The Republic's own army to essentially overthrow The Republic and replacing it with The Empire is brilliant. The pacing and reveal of that story isn't bad either - starting with trade disputes and building towards the destruction of the Jedi's and the republic. It was things like Jar-Jar Binks, Midichlorians, over usage of CGI, and horrid dialog that made the movies awful. Letting Lucas guide the series from a far and letting more talented people flesh it out is a wise move.
Doesn't Lucas have enough money? Hell it could be amazing, but the prequels don't exactly fill me with hope. Casting Carri Fisher, Mark Hamilton and Harrison Ford? Star Wars brought to you by Saga and Stannah stair lifts. Hell maybe I'm being too cynical, they broought Karen Allen back for the Crystal Skull and that sucked in no way what so ever.
"you do realise he created the originals you oh-so adore, right?"
You do realise he created the prequels and Jar Jar binks?
Oh and the film that virtually everyone adores most, The Empire Strikes Back, is the one that Lucas had the least influence over.
Maybe they should go and remake the prequels instead of making these next 3.
I usually start frothing about the gills when it comes to remakes but I'd happily go and watch a remade Phantom Menace directed by Abrams.
I'd keep McGregor, trusting him to put more into it, bin the rest, make real sets like the glorious ones in the originals, not bullshit CGI and lastly cut out all the kid friendly merchandising crap.
Can anyone think of a reason not to remake I-III?
Think what you could do, for example, withthe Gungans.
Instead of a cheerful, oddly Jamaican bunch of weird lizard men things, they could be shown as really downtrodden and oppressed, get some real empathy going and show that the Republic isn't all greatness and love. Gungans begging the Jedi for food when they enter their underwater lair that lies within a sea polluted by the over privileged land dwellers. A little more edge in those films would be very nice. They've so little edge that they're round.
I liked the third of the prequels quite a lot. Not the first two, however.
Completely agree. Lucas should be involved. His best work was on his first two Star Wars movies, when he knew his limits as a writer, and wasn't surrounded by Yes Men.
Remake movies that just came out in the last dozen or so years??
Really?
I would like to see Ewan McGregor return. Everyone else, however, no.
Ewan McGregor was probably the best performance in Revenge of The Sith. Clearly learning from The Phantom Menace, and getting to grips working against nothing, with a director who struggles working with actors.
*cough* Spiderman *cough* Hulk *ahem*
stranger things have happened...
No...PANXER...I...AM YOUR FATHER!
And neither one worked.
No one talks about them, either, unlike the Star Wars prequels.
Are people so unimaginative that they can only watch thoroughly predigested programming?
This is what kills me about all the ridiculous commentary about Khan and the new Star Trek movie.
I will be very disappointed if Benedict Cumberbath -- through what can only be a ludicrous mechanism, for very obvious reasons -- turns out to be Khan.
I think it is an absurd notion.
Couldn't agree more with you there Kyle, it wasn't the story in the prequels that was the problem, it was how that overall story was executed; George really needed to have plotted all three films out in detail in advance, hired an outside screenwriter(s) to help write stronger and more dynamic screenplays, and an outside editor (like Walter Murch) to help shape a tight and focused final cut... had those things happened, people might well be amazed at the difference they would have made to the overall quality of the resulting films.
At least the Clone Wars cartoon has redeemed the prequel era a little.
It would be a crime against the Star Wars universe if Boba Fett doesn't appear in some way! BUT for Jabba's sake don't CGI every damn thing in sight!!!!! Back to basics! I also heard something about William Shatner wanting a part to play!? One word! NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I never said that.
No, but you said you were going to...
You are stoking up the GL hate - it's clear from the article that this was before it all got handed over to Disney, he's stepped away, why ignore that fact just to make a stupid post? Did he really ruin anyone's childhood? Unless he was a catholic priest and you were an altar boy then I doubt it. Get a grip people, you'd think he'd made Battlefield Earth or Norbitt or Twilight or Mama Mia or... etc judging by the hate.
The moment Boba Fett appeared in anything other than the original films is a crime against the Star Wars universe, because the thing that made Boba Fett cool was the mystery. Now we know he's a native New Zealander and what he looked like as a kid, the mystery is gone. I dread a standalone film about him. Or Yoda for that matter, who was also ruined in the prequels. Less is always more. If we get "Greedo, The College Years" I'll have to kill myself, and I may take a few of you with me. I'm glad that the Star Wars TV series is on hold, because it is in danger or becoming over-egged, stale and washed out like Star Trek, with a load of retrospective backstory about minor characters learning a moral each week, like different species learning to cooperate. I need a holiday from myself.
Hell maybe you should get a new phrase. Did you make jokes about Alec Guinness needing a stairlift in episode 4? Should he not have been in it because he was old?Mark "Hamilton" as a wise, aged Jedi is a perfect arc for the Luke Skywalker character. Does anyone want a) a solely young cast or b) recasting of those original characters? Old people exist, who says the original cast are going to be in the same outfits doing the same stuff? Such knee-jerk reactions, it boggles the mind.
So he should be burned at the stake after all then?
They'll hit the gym, do the 300 workout and get super awesome ripped for this gig. Do or do not, dude. There is no try.
I dont get the GL hate..
no lucas no starwars..
jesus, i have a son called luke for yoda's sake..
My daughters are chewie and darth, just for the record...
until we get soild info a year from now, were all pissing in the wind..
Go get a life Panxer.
It's at the point that if George Lucas commits suicide, people would be happy. It's pretty disgusting how people would compare him to the devil.
realize*
I agree. If Cumberbatch plays Khan, it is ruined.
Only Hamill is Luke Skywalker. Nobody else can do it. If they put somebody else in the role, I'm smashing my lightsaber and going to Dagobah.
It's pretty obvious he's not playing Khan.