May. 17th, 2010

lazypadawan: (Default)
My friend Debbie really wanted to go to the Last Tour To Endor thing at Disney for Celebration V, so I shelled out the 75 bucks for a ticket. It does look like it'll be a lot of fun, kind of like a Star Wars version of Disney's Grad Nites. (For those of you who don't live in Southern California or in Florida, Disney's Magic Kingdom and Disneyland keep their parks open all night for high school seniors on appointed Grad Nites in May.) I went to Grad Nite at Disney World in 1987; for reasons that remain mysterious until this day I got a bad case of gas bloating in my stomach. It felt like an Alien chestburster was about ready to come out. I spent part of the evening at the Mickey Mouse clinic. Let's hope Last Tour To Endor goes better than that!

Since Debbie also has a close friend in the 501st, we are going to their party on Friday night (tickets are 21 bucks for food and all of the soda you can drink...booze is extra). I've been told a lot of the celebrities attend the 501st's shindigs and there will be drunken stormies, so the dirt factor was just too good to pass up.
lazypadawan: (tesbhan&leia)
Apparently Papa George sent the cast and crew of "Lost" a letter congratulating them on the end of the series. Some fanboy blogs are making hay out of jokey comment Lucas made about not having the whole thing planned out in advance, but come on...I didn't think he had it all planned out in advance either. It's fans who think he said he did, but then decided he was worse than Pol Pot for not admitting he didn't.

Producer Damon Lindelof said, "I just want to apologize to Mr. George Lucas for everything I said about the prequels.” Uh huh. Just goes to show you who in this picture has a lot more class. Don't worry, Mr. Lindelof, your turn is coming. You won't please these losers forever.

Meanwhile, the original Leigh Brackett draft of the TESB screenplay has been making the rounds. I'd link to it but the server it's on is overloaded. It's unclear whether this coincidentally bubbled up from the ether or whether this is from the upcoming "The Making of The Empire Strikes Back." But you can read over the highlights posted here:

http://geeksofdoom.com/2010/05/15/early-draft-of-empire-strikes-back-reveals-alternate-star-wars-universe/

Some of it is stuff that got recycled in other movies, some of it stayed, and some of it was mercifully jettisoned in future drafts. Like the "tender love scene" with Luke and Leia o_0. The White Clan warriors sound like "Avatar" characters but they also seem a bit like proto-Kaminoans, at least in appearance. And Darth Vader has pet gargoyles! Just from that rundown, I'm glad the final version played up Leia falling in love with Han and played down the love triangle bit. It just made Leia look bad (why would she suddenly throw herself at Han after getting cozy with Luke?) and having Luke decide he doesn't love her the same way by the film's end would have made everyone question his orientation. Brackett apparently did not know Vader and Luke's father were one and the same, maybe because Lucas hadn't decided yet to merge the two characters. I know that was definitely the case with "Luke's sister" and Leia, because early drafts of ROTJ have them as separate characters.

I kind of agree with the Geeks of Doom post in that there are ideas in there that could be used in the expanded universe; the ideas could also make for great fan fiction fodder. *Rubs hands.*
lazypadawan: (headdesk)
Now that young star Shia LaBeouf is in Cannes promoting Wall Street II: Money Never Sleeps, he's burning bridges like a pyromaniac on speed. Let's see if he comes back for Indy V after telling the press this:

The last time Shia LaBeouf came to Cannes, in 2008, it was to promote "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull," the revival of the swashbuckling adventure franchise that went on to earn a whopping $787 million around the world. LaBeouf is back on the Croisette this weekend to flog "Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps," another revival of a classic from several decades ago. But he's not willing to forget about what he says were rampant problems with Indy 4 -- and he doesn't expect fans to, either.

"I feel like I dropped the ball on the legacy that people loved and cherished," LaBeouf said, explaining that this upped the ante for him before he began shooting the "Wall Street" sequel. "If I was going to do it twice, my career was over. So this was fight-or-flight for me."

Meeting with reporters Saturday on a terrace at the Hotel du Cap, he had some strong, confessional words about his acting in the film, which he said he felt didn't convince anyone that he was the action hero the movie claimed him to be. "You get to monkey-swinging and things like that and you can blame it on the writer and you can blame it on Steven [Spielberg, who directed]. But the actor's job is to make it come alive and make it work, and I couldn't do it. So that's my fault. Simple."

LaBeouf said that he could have kept quiet, especially given the movie's blockbuster status, but didn't think the film had fooled anyone. "I think the audience is pretty intelligent. I think they know when you've made ... . And I think if you don't acknowledge it, then why do they trust you the next time you're promoting a movie." LaBeouf went on to say he wasn't the only star on the film who felt that way. "We [Harrison Ford and LaBeouf] had major discussions. He wasn't happy with it either. Look, the movie could have been updated. There was a reason it wasn't universally accepted."

LaBeouf added, "We need to be able to satiate the appetite," he said. "I think we just misinterpreted what we were trying to satiate."

Asked whether this was difficult to say, given his deep relationship with Spielberg, LaBeouf continued with the directness.

"I'll probably get a call. But he needs to hear this. I love him. I love Steven. I have a relationship with Steven that supersedes our business work. And believe me, I talk to him often enough to know that I'm not out of line. And I would never disrespect the man. I think he's a genius, and he's given me my whole life. He's done so much great work that there's no need for him to feel vulnerable about one film. But when you drop the ball you drop the ball."


Of course the internetz are praising his candor and refreshing honesty in biting a big hand that fed him. If he really felt that way, he should have said so years ago, not two years after the film comes out. There's nothing that I hate more than actors (especially actors) and people associated with a film going on about how pleased they're with it and it's so awesome, blah blah blah and turn around and call it crap when it doesn't do well. Except in this case, Indy IV did do well but wussy lil' Shia couldn't take all of the mean things they were saying in the entertainment media and by the internet Neanderthals. So he decides to pull a Megan Fox with Steven Spielberg and in a classier move, drags in Harrison Ford. Ford was on Jay Leno prior to the film's release and told Leno he absolutely loved the film. So is LaBeouf calling Ford a liar? I imagine if this Wall Street flick doesn't fly, he'll just throw the blame on Oliver Stone and Michael Douglas.

What a drunk driving douchebag.

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