lazypadawan's Holocron

Mark Hamill confirmed via EW.com that he found out about Eps VII-IX while he and Carrie Fisher were having a private lunch with George Lucas at Celebration VI.

The Disney deal though was a total surprise to him.

http://insidemovies.ew.com/2012/10/31/mark-hamill-star-wars-episode-vii-disney/

I take it a sign that it's entirely possible they may be involved in some way. Fisher can't do a full length feature anymore, but can handle short cameo appearances here and there if she does anything onscreen. We'll just have to see what pans out!

That's right, the Emperor himself is paying a little visit to Celebration VI:

http://www.starwars.com/news/ian_mcdiarmid_at_celebration_vi.html

Now, THIS is how Celebration can step up its game! I already got McDiarmid's autograph through his recent signing session with Official Pix, so I won't need to spend three days in line for it. But oh, you bet your sweet Sidious I will be in line to catch one of his chat sessions (let's hope there's more than one). This will be his first stateside Celebration appearance.

No word on whether he'll arrive via Imperial shuttle.

As noted on Facebook and Twitter, I did not watch the Oscars. So it was this morning when I got wind of something Chris Rock had said during the show about voice actors. In summary, Rock was presenting for one of the animation awards and he went on a riff about how easy it was to voice an animated film, where you just sound like yourself and they throw millions of dollars at you.

This annoyed many professional voice actors. As Clone Wars's James Arnold Taylor posted on his Facebook:

Okay to sum up my thoughts on the Chris Rock joke at the Oscars. The sad truth is what he said is true... for him that is how VO works. They hire celebrities to sound like themselves and they do pay them about 99.9% more than us. It's my hope that through things like my stage show I can show people what real VO work looks like for the many amazing folks that do it daily. It is an art and it should be recognized as that... not as a punch line for the super rich "artist elite" at their awards show that still required talents like Tom Kane and Melissa Disney to announce all of them.

It's true. Known stars are hired for the big feature animated films and they are hired to sound just like themselves so that you know you're hearing Chris Rock or whomever. They're not hired as much for their vocal skills as they are for pure marquee value. Hollywood thinks you're more likely to see "The Lorax" if it starred Danny DeVito, Taylor Swift, and Zac Efron than if it starred voice talents you wouldn't know by name unless you read the credits at the end of a Cartoon Network show.

Now there are exceptions. For example, Johnny Depp actually played a character in "Rango" instead of just sounding like himself or worse yet, riffing off a character we're already familiar with. But for the most part the personality hired is the personality as an animated turtle, giant robot, or Ninja warrior. So while that person must have some acting ability to be able to read the lines right, it's not the same thing that people like Taylor or Kane have to do just to do an episode of Clone Wars. The latter are hired to sound like anyone BUT themselves. To be able to create a unique voice (or to sound like an established character) and act takes a lot of skill. The best in the field make it seem effortless but that's not without years of professional experience.

Because most top-tier celebrities have little to no contact with professional voice actors, it's a part of the business that's easy for them to overlook. After all, voice actors don't get acknowledged outside of the Annies. Even the animated Emmy awards go to guest stars who of course sound just like themselves. And for the celebrities who have done voice over work, it might seem like Casual Friday since it's not 15-hour days of hair, makeup, shooting, and re-shooting for five weeks.

It's pretty typical for people who live in their Hollyweird bubble. Not only are they unable to relate to anyone outside of their world, they can't even relate to other professionals toiling away in the same industry.

Reminder: Entries to win a copy of Carrie Fisher's book "Shockaholic" are due in tonight by 11:59 p.m.. See my post from a couple of days ago on how to enter.

Also, someone had a question on whether this was open to residents outside of the U.S.. The publisher got back to me and it's open to U.S. residents only (sorry, world).

TFN linked to this bit on how Carrie Fisher's run on Jenny Craig is coming along. Honestly, this is the best she's looked in years:

http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20488450,00.html

At Celebration V, I knew she'd gained a lot of weight since I last saw her in person and she wasn't thin back then either; this explains why. It brings to mind what was said about Carrie not taking care of herself in "The Making Of The Empire Strikes Back." I guess when she's busy working, she doesn't look after herself too well. Regular soda is full of sugar and empty calories and protein bars are fine as long as you eat one in place of a meal and you go work out, or you go bike for a few miles. Those suckers have a lot of calories. You're better off eating real food instead.

My opinion of these weight loss programs is that any one of them can work if you can stick with it and you like it. No matter what you pick there's still an element of willpower and discipline. The second trick is maintaining your weight when you get to your goal. (Ask Kirstie Alley and Valerie Bertinelli.)

Anyway, so far so good.

*Mega squees!*

QUIGGY'S BACK, Y'ALL!

http://insidetv.ew.com/2011/01/20/liam-neeson-star-wars-clone-wars-exclusive/

I've always hoped to see Qui-Gon on Clone Wars. Getting Neeson back is like winning the PowerBall. Well, not quite, but pretty damn AWESOME!

Dave, I love you man.

(The only people happier than I am about this are the Q/O fans, heh heh.)

I'm an occasional reader at Libertas Film Magazine, so I'd missed this post about Irvin Kershner until a SWPAS reader alerted me to it. This is from the perspective of someone who got to know Kershner personally and it's such a terrific piece, Kershner's son David posted a thank you in the comments section:

http://www.libertasfilmmagazine.com/irvin-kershner-1923-2010/

And here's a bit more from the same site:

http://www.libertasfilmmagazine.com/kersh-unplugged/

Irvin Kershner died just a few hours ago in Los Angeles at the age of 87...I literally just saw it now on Twitter and TFN.

It's not a big surprise given Kershner had been battling cancer for a long time. He was going to only make one convention/public appearance this year in conjunction with the 30th anniversary of TESB, and that was at a show in Anaheim last spring, which he had to cancel due to poor health.

More on Kershner later.

Her Universe was at Wizard World Chicago Comic Con last weekend, and its most (in)famous guest made some time to say howdy. Former Illinois governor/possible future resident of Club Fed Rod Blagojevich was at the con to sign autographs and meet fans--no, I didn't make that up--and I guess he couldn't resist the Star Wars goodies. Maybe the Mrs. or something is a fan. Maybe Blago loves him some Clone Wars. Who knew?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/heruniverse/4926052365/in/set-72157624804779320/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/heruniverse/4926649652/in/set-72157624804779320/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/heruniverse/4926053633/in/set-72157624804779320/