Actor David Prowse hopes he gets the role of Darth Vader again in Episode III. The 66 years old actor thinks young Hayden Christensen isn’t up to the job. This article appeared in the Daily Telegraph lately; you can read it all here.

The 66-year-old, who suffers from arthritis and walks with the aid of a cane, doesn’t think young Hayden Christensen is up to the job of playing Vader in the final Star Wars flick. “I don’t know if he can do it. He must only be 5ft 9,” Prowse reasoned, remembering, “When I played him I was 6ft 7 and 20 stone,” and saying that he wants director George Lucas to give him a call.

[...]

Prowse also said that he thinks real Star Wars fans won’t be happy if anyone else plays Anakin Skywalker’s evil alter-ego. “I have such a huge following that if George Lucas offered the part to someone else, I’m sure fans would boycott the film,” Prowse speculated.

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Two seperate rumors sprouted their head today; one concerning Padme and the other concerning the droids.

First off, E! Daily News reported this quote from Lucas concerning the C3PO and R2D2 and why they don’t remember everything in the 1977 Star Wars (besides the fact that they had no idea the prequels were coming):

(SPOILER ALERT “Well, one, his brains have, his memory system has been erased and so has R2’s. So, they don’t remember anything from the first trilogy. I’m telling you something from Episode III, but I shouldn’t be telling you that, but I think most of the fans already know that.”

I don’t know the authenticity of that one, but it is reported here at Coming Attractions.

Secondly, MTv Movie House reports a rumor that Natalie Portman will shoot a scene to appear on the Return of the Jedi DVD. People, don’t expect a flashback. Don’t expect her to survive either. I think it is going to be something more subtle. But thats just me; I’m just a gungan with a lightsaber.

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In an interview with Cinescape George Lucas explains the complicated storytelling of his Star Wars films. You can read the complete article at Cinescape.

“Whenever you talk to an author and somebody that writes, they write this back-story, [and it’s] basically character driven,” Lucas said. “What you’re doing is setting up who your characters are. Obviously there are a lot of technical issues going on. I had to get somewhere. Okay, this is the father; these are the kids. Where the hell did they come from? In [PHANTOM MENACE], I was dealing with the beginning. I was dealing with a lot of issues a lot of fans didn’t want to hear about – symbiotic relationships and things. The public yawned and people weren’t ready for it when I said Anakin was basically created by the midichlorians, which is a spiritual, symbiotic idea. In that case I was talking much further back, indicative of all creation. At the same time, it is inevitable we would get to the love story. It is inevitable that, let’s face it – Padme is going to get pregnant.”
He added, “I knew when I made the film a lot of fans weren’t going to like this because I wasn’t making the movie they wanted. They wanted me to start with EPISODE II. They wanted to see Jedis fighting; they wanted to see battles. They wanted to see THE MATRIX. I knew that I was telling a story that I wrote 30 years ago and I had to start at the beginning and I had to do all the groundwork, which means you have to lay all the pipe for the world you are creating.”

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I saw Attack of the Clones in digital today, and surprisingly I was not overwhelmed by what I saw. Before you jump all over me with your reactions though, I will say this- it is the most crisp picture I have ever seen on the big screen. Also, it will age a lot better than film; when a month or two has passed, the film will have aged whereas the digital print will look the same as the first day. The future is bright.

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I just got my June 6th issue of Rolling Stone magazine, and the contents page has a very cool artwork for Episode II! Check it out now!

Also, there is an article inside about the new prequels. They also have a ranking of all the Star Wars movies so far. They rank Episode II at #3 after The Empire Strikes Back and the original Star Wars. There is also an interesting observation; when Star Wars came out in 1977, it was beat out for the Best Picture Oscar by Woody Allen’s Annie Hall. This time his Hollywood Ending is opening at the same time and will also be featured alongside Episode II at Cannes.

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With a stellar estimated $32.1 million dollars on Saturday, Episode II has jumped to a total of $86.1 million by the end of Saturday. This takes the weekend total to nearly $56.7 million with Sunday to go. Expect final total in a few hours. Check out our daily box-office analysis for more.

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For those of you just planning on skimming through my review, let me make it easy for you.

Star Wars Episode II Attack of the Clones is the most deep and rich Star Wars film of them all.

When I say deep and rich, I mean from the standpoint of storyline, characters and locations. The film has definite flaws; more so than the original trilogy; but it also has a storyline that is vast beyond anything any other Star Wars film has demonstrated in the past.

Yoda is the star of the film, and thankfully has been given more than just his wise and preachy Episode I role- there is humor, wisdom and power in his character this time around. Without going into details of the plot, I will say that after this film you will never look at Yoda the same way again.

Jar Jar has a much smaller role this time around, though frankly I did not find him offensive the first time around. I actually kind of liked him. This time, much of the humor is left to Obi Wan and comic relief to C3PO. Both are handled well; especially a part where you get to see 3PO’s “dark side“.

The visuals are stunning- if you thought Episode I couldn’t be beat, Lucas and friends have outdone themselves again. The new planets and characters are very fresh; reminds me a lot of Return of the Jedi. The film also takes you back to a few familiar places and things that remind you that this is Star Wars (a certain colored milk, anyone?).

Having said all that, the film does have its flaws. The first half has the story moving swiftly, but each scene feeling laborious. The dialogue is delivered, as in Episode I, with a certain bearing that is more common on the stage than in film. I do not think it is as much a problem of quality of dialogue or acting as it is of editing- the scenes move along a bit too quickly, telling you the story but not allowing it to sink in. As a sum, these swiftly moving scenes feel laborious.

But all of this is done away with as soon as the intrigue of the political and military maneouvres sets in. This film is unique in the Star Wars saga to have a definite sense of suspense about the heroes’ choices and the villains motives.

Finally, the greatest complement I can bestow upon Attack of the Clones is that the last scene makes you want your Episode III now!

Enjoy!
DevanJedi

Additional thoughts on second viewing: – Most of the scenes that felt wooden the first time around felt a lot better on second viewing. I think the reason for that is that they seemed very un-starwars-like the first time around. Also, I had said in my review that the scenes move very quickly, not allowing the message to sink in; this is not a problem in the second viewing since the message has already sunk in. This is still a flaw with the film, but one that disappears for the repeat-viewing fan.
(SPOILERS highlight to read)
- Yoda’s fight felt even more spectacular the second time around! – Christopher Lee as Count Dooku is the best acting performance in the film! – Since the scenes are short, all emotions that are carrying Anakin to the dark side have to be conveyed perfectly in every inflection of his voice and facial expression- he carries it off very well. – I am surprised that Padme is not scared of Anakin!

Signing off!
DevanJedi

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I can’t wait; 6 hours to go. Actually, a little more. I’ve been finding ways to keep myself busy all day now (look here; I scanned my ticket!). Now look what I’ve found- Zam uses a cell phone! Tell me which model it is gets a free GFA t-shirt. Make up a name, the most innovative one wins- reply before midnight 16th May! Send it in to skywalker@galaxyfaraway.com!

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Here’s my ticket for tonight! For those of you who don’t have tickets, one word of advice- make a trip to your theatre! Tickets are still available at a LOT of theatres, even if it says they aren’t online.

10 hours to go… 7 on the east coast… New Zealand & Australia have already seen it!

I said, can you wait?

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A bit of news about the Attack of the Clones DVD (and Star Wars DVD’s in general) was released today. There is a good chance we won’t have to wait as long for the AOTC DVD as we had to for the Phantom Menace disc.
This was reported by the SF Gate. You can read the complete article here.

The new “Star Wars” movie is hitting DVD at light speed compared with “The Phantom Menace.”
“Star Wars: Episode II —Attack of the Clones” will be available on DVD this fall, the franchise’s creator, George Lucas, said last week in an interview at his film headquarters, Skywalker Ranch.

“Episode I—The Phantom Menace” came out on videotape early in 2000, about 10 months after the film’s theatrical debut, but the DVD version was not released until a year and a half later. The delay resulted because Lucas was particular about refining deleted material and other DVD bonuses and was busy working on “Episode II.”

Lucas said he’d rather hold off on the “Attack of the Clones” DVD, as well, so he could spend more time tweaking the bonus material.

“But everybody says, “Oh, it’s so much more powerful if you bring it out in the same year as the movie,”’ Lucas said. “So we’re doing our best to do that.”

Unfortunately for “Star Wars” fans, the original trilogy will not land on DVD until after Lucas finishes “Episode III,” due out in 2005, he said.

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I can’t wait another 36 hours for Star Wars. I just can’t. And to think I waited 2 months after the release to see Episode II (and I wasn’t disappointed, as many people would lead you to believe). I couldn’t do that now.

And to make the wait a little more bearable, I’ve been keeping myself busy with Episode II stuff for the site. Click on the image for 3 new very cool Episode II wallpapers I just put together. Very cool stuff. I made it from the back of the Celebration II program and some other sources.

Next, I have some news from Mark Jonathan Davis, the Star Wars Cantina man himself:

Hey!

Well, it’s just a matter of days before Star Wars: Episode 2 hits theaters, and there’s no better way to celebrate the new movie than with an old parody song!

Yes, be sure to visit MJD’s Intergalactic Comedy Hacienda to hear my comedy parody song “The Star Wars Cantina” right before you go see the film. And, if you can get a bunch of your friends to sing it together in line (or in the theater during the previews), that’d be rad!

Plus, if you can somehow get CNN or another national TV network to air some footage of you singing my parody this weekend, I’ll give you a very special secret “Star Wars Cantina” collectible commemorative surprise souvenir gift item that will make all your friends envious with glee!

Let me know what channel to watch, thanks for your support, and enjoy the flick!

Best wishes,
Mark Jonathan Davis

And do check out his Idea Town web site while you’re there!

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This week’s TV Guide has a feature on Star Wars and interviews with Lucas, Hayden and Natalie Portman. Cool stuff!

There are also three seperate Star Wars covers; each quite nice with morphing covers. Click here for one of the covers. You may also read part of the story online.

And just in case you needed to know more about the covers, this is what TV Guide sent me about it!

The TV Guide lenticular covers feature multiple images put under a plastic lens and as the cover is turned, the lens only allows you to see one image at a time, giving the effect of movement. The lens is the key to other
images being invisible while the first image is visible to the viewer.

Enjoy!

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Check out all my pictures from Celebration II! The gallery is divided into ‘Celebrities’ and ‘Fans’; where ‘Fans’ is pretty much everything that is not a celebrity. Not that celebrities are not fans, at the celebration all are equal, but lets just say they are a little more equal than the rest of us.

Check them out and enjoy!

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‘’Because it’s a galactic adventure, it demands we go to different places,’’ he said. ‘’In a normal movie, you go to different cities or different parts of the same city, or you go to the country. In these films, the same thing holds true, except you’re going to a different planet system.

‘’What that means is I have to invent something that is in contrast with everything else. ...It’s not just designing each planet, but the culture of that planet, the technology of that planet. Everything has to be designed and made to fit, from furniture to clothing to modes of transportation and shelter.’‘

That are George Lucas’ words about inventing planets and locations. The director and his crew were interviewed by the Sun Times. Read the complete interview here.

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Gregory Karber writes in to tell me about the crisis in their town:

Our local movie theater is refusing to show Star Wars at Midnight! So I decided on a course of action. Pressure local radio stations to pressure the Malco’s managers through a giant email campaign. I’ve set up a webpage with their addresses at http://www.karber.net/starwars.htm. Please help me. The midnight show means something to us fans!

Use discretion while emailing or contacting the radio stations or the managers. Be nice; it will go a long way. If you just make them angry, you’ll get no where. Remember: anger leads to hate, hate leads to…

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