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Fang Zei said:

I'd heard about Walken auditioning for Han Solo (the Kevin Spacey snl skit has made it infamous), but this is the first I've read of him being Lucas' first choice. Fascinating. I wonder who overruled him (or got him to change his mind).

There are several stories now, so its not definitive on whether Walken didn't take the role or Lucas/Casting Director wanted someone else.  I do know that Walken was the first to read for Han Solo.

Another person who read for Princess Leia was Cindy Williams from Laverne and Shirley, as I believe she was also in American Graffiti?  I wonder if she would have played a less bitchy Princess Leia? 

As for Han Solo, Harrison Ford was just a designated reader for Lucas (because he knew Lucas from Graffiti) working with all the people who would be cast for Luke and Leia, and then I think Lucas finally thought about it one day and figured HE was the Han Solo he was looking for all the time! 

I believe all the test readings are on the Empire of Dreams DVD?  But its pretty surreal to watch!

SilverWook said:

And before anyone starts kvetching about J.J. hiring people he's worked with before, remember George kept hiring that Harrison Ford guy long after American Graffiti.

Actually, Tom Selleck was their first choice for Indiana Jones, but he was contractually obligated to Magnum PI at the time. 

And Christopher Walken was Lucas's first choice for Han Solo, as he would have been a much darker character then the more sarcastic that Ford ended up playing him. 

ScruffyNerfHerder said:

I’ve never heard some of this information before.  Does anyone know the author’s source?

I remember reading something similar from Gary Kurtz's notes from the early 80's about the 9 part outline he and Lucas mapped out.

humanracer said:

This will probably not be news for most for you but I found it a really interesting read

http://robwrite.hubpages.com/hub/The-Original-Conception-of-the-Star-Wars-Trilogy

The Luke/Leia siblings is the one negative I will always feel towards the OT.  It would have been interesting if Lucas would have just let 'the other' plot point hanging there all these years and now we would actually meet Luke's long lost sister in the upcoming ST.

NeverarGreat said:

I'm dreading the appearance of the Millennium Falcon, Han Solo, and dozens of other universe-shrinking callbacks in the Sequels.

I agree that the ST could be a colossal blunder for the reasons you cited, but Lucas tried to cater to the OT fans with the PT too with many examples of universe-shrinking plot points:

-C3PO being built by Anakin

-Jango Fett is the clone of all stormtroopers, and just happens to be Boba Fett's dad.

-C3PO living on Uncle Owens Farm during AOTC, yet Owen doesn't remember him 20 years later when he buys him?

-Chewbacca and his home planet just happen to show up in ROTS and they have good relations with Yoda.

Anchorhead said:

The PT fans had the benefit of being in the moment.  We had the benefit of experience.  All we had to do was wait.

What's even more funny is they are the ones who are criticizing the ST (Before we even know one plot point or who is cast), whereas the OT fans are taking a wait and see attitude (same as we did with the PT.)

The argument from the PT crowd is that we hated the PT before it was even released, and we always hated Lucas, etc.  Which is dead wrong, that many of us gave the PT numerous chances (Movie Theater, DVD, SpikeTV, etc.), but in the end thought they were bad movies.

Now they are the ones who are already criticizing the ST, saying JJ Abrams is a hack, that the story is just tacked on and it will contradict the prophecy from Episode I that Anakin would bring balance to the force.  And they are also taking shots at Hamill, Fisher, and Ford for being old-fogee's and just collecting a check, etc. 

Just like you said, for years they followed Lucas blindly, and now he is doing EXACTLY to them what he did to us.  I do wish that Lucas was able to go back and change some of the PT movies to fit the new ST plot points, as I would love to see them go crazy over that!   LOL!

Baronlando said:

Yikes ,TFN has gotten scary.

I actually ventured back there after the announcement of Episode 7 just to see what the nutjob SW fans thought to get a good laugh.

First they are all going crazy because their beloved 'Tragedy of Darth Vader' story is gone now that we have Episodes 7,8,9, and they feel betrayed by Lucas selling to Disney to make more movies.  I have to laugh at the irony that they feel betrayed by Lucas, because he has been doing this to this fanbase for years!

Then I got into an argument about the original SW and how beloved it was in 1977, and how it appealed to everyone.  He answered me that it was a 'cult' movie, and then rephrased a 'popular cult movie.'  I never heard that one before, as I don't even think he understands what a cult movie was!  Now Bladerunner was a cult movie, not Star Wars!

The best is to hear the fans now moaning that they will only recognize Episodes 7,8,9 as 'additions' to the SW universe, because the Darth Vader arc is so important to them.  What's ironic is for years they yelled at the OOT fans like myself who wouldn't recognize the PT or Special Editions, and would say, "The Saga is 6 episodes now so deal with it!"

So now I answer them back, "The Saga is now 9 Episodes, so deal with it!"  And they start going crazy telling me to mind my own business and they have a right to recognize what movies they want.

Irony!  Gotta love it!

DominicCobb said:

Kathleen Kennedy is a highly respectable producer, Michael Arndt is a great writer, and J.J. Abrams is a fantastic director (and with him comes more than competent film editors and costume designer). Also, John Williams. Also Lawrence Kasdan.

In terms of the content, all we know so far is that they are going to try to bring back some practical effects, and the that Mark, Carrie, and Harrison are all but confirmed. 

Besides that, I think the best aspect of the ST at the moment is that we don't have any information. The potential for these films are boundless. They won't be based on EU stories so we truly don't know what will happen or how it will all end, unlike those prequels that we all love so much.

So yeah, the ST is shaping up to be pretty awesome.

There are so many Sequels that fail with great talent around.   Look at the Jurassic Park: The Lost World or Indy Jones Crystal Skull, both directed by Spielberg, and both are awful movies. 

The big thing is where they are going to take this story and will it be original, yet still gel with the other SW films?   That's a tough thing to do as most movie franchises start to get boring by the 3rd film, because there is only so much you can do before you start retreading older plot points. 

Right now, I am reserving judgement on the ST, because nobody really knows anything about the story.  But I have seen too many movies that are surrounded by great talent fail because the script/story was bad or not interesting. 

If we start seeing a bunch of force ghosts in the ST, then I won't even bother cause that tells me they have run out of ideas and this won't be anymore original then the PT was. 

The force ghost was a cool concept that Lucas eventually ruined.  It was cool to see Kenobi as a force ghost in ESB to lead Luke to Dagobah and then comment on him leaving to fight Vader.  Then he appears and sits down in Jedi like a real life person???  Then you have Hayden as a young force ghost, but Kenobi and Yoda are old force ghosts in the new ending to Jedi???

This is another example of the more you delve into something mystical like this, the more it loses its luster.  The same with the force, as it was mystical in the OT, and when it was explained in the PT, it opens up all sorts of questions.

I have to say I was hopeful of the ST a few months ago, but I am starting to sour on it now, as I think it will be the same old same old. 

vacuum said:

btw does anyone think theres a way the ST could fix the PT retroactively, especially in regards to the continuity problems between the PT and OT?

Episode I:  A New Hope

Episode II:  The Empire Strikes Back

Episode III:  Return of the Jedi

Episode IV:  Episode 7 Title

Episode V:  Episode 8 Title

Episode VI:  Episode 9 Title

If Lucas can change the OT movies, then he can go back and change the opening crawls and the PT never existed.

Ryan McAvoy said:

 

Would have been a cool PT idea if Alderaan was once the planet where the Republic Royal Family lived (Princess Leia being the latest in the line). For generation's they ruled in Peace as nominal heads of state with the Republic Senate alongside. Kinda like ancient Rome.

As much as I dislike the PT, this is the one time that Lucas got it right by not using Alderaan as a main planet.  Sadly, he got it wrong by making Anakin from Tatooine.

Luke and Leia were supposed to be hidden from the Emperor and Vader, and the fact that they put Luke on the SAME planet his father was born is pretty stupid if you asked me.  By not having Alderaan as a main planet in the PT, it atleast jives with them hiding Leia as Vader or The Emperor have no ties there and would be harder to sense her.

Baronlando said:

Is it more than a little weird the way nobody is really acknowledging that George Lucas said, flat out, that the original 3 are in the movie. How long ago was that? Is he just losing his marbles? What is the P.R. advantage of ignoring and or contradicting that, unless something weird is going on. 

I have to wonder if Harrison Ford is not under contract yet, and that is what is causing the delay?  Of course the first issue would be about money, but the second issue would be what Han Solo's role in the film would be?  Would Ford come back just for a cameo, or would he want a decent part in the ST? 

Baronlando said:

Nothing is a juggernaut for more than for 2 weekends anyway these days, I think Avengers and Star Wars in the same month is no big deal.

I agree as the days of movies in theaters for extended periods of time are pretty much over.  Each summer blockbusters gets the opening weekend to themselves, and if they open well they will get a second weekend without competition.  Usually by the 3rd weekend, moviegoers are onto their next blockbuster. 

Episode 7 will probably open the weekend before Memorial Day, and will get those 2 weekends to make most of its money, and then another blockbuster will open the first week of June and the buzz for Episode 7 will be gone no matter how good or bad it is.

SilverWook said:

Did TFN's reputation ever fully recover from the whole "Yoda farts in Episode III" debacle?

LOL!  I remember reading that back in 2004 on TFN!

I gave up on the OOT release for years, but once Disney bought the rights to SW, I figured it will eventually happen. 

Now I know there is alot of legal wrangling that FOX owns the distribution rights to SW'77, but that can be worked out.  FOX/Paramount both funded Titanic, and agreed that Paramount would get the Domestic Home Video Rights, while FOX would get the international home video because there was too much money to be made to keep delaying the release of the most popular movie at that time.

I could see Disney releasing the OOT in 2015 when Episode 7 comes out and you have Ford, Fisher and Hamill doing publicity for the new movie along with the release of the original versions to the public.  Perfect Tie-in!

I really don't see what the big deal about their age is as long as they play their respective ages in the movies.  Now if they were setting Episode VII five years after ROTJ and they were trying to pull of Han, Luke, and Leia in their 30's, then I would understand everyone's anger.  But it sounds like Episode VII will take place 30-40 years after ROTJ, and Han, Luke, and Leia will all be in their 60/70's, so it won't look ridiculous at all on screen. 

I haven't posted here in a while, but I thought I would put my two cents in towards the ST.  I am actually happy they are making this trilogy, as I always wanted the ST more then PT.

The ST is unpredictable and you never know where the story will be taking us, nor which characters will die, whereas the PT we essentially knew what happened and it was just a matter of how Lucas executed those plot points.

I am also happy that the ST will put an end to the propaganda that the story was always about the 'Tragedy of Darth Vader' baloney that Lucas started throwing out during the PT days.  We all knew that wasn't true and it always bothered me that my beloved SW movies were now an arc about a cold blood killer?  Sorry, that story doesn't do anything for me. 

Now the story is what it originally was about, a more macro story in a galaxy far far away, set up as 3 trilogies of 3 generations of Skywalkers. 

I probably watch 1 or 2 SW movies a month, usually on lazy days when I am not doing anything and just want to sit back and watch a movie.  My movie watching of SW movies may ramp up when the ST gets closer as the hype will get me in the mood to watch them more.

Even though I saw all 3 OT movies in the theater, Jedi was the first one I was old enough to really enjoy the hype. I was going into 5th grade when Jedi came out, so I was a full blown SW fan at that point, and couldn't get enough of it.

My first memory was in the summer of 1982, and I was over a friends house eating lunch and her mom said, "I just read that the 3rd SW movie is going to be called Revenge of the Jedi!" I was so stoked, as the first thing I though was Luke was going to kick some ass and this was his revenge against Vader.

I remember leading up to Jedi that because there was no internet that you could actually goto the movie and not worry about spoliers. I told my one friend (who saw it before me) not to tell me if Vader was Luke's father. The only he said was that Luke is a badass in Jedi and chokes the guards at Jabba's palace to get in.

After I saw iit with my 2 older brothers, I was on a high for days. I was young enough not to be bothered by the Ewoks like I am now, and I was fascinated with the talk between Luke and Obiwan on Dagobah and that there was a backstory behind all of these movies.

bkev said:

Good ole George confirms Ford, Fisher and Hamill all back. This is starting to feel surreal.

Liked his little dig at Disney, though. Apparently he's not a fan of big reveals and publicity stunts. Still, it worries me that he's involved enough to be the one to officially confirm all this.

 

www.digitalbits.com had a nice article from Bloomberg.com I believe about the whole process of Disney buying Lucasfilm.

The jist of it is that Lucas was writing Episode 7 BEFORE he was approached by Disney, so he was going to do 3 more movies on his own. Disney CEO threw it out there about buying Lucasfilm, and Lucas balked. A few years later, Lucas had lunch again with the Disney CEO and said he was ready to sell.

The reason he didn't want to sell is that he didn't want to give up creative control of the SW universe because he knew it would be the first sentence on his gravestone, and was worried where anyone else would take the franchise if he relented.

So his compromise to Disney was he would sell, but he would keep his people in place running the SW opersation (Kathleen Kennedy), so he still has some input.

The article talks about when they start shooting it is Disney's final decision for anything in the movie, and Lucas cannot just come in at the end and edit it the way he wants it. The 64,000 dollar question, will Lucas be able to stay away from SW when they shooting Episode 7?

The fact that he already spilled the beans on the signing of Carrie, Harrison, and Mark tells me he won't go quietly.

bkev said:

Good ole George confirms Ford, Fisher and Hamill all back. This is starting to feel surreal.

Liked his little dig at Disney, though. Apparently he's not a fan of big reveals and publicity stunts. Still, it worries me that he's involved enough to be the one to officially confirm all this.

I have very few memories of seeing Star Wars in 1977 as I was only 5 years old. I remember all the main characters: Darth Vader, Luke, Leia, and the Death Star. The strange thing is I never saw it again til 1983, but having the action figures kept my love of the movie all those years.

I will say that when I finally saw it again in February 1983 when it first premiered on HBO, it confirmed how much I loved the movie again. It was on so many times that year, and I would watch it everytime.

I rate them:

Star Wars/ Empire

Jedi

The Prequels

I have been a longtime member here and have fought for years with you guys to get the OOT on DVD and eventually on BluRay. I still say that Disney acquiring the Star Wars franchise can be nothing but good news, as I believe we will see the OOT someday on BluRay.

As for Episode 7, I may suprise many here being a longtime PT basher, but I'm actually looking forward to the ST, and I'm going to try to enjoy it and STAY AWAY FROM THE INTERNET! I don't know if the movies will be good or bad, but I'm not going to go through another 3 movies battling people on our opinions of them. OT.com serves its purpose as it tries to get the OOT out on BluRay, but other SW boards are just toxic, IMO. I saw the battles on the internet usually disinegrate into childish fighting whether it be about SW, Batman, Spiderman or any Summer Blockbuster.

Even as a kid I never wanted the Prequels, but I always wanted the Sequel Trilogy. SW is what it is these days, so either a fan can embrace it with a grain of salt or ignore it.