Baronlando said:
Didn't Terence Stamp talk pretty frankly about the whole thing back then?
I believe he was unhappy that he had to act and interact with a cardboard cutout of Natalie Portman... although... nevermind. :-)
Gary Whitta, writer for the first standalone film, has also said his fair of negative comments about the SE and PT.
http://furiousfanboys.com/2014/05/gary-whitta-attempts-to-delete-his-special-edition-prequel-bashing-online/
“But as a fan, I’d much rather go back and watch the old thing, because it’s a product of the time. It’s what did you do at the time with the things that you had. And that’s what made that movie so amazing. At that time with that technology he made this thing and it was fucking awesome. So, you know, to go back and kind of tweak it with new stuff, it doesn’t make it more interesting for me as a watcher. It makes it less interesting, but I can’t fault him for doing that.”
I'm not really surprised he did speak out in this way since Abrams and crew seem to be going in the opposite direction Lucas may have taken based on the PT... more focus on story, character development, practical effects, etc. I wonder if Disney holds the same attitude as Isaac... not to eliminate the SE and reverse the changes, but work on getting the UOT properly released.
I thought that was Harrison Ford at first glance as well but mostly because of the clothing! However, he really doesn't look anything like Harrison Ford if you look at other pictures of him or watch him on TV. He may very well be Han and Leia's son, though.
SilverWook said:
Some toy collecting magazine hung the name "monkey leia" on that hideous thing. I can only imagine what Carrie must have thought! Leia looks rather mannish.
Interestingly, the POTF Leia was one of the hardest figure to find... at least in my town.
Ryan McAvoy said:
unamochilla2 said:
Toys baring little-or-no resemblance to anything in the actual movie is something I kinda miss. I guess back in the day we only had that one slightly hazy memory of seeing it in the cinema, so toy makers didn't have to worry about it exactly matching in detail or scale. Today kids can probably look up blueprints for the DS on the internet and check the accuracy.
This ROTJ R2 that fired Luke's lightsaber out of the top of his head was a favourite too...
...but looking back on it, it couldn't have been less accurate if they tried. It's like they got Picasso to make the face on those figures...
The "Power of the Force" line in 1995 wasn't very accurate, either... at least initially.
Do I see a six pack on Leia? ;-)
SilverWook said:
One the other end of the scale, the large size figures were incredibly detailed and hold up very well today. But they were more expensive, and the line faded away around the time Empire came out. Kenner probably only did a 12 inch Indiana Jones because they could reuse the Han Solo mold. Nevermind Indy's haircut looks nothing like Han's. ;)
http://theswca.com/images-unproduced.html
Kenner was going to release a line of large size actions figures for ESB and even created some prototypes, but the line was eventually cancelled in favor of the smaller figures. Only IG-88 was produced and released.
It was made by Palitoy, which was a British toy company. Many of its play sets and figures varied slightly from the US line of toys.
Oh yeah...
MaximRecoil said:
That's awesome that they are building real props to represent ships. I've seen a lot of CGI airplanes and helicopters in Hollywood movies lately, and they are just ordinary, real world aircraft that they wouldn't have even had to build in order to film them for real.
It is the height of laziness when you have a big Hollywood budget and you CGI something (or more likely, just grab a pre-existing CGI model from a hard drive) that exists in the real world.
On relatively low budget TV shows from the '80s they filmed real aircraft (e.g., Airwolf, Magnum, P.I., and many others), yet certain big Hollywood productions today can't be bothered to rent or otherwise acquire an airplane or helicopter and point a camera at it?
Some filmmakers may also use CGI helicopters and airplanes (particularity in action films) for safety reasons to avoid a "Twilight Zone: The Movie" incident.
What about the anamorphic footage seen in the "Empire of Dreams" documentary back in 2004? If I remember correctly, the footage presented seemed to be better quality (at least DVD quality) than the GOUT. If so, would that suggest there was a better quality source available back in 2006 when the GOUT was released?
NeverarGreat said:
Carthage said:
No diner scenes plz.
Dinner scenes plz.
Reason being that dinner scenes, such as the one from Star Wars, was such a normal occurrence in movies that the audience could easily believe in the reality of the Lars family and their homestead. Juxtaposed with the alien strangeness of the following binary sunset, a simple dinner scene does more to make Luke's character relatable to the audience than any other interaction in the trilogy.
I agree it worked well in the original film, but the diner and dinner scenes in AOTC felt off. Especially when Anakin was showing off to Padme. Even the deleted dinner with Padme's family didn't feel like it belonged in the Star Wars universe... at least to me. I guess it depends on how the dinner scene is presented.
Is it true that it was Marcia Lucas' idea to kill off Ben in this manner?
New Anthony Daniels interview with ET.
Short excerpt regarding Episode VII and CGI C3PO in the PT:
I will tell you that when [director] J.J. Abrams rang me to ask about filming Episode VII, one of the first things he said after he told me how wonderful I was — and that didn’t take long — but he then said, “Would you be interested in being in the film just doing the voice?” I said, “No,” and he said, “Right!” He knew I’d say that. There’s no way I would just do the voice. I also said that it can’t be the same suit. I will tell you that the team then got together and built a new suit. They made an entirely new look-a-like with changes that you will never notice [on screen] that made my life a lot easier. I can get it on and off very quickly. [During the prequels], the only time [Threepio has] been CG was when it was very dangerous [to act in the scene in a suit] — and it wasn’t very good. In fact, I’m going to say it was awful. One of the difficulties is with a character that you know and love so well is that, as a member of the audience, you go, “Oh no, that’s not right. No, he doesn’t move like that.” With me [in the suit], he’s always going to move the same way and have the same reactions, timing, and so on. With CG, you’re working with some brilliant person on the keyboard who is trying to pretend to be me.
I have a feeling Chewie (Mayhew) won't be running around much in Episode VII anyway.
The more I look at these the pics, the more impressed I get. Love the location, too.
More set photos...
It appears Adam Driver is the pilot and Gwendoline Christie is some sort of officer?
I didn't say they weren't...
Will be interesting to see if there's any rhyme or reason for the different coloring.
I think it's definitely black (and orange) and not covered up. I wonder where that fighter is that was in the Abrams video?
Of course! I should have known considering many aspects of Episode VII appear to be heavily influenced by McQuarrie's artwork. Maybe the male outfits are McQuarrie inspired as well...
I wonder who got the ground level pics? Seems like they would have better security on the set, but it also looks like there are a lot of extras walking around, too. The aerial pictures are supposedly from a drone.
timdiggerm said:
The tunics are very Naboo, but Star Wars is full of tunics.
I swear I've seen them somewhere else, though...like in one of the Star Wars games from 90s... Dark Forces II, perhaps? Or Mysteries of the Sith?
Seems like I've seen those outfits somewhere, too... including the ladies.
Some extras in costume:
Love seeing that Rebel pilot. :-) And is that a black transport?