Tag: George Lucas

Are you a Jedi fan who wishes that Star Wars Day felt a little more special? Well, good news — this year the date arrives with ”New Hope” and The Force of history. The May 4 tradition (“May the Fourth be with you” — see what they did there?) gives fans yet another occasion to dust off their lightsabers, don their stormtrooper suits and bask in the Blu-ray glow of Jedi films. But more than that, this month marks the 35th anniversary of the first “Star Wars” release, later labeled “Episode IV” and called “A New Hope.” And it was 29 years ago that “Return of the Jedi” closed out the original trilogy of the space saga that defined cinema for a generation of moviegoers and future filmmakers. Fans today can’t get enough of the imaginative universe George Lucas created, but in May of 1983, ...

“Star Wars” is a persistent (and even relentless) presence  in pop culture today, but in 1974 the Empire existed only in the imagination and writing of George Lucas. To get the expensive intergalactic project off the ground, though, the filmmaker knew he would need more proof of his vision — that’s when he hired artist Ralph McQuarrie to paint vivid dispatches from this far-away galaxy and its alien landscapes, strange warriors and memorable machines. The collaboration bottled-up a rare sort of lightning and the echo of its thunder grew louder with the news that McQuarrie, 82, died Saturday after a battle with Parkinson’s disease.  The passing put his legacy — both as a Jedi myth-pioneer and a titan of concept art –very much on the mind of  illustrators, filmmakers and fans. “You know what it’s like? It’s like George Martin and the Beatles,” said fantasy artist Tony DiTerlizzi, referring to the Fab Four and the studio producer who helped make the group the ...

Bob Anderson, the Olympic fencing coach who doubled as Darth Vader during lightsaber duels in “The Empire Strikes Back” and “Return of the Jedi,” died on New Year’s Day. He was 89. Anderson, who competed in the 1952 Olympic Games as part of the British fencing team and went on to coach future fencing teams, began his side career as a sword-fight trainer to the big screen’s swashbucklers after coaching Errol Flynn in “The Master of Ballantrae.” His Hollywood handiwork spans five decades and multiple genres, with credits including “Star Wars,” “The Mask of Zorro,” “Highlander,” “The Phantom,” “Pirates of the Caribbean,” several James Bond films and many more. “The sword is the ultimate weapon,” he said in a 1995 Los Angeles Times interview. “It’s not so threatening shooting at someone at 20 or 30 paces away or while hiding ...

Happy birthday to Carrie Fisher, who was born on this date in 1956 in Beverly Hills. She grew up in the public glare (and amid personal shadows) as the daughter of Debbie Reynolds and Eddie Fisher, and that show-biz heritage would inform her writing in “Postcards From the Edge” and the play “Wishful Drinking.” But, of course, no matter what she writes and no matter how many additions she makes to her film credits (which include “Shampoo,” “Hannah and Her Sisters,”  “When Harry Met Sally” and “The Blues Brothers”),  to most of us she will forever be Princess Leia Organa. Check out her audition tape above, which shows her and future co-star Harrison Ford wrangling with the jargon of the Jedi universe. Below, there’s a fun bit of footage where she goes off on George Lucas and his vast galactic empire. By the  way, ...

Samuel L. Jackson, Zach Galifianakis part of Stand Up to Cancer video

Harrison Ford would be “delighted” to reprise the role of Indiana Jones, the actor said at a 30th anniversary screening of “Raiders of the Lost Ark.” Ford has played the fedora-wearing, bullwhipping character in four films, the most recurring role of his career. “Maybe a fifth, but I ain’t going to Mars,” he joked during the Q&A portion of the screening, hosted by Hero Complex’s Geoff Boucher at L.A. Live Monday evening. “Ark” director Steven Spielberg said earlier that he and George Lucas have discussed a possible fifth installment in the series. Should a script be written, Ford said, he’d be on board. “It’s an absolute delight to revisit this character,” Ford said, “and a chance to work with Steven again, who only hires me for ‘Indiana Jones.’” “I gotta correct this,” Spielberg chimed in. “Do you know who I offered ...

In honor of the 30th anniversary of “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” Hero Complex has been looking back at the landmark film and its influence on cinema and pop culture. Today, a gem from the Los Angeles Times archives: “Raiders” obviously made an impression on these young fellows, decked out with hats, whips and jackets a la Harrison Ford’s Indiana Jones in this photograph taken by Times staffer Mike Meadows in the days of “Thriller” and Ronald Reagan. The picture shows the group of young men waiting for the opening of the second film in the series, “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom,” which was released May 23, 1984. They weren’t alone. More than 1,000 people lined up outside Mann’s Chinese for the “semi-annual Lucasfilm pilgrimage,” many dressed as “virtual Indiana clones,” the Times reported at the time. Other ...

To mark the 30th anniversary of “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” a touring exhibition is spotlighting famous props from the Indiana Jones films and putting them side-by-side with real archaeological artifacts. The exhibition, called “Indiana Jones and the Adventure of Archaeology,” features the Ark of the Covenant from “Raiders” and the Holy Grail from “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade,” as well as objects from ancient Peru, Egypt and Iraq, all on display in a museum space inspired by Hangar 51 and ancient temples. Lucasfilm teamed with National Geographic and Montreal’s X3 Productions to produce and curate the exhibit, which started its six-year international tour at the Montreal Science Centre and will head overseas next month. No dates have been scheduled in the U.S. as yet, but Hero Complex readers can get a glimpse of some of the objects in the gallery ...

Oscar-winning filmmaker Ron Howard will soon be treading into the fantasy landscapes of “The Dark Tower”  for a wildly ambitious film and television adaptation of Stephen King’s magnum opus, and when he does there’s no doubt that his mind will turn back to “Willow,” the 1988 sword-and-sorcery film that tested Howard more than any other project. “For me that was sort of like going to grad school,” Howard said of the collaboration with producer George Lucas, who had come up with the concept more than 15 years earlier. “There was a new level of understanding that I needed to come to terms with the greater canvas, the greater cinematic canvas. Of course, George Lucas is sort of a natural master in that regard and [the project] was his idea. So while I was given global latitude — and it was even the first time I was ...

A long time ago, in a summer far, far away, the name “Star Wars” referred simply to a 123-minute film that was directed by a fellow named George Lucas and released by Twentieth Century Fox, where executives weren’t quite sure what to make of the thing. Now, “Star Wars” is an entire industry, a community and a quasi-religion. More than that, like birthdays, Beatles projects and “Swan Lake” productions, “Star Wars” is now a seasonal visitor. “There’s nothing quite like it; it simply never goes away. It comes back again and again and again in new ways,” said actor Anthony Daniels, who portrayed the shiny android C-3PO in all seven theatrically released “Star Wars” films. “The fans have a passion for it, but I have to say that, for me, I never really understood the spell it cast on people. ...