New STAR WARS Dream Team Cast Confirmed By Lucas

The culture Vulture at New York Magazine reports today that the storied "dream team" return of Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher), Han Solo (Harrison Ford) and Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) are officially set to return in the new Disney STAR WARS sequel scheduled to shoot this year.        

There had been many conflicting rumors of deals and negotiations for months along with hints by the actors themselves. But it wasn't until series creator George Lucas let slip in an interview that they were lined up for the new film that it was somewhat officially confirmed. It makes sense in a way that this had been a done deal a while ago, otherwise why would Disney risk rebooting the series without it's key players on board?  That would have been messy and simply bad movie business to boot.

Anyway, I'm excited to see that they will all be back. I only wonder what has happened to their fictional selves in the intervening 30 plus years since Episode VII. Will there be allusions to Fisher's real life dramas with addiction? Will there be in-jokes about Ford becoming a blockbuster star in his own right?  I do hope that there will be some humor this time out, something that was sorely lacking in the prequels which seemed so disconnected from the fun-loving nature of the first STAR WARS that I loved as a kid esepcially for that reason.  That and all the cool gadgets and spaceships.

JJ Abrams To Direct STAR WARS: EPISODE 7

After a few months of wild speculation in Hollywood, the announcement yesterday that JJ Abrams would be directing the new Disney STAR WARS movie was a bit of a surprise (and blew up the Twitterverse). He'd publicly taken himself out of the running last fall, saying he had a number of his own projects to work on after the new STAR TREK movie was done. But either this was a PR fakeout or something convinced him otherwise as now he will be reviving the STAR WARS franchise with the new film, currently being scripted by Michael Arndt.

Given the way Abrams revived the defunct STAR TREK franchise a few years ago, this news bodes extremely well for STAR WARS fans. It will be exciting to have him bring the franchise back from the dead after Lucas's 1,2,3 prequels which may have looked cool but were dramatic duds. Abrams has been a vocal and rabid fan of that galaxy far far away so he will certainly bring to it his passion and his talents for making entertaining blockbusters that are not stupid. The new movie is due summer 2015.

From LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE to STAR WARS, The Writer For Episode VII

When Disney made the surprise announcement last week that they were acquiring Lucasfilm, the bigger news was that they were planning on reviving the STAR WARS franchise with a sequel to the original trilogy. Episode VII would pick up decades later with an aged Luke Skywalker, as well as elder Han Solo and cougar Princess Leia.  While the actors who played these iconic roles have yet to sign on to the project, the studio does has a screenwriter; Michael Arndt.

New York Magazine's Vulture column reports that Arndt (who wrote indie darling LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE) has been working on a lengthy treatment of the film for months. Apparently, he got the nod earlier this year due to his extensive knowledge of the STAR WARS universe and his detailed lectures on the film series at screenwriting conferences around the country. I think he's a great choice for the franchise for one reason--he clearly has a sense of humor.  Besides the incredible effects and the action, the truly great thing about the first STAR WARS was the real sense of fun the film had, a quality lacking in the dour, self-serious prequels. Hopefully that will return in the new version, which should arrive in theaters in 2015.