Tag: George Lucas

Posted on in Television News

EXCLUSIVE: Lucasfilm’s ‘Willow’ Series Adds ‘Outlander’ Director Stephen Woolfenden

The Ronin can exclusively reveal that British director Stephen Woolfenden has joined Lucasfilm’s Willow series with production officially taking place in Wales. It’s unclear how many episodes he’ll be helming. The director’s television credits include Outlander, The Spanish Princess, Poldark, Doctor Who, Strike Back, and Fate: The Winx Saga.

Woolfenden also has an extensive career as a second unit director working on massive studio films such as Harry Potter & The Order of The Phoenix, Harry Potter & The Half-Blood Prince, Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows 1-2, Fantastic Beasts & Where To Find Them, Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, Fantastic Beasts 3, Detective Pikachu, and The Legend of Tarzan.

Willow is a direct sequel to Ron Howard and George Lucas’ original 1988 fantasy film but is set decades after those events.

Warwick Davis is reprising the role of Willow Ufgood with new additions like Erin Kellyman (The Falcon & The Winter Soldier, Solo: A Star Wars Story, The Green Knight) in the role of Jade, Ellie Bamber (Nocturnal Animals) playing Dove, Ruby Cruz (Castle Rock) taking the role of Kit after replacing Cailee Spaeny, and Tony Revolori (The Grand Budapest Hotel, Dope, Spider-Man: Homecoming) in an undisclosed part.

Jonathan Entwistle, who is attached to direct the Power Rangers reboot at Paramount Pictures, is set to helm the pilot after Jon M. Chu (In The Heights, Crazy Rich Asians) exited the fantasy series to focus on a big screen adaptation of Wicked.

Willow is said to debut on Disney+ sometime in 2022.

WILLOW – Enter the world of Willow. Journey to the far corners of your imagination, to a land of myth and magic, where dream and reality live side by side … to a place that never existed, a time that never was. It is a world where a young man named Willow lives out an adventure that explodes beyond the boundaries of his own hopes and fears.

Posted on in Film News

‘Ready Player One’ Production Designer Adam Stockhausen Confirmed For ‘Indiana Jones 5’

The Ronin has been able to verify that production designer Adam Stockhausen has indeed joined the crew for Lucasfilm’s Indiana Jones 5 which will star Harrison Ford as the titular hero one more time as the new film will be a continuation rather than a reboot, as reaffirmed by studio head Kathleen Kennedy back in 2020.

Adam is a frequent collaborator with directors Wes Anderson and Steven Spielberg as his credits include films such as The Grand Budapest Hotel, Ready Player One, Bridge of Spies, The French Dispatch, Isle of Dogs, Moonrise Kingdom, Widows, and West Side Story.

He earned an Oscar for his work on Anderson’s The Grand Budapest Hotel.

Logan and Ford v Ferrari director James Mangold last year took over for Steven Spielberg when the filmmaker exited the project and is also rewriting the script for the sequel. James recently hinted on Twitter that the fifth installment might take place in the 1960’s.

Concrete plot details for Indiana Jones 5 are being kept under lock-and-key.

One thing we can likely rely on is that Shia LaBeouf won’t be returning as Indy’s estranged son Mutt given the recent allegations of abuse made by an ex-girlfriend making the idea of having him return a PR nightmare for the studio and headache they can avoid.

Disney has given the untitled Indy film a release date of July 29th, 2022 and suggested back in December production could begin shooting in late spring.

Posted on in Television News

‘Willow’: Lucasfilm Hires ‘Power Rangers’ Director Jonathan Entwistle To Helm Disney+ Series

Lucasfilm has finally found their replacement for Jon M. Chu on their sequel series Willow on Disney+. This news from The Hollywood Reporter comes after the Crazy Rich Asians director announced his exit from the project citing an upcoming baby as the reasoning behind leaving directing duties on the fantasy show’s pilot.

The studio has now reportedly hired Jonathan Entwistle for the pilot but it’s unknown who else will be directing episodes.

Jonathan is likely best known for the series End of The F***ing World, and he was recently hired to tackle the latest feature film reboot of the Power Rangers as Hasbro has big plans for the franchise after acquiring the property. 

The cast includes Warwick Davis reprising the role of Willow Ufgood, Erin Kellyman (The Falcon & The Winter Soldier, Solo: A Star Wars Story, The Green Knight) is said to be up for the role of Jade, Cailee Spaeny (Pacific Rim: Uprising, Bad Times At The El Royale) playing Kit, English actress Ellie Bamber (Nocturnal Animals) as Dove, and Tony Revolori in talks for a role.

According to Lucasfilm, production on Willow is set to begin this March in Wales.

WILLOW – Enter the world of Willow. Journey to the far corners of your imagination, to a land of myth and magic, where dream and reality live side by side … to a place that never existed, a time that never was. It is a world where a young man named Willow lives out an adventure that explodes beyond the boundaries of his own hopes and fears.

SOURCE: THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

Posted on in Film News

‘Indiana Jones 5’: Director James Mangold Teasing A 1960’s Setting?

We keep forgetting that Indiana Jones 5 is still indeed a movie that Lucasfilm is making and keep promising is a continuation with Harrison Ford (almost 80 years old) in the role of Indy, rather than rebooting with a younger actor.

Details about the film are scarce but when the film take place might be something the film’s director has now hinted to on Twitter. A recent tweet from director and writer James Mangold could be confirming that the film is taking place in the 1960’s revealing “all” his movies are taking place in that decade. This would make sense given that Indiana Jones & The Kingdom of The Crystal Skull was set in 1957.

MANGOLD: “Im mentally living in 60’s NYC right now cause that’s where all the movies I’m working on take place.”

The director is also working on a movie about musician Bob Dylan titled Going Electric starring Timothee Chalamet for Searchlight Pictures and a NYPD thriller The Force starring Matt Damon for 20th Century Studios.

Lucasfilm revealed last month that they hope to get filming underway in late spring and are keeping the July 2022 release date.

Lucasfilm is currently in pre-production on the next installment of the Indiana Jones franchise. At the helm is James Mangold, director of the Academy Award-winning Ford v Ferrari, and Indy himself, Harrison Ford, will be back to continue his iconic character’s journey. Indy will begin shooting late spring of 2021 and will arrive July 2022.

James Mangold took over the writing of Indiana Jones 5’s script after David Koepp and Jonathan Kasdan tried their hand at reworking it. The script’s troubled development led to director Steven Spielberg exiting the hiring of James. It certainly sounds like Lucasfilm is trying to make sure the script is solid before moving forward since it’s production has had multiple delays as Steven first announced it would begin shooting back in April 2019 but didn’t due to development hiccups, we’re now coming up to three years later and it might finally get made.

I’m curious if they’ll continue to have the Soviet Union as the antagonists.

SOURCE: JAMES MANGOLD

Posted on in Film News

‘Indiana Jones 5’: Producer Frank Marshall Confirms That Director James Mangold Is Still Writing A New Script

While we’re bound to get some sort of update concerning Indiana Jones 5 later today from Disney, producer Frank Marshall has spoken with Den of Geek and provided an early update on the fifth installment of the Indiana Jones franchise. Frank reiterates that Harrison Ford is indeed reprising the role something that Lucasfilm head Kathleen Kennedy said last year that the sequel would be a continuation, not a reboot or prequel which had been reported at one point.

He also confirmed that director James Mangold (Logan, The Wolverine, Ford v Ferrari) is still working on a new script for the film and hasn’t even seen/read the thing. This could suggest that development isn’t as far along as imagined when it was announced that Mangold would be directing.

MARSHALL: “Yeah, we are working on the script. There will only be one Indiana Jones and that’s Harrison Ford. What I’m excited about with Jim is a great story. I think you see that in his movies like Ford Vs Ferrari. It’s all about characters and telling a good story. So I’m excited to see what he comes up with. I haven’t seen (the script) yet so I don’t know what to tell you.”

James Mangold took over directing duties after Steven Spielberg dropped-out after headaches trying to get the script in a good place. Previous drafts had been penned by David Koepp (Jurassic Park, Mission: Impossible, Spider-Man) and Jonathan Kasdan (Solo: A Star Wars Story, Willow) before this new version from James. Lucasfilm is in a tricky spot with the franchise as Harrison Ford is pushing 80 years old and the last film Indiana Jones & The Kingdom of The Crystal Skulls was sort of ridiculed by audiences/critics. They’re really going to have to be very very careful not to repeat the mistakes of the last film part of this would be making sure the script is as strong as it possibly could be.

Mangold’s writing credits include Logan, Walk The Line, and his underrated cop drama Cop Land. Notably all character driven stories that run the gauntlet of genres.

I’m a little curious if this means they might not be able to hit the film’s targeted release date of July 29, 2022 or even begin shooting when they’re expected to later this year. Disney has changed the release date so many times I don’t think it even matters anymore.

SOURCE: DEN OF GEEK

Posted on in Film News

‘Star Wars’: George Lucas Explains Why He Sold The Rights To Disney and Didn’t Make The Sequel Trilogy Himself

While George Lucas has been hands-off with the franchise since selling it to Disney back in 2012, fans have sort of wondered what the reasoning was behind handing over the franchise to Disney beyond the billions they gave him.

Author Paul Duncan has posted on Twitter an excerpt from his new book The Star Wars Archives Episodes I-III giving some insight, in the pages he asks George Lucas why he ultimately sold the rights to Disney and stepped away from making the Sequel Trilogy himself. Lucas’ answer seems to be more about having free time and not having to spend the next decade working on film trilogy.

DUNCAN: I wonder why you passed control of Lucasfilm to Disney in 2012?

LUCAS: “At that time I was starting the next trilogy; I talked to the actors and I was starting to gear up. I was also about to have a daughter with my wife. It takes 10 years to make a trilogy, Episodes I to III took from 1995 to 2005.”

“I was 69. So the question was am I going to keep doing this the rest of my life? Do I want to go through this again? Finally, I decided I’d rather raise my daughter and enjoy life for a while.”

“I’m one of those micromanager guys and I can’t help it. So I figured I would forgo that, enjoy what I had, and I was looking forward to raising my daughter. Also, I wanted to build a museum, which I’d always wanted to do, so I was thinking ‘if I don’t do this now, I’ll never get that done’.”

“I’ve spent my life creating Star Wars, 40 years, and giving it up was very, very painful. But it was the right thing to do. I thought I was going to have a little bit more to say about the next three because I’d already started them, but they decided they wanted to do something else. Things don’t always work out the way you want it. Life is like that.”

Lucas previously dished to Duncan about what some of his ideas for the new trilogy were that didn’t ultimately get used by Disney including the villains and how the Luke would started a new wave of Jedi with help from the survivors of Order 66.

SOURCE: STAR WARS ARCHIVES EPISODES I-III

Posted on in Film News

Will The Long Delayed ‘Indiana Jones 5’ Finally Begin Filming In August?

Development on a fifth and possibly final Indiana Jones film starring Harrison Ford has been in the works for five years at Lucasfilm. The project has been delayed for ages now after a string of release dates went from July 19th, 2019 to July 10th, 2020 to July 9th, 2021 to the most recent date being July 29th, 2022.

You might remember that Steven Spielberg exited the film and Lucasfilm eventually hired Logan director James Mangold. It’s expected that Mangold is working on the script after screenwriters David Koepp (Jurassic Park) and Jonathan Kasdan (Solo: A Star Wars Story, Willow series) have moved on.

It’s possible that they might finally inching closer towards filming. A new production grid for the untitled Indiana Jones 5 is making the rounds online and one of the places it landed yesterday was Daniel Richtman’s Patreon page.

However, we have to note there were at least two other production grids that suggested that filming would begin in 2019 and 2020 that never actually happened due to script issues. I wouldn’t be terribly quick to say this is lock without confirmation from the studio and casting begins but could give some insight when Lucasfilm hopes to get filming started next year.

They’ll also have to contend with lingering COVID-19 that won’t be entirely gone in the summer of 2021 (even with a vaccine in circulation) and potentially risking the heath of the nearly 80 year old Harrison Ford. Disney and Lucasfilm taking another mulligan until 2022 wouldn’t be the most shocking development.

Back in February, Ford himself told CBS Sunday Morning that they would begin shooting this year and those plans didn’t come together.

FORD: “Trying not to look silly, running around in tight pants and high boots… I’ll give you a more appropriate answer considering that I’m gonna start doing Indiana Jones in about two months. I’m always delighted to come back to these characters. When we have the opportunity to make another, it’s because people have enjoyed them, I feel obliged to make sure that our efforts are as ambitious as they were when we started.“

Last we heard from Lucasfilm head Kathleen Kennedy, Indiana Jones 5 is indeed a continuation.

KENNEDY: “Oh, Harrison Ford will be involved, yeah. It’s not a reboot, it’s a continuation…He can’t wait he absolutely is.”

In the past, Harrison Ford has debunked the talk of Chris Pratt (mixing him up with Chris Pine) taking over the role in a reboot stating to the Today Show the character is expected to die with him.

FORD: “Nobody is going to be Indiana Jones, don’t you get it? I’m Indiana Jones. When I’m gone, he’s gone. It’s easy. This is a hell of a way to tell Chris Pine this. I’m sorry, man.”

Back in 2016, screenwriter David Koepp revealed to Collider that franchise creator George Lucas wouldn’t be part of the story/script process.

It’s unclear if we’ll be seeing supporting characters like Wan Li aka Short Round or Henry Jones III aka Mutt appear in the final installment. I’d personally like to see them attempt to develop a new protege character and place Indy in the Henry Jones Sr. role as seen in The Last Crusade.

SOURCE: DANIEL RICHTMAN/PRODUCTION WEEKLY

Posted on in Film News

George Lucas Wanted ‘Star Was’ Sequel Trilogy To Include Leia As Supreme Chancellor of The New Republic and Luke Reviving The Jedi With Survivors of Order 66

An excerpt from a new interview from George Lucas has been making the rounds online (via Reddit) that comes from a new book titled The Star Wars Archives: 1999-2005 has the franchise creator talking-up ideas he had for the sequel trilogy that ultimately weren’t used by Lucasfilm/Disney. Lucas first mentioned that Disney wasn’t interested in his ideas during his infamous interview where he called them “white slavers”.

He alludes that he wanted Luke Skywalker to restart the Jedi with what seems to be 50-100 Jedi that survived the events of Order 66 from Revenge of The Sith, it sounds like a much larger amount than we would have expected.

LUCAS: “It starts out a few years after Return of The Jedi and we establish pretty quickly that there’s this underworld, there are offshoot stormtroopers who started their own planets, and that Luke is trying to restart the Jedi. He puts the word out, so out of 100,000 Jedi, maybe 50 or 100 are left. The Jedi have to grow again from scratch, so Luke has to find two and three-year-olds, and train them. It’ll be 20 years before you have a new generation of Jedi”

“By the end of the trilogy Luke would have rebuilt much of the Jedi, and we would have the renewal of the New Republic, with Leia, Senator Organa, becoming the Supreme Chancellor in charge of everything. So she ended up being the Chosen One.”

I’m slightly curious if this germ of an idea is why Disney wanted to explore a Jedi characters like Cal Kestis in Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order and Kanan Jarrus in Rebels both survivors of Order 66. I’m also curious if they try to reuse it in the Disney+ shows.

Ultimately, the version of Luke Skywalker we saw wasn’t this version as Lucas alludes wanting to have a new Jedi Order established, which never happened in the films we got.

Leia’s final journey was more than likely hindered because of her sudden death while Colin Trevorrow was still working on Duel of The Fates and they had to make creative choices to work around that tragedy.

SOURCE: THE STAR WARS ARCHIVES 1999-2005

Posted on in Film News

George Lucas Wanted Darth Maul and Darth Talon To Be Villains of The ‘Star Wars’ Sequel Trilogy

One of the biggest issues a lot of fans of myself with the prequel trilogy is that it never really had a menacing villain and once they killed off Darth Maul, who at the time felt like was going to become the next Darth Vader was dispensed so quickly it felt like a horrible mistake on the part of George Lucas. Neither Darth Sidous and Count Dooku really measured up “great villains” feeling like Maul was wasted potential.

Well, it sounds like Lucas had plans on bringing him back for his version of the sequel trilogy that was never used by Lucasfilm/Disney.

During a interview for a new retrospective book on the prequels titled The Star Wars Archives: 1999-2005, George states that he wanted to use both Darth Maul and Darth Talon (Legends/Expanded Universe character) as the villains in the new trilogy with the latter becoming the new Vader of those films.

What looks like a page from the book with these details leaked on Reddit.

LUCAS: “Darth Maul trained a girl, Darth Talon, who was in the comic books, as his apprentice. She was the new Darth Vader, and most of the action was with her. So these were the two main villains of the trilogy. Maul eventually becomes the godfather of crime in the universe because, as the Empire falls, he takes over.”

Darth Maul got a bit of redemption from his wasted use in The Phantom Menace in The Clone Wars and Rebels becoming more of a developed character. Then reappearing in a brief cameo at the end of Solo: A Star Wars Story as a crimelord in Crimson Dawn, which seemed to mirror what Lucas had in mind for the new trilogy. Despite unverified rumors it doesn’t seem likely we’ll see the character return in the live-action realm anytime soon given that Darth Maul actor Ray Park may have posted revenge porn on his Instagram account.

The inclusion of Darth Talon is interesting since we’ve seen her pop-up in a lot of places in the Star Wars mythology and development.

Darth Talon from Star Wars: Legacy published by Dark Horse Comics

Darth Talon originally came from the Dark Horse Comics run but under Disney wouldn’t be part of canon anymore allowing Lucasfilm to use the character however they’d like. There had been development on a Darth Maul game titled Battle of The Sith Lords that included Talon in concept artwork but the project was ultimately killed after Disney acquired the company.

Darth Maul & Darth Talon concept artwork from Battle of The Sith Lords

Her journey didn’t seem to end with Disney there as unused concept artwork from Star Wars: The Force Awakens confirms that someone at Lucasfilm considered using Darth Talon in the new films but for whatever reason J.J. Abrams or Kathleen Kennedy decided against it.

Darth Talon concept art from Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Asajj Ventress, a key figure in The Clone Wars happened to be based on a rejected Sith design from the prequels but got second life in the animation side of things. It sounds like Lucas wanted the same thing for Talon on the live-action side, but it was never fully realized.

I’d personally love to see Talon get her own series which could be in the cards as Disney+ seems to be keen to develop various Star Wars shows.

SOURCE: THE STAR WARS ARCHIVES 1995-2005