On January 13, 2000 I first let out Jeff Garner's name. The first time his name had appeared in print, in rumors of casting... The first time that he popped up outside of Indianapolis, Indiana. One of my long term guys mentioned his name. Followed by a couple of random calls from the Midwest... the Karate circuit. A call from a Brokerage company employee picking up on whispers... reporting Garner taking 3 weeks vacation time to go to California for... ahem... meetings in Northern California.... oh... and in Los Angeles at Endeavor, a talent agency. I heard whispers and finger pointings. Then on January 27th, 2000 Garth at Dark Horizons cracked a source or either had a repeat source of mine drop him the Indiana/plus the Endeavor bits. Uh oh... It began to look like I had other folks pursuing the story... It was time to put the ol wheels into overdrive...

I found that it became necessary to hit the pavements, twist the rotarys and double check a ton of stuff. After a month of work... Here is what I found....

Jeff Garner is a 25 year old registered Rep/Stock Broker at Charles Schwab. As legends go, in the summer of 1999, Mr Garner took part in a Karate Tournament in Indianapolis. (Nothing unusual about this, seems he has taken part in many Central Indiana Martial Arts Tournaments to the tune of at least one a month.) But at this particular tournament, Ray Parks showed up with Martial Arts expert and legend, Bill Wallace. As the legend goes... Parks and Jeff went to blows, and while Jeff was beaten, he allegedly did take Ray down once. Ray was impressed with Jeff's skills, his physical charisma and the way Jeff.. just impressed. Popular Indiana Mythology has it that they exchanged information and that was that.

Later according to the buzz on the trading floor... Jeff was interviewed about his Theater and Acting history, which has all been on the stage in small midwestern theater productions. And... According to one telephone operator, someone at Lucasfilm requested a resume and headshot in November.

But wait... what is all this buzz about Leo and Jonathon and yadda yadda yadda? Well... When you are dealing with the Mainstream press and you say the name, LEONARDO DICAPRIO and ANAKIN SKYWALKER, then you deny that it's happening... Well... Last time out, we had Ewan McGregor.... Lucas film denied it, and... I was right. So the thought is... Let the press be distracted with King Leo, while they are commencing with the real talent.

It's basic slight of hand. Surely they have a lot of folks that they are looking at right? Well... perhaps. I've continued to hear buzz on Jeff Garner... rumors that he may be up for BLAIR WITCH 2, the Tom Hanks WWII project BAND OF BROTHERS. Was this all an orchestrated campaign by some guy in the midwest that... Just wants to be Anakin? Has his friends and family been busy campaigning and forging false names and contacts? Well... I've had enough doubt to hold off... Continuing to search for information...

I've talked to folks in the Indianapolis Theater Community and they all seem to just adore Jeff... Saying that he's been rather quiet as of late, but excited. That he's been traveling... when that's not his regular routine.

Then I find out from a source that had an intimate dinner with Ray Parks, that "Vader has been cast" and the source said it was some... 'unknown farm boy from Indiana'.

So... When George Lucas said he'd be casting an unknown for Anakin... did he mean it? If so, then this tall kung fu practicing farm boy stock broker weekend theater acting dude named Jeff Garner is looking like he's the guy in black. He fits the age range, the physical prowess and has an alleged history with Ray Park.

Word has it that he's married and is a complete boy scout. Clean behind the ears and more than able to kick your ass... my ass... our general asses.

Right now... I'd say that I'm about 65 to 35 on my convinced-o-meter. There's still room for malarky... but with Ray confirming the Indiana Farm Boy unknown angle... It's just looking likely. Either that... or someone is slipping Ray some change to say some nice things.

And lastly... Here's what the man that's allegedly supposed to father Luke Skywalker looks like....

As for me... I'm off to South America... There's an alligator with an emerald heart I'm hankering on catching in Columbia, dinosaurs to wrangle on a small island off of Costa Rica and a Canal to recapture with THE DUDE. While on this trip, I'll be taking the scripts to Paul Dini's BATMAN BEYOND Animated movie... THE RETURN OF THE JOKER, a script written by Gene Simmons and Adam Rifkin called REAL MONSTERS, the Scott Frank draft of MINORITY REPORT (finally I get the thing!!! All other drafts that have been reviewed have never been the 'real' draft, but abandoned drafts. This is a page one... new script. Not a rewrite.), a strange superhero thing called GOTHAM BLUES, the remake of BEDAZZLED, THE FINAL APOCRYPHA: THE RETURN OF THE GARGOYLES which is supposed to be a damn kickass film. I'll be attending this film festival thing on this boat, having adventures with the real life DUDE, filmic discussion with Ebert and much much more. I just hope when they see me on the dock, that they don't say, "We're gonna need a bigger boat!"