Hey folks, Harry here... How ya doing? Have you got the fever for the flavor of the Force like me right now? I'm watching and reading everything, chatting with folks on Social Media - and ya know. This... where fandom is right now, this is all I've been wanting since I started AICN, to build up to the sequel to RETURN OF THE JEDI. Deep down, it's what the original generation fans have been hoping for most of their lives. Clinging to quotes in interviews here or there. Things in TEEN BEAT mags... I mean, we had to live at Grocery Store newstands flipping through magazines for references to catch. It was so analog. Wonderful, but that 15 year silence. When Willy Wonka closed the Chocolate Factory - they were the dark years.
19 years ago when AICN began, we were discussing the rumors of the prequel and sequel trilogies... So this right now... it's so sweet. So wonderful - and George saying that He'd never make the sequel trilogy... well, it was true... from a certain point of view, but it was also a total fucking lie, so we wouldn't be pestering him non-stop for HAN SOLO & LUKE SKYWALKER. He wanted the community focused upon the PREQUELS, that's where his energy was focused. 1-6 is Lucas' STAR WARS... What he had to get out, before he could enjoy life completely free of the weight of STAR WARS for the first time in the majority of his life. He's earned it and I hope we all wish him the absolute best. BUT, we're STAR WARS geeks, and just as we've been making fan films and organizing screenings and helping out children hospitals and a myriad of great causes with STAR WARS as a motivational force... well... this needs to continue - and this weekend really underlined why. I started watching a ton of reaction videos and folks react beautifully to this new trailer. Then I got sent the YOUTUBE link to THE FORCE AWAKENS interviews - and...
As I was watching these... it made me want to look at some of the first interviews that Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher and Harrison Ford did for STAR WARS back in 1977. Back before there was any organized celebration in the name of STAR WARS to introduce a cast to. It was the old days, after the film opened and proved it was a success, the cast did interviews, talk shows, variety shows and be awesome. So, I'll share some of those with you first:
Gene Shalit's 1977 STAR WARS interview with Carrie Fisher, Harrison Ford and Mark Hamill
Next is the Mike Douglas show - I love this one, cuz also on the show is a science fiction crossover - as Richard Thomas' Shad from BATTLE BEYOND THE STARS is on with Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill and Harrison Ford! It's a great, don't you love the notion that Luke Skywalker was a pop-culture PIMP & Villain before Luke? That Joker!
Then there's Michael Parkinson's classic BBC interview where we learn that Alec Guinness did a bit of a dialogue fixing on the original STAR WARS, which Lucas then ultimately cheated him out of a quarter percent apparently. Here ya go...
Now - let's see some of these old friends back, but also look to the faces of the future. THE FORCE AWAKENS is getting me crazy excited!!! Here ya go, this is a playlist of the whole group and some panel highlights:
I love the dynamic there... Did you see Oscar Isaacs ask Boyega about Star Wars Undies, and says he's going to get John Boyega STAR WARS UNDERWEAR!!! That shit cracked me up. HOWEVER, I think the most telling thing in the above interview is the fate of Luke Skywalker... She's talking about STAR WARS and Luke's character there, but then brings it to the new films and talking about the legendary reverence that people have for him. NOW - think about that STAR DESTROYER and upside down SUPER STAR DESTROYER on the planet JAKKU... and give some of the other designs and pre-production art, we can imagine where she's headed... but has she grown up on a planet where Luke did some next level JEDI WHUPASSERY? Oh - man, if we get THE LEGEND OF LUKE SKYWALKER told by her, the pay off scene will be fucking awesome! Keep cool stuff coming, I'm trying to keep up!
Till then, May the Force Be With You,
Harry
Oh yeah, here's an hour long interview for TRIBECA that Stephen Colbert did with GEORGE LUCAS
