WINTER 2009

SOURCES: (stuff.co.nz, ew.com, mtv.com, newsarama.com, jeremybulloch.com, starwarsautographs.de, dwscifi.com)

VIDEO: (newsarama.com)


CASTING BEGINS 2009


ATTACK OF THE CLONES • JAY LAGA'AIA & ROSE BYRNE • LUCASFILM CONFIRMATION

Jay Laga'aia is in talks with Lucas about Live-Action Series role next year. Rose Byrne promoting the thriller movie Knowing revealed Lucas is casting for the Live-Action Series. Rose Bynre will not be auditioning herself. Entertainment Weekly confirmed with a Lucasfilm Representative that casting agents are in Australia.


LUCASFILM CONFIRMATION QUOTES

• "doing some preliminary ground work but official casting will not start until the scripts are complete", "At the earliest the series would go into production in 2010" (source: EW)


JAY LAGA'AIA CASTING QUOTES

• "It's one of those things that people sort of take for granted you worked on the first one", "we're in discussion at the moment because I'm interested in playing a couple of roles", "those sort of roles you can play different characters some are heavily made up - others aren't" (source: stuff.co.nz)


ROSE BYRNE CASTING QUOTES

• “A lot of my friends have been auditioning for it”, "I’m on a show - I don’t know if I look that good in space” (source: MTV)


PRODUCTION UPDATE 2009


PREMIERE DATE PUSHED BACK 2011 or 2012

Steve Sansweet @ NYCC 2009 (video: newsarama @ time: 02:40)

In an interview with Newsarama.com @ NYCC 2009 - Steve Sansweet (LucasFilm Fan Relations) spoke about the Live-Action Series:


SANSWEET QUOTE(s)

• "In about 2, 3 years - in that time period." (2011 or 2012), "Pre-Production has started - started doing art for it.", "very much into the writing of the initial season's episodes." (source: newsarama.com)


WRITER UPDATE 2009


SCRIPTS @ SECOND DRAFT STAGE

Live-Action Series writer, Australia's Louise Fox on script completion and revision:

Louise Fox: "Yes, we have started writing and there are a number of scripts at second draft stage." (source: starwarsautographs.de)


BOBA FETT 2009

JEREMY BULLOCH • BOBA FETT OG • SPEAKS

Jeremy Bulloch, in a promotional interview for the book Flying Solo, makes mention of Fett in the upcoming Live-Action Series. (source: dwscifi.com)



dwscifi.com: Do you know if we will be seeing Boba Fett in the upcoming, live action Star Wars television series?

Jeremy Bulloch: the television version of Star Wars will be taking place between episodes three and four so I am pretty sure Boba Fett will be in it. However, I doubt very much it will be me behind the helmet!


dwscifi.com: Does that disappoint you?

Jeremy Bulloch: if I was called upon to play an old and wizened bounty hunter then I would jump at the chance to do something like that. I think it will be young Daniel Logan who will play Boba Fett - it is his turn now and I think that is wonderful. I am sure if they want me for anything in the show it will just be as a face in the background.




www.jeremybulloch.com
Flying Solo - Tales of a Bounty Hunter

This thread is spawned from the MF Live-Action Series Summer Update 2008 thread and edited into Ternian's posts is any and all Live-Action Series news I could scavenge. The real news is obviously the casting news. Though the Jeremy Bullock interview links provide some interesting insight and information into his acting career.


It used to be that Lucas and McCallum couldn't shut up about the upcoming Live-Action Series (take a look at the older threads in this forum). Hopefully the silence we hear now is secrecy - the silence before the storm.

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DOCTOR WHO WRITER & LIVE-ACTION-SERIES

In the book: Doctor Who - The Writer's Tale by Russell T Davies, the writer claims Lucas offered a Star Wars Live-Action Series position:

• Davies was asked to meet with Lucas to discuss writing for the Star Wars TV series and declined. (source: sfx.co.uk)

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I was dumb struck to see Russell T Davies was a possible writer for the new series! Doctor Who is a firm family favourite so the prospect of Mr Davies moving from Daleks and the TARDIS to A galaxy far far away would have been something as an insurance policy that at least one episode would absolutely rock.

STEVE SANSWEET @ NEW YORK COMIC CON 2009

[flash width=499 height=330]http://www.liveleak.com/e/871_1237166424[/flash]

Initial post has been updated with some more Live-Action Series content. This time Steve Sansweet at New York Comic Con 2009. Around the 2:40 mark, Sansweet speaks about the upcoming series. When pressed for details, Sansweet coughs ( ) and re-iterates the the approximate premiere dates of 2011 or 2012 by saying the series is still "2, 3 years away". The mention of pre-production beginning, however is a positive development.

Nice update, thanks!

Update. This time casting has begun! Attack Of The Clone's Rose Byrne leaks some info:

QUOTE: During the junket for the Nicolas Cage thriller “Knowing,” star Rose Byrne let slip that Team Lucas is casting a wide net for actors to join the show. “A lot of my friends have been auditioning for it,” she said (moveblogs.mtv.com @ March 9 2009).


Note that the writer here seemed to use some older info for this article. Sansweet recently stated at last months's NYCC 2009 that Lucas will get the show on before the 100-episode mark. QUOTE: "As he did with the “Clone Wars” series, Lucas will write and shoot an entire year’s worth of episodes before looking for a cable channel on which to air the series."






Another another update: LucasFilm Responds!

QUOTE: EW has confirmed with a Lucasfilm rep that a casting agent in Australia is "doing some preliminary ground work, but official casting will not start until the scripts are complete." At the earliest, the series would go into production in 2010, the rep added. (Enterntainment Weekly @ March 10 2009)

I guess any news is good news at this point.

When the report was compiled, Rose Byrne's casting comments and subsequent LucasFilm casting confirmation had yet to happen. With the casting news at least we have some movement.




More potential casting news today - New Zealand-based newspaper Dominion Post is reporting that Attack Of The Clones actor Jay "Captain Typho" Laga'aia of New Zealand is talking to George Lucas about a Live-Action Series role. Info is edited into the update report - top of the thread.

Jay likes going to conventions and wearing his screen used Typho costume from the films, so its no surprise that he'd want to be involved.

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George Lucas proposes big digital film studio in Lucas Valley

marinij.com (May 6 2009)



Filmmaker George Lucas is seeking permission to build a 262,728-square-foot building to house a digital film production studio and other amenities at the former Grady Ranch in Lucas Valley.

The proposed building would be built in the Mission style resembling St. Vincent's School for Boys, with two 85-foot-tall towers. It would include administration offices, a restaurant, a general store, a wine-tasting room, screening rooms, costume storage, dressing rooms, 19 guest suites and basement parking. The project calls for 223,770 cubic yards of excavation and the creation of a knoll for a vineyard.


QUOTES: "What Grady gives us that we don't currently have in Marin is a digital production space for actual shooting, a few large rooms to do digital blue or green screen work," - Thomas Forster, the former director of operations for Skywalker Properties.

"Lucasfilm is proposing to build a half-million square feet of 'Hollywood' type space in Lucas Valley," said a resident of Lucas Valley.




Why David Tennant and Russell T Davies are leaving Doctor Who

entertainment.timesonline.co.uk (April 5 2009)

timesonline.co.uk: Didn’t George Lucas try to recruit you, Russell, as a writer for his Star Wars TV series?

Russell T Davies: He came knocking on every single writer’s door in the whole land. And there are British writers working for him on this Star Wars series. But I’m not allowed to say who. The writers are out there now, at Skywalker Ranch (in California). Yesterday, they were allowed into the props room; they were playing with lightsabers. It’s a lovely job. But I’m not going to do a sci-fi series that’s second-rate compared to Doctor Who (hoots of laughter).

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Above are two stories some of you may have already read, posted here now for the record.


The first story, only a few days old, mentions the second half of a building project Lucas began in Lucas Valley, called Grady Ranch. The first part of the project constructed was Big Rock Ranch, which is where a lot of The New Clone Wars was developed (then animated in Hong Kong). Grady Ranch will house a digital film production studio. While the Live-Action Series will be shot at Fox Studios Australia, it's possible that Live-Action Series development (or Star Wars DVD/HD/3D changes) could take place at the new facility.

Just hopeful speculation on my part - though it's 2009 and it may take a year or two just get Grady Ranch up and running.


The second story is about Doctor Who writer - Russell T Davies from a month ago. Last September (2008), Davies mentions how he was approached for a Live-Action Series position while promoting his book. Well about a month ago, Davies mentions Lucas again and takes a swipe at Star Wars, which comes off as a bit of drawing attention for publicity purposes.

Wonder if lucas is going to try and move out of San Francisco with this.