By Jason Apuzzo. • The big news today is Lucasfilm’s announcement that the entire, 6-film Star Wars saga is going to be retrofit into 3D, and that the films will be released in series order (i.e., Episode I-VI) starting in 2012. This is fabulous news in my opinion, albeit not surprising. 2012 will mark the 35th anniversary of the original film, and George Lucas has been hinting for years that something like this was in the works.
This announcement will, of course, occasion a lot of uniformed pontificating about some of the bad 3D retrofits that have been released in the wake of Avatar. Two obvious factors mitigate such concerns here: 1) Lucas and his team have about 18 months until the first film is released, giving them a great deal more time than usual to do a high-quality retrofit – as opposed to the rush-jobs we’ve become accustomed to from this past summer; 2) Lucasfilm boasts the best technical staff in the industry, so we can assume the presentation will be state-of-the-art.
Just for fun, I’ve put up a Star Wars student fan short (see above) I caught recently that was done in 3D. It was the winner of the “Best Animation” award from the recent Star Wars Fan Film Movie Challenge, sponsored by Lucasfilm. You’ll need your anaglyphic red/blue glasses for this one. [Make sure to get those, by the way, because I’d like to start showing more 3D stuff here at Libertas in the future.] Enjoy!
Incidentally, this means that the forthcoming Star Wars Blu-rays will subsequently need to be re-issued in 3D. They don’t call George a genius for nothing.
• In related 3D news, there’s a rumor circulating that Warner Brothers is pressuring Christopher Nolan to shoot the next Batman film in 3D – and also that Inception may get a 3D retrofit after all. Take that rumor for what it’s worth. Personally I doubt this story, because Nolan is currently The Man over at Warner Brothers, in the wake of Inception and his supervision of the Superman reboot. I would add that the vibe of the Batman series is more old-school retro/noir (largely contrary to the spirit of 3D) – although Nolan did shoot parts of The Dark Knight in IMAX, and he’s obviously fascinated with new technologies. As for Inception, there’s no point in doing a retrofit now anyway because it’s too soon for a re-release and there are too few home systems out there set up for 3D viewing.
• This really cracks me up. Yesterday it was The New York Times; now today it’s The LA Times noticing that Oliver Stone’s Wall Street 2 has ‘right wing appeal.’ Check this out below from film columnist Steven Zeitchik’s piece in the Times today:
For all the Wall Street excess that Stone’s new film depicts, the movie (spoiler alert — skip ahead to the next paragraph if you’d rather not know) in many ways offers a benign, even uplifting message about the Street. Sure, the fevered speculation drives one old-timer to take his life. But the movie ultimately tells the story of a young idealist — and one who gets the money and the girl to boot.
Even one of moviedom’s all-time unrepentant characters, the Wall Street sharpie Gordon Gekko, seeks, and (after a lapse) gains, redemption. Compared to the original, which sees said sharpie sent off to jail, this chapter of his story is almost.. heartwarming. Big business and the financial industry may have a deep skepticism for the current Democratic administration. But there’s little for them to dislike in a movie about them from the most outspoken of left-wing filmmakers.
This is why you need to read Libertas folks – we’re prescient here. What’s funny is that later in the article Zeitchik darkly intimates that Stone made such a “benign, even uplifting” film for crass commercial purposes – i.e., to sell out and make a buck! Unreal. Not even Oliver Stone can get his films cleared these days by the People’s Truth Commissions over at the NY and LA Times.
• Brett Ratner has just taken on Charles Robert Jenkins’ memoir The Reluctant Communist as his next project. This is great news, because this book is apparently one of the most harrowing accounts of life in communist North Korea that’s ever been written. The book deals with Charles Jenkins’ booze-driven defection as a U.S. Army sergeant to North Korea in 1965, a nation he would later refer to as “a giant, demented prison.” Jenkins would remain in North Korea for the next four decades – used by the communist regime as a propaganda prop – until the Japanese eventually arranged for his release. I think it’s very encouraging that Ratner is taking on this complex and interesting project, and we’ll keep an eye on how it develops.
• In other industry news and notes: Arthur Penn – director of Bonnie and Clyde and other classics – has died at age 88. Bonnie and Clyde, of course, really opened things up for the New Hollywood generation. Our condolences to Penn’s family.
• In the wake of Tim Burton’s success with Alice in Wonderland, suddenly now Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella and Little Red Riding Hood are hot properties again. Go figure. Also: Mad Men’s Jared Harris has been cast as Moriarty in Sherlock Holmes 2, and Mad Men’s Vincent Kartheiser has been cast in DJ Caruso’s forthcoming sci-fi flick that was being called I’m.mortal until somebody figured out how bad that title looks on a marquee. And finally: the producers of The Infidel (which we loved here at Libertas) will next be doing an adaptation of Alfred Hitchcock’s Strangers on a Train, featuring teens in the lead roles.
• On the Sci-Fi Front, there’s an interesting piece over at the LA Times today featuring concept art for Tron: Legacy, plus there’s a fantastic clip of one of the light-bike sequences. Look, I’ve already expressed my concerns about this project – I won’t repeat them here. But there’s no question that this film is going to look fabulous. In other news, the first trailer is out for the new teen alien invasion pic I Am Number 4. The trailer didn’t do anything for me – it just looks like yet another movie featuring teens with ‘special powers.’ Yawn. Here’s the ‘special power’ I wish most teens had today: an ability to read. In other news, the Iron Man 2 DVD is out, and James Cameron is now helping “aboriginal communities with legal action against the Alberta and Canadian governments to stop water-borne pollution from the oilsands.” I’m laughing here because you’ve got to be wondering what Fox is thinking at this point about that Avatar 2 start date …
• Do you recall Jessica Alba’s pseudo-nude shower scene in Machete? Of course you don’t, because you didn’t bother to see that film. Well, we learn today that Alba wasn’t actually nude in the scene when they shot it – she was apparently ‘digitally undressed’ in post! Forget 3D, this is the most promising development in digital technology yet! Imagine the possibilities. By the way, if you click over to this news piece – which 90% of our male readers will – you’ll notice that Alba also lost a little weight once the digital artists were through. So we have the perfect situation here: you ladies don’t need to take your clothes off on set, plus you get to lose a few pounds in the process. And everybody’s happy!
• AND IN TODAY’S MOST IMPORTANT NEWS … some set photos just came out from Terrence Malick’s untitled new romance project starring Ben Affleck and Olga Kurylenko. The photos are a little bland, so I thought I’d feature something more fun with Ms. Kurylenko (see above) – in the mode of a Russian superspy, let’s say. Because we can’t get enough of Russian superspies here at Libertas – particularly when they’re in high heels.
And that’s what’s happening today in the wonderful world of Hollywood.
Posted on September 29th, 2010 at 3:28pm.
