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.
I remember reading something once where Jessica Alba said she would never do a nude scene, I think partially due to her Catholic upbringing. Despite being yet another insufferable liberal, she has to get credit for having principles and sticking to them. And, it sets a pretty good example for other Hollywood hopefuls, of which my daughter is one (well Broadway anyway). It seems odd to me that so many of these “progressives” are reverting to traditional values held by conservatives, such as Alba or Lady Gaga talking about abstinence. I can’t say I understand the reasoning behind it though.
It’s an odd situation, though, isn’t it? Because she’s ‘virtually’ nude here. In essence, I suppose the situation is more or less the same as having a body double.
It’s definitely an odd situation. I always assumed that if they tried to do this it would come out laughably bad, like when they add underwear and clothes to nude scenes for movies to be played on television. Guess technology is finally catching up!
Yes, I think this is a marvelous development actually. The mind reels. 🙂
Strangers on a Train with teens? When will Hollywood drop this obsession with going younger on everything? I am so tired of seeing young teen/early twenty-somethings in all of the movies? The early 2000s- The era of the disposable Hollywood star/starlet.
Leaving out the whole argument about nudity in movies, the Jessica Alba thing bugs me. Why take the role if you can’t do the nude scene? Rodriguez did the same thing with her when he cast her as the stripper Goldie in Sin City. I think if the movie is called Sin City, the role is a stripper, and you are uncomfortable getting naked, maybe let an actress who will actually strip play the part. It isn’t like she is some master thespian or anything.
I love these debates. 🙂
I’ve always thought that the one useful thing George Lucas could have done with the new digital technology was to redo the original Star Wars trilogy so as to dress Carrie Fisher in that “Return of the Jedi” slave girl costume in all three films.
I agree wholeheartedly.
First, thanks for being a lot more fair toward George Lucas and the Star Wars saga than Other Sites I Could Mention or a good chunk of the media for that matter. There’s no way Lucas will put these movies out if they can’t get the conversion right. The other 3D retrofits we’ve seen were done on the fly and on the cheap. They started working on 3D test shots of Star Wars five years ago.
As for Jessica Alba and virtual nakedness, I happen to think it’s a good idea. As a female, I often wonder how these actresses can date guys who have already seen all of the goodies because EVERYBODY has seen all of the goodies. There’s no part of “you” that’s intimate, private, and still yours. That changes with this concept and if you have “figure flaws,” you don’t have to worry about them. Now it can still be abused, but at least the women on set don’t have the creepy experience of parading about in front of 175 men, all of which are strangers.
Hey, thanks, Padawan! I really appreciate the kind word. Frankly, I’m laughing at all these Lucas-haters online because they’re all going to be there opening day, as I’m sure you know. I remember watching ATTACK OF THE CLONES in high-def at the house of a Certain Editor of Another Site, for example, so you can’t imagine how funny all this is to me. By the way, some day I will open up on Libertas about my experiences at The Ranch, and with George – who is a very sweet, warm person, and completely undeserving of the junk that sometimes gets thrown at him.
But let’s talk about the Alba thing. I agree with you that this is one of those cases where technology helps everybody get what they need, as it were – whether it’s some last vestige of privacy, or a few shed pounds, or a little extra skin to spice things up. I’m surprised that article isn’t getting discussed more in the media, actually, because the implications are quite revolutionary – like Photoshop was for modeling.
Keep coming back, Padawan – you’re very welcome here.