Star Wars Episode II: August 2000 news

30 August, 2000

The photo to your left first appeared in the Daily Telegraph. It expands to a full length shot of Temuera Morrison in costume. I don't think there is any question at this point that he is playing a Fett. That armor bears a very striking, though not identical, resemblance to the armor worn by Boba Fett.

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24 August, 2000

The official site has added another group of actors to the cast list. Jack Thompson will be playing the role of a "modest farmer." Graem Blundell, Trisha Noble, Claudia Karvan, Keira Wingate and Hayley Mooy have all been added to the cast. As a group they will be portraying "members of a tight-knit family." Christopher Truswell has also been cast. He will be working as the voice of various characters, presumably computer animated ones.

Casting director Robin Gurland gave her thoughts on the casting process. "Because of the non-conventional approach we're taking to Episode II, I haven't been bound by the kinds of constraints normally imposed by studios. I always describe the smaller roles in Star Wars as a series of stand alone vignettes," she explains. "The actors must impart their contribution in one or two scenes - set the mood, introduce their character and concisely convey what they're about. For that, I obviously want the strongest actor possible."

The obvious question following that casting is "Whose family?" According to Australia's Herald Sun, Blundell will be playing Padme's father. If that's true, are they in the film because they are showing up for a wedding? While I'm speculating, has anyone else noticed that the official site makes no mention of Padme being a Queen in Episode II? Despite being a royal title, she held an elected position. Could her term have ended by the time of Episode II?

Heat magazine published a series of photos taken on the set. Included are another shot of an alien, what appears to be a female Jedi, R2-D2 and most interestingly Temuera Morrison. The interesting thing about that shot is what can be seen of his costume below his jacket. His legs are covered in armor plates that look suspiciously like that worn by Boba Fett or possibly even a stormtrooper. Could Morrison's character be the basis for the cloned stormtroopers rumored earlier?

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19 August, 2000

Prequel Watch received some fascinating reports on what sort of planets might show up in Episode II that we haven't seen before.

Here's the report on the possible new planet. (Possible spoilers, highlight to read it.)
"One of the 2 new planets in the film will be a "rock planet". The final look of the planet is still being worked on (it's mostly CG) but it will definitely look different from anything else seen in a Star Wars film yet. They are filming some of the scenes here in Oz on the stages. It's clear that things (with exteriors anyway) are going to be 100% computer created. What is interesting is that when the production travels to Tunisia next month, they will film the EXTERIOR scenes of the Rock Planet (Im working on getting the name...too many red herrings) in Tunisia!! It won't look like Tatooine, mind you. They will "muck up" the images to change the colors and add stuff digitally. But they will be filming for TWO planets in Tunisia this time. They keep talking about some "amazing formations" that have never been used before..."

Okay, somebody explain to me the latest Select photo. It's a shot of Mel's with old cars parked around it but right up in the front is a strange looking vehicle. It looks like a weird hybrid of a hot rod and a pod racer from The Phantom Menace. The photo credit says it was composited so obviously they are having a bit of fun. But is that supposed to be a real vehicle from Episode II or is that part of the joke?

Did anyone else notice the similarity between Padme's costume in that spy photo and the one worn by Erin Grey in the 80s TV series Buck Rogers? Considering how fond I was of Ms Grey in those days I can't say this bothers me.

Finally, check out this photo posted by TFN that was taken on the Fox studio lot where Episode II is being filmed. It appears that they took R2-D2 bungee jumping. The unit was dropped three times. Two of the jumps were with the cord and a third was without. That lead to a rather badly damaged unit that was quickly covered up. After that Artoo's periscope was taken for a swim in a water tank. What could this stuff possibly be used for?

There was a never used scene in Episode I that had Artoo falling off the landing platform on Coruscant and then flying back up on small jets. Could this be a recycled gag?

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16 August, 2000

The production of Episode II has kicked the rumor mill into high gear as all sorts of wild rumors fly back and forth. Cool isn't it? Anyway, I just wanted to point out this article over at Prequel Watch that starts all sorts of rumors but with reasoning behind them. Carl comments on the parallels between Star Wars movies and the samurai movies of Akira Kurosawa, who George Lucas is a well known admirer of. Regardless of how accurate the article's speculation, it's well written and thought provoking. Check it out.

14 August, 2000

Well some more images have appeared from the Sydney set. Like the previous batch these were taken at a distance with a telephoto lens, so the quality is a bit shaky. The first shot is of Natalie Portman as Padme. She is wearing a very simple white jumpsuit with what look like silver armbands. The other two shots are of actors in alien costumes. One is unfamiliar but the other looks like the species of alien who stood next to Chancellor Valorum in the Senate in The Phantom Menace.

Anthony Daniels talked a little bit about the production and there could be some interesting spoiler material in there. Swipe the area below with your mouse to read it.

During Anthony Daniels Q and A session he confirmed that he had been "honing my puppeteering skills." I guess this confirms that at least some of Episode 2 features the unfinished 3PO. He also confirmed that he knew for sure when 3PO is completed. This leads me to believe that it will be by the end of Episode 2.

After a question about the Hoth scenes in "Empire", Daniels began describing a recent "cold weather" shooting experience, but stopped himself and said he'd almost revealed an "Episode 2" secret.

Beyond the Q and A, Daniels alluded to the possibility of a "naughty" 3PO appearing in the film. I don't know how solid this info is so print it as rumor. But Daniels made it sound like there may be an evil 3PO in the next film. Again, that is an inference open to debate.

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11 August, 2000

First off, Dark Horizons is reporting that there will be a re-release of the original trilogy special editions. What is fascinating about this is that the set will reportedly include a ten minute documentary on the making of Episode II. Amazon.com confirms this on a page for taking advance orders on the set.

The official site has updated the Episode II Select image and well it's interesting. I don't know who that is but it looks pretty wild.

E! Online posted a story today with some potential spoiler story points they have been hearing. Some of this has already been reported here and other parts sound suspiciously like old rumors from Episode I but let's take a look anyway. Don't read the rest of this story if you are adverse to spoilers.

Begin Spoiler Warning

Episode II is reportedly much darker in tone than The Phantom Menace. It is described as "a galactic war movie, with the romance of Queen Amidala and Anakin in the background." The movie will center on the Clone Wars and it will be revealed that the Empire's stormtroopers are actually clones. The question is, clones of who? Along the same lines is the revelation of Obi-Wan Kenobi's origin. This is the part that sounds like an old rumor to me. Obi-Wan is actually Obi-One, meaning that at some point he is replaced by a clone. The article repeats the rumor that Temuera Morrison will play Jango Fett, Boba's father. Boba Fett himself will be played by young Daniel Logan. Along the way someone we've previously thought of as a "good guy" will betray the Rebellion. Finally, the article says that in the end of this movie, Anakin turns to the dark side and becomes Darth Vader. Apparently he does this because he wants to become a hero and save someone very close to him (Padme?, Shmi?).

End Spoiler Warning

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9 August, 2000

Samuel L. Jackson appeared on Access Hollywood yesterday and had a little bit to say about the movie. He was asked about the "Select" photos to appear on the official site. In the first picture he said the camera was definitely a steadicam. He said that Episode II "reveals a lot more" than The Phantom Menace. Jackson clarified a bit saying that it would reveal more about what has happened so far and the Clone Wars. That would appear to be the first official confirmation that the Clone Wars would be a subject in the movie.

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4 August, 2000

The Sydney, Australia newspaper The Daily Telegraph managed a monster of a scoop by getting several photos from the set of the movie. Garth at Dark Horizons got a copy and scanned in the photos. There is a shot of Hayden Christensen on a scooter (presumably fooling around between takes), a shot of some extras, and a shot of Ewan McGregor in costume. Yes he is now wearing a beard for the role of Obi-Wan.

The article says that Natalie Portman has finished her scenes in Sydney and has headed to Queensland for a vacation. The crew will eventually join her there for some exterior shots. Shooting in Sydney will finish up at the end of the month.

You might also notice that the officially released photo at the top right of this page has changed. This new one seems to be a view of a restaurant/cafeteria taken with a fish eye lense. This could be where Susie Porter's character works as a waitress.

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2 August, 2000

The official site is continuing its excellent work in keeping the fans close to the process of making Episode II. Today they released the first in a series of videos taking a behind the scenes look at the production.

The picture to your left is of Susie Porter, who introduces the video, in her costume as a waitress. Presumably she is on set for that shot. The video shows Ahmed Best wandering through the production offices of Fox's Australian studios, interviewing the staff.

• 3.2 MB MOV Lo-Res
• 24.8MB MOV Hi-Res

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1 August, 2000

The use of digital cameras is greatly speeding up the process of making the movie. Since there is no film to have developed, the results of the day's filming can be watched immiediately. This means that if there are no problems, sets can be torn down immiediately rather than waiting at least a day.

"Literally, the day we finish shooting a set, we can take it down," says Production Designer Gavin Bocquet. "Because we're shooting with a digital camera, there's no real need for rushes. Everybody's seeing the final reproduction precisely on a very sophisticated monitor. On the day of shooting they're seeing actually what you see, rather than having to wait until the next day to see the rushes or the transfer from the film to tapes three days later. You get clearance on the set almost the day you finish it."

Filming in Australia has been underway for five weeks now and is about half finished. "Which means we're taking down the first wave of sets that we've built and quickly erecting the second wave," says Bocquet. "Same sort of principle as last time, because of the amount of set work we have to do. On the first one we had about 54 studio sets of various sizes. I think this time we're already have a total of 68."

Up next is filming in Tunisia and Italy. "We've got five weeks more shooting here," says Bocquet, "but I actually leave in two-and-a-half weeks with Peter Walpole, the set decorator, heading off back to Italy then Tunisia to get those ends ready. So another reason why my time is a bit busy here is because I'm trying to get all the information ready for the last two weeks of shooting here without us."

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