Latest news with #GeorgeLucas
Geek Culture
2 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Geek Culture
Mark Hamill Retires From Luke Skywalker, Won't Return For Future 'Star Wars' Movies
It appears that Mark Hamill may be done with the Star Wars franchise, as the actor who played Luke Skywalker has announced his retirement from the character, ruling out his return to the universe and suggesting that the franchise should look towards the future instead of being stuck in the past. This comes after an interview with ComicBook, where Hamill talked about his upcoming movie, The Life of Chuck . 'I am so grateful to [George Lucas] for letting me be a part of that back in the day, the humble days when George called Star Wars 'the most expensive low-budget movie ever made,'' Hamill replied when asked about his potential return as a Force ghost in the upcoming Rey-led Star Wars film, New Jedi Order . 'We never expected it to become a permanent franchise and a part of pop culture like that. But my deal is, I had my time. I'm appreciative of that, but I really think they should focus on the future and all the new characters. And by the way, when I disappeared in [ The Last Jedi ], I left my robes behind. And there's no way I'm gonna appear as a naked Force ghost.' Hamill's answer seems loud and clear, The Last Jedi might be the last fans see of Luke Skywalker in any form. True to his suggestion, the franchise is placing the spotlight on Daisy Ridley's Ray, who is set to return for New Jedi Order , the Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy-directed sequel to 2019's Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker , which will centre on Ray as she rebuilds the Jedi order and is set 15 years after the preceding movie. Looking towards the future of the franchise, Disney has three films in its release pipeline: Two set in 2026 on 22 May and 18 December, and one on 17 December 2027. Kevin is a reformed PC Master Race gamer with a penchant for franchise 'duds' like Darksiders III and Dead Space 3 . He has made it his life-long mission to play every single major game release – lest his wallet dies trying. Luke Skywalker Mark Hamill Star Wars
Gizmodo
15 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Gizmodo
Mark Hamill Has No Plans for Star Wars or Luke Skywalker Return
Since the original Star Wars back in 1977, Mark Hamill has been a constant for the franchise alongside Original Trilogy costars Carrie Fisher and Harrison Ford. From gazing out longingly at the twin suns of Tattooine to rocking the Chanel boots and schooling his nephew in front of the First Order, audiences have watched him bring Luke Skywalker to mostly live-action life time and again. But now, Hamill thinks it's time to officially move on. In a recent interview with ComicBook for his upcoming movie Life of Chuck, the actor said he's appreciative to George Lucas 'letting me be a part of [Star Wars] back in the humble days when he called it 'the most expensive low-budget movie ever made.' We never expected it to become a permanent franchise and a part of pop culture like that. But my deal is, I had my time.' (That, and with Luke dead as of Last Jedi, he has no desire to come back as a nude Force ghost.) Going forward, Hamill thinks the people in charge of Star Wars should 'focus on the future and all the new characters.' He's not wrong, but it's a funny as hell time to say it, as it's been a tough ask for this franchise ever since Force Awakens came out nearly a decade ago. (The actor has even been a part of those complications!) And for all of Hollywood, well, Awakens pretty much wrote the book on legacy sequels that feature new, younger-generation characters hanging with returning elders, a formula that's been copied in Scream, Jurassic Park, Marvel (several times), and even Karate Kid. What is the future if not the past revisited? We'll see how Star Wars handles the future with the post-Rise of Skywalker Rey movie and 2027's Starfighter.
RNZ News
a day ago
- Entertainment
- RNZ News
Naruto in the neighbourhood: Tracing the rise of anime in New Zealand
An eclectic assortment of characters turned heads on Queens Wharf in central Auckland on the last weekend of April. The appearance of the visitors in downtown Auckland was something rivalling the diverse collection of characters US director George Lucas assembled at the Mos Eisley cantina in one of the most iconic scenes from the original 1977 Star Wars movie. Monkey D. Luffy from the immensely popular One Piece manga comics was there, as was the titular character from the hit Violet Evergarden light novel series. Thousands of anime and manga fans flocked to Quay Street for the return of the two-day Overload convention, many dressed in costumes depicting their favourite characters. The annual convention offers fans a chance to celebrate anime and manga culture - collectively known as nijigen, or "two-dimensional space". Anime refers to the genre of Japanese-style 2D animation, while manga specifically refers to Japanese-style graphic novels. But the celebration represents more than just cosplay for fans born in the late 1990s and later. The convention offers fans a space for self-expression and connection through a shared passion. And far from being a fringe interest, New Zealand's anime and manga scene has blossomed into a diverse subculture, reshaping the local creative landscape and redefining how Asian pop culture is interpreted and reimagined across the Pacific. Illustrators showcase their work in the exhibition zone at Overload in Auckland on 27 April. Photo: RNZ / Yiting Lin Zak Waipara, a lecturer at Auckland University of Technology and illustrator, recalled watching Japanese animated film Akira for the first time in Auckland in the 1990s. Waipara said the landmark 1988 cyberpunk film directed by Katsuhiro Otomo was unlike anything he had ever seen before. The film was released in the United States the following year by Streamline Pictures and quickly gained an international cult following through myriad theatrical runs and VHS releases. The Akira manga series is displayed inside a bookstore in Paris, France. Photo: eric - Akira captivated audiences in New Zealand, paving the way for more animated films from Japan to be screened in domestic art house cinemas. The success of the release led to a growing interest in anime, with Studio Ghibli titles later becoming staples at international film festivals - often selling out every session. Waipara said anime changed New Zealand's interest in such work at a time when many New Zealanders had been raised on US superhero comics and British graphic fiction. "They changed the mainstream idea of what you can do in animation," he said. "The storytelling is very different," he said. "It allows for moments of stillness and introspection, a kind of meditative quality." Zak Waipara is a lecturer at Auckland University of Technology. Photo: RNZ / Yiting Lin As anime's popularity grew, so too did domestic appetite for manga. Local comic shops began importing translated Japanese comics, fostering a hybrid cultural mix and laying the groundwork for what would eventually become a thriving community. Established in 1994 by Stu Colson, Heroes for Sale has been a cornerstone of Auckland's comic scene for more than three decades. Reflecting on the early days of manga in New Zealand, Colson said initial offerings were limited. "It wasn't until companies like Viz and TOKYOPOP ramped up in the early 2000s that we really expanded our manga section," he said. Stu Colson, owner of Auckland comic bookstore Heroes for Sale. Photo: Supplied While North American superhero comics still dominated overall sales, manga was consistently growing in popularity, he said, noting that titles such as One Piece and Chainsaw Man were among the store's bestsellers. "You have got Pokémon manga all the way up to Vagabond ... manga does everything for all ages," Colson said. "Now we have what we call the 'Great Wall of Manga'." Interest in the genre was bolstered by Seong Oh, a lifelong manga and anime fan who turned a hobby into a career. In 2002, he opened Graphic Novel Cafe, an Auckland outlet specialising in English-language manga and anime merchandise. Four years later, he founded Overload, a convention designed to give this niche scene a dedicated platform. Seong Oh (right) is the founder of Overload. Photo: Supplied Unlike the broader pop culture convention Armageddon Expo, which has been held since 1995, Overload focuses on original artwork, doujin (fan-made creations) and community-driven creativity. Oh launched Overload to provide a space where both local and international artists could showcase their work and connect with fans. "Manga is no longer just Japanese pop culture," Oh said. "Creators can now reach global audiences through online platforms." Fatimatuz Zahroh, a 24-year-old student at the University of Auckland, attends Overload on 27 April to see Kaoru Mori, the Tokyo-based manga artist behind Shirley and Emma. Photo: RNZ / Yiting Lin Starting from 30 artists and 150 attendees participating in 2006, the event has expanded to more than 500 artists and 8000 visitors in 2025. Among them were Wellington-based Filipino cosplayers Caryl Loria Illana and Clarydel Seviia, who came to meet others in New Zealand's Filipino cosplay community. "It's a really fun time to meet new people and find others who love the same things," Seviia said. Wellington-based Filipino cosplayers Caryl Loria Illana (left) and Clarydel Seviia. Photo: RNZ / Yiting Lin Oh said the event showcased the unique way in which domestic fans were embracing global trends. "These New Zealand communities aren't just consuming pop culture," Oh said. "They're interpreting it in their own way, creating something new and sharing it." When Xintao Zhang performs as Moonblossom Midori, she's a bundle of energy and joy. As an underground idol, Zhang sings and dances at small local events such as anime conventions and local community gatherings. "We wear costumes from popular songs and try to uplift the audience with our smiles and charm," she said. Xintao Zhang, an underground idol who performs under the name Moonblossom Midori, performs on stage at Overload on 27 April. Photo: RNZ / Yiting Lin Originating in Japan, underground idol culture is linked to fans of nijigen, a Japanese word that refers to the world of anime, manga and video games. Many performances feature songs from idol-themed anime, attracting fans of both anime and manga. Unlike polished mainstream pop stars, idols are celebrated for their journey and growth alongside their fans. In New Zealand, where the scene is still small, idols such as Zhang build their following independently through conventions and social media. Zhang's audience includes fans from the Asian, Pasifika and wider ethnic communities. Local J-idol cover group ACeMETRiC performs at Overload on 27 April. Photo: RNZ / Yiting Lin Offstage, Zhang is a third-year law and piano student at the University of Auckland. She is a transgender woman who has battled depression and gender dysphoria. At 16, during what she described as the "darkest and most painful time" of her life, she found solace in Touhou Project, a fan-made game series set in a fantasy world separated from human reality. "I wanted to escape to (fantasy world) Gensokyo and live with the yōkai forever," she says, referring to the supernatural creatures and spirits that appear in Japanese folklore. "But later I realised I had to create my own Neverland in the real world." Zhang made her idol debut at Overload in 2022. She used her platform to uplift audiences and inspire others to embrace their dreams - regardless of who they are. "Even if you're different, you can still chase your dreams with confidence," she says. Xintao Zhang watches performances at Overload on 27 April. Photo: RNZ / Yiting Lin In New Zealand, she believed the idol scene felt less restrictive and more inclusive than in East Asia. "Fandoms there can sometimes objectify idols, which leads to appearance anxiety," she said. "But New Zealand's nijigen scene is still emerging - it feels more human." She hoped to use her future legal career to support other creators in the scene, helping them navigate intellectual property and copyright law. "Nijigen has become my core," she said before describing herself using a colloquial Japanese term that refers to an adolescent with delusions of grandeur. "I'm the most chūnibyō person in the world." Since relocating from China to New Zealand in 2019, 36-year-old Xin Li has filled her home with more than 6000 Chinese-language manga. Most of her collection came from online platforms such as Taobao, Taiwan's Eslite Bookstore and Amazon - shipped across the globe at a personal cost of more than $70,000. Xin Li, 36, has filled her home with more than 6000 Chinese-language manga titles. Photo: RNZ / Yiting Lin But Xin Li did not consider herself to be a nijigen fanatic. What drew her in was the storytelling - narratives that felt authentic and emotionally resonant. "Compared to the individualistic heroism in American or European comics, I prefer characters with flaws who grow over time, like Naruto Uzumaki in Naruto ," she said. "To me, it's a form of spiritual support." Waipara agreed that anime and manga's appeal transcended cultural boundaries. While the artform remained rooted in a Japanese context, it offered alternative narratives for those seeking more inclusive representations. "A whole generation of young Māori and Pacific kids grew up on Dragon Ball-Z and similar series," he said. "As well as the sense of belonging that the Asian diaspora could gain from seeing elements of their cultures reflected in the storylines of manga and anime, they were also drawn to the positive cultural difference these works might portray." Comic books created by local New Zealand illustrators. Photo: RNZ / Yiting Lin Waipara said the subculture was helping to shift the demographics in animation programmes, with more female students and a broader range of ethnic backgrounds entering the field. Xintao Zhang is currently preparing for her next performance at Armageddon Expo on May 31. Zhang believed immigrants had helped to drive the growth of New Zealand's nijigen community. More importantly, she saw the community as a way to build social connection. "Nijigen brings people from all backgrounds together," she said. "There's no division - just the joy of loving what we love." Visitors watch performances on stage at Overload on 27 April. Photo: RNZ / Yiting Lin Li has continued to grow her collection. She recently connected with a young Chinese couple who shared her passion for manga, and they now placed group orders to save on international shipping. "Manga keeps me feeling young," she said with a laugh. "If you read manga, you never really grow old."
Daily Mail
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE I have watched every Star Wars film and this is my ultimate ranking from best to worst: CERI THOMAS
A long time ago in a galaxy far away… you were lucky if you got a new Star Wars trilogy once every couple of decades. Heck, the first 30 years of the franchise's existence saw just six films and a small smattering of mediocre TV shows spring from the mind of George Lucas. But since Disney bought the rights to Star Wars in 2012, things have gone into hyperdrive. A new trilogy of movies was just the start of things. Soon the House of the Mouse brought us standalone prequel flicks like Rogue One and Solo too. And then the avalanche of TV content really got going as The Mandalorian, Andor, The Book Of Boba Fett, Rebels, The Bad Batch, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Ahsoka and more filled our download screens with more Jedi, droids, wookiees and Sith than you can shake a lightsaber at.
The Guardian
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Leslie Dilley obituary
Leslie Dilley, who has died aged 84 after suffering from Alzheimer's disease, won the first of two Oscars as an art director for his work on the original 1977 Star Wars film. His creation, the much-loved little robotic droid R2-D2, with a silver and blue dome head and rocket boosters that enabled him to fly through space, appeared on screen for more than 40 years (1977-2019), spanning the first three movies and both the prequel and sequel trilogies. He recalled the 'head-scratching' challenge in those pre-CGI days. 'We started out with a cardboard drum, added cardboard arms and then tried to walk it,' he said. First he built different versions based on conceptual designs drawn by Ralph McQuarrie. Then Dilley, along with the director, George Lucas, and John Barry, the production designer on the first movie (which was later retitled Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope), decided to go with one that would allow a human – short in stature – to step inside, walk and operate it. 'We brought in some actors who we thought would work, but many of them just weren't strong enough,' Dilley told Star Wars Insider magazine. Eventually, Kenny Baker auditioned and fitted the role – and the prop. Dilley was also responsible for the colour and detail of Luke Skywalker's hovering landspeeder anti-gravity craft, conceived by McQuarrie and the modelmaker Colin Cantwell, and for R2-D2's humanoid robot friend C-3PO, whom McQuarrie based on the female robot from Fritz Lang's 1927 silent classic Metropolis. After working on Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back (1980), Dilley won his second Oscar for the first Indiana Jones film, Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), directed by Steven Spielberg and starring Harrison Ford as the globetrotting archaeologist. For the making of one of its best known scenes – Jones fleeing from a South American cave temple with a giant boulder tumbling at his heels – Dilley's work on set even extended to physical exertion. 'I was called upon to help with another bloke to get behind the rolling boulder, pushing it as it chases after Harrison Ford,' he said. Dilley also worked as an art director on Alien (1979) with the director Ridley Scott. He built sets based on the paintings by the Swiss surrealist artist HR Giger that inspired the screenwriter Dan O'Bannon, who jointly wrote the sci-fi horror classic about an extraterrestrial creature stalking and killing the crew of the Nostromo spacecraft. On set for another scene that has gone down in cinema history, Dilley recalled: 'When John Hurt's chest breaks open and we see the baby alien for the first time and blood is spraying everywhere, the actors' reactions were real – they were caught completely off guard, with blood on their clothing and mouths open in fright and surprise.' Dilley went on to become a production designer on films that similarly featured fantasy elements. For The Abyss (1989), whose large amount of underwater filming provided special challenges, he and a construction team turned Ron Cobb's conceptual blueprints for a huge oil-drilling platform into reality – built in a tank of water – as one of the sets in an abandoned nuclear power plant in South Carolina. For The Exorcist III (1990), he created several illusions, including a large hospital set with all the rooms and areas joined together by hallways, one of them appearing to go on for ever, but actually with consecutively smaller arches and a progressively lower ceiling. 'You can create the depth with smaller people at the back,' he said, with a laugh. He also built a 'ceiling' on the floor for the filming of a possessed woman crawling along it in the supernatural horror film. Dilley was born in Pontygwaith, Mid Glamorgan, during the second world war, and grew up in Wembley Park after his parents, Leslie, a chauffeur, and Doreen (nee Willis), returned to their home in Middlesex in 1946. From the age of 15, he studied architecture and building construction at Willesden technical college while on a plastering apprenticeship at the Associated British Picture Corporation. He did plaster work on the 1963 James Bond film From Russia with Love and worked his way up to become assistant art director on Kelly's Heroes (1970), The Devils, Macbeth, and The Boy Friend (all 1971) and Jesus Christ Superstar (1973), and an art department draughtsman on another 007 movie, The Man with the Golden Gun (1974). His initial films as art director were The Three Musketeers (1973) and its sequel, The Four Musketeers (1974), and he also took that role on The Last Remake of Beau Geste (1977), Superman (1978), An American Werewolf in London (1981), Eureka (1983), Never Say Never Again (1983) and Legend (1985). Establishing himself as a production designer, Dilley moved to Los Angeles in 1985. On the Disney comedy sequel Honey, I Blew up the Kid (1992), he was responsible for building two replicas of the family home chosen for filming in California, one of them scaled down 43 per cent for scenes in which the toddler, Adam, appears to be 7ft tall. On that movie and several others, he was also the second unit director. His last feature film as a production designer was Little Man (2006), although he returned to Britain to work on the BBC children's television series Teacup Travels (2015-17), starring Gemma Jones as Great Aunt Lizzie telling her two grandchildren stories from ancient times. He received further Oscar nominations, for his art direction on Alien, Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back and The Abyss, and Bafta Cymru's 2020 outstanding contribution to film and television award. Dilley is survived by his second wife, Leslie Lykes, whom he married in 1987, and their daughters, Sophia, Ivory and EmmaJane, and son, Leslie; by Georgia, the daughter of his first marriage, to Amanda Parish, which ended in divorce; and by four grandchildren. Ivor Leslie Dilley, art director and production designer, born 11 January 1941; died 20 May 2025
