Kevin Smith's Poignant Thoughts on Star Wars VII

With the announcement of Disney buying Lucasfilm, many celebrities have been offering their two cents on the news. But for Clerks director Kevin Smith -- renowned for his immense Star Wars love -- the potential for new Star Wars films meant something much more personal.

In a guest column he wrote for The Hollywood Reporter this week, Smith shared a story from his early days as a Star Wars fan. "Star Wars repeatedly is referenced in all the flicks I make because I grew up watching the George Lucas trilogy in the 1970s and early '80s," Smith begins. "But thanks to the toymakers at Kenner, no self-respecting Star Wars fan was ever content to simply watch the movies. Indeed, until the advent of home video a few years later, playing with Star Wars figures was about the closest a fan could get to seeing the movie again until it was rereleased in theaters."

Smith goes on to describe a boyhood friend named Pete, with whom he would play Star Wars. "Every summer day from 1978 to 1982, you could find me and Pete in his tiny yard, building a new Hoth or Tatooine, brushing ants off our bodies as we laid belly down in the dirt, making Luke Skywalker repeatedly kiss a girl who turned out to be his sister right before they swing from dental floss over the heads of stiff-armed Stormtroopers," he continues. "It shaped me as a storyteller and as a person."

"We'd create our own Star Wars adventures. The best story (and the only one outside of the movie canon that we'd repeatedly play) wasn't about Luke and Leia: It was about inexplicable fan-fave Boba Fett... The plot of our backyard adventure: Boba Fett gets trapped by robotic gunslinger IG-88 in a Star Wars universe time loop, sending him through all the movies as well as moments only referenced in the flicks."

But as Smith and Pete grew older, their interests of course changed. "As Pete and I hit our teens, we didn't play as much Star Wars anymore. I was onto girls, and Pete was replacing Star Wars with G.I. Joe figures.

"One morning shortly after Clerks happened to me, I got the absolute s#!t news that Pete King had been hit by a car in New York City. I asked how long his recovery would be only to learn the awful truth: Pete had died.

"Not a summer goes by when I don't think about Pete or our ongoing saga of Boba Fett lost in time. So when I heard about Disney's $4 billion Lucasfilm acquisition, naturally I had a brief, one-sided conversation with my former best friend.

"'We might finally get to see that Fett flick we always dreamed about, Pete,' I said aloud at my desk after I read the news."

In conclusion, Smith sums up his feelings on the announcement of Star Wars: Episode VII. "In a world where Disney needs to make back its investment, we may indeed see an all-Boba Fett film. And if the Force wills it, maybe it'll even be about Boba Fett lost in the Star Wars universe time stream. But even if it became the highest-grossing film of all time, it'd still never be as good as Pete King's version."

Source : ign[dot]com

IGN's Dishonored Live Stream Highlights

This past Wednesday IGN headed down to London's Barbican to quiz Arkane Studios' Raphaël Colantonio and Harvey Smith, the brains behind upcoming supernatural assassination game, Dishonored.

Alongside a never-before-seen walkthrough of the game's Kaldwin's Bridge level, IGN also got the chance to host an audience Q&A where we pitched your questions to the people in the know.

We've got highlights from the event for you right here. Be sure to watch the video below, and to check out the full host of pictures, head to the IGN UK Facebook page.

Source : ign[dot]com

Matt Smith Will be The Doctor Until at Least 2014

Matt Smith has revealed he will continue to play The Doctor for at least another two years, until 2014.

Talking to The Sun, Smith said he was convinced to stay after talking with Stevan Moffat about his ideas for the next season.

“

His first episode sounds great. It hasn’t been written yet but the idea is as brilliant and as mental as you’d expect from Steven. So there’s a lot to look forward to.

He explained, "His first episode sounds great. It hasn’t been written yet but the idea is as brilliant and as mental as you’d expect from Steven. So there’s a lot to look forward to.

“When Steven was going to pitch the next season to me not long ago, he said, ‘Are you ready to cry?’”

Smith's Doctor will be back on screens later this autumn, but the star is already looking ahead to the 50th anniversary celebrations of the popular time traveller next year. He explained, "We want to do 50 years — and everyone that’s been associated with the show — justice.

"We want to go, ‘Look, world, here is Doctor Who. It’s 50 years old, a science-fiction show, still going and going from strength to strength’.

"Steven will do something brilliant. He’ll do something grand or maybe something very simple but he’ll come to it as a fan. He’ll go, ‘What would I want to see?’"

Smith also admitted that his continued tenure as The Doctor wasn't something he saw coming, as he felt rather overwhelmed by the role when he first took it on from David Tennant.

“If you remember, when I took over, no one thought it would work. I was ‘too young’. David had come from a stellar era. I was unknown," he said.

"For a month or two when I started I was like, ‘This is impossible. I can’t’ — just the pressure of it. Everyone was sort of going, ‘Go on, show us what you’ve got.’ I told myself, ‘If I can get through this I can get through anything’."

The latest series of Doctor Who is expected to start airing this month.

Luke Karmali is IGN's UK Editorial Assistant. You too can revel in mediocrity by following him on IGN and on Twitter.

Source : ign[dot]com

Jay and Silent Bob Get Old Coming to DVD

The popular podcast series, featuring Kevin Smith and Jason Mewes, is getting a DVD, VOD (exclusively through Tribeca Film) and digital download (via iTunes and Amazon) release August 14, 2012, courtesy of Industrial Entertainment Releasing.

The dynamic duo recently toured the UK with their series. This two-disc DVD set, titlled Jay and Silent Bob Get Old: Tea Bagging In The UK, includes all three sold out shows as well as a few animated segments.

The DVD will feature an anamorphic widescreen transfer and stereo audio. Extras include outtakes from all three concerts.

Suggested retail for the DVD is set at $19.95. Amazon has the disc available to pre-order for $14.99.

Stay tuned for more coverage of this release!

R.L. Shaffer has seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. He's watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser gate. And now you can follow his Twitter, Facebook and MyIGN for quotes, rants, reviews, news and more!

Source : ign[dot]com

Bourne Director Does Time and Again

Summit has picked up the rights to adapt the novel Time and Again to the big screen, with The Bourne Identity and Mr. and Mrs. Smith helmer Doug Liman set to direct and produce.

Variety has the report on the project. Written by Jack Finney, who is perhaps best known for his book The Body Snatchers (which has been adapted by Hollywood umpteen times), Time and Again is a 1970 illustrated novel about a modern man who seemingly travels back to 1882, where he falls in love.

Robert Redford tried adapting the tale for Universal back in the '90s, and it was also considered as a possible TV mini-series by Universal Television at one point, but nothing ever came of it. Perhaps Liman will be the man to finally get the job done.

Talk to Movies Editor Scott Collura on Twitter at @ScottIGN, on IGN and on Facebook.

Source : ign[dot]com