More Star Wars information:
Date: 1997-06-18:Entertainment Tonight recently had some information about the upcoming Star Wars Prequels - here's an AVI clip of it. (8.0 Mb)
Official Star Wars Homepage updates:
Date: 1997-06-09:Direct from the Star Wars page:
June 9, 1997: We can now confirm that Natalie Portman and Jake Lloyd have been signed for Episode I!Tuskenland reports that Natalie is heading to Leavesden Studios in London the week of June 23rd to start work on the prequels, and that's she now in talks with Lucas to also do the second and third prequels.
Official Star Wars Homepage updates:
Date: 1997-06-06:While no definite news about Natalie being cast in the first of the upcoming Star Wars Prequels has been announced, the Official Star Wars Homepage now contains pages with background information about the actors and actresses who are in casting talks with Lucas. Here's Natalie's page.
Natalie ICQ:
Date: 1997-06-02:The webmaster of the Adventures of Miss Thing webpage asked me to add some information about the Natalie ICQ, so here it is. Mirabilis, the company behind ICQ, descripes the program thus:
"ICQ is a revolutionary, user-friendly, Internet program that tells you who's online at all times. No longer will you search in vain for friends & associates on the 'net. ICQ does the searching for you, alerting you in real time when friends or colleague sign on. In addition, ICQ continually tells you which of your friends & colleagues are online.
With ICQ, you can chat, send messages and files, play games or just hang out with your fellow 'netters while still surfing the net.
The program runs in the background, taking up a minimum amount of memory and net resources. While you work on other applications, ICQ alerts you when friends and associates sign on, allowing you to work efficiently while having a whole range of Internet functions at your fingertips. Among the functions available are: chat, message, e-mail, URL and file transfer."
A list of ICQ-using Natalie fans can be found on the Natalie ICQ page.
Information from the Upcoming Animated Features page:
Date: 1997-05-23:The Prince of Egypt
The first animated feature to come from Dreamworks SKG, the $1 billion entertainment consortium of Stephen Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg and David Geffen. The musical story of Moses, the Biblical leader who guided the Jews out of slavery in Egypt to the Promised Land of Canaan, is expected for a 1998 Christmas release. Decided upon as the studio's first animated feature, this story was chosen because of its epic quality. SKG promises to have sharp, memorable songs throughout the movie. Stephen Schwartz, who shared two 1996 Oscars with Alan Menken for their "Pocahontas" score, will write both music and lyrics for "The Prince of Egypt". The film will concentrate on Mose´s earlier years and his dealings in the Royal House of Egypt, with the more traditional images of the Exodus and the Ten Commandments covered in an epilogue.It was announced that stars such as Val Kilmer (young Moses), Ralph Fiennes and Michelle Pfeiffer will provide the voices for the animated movie. Joining them also are Mel Brooks, Natalie Portman, Sandra Bullock, Jeff Goldblum, Patrick Stewart, Helen Mirren, Steve Martin and Martin Short.
The film is directed by Simon Wells (director of "Fievel Goes West", "We´re back" and "Balto"), Brenda Chapman (story supervisor on "The Lion King", and the first ever female director of a Hollywood animated feature; married to Kevin Lima, co-director of Disney´s Tarzan, which will come out at the same time as Prince of Egypt) and Steve Hickner (producer of "Balto").
Penney Finkelman Cox and Sandra Rabins are the producers. Other crew members include Doug Cooper (technical director), Doug Ikeler (3-D computer animator), David S. Karoll (co-head of color models), Rosanna Lyons (Visual effects animator), Robert Naudon (2-D/3-D effects), Saty Raghavachary (Graphics Software Developer), Vicky C. Snyder (Digital development), Jeff Topping (Visual effects animator). Kelly Asbury and Lorna Cook (Story supervisors), Kathy Altireri (Art director), Don Paul (Effects supervisor). Supervising animators include Kathy Zielinski (Frollo), Christoph Serrand, James Baxter (Quasimodo, Belle) and Duncan Marjoribanks (Sebastian, Abu).
Special Graphics will be provided by Silicon Graphics who promise to add an extra zing to the recent advances of computer animation with it's fusion with the tradional animation which takes on the style of Disney's animated masterpieces.Much of the film will be traditionally animated but there are some pretty dramatic elements which are particularly well suited to computer animation. SKG also uses Animo from Cambridge Animation Systems.
Jeffrey Katzenberg has reportedly consulted several prominent religious leaders about "The Prince of Egypt", which centers on the story of the Exodus which appears in the Bible's Old Testament and in the Koran. Katzenberg has allegedly met with Christian Coalition director Ralph Reed about the film's interpretation of Moses. The approval of Reed and others in the religious community may help diffuse some of the controversy surrounding the subject matter.
From: Starwars Webmaster <webmaster@starwars.com>
Subject: Prequel news
To: cloudcity@starwars.com
Date: Tue, 6 May 1997 11:17:39 -0700 (PDT)
The Star Wars Trilogy Special Edition was a tremendous success, and we hope you enjoyed seeing it on the big screen again -- or for the first time!
As many of you know, George Lucas has begun work on a new trilogy of "prequel" movies to precede the story told in the original Star Wars Trilogy. While no deals have been completed, we are now in discussions with a number of actors and actresses -- including Liam Neeson, Natalie Portman, and Ewan McGregor -- to fill roles in the first movie of the new trilogy. In the coming weeks, you can expect to learn more about the prequel production by visiting http://www.starwars.com/. We hope you share our excitement about this new chapter in the Star Wars saga!
From Variety Magazine, April 9, 1997:
Portman Eyes 'Star Wars' Prequel Cast
By Dan CoxHOLLYWOOD (Variety) - She doesn't look much like Carrie Fisher, but 16-year-old Natalie Portman is in discussions with to co-star as Princess Leia's mother at a younger age in the vaunted first "Star Wars" prequel.
Portman, who appeared in "Mars Attacks!" as the First Daughter, would shoot the picture in the summer. She then heads to Broadway this fall to star in "Diary of Anne Frank."
Filming is set to take place at London's Leavesden Studios, with George Lucas directing from his script. Lucas representatives are keeping quiet about the start date and casting choices to avoid an onslaught of publicity.
Portman would join Liam Neeson, who is the top choice to star as the master Jedi Knight, a character that was not in the original trilogy of "Star Wars" pictures. Portman will play The Queen, who is the mother as a teenager of Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia.
Portman's other credits include "The Professional," "Beautiful Girls," "Heat" and "Everyone Says I Love You."