In the lead up to The Last Jedi, much of the world is interested in what the actors have to say about the movie and the characters they play. I, on the other hand, would rather watch these videos all day long. (No spoilers in any of them, FYI. And yes, I might be posting them all here so I have them in one place and can watch them over and over again.) While you go crazy waiting for VIII, please enjoy the cast being silly.
Tag Archives: interviews
Celebration 2017: Interview with Charles Soule
He hasn’t gotten any less busy since the last time we chatted but Charles Soule was kind enough to sit down with me after the big Marvel panel at Star Wars Celebration last week. We talked about his relatively recently announced Darth Vader book and his continuing work on Poe Dameron including a very in depth look at today’s issue.
Warning! This interview contains spoilers for Poe Dameron #13 and I mean major spoilers. They are all in the back half of the interview so you can safely read until the first mention of the Poe book. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.
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via IGN.com
Bria for Tosche Station: So you still haven’t talked them into giving you a Palpatine book then? Just a Vader one?
Charles Soule: Yeah but a Vader book is by definition almost a Palpatine book at the same time. They’re still very, very intertwined. The story that I’m telling in the Vader book has Palpatine as the only point of connection that Vader has left anymore. He’s the only person he can turn to for any sort of advice or guidance. His physicality is completely different and completely changed. He has no anchor point except Palpatine, which Palpatine of course knows and realizes and uses to manipulate Vader further in the great tragedy that is Darth Vader’s life. Continue reading
Baltimore Comic Con 2015: Interview with Charles Soule
This weekend at Baltimore Comic Con, I was lucky enough to chat for a few minutes with the awesome Charles Soule. You may know him as the writer who’s also a lawyer who wrote a fantastic run on She-Hulk last year (amongst other things) but Star Wars fans currently know him as the guy who’s writing the rad Lando limited series for Marvel. We sat down and talked all things Star Wars and about his great work with Alex Maleev on the Lando book.
Bria: So the first question we always ask everyone is how did you become a Star Wars fan?
Charles Soule: Oh man, I’ve been a Star Wars fan since I was a little kid. I went to see the movies with my family. I must’ve seen a release of A New Hope at some point because I would’ve been a baby.
The ’96 ones?
No, it would’ve been before that. I don’t know—they kept rereleasing them for the first ten years or so and I must’ve seen it at that point but I remember very distinctly seeing the AT-ATs come out of the fog in Empire Strikes Back and all the Cloud City stuff which was so amazing. I had all the toys and stuff like that. So I was a fan from pretty young and my whole family was pretty into it so it was something that I could share with my brothers and sister and it was great.
Do you have a favorite one of the original films or any of the movies really. I’m not a Prequel hater. Continue reading
J.J. Abrams Interview in Vanity Fair
As part of the June cover story, Vanity Fair sat down with director J.J. Abrams to talk about his work on The Force Awakens. Topics of conversation include how he and the rest of the creative team went about setting the tone and referencing the other films, and what it was like working on Star Wars as a lifelong fan.
On the podcast we’ve speculated a lot about the state of the GFFA 30 years after Endor, and Abrams discusses the appeal of dropping in the audience into the middle of the action with little explanation.
What was incredible about Star Wars, among other things, was that in that first movie Vader could’ve been his father, but he wasn’t, you know. Leia could’ve been his sister, but she wasn’t. You didn’t really know what the Empire was up to exactly. You didn’t really understand what it meant that there was a Senate or the Dark Times or any of the references, and yet you felt the presence of all these things and you understood because it was all being referenced in a way that allowed you to fill in the blanks, and that’s a very powerful thing.
I’m not sure about anyone else, but lately I feel very comforted reading and listening to interviews with Abrams. There’s no doubt he understands the importance of Star Wars, and knows that getting the feel right is just as important as the story itself. Combine that with the amazing new teaser and set pictures, and I absolutely cannot wait until December 18.
Tosche Station Radio #59: Talkin’ Baseball with Jason Fry
On this episode of Tosche Station Radio, the hosts are joined by Star Wars author Jason Fry to talk his contributions to the universe, The Clone Wars, Rebels, and even a bit of baseball!
This week on Fixer’s Flash, Nanci went to her last round of Star Wars Weekends for the year. Both of the hosts watched more Stargate, and Brian read more of Kenobi.
Deak’s Dirt starts with news that Star Wars Books has announced the title of the new James S.A. Corey Han Solo novel – Star Wars: Empire and Rebellion: Honor Among Thieves. The novel will be published in Spring 2014. The blog Tenth Letter of the Alphabet has a great article about the evolution of the Star Wars logo. Star Wars Reads Day to return October 5. The Course of the Force lightsaber relay in support of Make-a-Wish is back this summer, kicking off July 9 from Skywalker Ranch and arriving in San Diego on July 16. For $150, registrants can carry the lightsaber during the relay. All proceeds to go charity. The Nerdist also kicked off a multi-part web series leading up to the event. In sad fandom news, Matt Smith is leaving Doctor Who after four years.
On Camie’s Concerns this week, the hosts are joined by guest Jason Fry to discuss his contributions to the Star Wars universe, The Clone Wars, and a bit of baseball. It’s an in-depth conversation covering a whole bunch of Star Wars, so get comfy!
Wrapping up the show, the hosts field a question from a listener in Ask Us Anything.
Tosche Station Radio is the official podcast of Tosche-Station.net and a part of Majestic Giraffe Productions. If you like what you hear, please leave a review on the iTunes Music Store. We can also be found on Facebook and Twitter.
Nanci and Brian are the co-founders and writers of Tosche-Station.net. You can find Nanci on Twitter with the handle @Nancipants and you can find Brian with @LaneWinree.
This podcast has been brought to you in part by Her Universe and Audible.com.
Expanded Universe Authors talk the Sequel Trilogy
Hollywood.com recently rounded up a collection of current Expanded Universe authors to ask them what they hope to see in the Sequel Trilogy, what EU characters they’d look to see make an appearance, and what the ultimate fate of the Big Three should be. Reading through, I was struck by Aaron Allston’s answers in particular:
What I Hope to See from Episodes VII-IX: Could I see “Screenplay by Aaron Allston”? No?
Well, barring that, I’d like to see the story move away from the Skywalkers, Solos, even the Jedi a bit, reminding us that there are other people doing important things in the galaxy. I’d like to see a greater proportion of female characters. I want to see more spectacle — Tatooine junkyards and bongo interiors aren’t exactly challenges for ILM’s skills. And I hope to see a return to the lightheartedness and humor of A New Hope, putting the fatalism of the prequels behind us.
What secondary or Expanded Universe character I’d Like to See Get the Spotlight: This kind of depends on exactly when in the timeline Episodes VII through IX take place. Timothy Zahn’s Mara Jade would always be a good choice. The next-generation Solos and Skywalkers, such as Jaina Solo and Ben Skywalker, would be welcome. If any sort of espionage is in the offing, some sort of nod to my ownWraith Squadron characters would be a thrill for me.
But what I really hope to see most is any sort of appearance by recognizable EU characters, which would be an acknowledgement that the EU is a significant part of what constitutes Star Wars.
How I Want to See Luke, Han, or Leia Die: You know, I actually don’t want to see them die in the movies, and it’s not just because of affection for the characters…
…Me, I’m all for having Luke, Leia, and Han be in a scene showing them knocking back shots of Corellian brandy while playing cards. Then the screen can go through a 1940s-style wipe and the camera can zoom in on their descendants saving the galaxy for a new generation.
Allston pretty much summed up exactly what I’d love to see in these new films as well as what I think should happen with Luke, Han, and Leia. So many people seem eager to see those characters killed off in epic fashion, but I’m a fan of the quiet retirement approach. They’ve earned their victory lap and fade to black.
His overall sentiments on the Expanded Universe I think are also important to consider. Many forget, but for a long time, that was it for Star Wars. The only new story material being produced. It attracted a passionate following and helped to rejuvenate the fandom from the doldrums of the 80s and early 90s and keep it alive during the long stretches when it seemed like Lucasfilm was done producing material. Including any EU characters is a gesture to fans, authors, and editors who helped to keep things alive.
For more from Allston as well as Christie Golden, Michael Reaves, Troy Denning, James Luceno, John Jackson Miller, Drew Karpyshyn, and Paul S. Kemp, head to the Hollywood.com interview.
Zahn Talks Writing Han Solo and Standalone Films He’d Like to See
With the barrage of rumors surrounding standalone films in the Star Wars, Hollywood.com decided to catch up with Expanded Universe author Timothy Zahn to discuss what it takes to write Han Solo and the kinds of standalone films and spinoff projects he’d like to see in the Disney Star Wars era.
On the topic of new projects beyond regular episodic installments:
Hollywood.com:First of all, none of this has been confirmed by Disney or Lucasfilm, and I’m not looking to you at all to confirm it. I’m just interested in your perspective as a Star Wars author, and even more importantly, as a Star Wars fan, on the rumor today that the first two standalone Star Wars movies will be about Young Han Solo and Boba Fett respectively.
Timothy Zahn: All of this is at the rumor stage of course, but, the fact is, I would like to see more Star Warsbeyond the core saga. I’d like more Star Wars TV, and certainly more Star Wars books. We’ll just have to wait and see what happens. The Galaxy Far, Far Away is impossibly huge with story ideas and possibilities.
On writing Han:
HW: Is there a difference between the way you wrote Han in Scoundrels as opposed to the way you wrote him in the Thrawn Trilogy or Hand of Thrawn Duology?
TZ: Oh yeah, he’s much more mature in the later books. He’s taken on more responsibility. He still chafes at it at times. But he does the jobs that need to be done. He’s more aware of what’s at stake, what the consequences could be if he succeeds or fails. And that’s because he has a family at that point, which brings a whole new set of responsibilities with it. In Scoundrels on the other hand, since that’s set right after A New Hope, he’s much more footloose and fancy free. But even then you can see that once he’s assembled the team he’s working with, he’s not going to abandon them. The seeds of “Responsible Han” are already there. But he would deny it probably.
On spinoff Star Wars projects he’d like to see:
HW: What other characters from the movies would you like to see get the movie spinoff treatment?
TZ: Lando is an obvious one. You could do a lot with Lando during the time leading up to The Empire Strikes Back. If we’re going post-Jedi era I would frankly like to see Wedge put together Rogue Squadron. I think you could have a whole series of Rogue Squadron movies that would be great. Wedge is peripheral, but he is verypopular and rightfully so. Who else helps take out two Death Stars? You could even do an X-Wing TV show focused on Rogue Squadron that, just like the books, would be peripheral to the main Skywalker-Solo saga. That means you could introduce a lot of new characters anchored by Wedge. You could make wonderful stuff out of the X-Wing books.
See, I’m not the only one who thinks a Wedge-centric film and an X-Wing television series would be absolutely fantastic viewing.
The whole interview is fantastic and there’s a lot more to read. Head to Hollywood.com’s interview for more with Timothy Zahn.
Roqoo Depot Interviews Timothy Zahn
They’ve got five questions with one of our favorite Expanded Universe authors, Timothy Zahn.
What’s the best Mara fan experience you’ve ever had?
TZ: Best (and most gratifying, humbling, and on-going): The various women who dress as Mara at conventions, and who thank me for creating her.
Second-best: *All* the readers — in costume or not — who appreciate her. (I’m pretty easy to please.)
The interview is part of their month-long celebration of Mara Jade. Keep tabs on them all month for all content Mara.
Mike Stackpole On This Week’s Tosche Station Radio
Yes, you read that right. Author Mike Stackpole will be on this week’s podcast! Because of that, we’re looking for your questions for him. Tweet them to us, leave them on our Facebook page, or leave a comment on this post.
We will be recording on Wednesday at 5PM Pacific, so get your questions in before then.
EU Interview Roundup
Over at Club Jade, James conducted a video interview with Essential Guide to Warfare author Jason C. Fry.
To celebrate the release of Scourge, Roqoo Depot and EUCantina have interviews with Jeff Grubb. He also made an appearance last week on Star Wars Books’ official Facebook page to answer questions from fans. TFN has a lovely recap here. If the interviews have you curious, you can read a 50-page excerpt from the book over at Suvudu. Scourge hits bookshelves today.
Big Shiny Robot talks to Tom Taylor about his latest project, Boba Fett is Dead.