Empire – April 2024
English | 116 pages | pdf | 63.79 MB
A LOT WENT down in 1999. Neo learned kung fu. Some campers met a witch in the woods. Tyler Durden took his shirt off. A shark tried to cook LL Cool J in an oven. But through all the hype and excitement, one thing reverberated loudest of all. The return of Star Wars.
George Lucas could have bought his own planet (Georgonosis?) with his riches from the original trilogy and retired in peace. Instead, he poured his soul into three new films, flipping the formula so that they started with triumph (well, Gungans having a party) and ended with tears, death and a politician smirking. The movies caused a few tears themselves, some fans left feeling bereft by their digital sheen, the baroque supporting characters, the dialogue about sand.
Undeniably, the films are flawed. But after rocking pop culture on first impact, they’ve only grown in power. A whole new generation has embraced them, an everexpanding batch of Star Wars projects have been inspired by them, a billion internet memes have been spawned, and their strengths, from the blistering duels to the prescient politics, have aged as gracefully as Yoda.
And when we decided to look back at them, it turned out all the key players in the cast wanted to join us. Ewan McGregor called us from the set of his new project, Natalie Portman reflected on her experiences from LA, Liam Neeson spoke to us from the top of a literal mountain, and Hayden Christensen (Toronto) and Ian McDiarmid (Edinburgh) agreed to photoshoots celebrating their dark side. Oh, and Brian Blessed bellowed at us for nearly an hour about his frog-man Boss Nass. Our ears are still ringing. It was glorious.
From page 47, we dive deep into a trilogy that dared to take wild swings, with its lightsabers and with its plotting. Come with us, if you will, to the higher ground.
Enjoy the issue.
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