return of the jedi

It's long been known that George Lucas approached the Grand Master of the Odd and Bizarre, David Lynch, to direct Return of the Jedi. This, though, is the first time I've heard the man himself speak about it and in typical Lynch style, it's vague and wonderful (watch it after the jump). The thought of a young, rising director being offered the chance to direct an entry in the most popular film series of all time and turning it down is liable to make most brains explode but it makes perfect sense in this instance. After all, Lynch is the guy who directed Eraserhead and Blue Velvet and uses Twitter to broadcast the weather in L.A. Part of me wonders if Lynch even knows what a Star Wars is.

Every movie geek out there can have fun picturing a Lynchian Return of the Jedi and wondering how wild and crazy the movie would have been. Sadly, I don't think it would have been much different. Lucas needed someone to yell action, but he was the one making all of the creative decisions. David Lynch directing Return of the Jedi would have meant David Lynch losing several years of his life that could have been spent perfecting his own unique blend of weird (and we wouldn't have gotten his Dune, which, while certainly not a good movie, is a fascinating blunder).

Stop listening to me ramble and hear the words from Lynch himself after the jump.

What else is there to do when you're shooting for hours upon hours in a hot desert environment while dressed in a smokin' futuristic bikini? Why, how about sunbathing! That's exactly what Carrie Fisher did alongside her stunt double in this behind-the-scenes shot while filming Return of the Jedi. Can you tell who is who?

I'd love to know where these ladies are, exactly, because we can see Jabba's ship off in the distance, and across from that looks to be she ship that Luke, Han and Chewbacca are on before the big battle begins. So are they up on some giant crane or something? Wherever they are, I bet the dude who quietly snapped this photo was very proud of himself (or herself, I suppose). Check out a larger version below ...



[via BoingBoing]

By: Jen Yamato

If you're still on the lookout for the perfect movie-themed jack o' lantern patterns for Halloween, look no further because we've dug up something for everyone. Are you a stickler for the rules of Halloween (i.e. don't blow out the jack o' lanterns til after midnight...)? Try the bag-headed Sam from Trick 'R Treat. Jedi in training? Carve the Death Star so you can practice infiltrating it. Bonus: you and Lego Luke Skywalker can even blow it up once Halloween's over!

Personally, I always went for the grotesque or ironic celebrity pumpkins. One of my best Halloween creations was a glowing, sultry J. Lo pumpkin. (The best part was watching her wither and decay the next week. So evil!) I've always sworn by the patterns over at Zombie Pumpkins, where you can find just about every movie icon you can imagine. Download SUPER easy patterns like Freddy Krueger, the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man, the Joker, Jigsaw's puppet, Gremlins, and even assorted characters from the Harry Potterverse. (An Albus Dumbledore to protect your porch!) And yes, folks - they've even got new patterns from Twilight, Zombieland, and Michael Jackson, circa Thriller. Too soon?

Read on for more -- and the Death Star jack o' lantern -- after the jump.

I grew up reading science fiction, thinking my beloved genre was all about the possibilities of the infinite: advanced civilizations inhabiting distant star systems; men with brains so large and hearts so beneficent they could barely be contained within their bodies; women with beauty so magnificent and intellect so stunning they would leave bystanders breathless.

And they I started watching movies and eventually realized it's all about death, destruction ... and more death.

This week's release of The Final Destination, which is obsessed with staging elaborate 'kill scenes,' got me thinking about memorable scenes of demise in science fiction films. Sci-fi is notably short of serial killers, but offers a wider range of death scenes, beyond simple murder and mayhem. Here's my list of the top 10 sci-fi deaths. (Of necessity, this list is nothing but spoilers, so you have been warned.)

1. The Emperor (Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi)

Everyone knows where they were when they saw the Emperor get what was coming to him. Me, I was in the Cinerama Dome in Los Angeles, opening night, second showing, near 5:00 a.m., shouting (and ultimately cheering and applauding) along with the rest of the sold-out auditorium as Luke looked between his father and the Emperor, in pain, agonizing, understanding that the man he had hated was being tortured by the man who should be hated. And then he made the right call. Goosebumps still raise up in the glory of the memory.