What I will say is that I reckon Ryan Reynolds is going to be great as Hal Jordan. The interviews of him that I’ve seen thus far all seem to suggest that he has a good handle on the character and really wants to do the right things by the property and by the fans. And the same must be said for Mark Strong who is playing Sinestro. Both these guys seem to be relishing their parts and as a fan of Green Lantern, this comes as a great relief. It’s certainly refreshing to see the stars of a major motion picture really digging their roles.

Anyway, on to the main reason for this post:

Today has seen the leaked image of Green Lantern Kilowog. Is this image legit? It seems so. Do I like it? Yeah, I think so.

For those unfamiliar with the character, he was first introduced in the mid Eighties as one of the alien GL’s assigned to Earth during the short lived Green Lantern Corps series (volume 2 issues 201-224). Later, in the early Nineties, Hal Jordan’s history and origin was re-worked during the famous ‘Emerald Dawn’ period and Kilowog was ret-conned to become a trainer of freshly recruited Green Lanterns and played a part in Hal’s early development as a Green Lantern. Over time, Kilowog’s importance as member of the GLC and his significance in GL mythology has grown and grown. Today, he is a firm fan favorite.

Kilowog is a character that is open to visual interpretation. His alien form has seen many variations throughout the 25 years that the character has been around. There really is no definitive version of Kilowog. Different comic artists like to interpret him in different ways and I see this movie version of him as a continuation of that. My main gripe is that I would have liked the lower jaw to be heavier. But hey, whatever. As with Hal’s costume that was revealed during the lead up to SDCC, I’ll reserve final judgement until I see it in action.

Sorry, it’s been far too long between blog posts. I dunno what went wrong…just kinda lost track of the whole blogging scene. I’ve been slack and that’s reprehensible! Not the sort of behaviour one would expect from a Dark Lord.

Ah well, stuff it. I’m here now and I’ll do my best to get the Knights’ Blog back on track.

So there’s not too much to report on the SUBURBAN KNIGHTS front. We’re constantly getting asked: “So when’s Episode 3 coming out?” To which I often reply: “Piss off and mind your own business!”. Which admittedly, is a bit harsh. But then again, I am a Sith, so you’d expect that kinda response from an evil bastard. Right?

The bottom line is, Episode 3 may or may not happen. It’s a sad fact I know. An outline does exist for what we want to do in Episode 3 but if and when it gets made depends on a great deal of variables; the main one being: “do I want to spend another year rotoscoping lightsabers after work?”. And while I admit that the idea of that is not too bad, it’s more a case of “do I want to dedicate time and resources to something derived (which SK is) or something more original?” To be totally honest, it’s more likely the latter.

Here at the SK Citadel, we have a number of, what we think, are really cool ideas for some short films and with any luck, we’ll get stuck into a few of those over the next 12 months. As I’ve said many times on this blog (when I actually get around to posting) making films is hard. And making non-funded short films is even harder. You gotta pull in a lot of favours, you run the risk of sending yourself broke and you become rather myopic in your world view. Other things, such as family, can get ignored. And at the moment, that’s not something we want to see happen.

SUBURBAN KNIGHTS has been really well received and we’re very thankful for that. We’d like to see it continue in some form, whether as another short film, an animation, or as some kinda video-blog. We really don’t know at this point. But in the meantime, keep the faith! The Knights are still around and still active, protecting the ‘hood from wankers and pretentious douche-bags. Hopefully you’ll see us turn up on the web or community TV sometime soon.

MTKBWY!

Anyways, I thought it best just touch base and ensure all the loyal SK fans that just because EPISODE 2 is in the can, it doesn’t mean that the Knights have gone away! But the reality is that news on the Knights and other crap what we find interesting is pretty slow at the moment. We’re taking a well earned rest for the coupla months, there’s next to no news on the Green Lantern film which we have been following closely and the whole Star Wars scene is eerily quiet at the moment with the exception of The Clone Wars Series 2 which Australia is still yet to cast eyes upon.

In the meantime, thanks again to all who have supported the Knights over the last year. 2010 will be sure to see some new material emanate from the halls of the Citadel so stay tuned!

Wow. Thanks for all the amazing feedback. The event at ACMI was a great success and thanks to all those who attended and stuck around for a great drinks session afterwards. For those who couldn’t make it, you missed out! But no fear, The Knights are here for you, on the web, now.

The support for SUBURBAN KNIGHTS has been overwhelming and it’s been great fun bringing you the latest installment. Where to now for the Knights? Well who knows. But while we’re busy figuring out what to do next, you can do us a massive favour by telling all your friends about the SUBURBAN KNIGHTS WEBSITE and getting them involved in the SK Community.

We conducted a small exit-poll after the screening. Here’s what some fans had to say:

And so on and so forth. As you can tell, the audience was blown away.

Several people felt a bit sick during the course of the event. Best wishes to those guys and we hope you get well soon.

In the meantime, keep watching your KNIGHT MOVES BLOG. And remember: The Knights will be with you…always!

There’s been a rumour floating around Cyberspace for the last week or so regarding a new trilogy of Star Wars films allegedly being planned by King George. What’s more, these new films are supposedly going to be filmed in 3D! Holy shit!

Now I’m no spokesman for Lucasfilm, but I can tell you right now that these rumours are nothing more than pure horse-shit. And I’m going to try to explain why.

Firstly, it’s worth noting that ever since the release of the first Star Wars in 1977, rumours have been floating around of a mythical 9 film Saga. These rumours were based on loose comments George made back in the late 70s when asked about more Star Wars movies and where he may like to take the Saga in the future. Nothing and I mean NOTHING was ever set in stone. These were vague ideas that George had. The key cast of the original Star Wars signed a 3 picture deal in the hope that ‘A New Hope’ would be successful enough to spawn a sequel or two. But beyond those plans, anything else was just fantasy.

In the early 70s when George was putting down ideas for ‘The Star Wars’ he compiled several treatments on what would happen in the story. Those key plot points eventually went on to form the basis of the Original Trilogy. George knew at this early stage that his ideas for the first film were too ambitious, too massive and too expensive to be viable. So he essentially took the first act and developed it into the screenplay that became ‘Star Wars Episode 4: A New Hope’. If the film proved successful then maybe he could strike a deal to make a sequel and expand on the ideas that would become Acts 2 and 3, or as we know them now, ‘The Empire Strikes Back’ and ‘Return of the Jedi’.

It’s interesting to note that when George wrote the final draft of the first Star Wars film, in his mind Luke and Vader were NOT related. As fas as George was concerned, Vader and Luke’s dad were two separate people. It was only when George started fleshing out ideas for ‘The Empire Strikes Back’ did he hit upon the notion of making Luke’s father and Vader one in the same person.

Cynics often note the scene in ‘The Empire Strikes Back’ in which Leia kisses Luke as gross and incestuous. But when the film was being made, according to George, Luke and Leia were NOT related. And this is where things start to get really interesting and why talk of a new Trilogy just don’t make sense. At this point George still had vague ideas about a trilogy set after ‘Return of the Jedi’. Remember the scene in ‘The Empire Strikes Back’ in which Yoda says: “No, there is another” when alluding to someone else who could destroy Vader? Well that ‘someone else’ was, at the time of writing the script, Luke’s sister. BUT his sister was not Leia.

Here’s how it was going play out: ‘The Empire Strikes Back’ was to establish that Vader was Luke’s father. In Episode 6, Luke was to confront Vader and defeat him. This all happened. BUT, that was not the end of the story. In the proposed Episodes 7-9 Luke was to then set about searching for his long lost sister. The ‘someone else’ that Yoda referred to in ‘The Empire Strikes Back’. This sister was clearly not Leia, making her kissing him, nothing more than an act of emotional manipulation on her behalf.

The early 80s was a busy time for George. Not only was he making the Star Wars Trilogy, he was also writing and producing the first 2 Indiana Jones films. By 1981 was has buggered and he decided to re-think the direction of the Star Wars Saga. This is when he decided to consolidate his ideas and make Leia Luke’s sister. By doing this, he could essentially wrap up Luke’s story with the conclusion of ‘Return of the Jedi’, thereby eliminating the need to continue the story any further. The idea of Luke having a mysterious, previously unseen sibling was scrapped.

Of course this still left the door open for a Prequel Trilogy, which George only decided to make after leaving Star Wars alone for a decade.

Since 2005, George has gone on record on numerous occasions stating that Episode 3: ‘Revenge of the Sith’ is the FINAL Star Wars film. Ever. And that the entire Saga is Darth Vader’s story. With his death in ‘Return of the Jedi’, the story concludes. That’s it. Sure the Expanded Universe stuff has continued the story, but as far as George is concerned, his input into the story finished with the completion of Episode 3.

Lucasfilm are fully focussed on the Star Wars live action TV series now. This is the medium into which George now wants to take Star Wars. He knows TV is the future. The TV series will be set between Episodes 3 and 4 and will not focus on the Skywalker family. It is not a continuation of the story as seen in the movies, more an expansion of ideas alluded to in the 6 films.

I would love to see more Star Wars films. I really would. But i just can’t see it happening. I’d love to see Mark Hamill return to the role of Luke and assume an Obi Wan-type position in a new trilogy. But I’m afraid that that idea, like any idea of Episodes 7-9 ever happening, is nothing more than a fan-boy fantasy.

And ‘insider’ is reporting that WATCHMEN revelation Jackie Earle Haley maybe up for the role of arch villain SINESTRO in 2011′s GREEN LANTERN.

I’ve made it pretty well known to anyone who will listen that I consider WATCHMEN to be the the best film of 2009 and easily one of the best comic to film adaptations ever done. Haley’s portrayal of psycho-superhero Rorscharch was absolutely spot on and still gives me goosebumps whenever I watch it.

But is he right for Sinestro? Well I dunno. But I’m certainly open to the idea. Martin Campbell (director) has pulled off some pretty canny casting moves in the past. Maybe Haley as Sinestro could be his latest coup.

Personally, I would be looking for someone physically taller, broader and a little more menacing. But if this rumour proves true, then I’m happy to be proven wrong.

It’s all kicking off at The Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI) Federation Square, Melbourne on Wednesday October 21 at 7:30pm.

Seating is very limited so if you wanna come along then just post your name in the comments section of this post. Hope to see you there. We can guarantee a few surprises!

For those who can’t attend, EPISODE 2 can be viewed at the SUBURBAN KNIGHTS WEBSITE from October 22nd.

Peace, bitches!

Seems the descent of the US dollar is no longer making off-shore production viable so it looks like the production will shift to Mexico or Canada.

As a massive fan of Green Lantern, I’m not too phased by this. As a movie goer it makes little difference to me where this film is shot but I am disappointed that our local film industry won’t get the boost that a production of this size would bring. I am kinda relieved that at least no Australian landmarks will creep their way into the film. I remember being taken aback while watching Ghost Rider when shots of the Yarra River and Telstra Dome made their way into the picture. I wanna escape with GREEN LANTERN and a shot of downtown Sydney doubling as Coast City won’t enable me to do that.

My main concern is that this could mean the relase date of GREEN LANTERN is once again pushed back. There’s no news yet regarding this, but I’ll be sure to report anything if it comes to light.

In the meantime, I hope you’re all enjoying BLACKEST NIGHT. I know I am!

Yes. We are bastards.