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'Star Wars: Episode III' Wraps
30 September 2003 (WENN)
Shooting on the eagerly awaited movie prequel Star Wars: Episode III has finally wrapped - but studio bosses warn the film's a long way off completion. Director George Lucas imposed tight security measures on the Australian set in an effort to keep the storyline a secret, but producer Rick McCallum insists cinema-goers still have a long wait before discovering how main character Anakin Skywalker turns into the villainous Darth Vader. He says, "Shooting the film is only a small part of the whole process. George is enthusiastic about getting back to the Ranch and starting the next component. This will enable him to start thinking about what he needs to pick up when we shoot in March 2004. For George and I, this is only the mid-way point. We still have eighteen months to get through."

Lucas Completes Filming Final 'Star Wars' Episode
22 September 2003 (StudioBriefing)
George Lucas completed principal photography of Star Wars: Episode 3 at Fox Studios in Sydney, Australia, Thursday and embarked on 18 months of post-production, the Australian Associated Press reported over the weekend. (A news release from Lucasfilm said that the shooting wrapped on Wednesday and claimed production was five days ahead of schedule. It quoted producer Rick McCallum as saying that "It's almost unheard of for a major motion picture to come in under schedule.") A photo of Anakin Skywalker, played by Hayden Christensen, on his way to becoming Darth Vader, sporting a '70's-style blonde mane, eyes rolled upwards, was also released, causing numerous fansites to take note of how he appears to resemble Luke Skywalker, played in the original 1977 film (A New Hope) by Mark Hamill. The Sydney Daily Telegraph commented that "the prescient casting of Christensen ensured a very believable father and son would work across three decades."

McCallum Reveals "Spoilers" for 'Star Wars: Episode 3'
19 August 2003 (StudioBriefing)
Presumably unconcerned that releasing tidbits of information about the plot of the upcoming Star Wars: Episode 3 will discourage fans from seeing it, producer Rick McCallum has revealed a number of what the online community calls "spoilers" during a chat with subscribers to the Star Wars: Hyperspace website. Among them: that the film will feature an underwater duel between Ewan McGregor and droids; a scene in which Anakin Skywalker becomes Darth Vader; the meaning of the Darth Vader name (David Prowse, who played Vader in the original trilogy, will not return); there'll probably be a downbeat ending. Meanwhile, the British website itv.com is revealing that Christopher Lee, who plays Count Dooku, dies ten minutes into the opening of the new film. Britain's Guardian newspaper, which published details of the McCallum and ITV stories in today's (Tuesday) editions, commented afterwards, "Watch this space to have the experience of watching the film even more comprehensively ruined over the coming 12 months."

Producer: 'Star Wars Fans Are Deranged'
19 April 2002 (WENN)
Star Wars producer Rick McCallum has stunned fans of the Sci-Fi epics, by branding them "deranged". As devotees prepare for next month's release of Episode II: Attack Of The Clones, McCallum - who has worked on all five movies - has spoken out about followers of the cult classic. He says, "There is a group of people who are seriously deranged and who we love dearly. That's what makes Star Wars work, in a strange way."

Lucasfilm To Confront A Tower Of Babel
11 January 2002 (StudioBriefing)
Lucasfilm's decision to open Star Wars Episode II in international markets during the same month that it debuts in the U.S. has placed a heavy burden on the company to quickly find overseas actors who can dub the film in foreign languages immediately after the final version is completed, producer Rick McCallum has told the Star Wars online newsletter "Homing Beacon." "It means we have to audition and cast 60 to 80 actors to do the parts in each country, and we're in 30 different countries. ... We listen to them and approve them, but that can take a long time because there are maybe four to five actors for each part in each country. It takes a good day to really analyze everybody for one country -- if you have 30 countries, that's a month, and the only way you can do it." McCallum added that he expected the process to be "intense, complicated and time-consuming," but did not explain how Lucasfilm's producers, who presumably are not linguists, can audition the voice actors. Nevertheless, he said, the effort can be "awfully fun if we can pull it off."