‘Star Wars: The Acolyte’ Review: Old Jedi Mind Tricks In A Galaxy Even Farther Away

What’s going on with Academy Award-winning director Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy’s “Star Wars” movie centering on Rey Skywalker (Daisy Ridley)? Rumored to be called, “Star War: A New Jedi Order” and then more recently, “Star Wars: Episode X – A New Beginning” (who knows if any of that’s true), for months, all Daisy Ridley has said is she’s been waiting to read a script from Academy Award-nominated writer Steven Knight, the creator of “Peaky Blinders,” and writer of “Eastern Promises,” “Spencer” and more.

The Acolyte star Amandla Stenberg has written and released a song in response to a racist backlash against the Star Wars prequel show.The show is set 100 years before Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace, and the first four episodes are streaming now on Disney+.It was created by Russian Doll’s Leslye Headland and stars Stenberg (The Hate U Give, Bodies Bodies Bodies) in the twin lead roles of Osha and Mae.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor At the Monte-Carlo TV Festival Saturday, Lee Jung-Jae, one of the stars of new Disney+ series “Star Wars: The Acolyte,” spoke with Variety about how he prepared for his role as Jedi Master Sol, the strengths of Leslye Headland, the show’s creator, as a showrunner, and the relationship between Sol and Amandla Stenberg’s characters.Lee, who won a Primetime Emmy for “Squid Game,” says that for 50% of “The Acolyte” role he drew inspiration from previous depictions of the Jedi Masters, and “for the remaining 50% I tried to find something that was appropriate to Sol – something that would only incarnate him.” He also consulted with an expert in “Star Wars” lore at Lucasfilm.In “The Acolyte,” the Jedi Masters are shown to be flawed. How does the show present this? “In ‘The Acolyte,’ what it tries to say is that anyone can make mistakes, but you have to accept the mistakes that you make, and put effort into correcting them or developing yourself, because any human being has some unstable thinking,” Lee says.

As we know from yesterday’s excerpt from an upcoming episode of The Playlist’s The Discourse podcast featuring Jude Law promoting his forthcoming film period drama “Firebrand” opposite Alicia Vikander (read our review), the actor basically turned down an early version of “Superman” when Brett Ratner was attached to direct. For years, Law seemed to avoid most franchises.

Naman Ramachandran London and New York-based film sales agency The Mise En Scene Company (MSC) has diversified, securing world rights to scripted series “Driven.” The show stars Rebecca Henderson, known for her roles in “Star Wars: The Acolyte” (Disney) and “Russian Doll” (Netflix), and Liza Colón-Zayas from “The Bear” (FX). Produced by O Positive Films in New York and created by David Shane, represented by 3 Arts Entertainment, “Driven” centers on Theodora “Teddy” Fischer (Henderson), an Uber driver and struggling post-post-modern novelist. Teddy’s life hits rock bottom after getting fired from an animated children’s show for a controversial episode and dealing with her wife’s departure.

Lord Of The Rings composer Howard Shore and will run in association with the BFI next year from March 19-26.The event will feature a conversation with Shore and legendary filmmaker David Cronenberg about their collaborative work, as well as live performances, panel discussions, in-conversation screenings, composer Q&As and masterclasses with some of the biggest names in film, TV and games music.Cronenberg and Shore have worked together for over 45 years on films including Videodrome, The Fly, Dead Ringers, Crash, M Butterfly, Eastern Promises, A History of Violence, Naked Lunch and The Shrouds – their most recent collaboration and their 17th overall.A retrospective of the work of Shore will run alongside events events celebrating the work of Hildur Guðnadóttir (Tar, Joker), Anna Meredith (Eighth Grade), Anne Dudley (Poldark, The Full Monty), Harry Gregson-Williams (The Martian), Stephen Barton (Star Trek: Picard, Star Wars: Jedi – Fallen Order, Apex Legends), Natalie Holt (Loki, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Paddington) and Paul Farrer (The Chase, Weakest Link).

“The Sunday Times,” Dunne wrote, “First of all, let me cut to the chase and say that Carrie never became my girlfriend. She knew, long before I did, that being lovers would diminish our possibilities.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Dakota Fanning went viral in April for revealing that not only did Tom Cruise gift her a cell phone when she celebrated her 11th birthday on the set of their 2005 movie “War of the Worlds” but that he’s also proceeded to send her a birthday gift every year since. That’s nearly two decades worth of birthday presents, all of which have apparently been shoes. Fanning revealed the specifics of Cruise’s gifting habits during a new interview on Kelly Clarkson’s daytime talk show (via Entertainment Weekly).

Warning: Spoilers ahead Star Wars fans have been left reeling by the shock of a major name actor being killed off in the opening minutes of the new prequel series The Acolyte.The show is set 100 years before Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace, and the first two episodes were released to streaming on Disney+ on June 4.The Acolyte has been created by Russian Doll’s Leslye Headland and it stars Amandla Stenberg (The Hate U Give, Bodies Bodies Bodies) in the twin lead roles of Osha and Mae. The two characters are raised by a coven of witches, led by Jodie Turner-Smith, and are separated by tragedy, with Osha training as a Jedi before lapsing, while Mae turns to the dark side.In the opening moments of the first episode, we see a mysterious woman enter a bar and kill the Jedi Master Indara, played by Carrie-Anne Moss.

The first two episodes of The Acolyte are out now on Disney+!

Star Wars universe is continuing to expand. When “The Acolyte” premieres tonight on Disney+, June 4, the High Republic Era will make its way into live-action canon after years of canonical comics and novels. In “The Acolyte,” an investigation into a spree of murders pits a Jedi Master and his former Padawan against forces of evil long thought to be extinct within the galaxy.

It may all be ridiculous if you think about it too much, but this action-comedy franchise still has gas in the tank even 30 years after the fortuitous teaming of Will Smith and Martin Lawrence first hit the beat as notorious Miami cops aka the “Bad Boys.”

No amount of rewatching, revisionism, and distance makes the leaden “Star Wars” prequels good, sorry (lord knows I’ve tried). But teeming with terrifically substantive ideas, just not convincing in the execution of any of them, the most juicy and complex legacy that George Lucas ever left “Star Wars” with—something the franchise always seems to flirt with and yet never fully embrace—is the notion of failure, and the Jedi Order as a deeply flawed and ultimately ruinous organization.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director In a new interview with The New York Times for the upcoming “Star Wars” series “The Acolyte,” Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy said she is aware that women in the space franchise are often attacked online more than men “because of the fan base being so male dominated.” Female stars Daisy Ridley and Kelly Marie Tran certainly faced online harassment from toxic fans when the most recent “Star Wars” film trilogy was released, and now “The Acolyte” is already being attacked in certain corners of the fandom. “The Acolyte” is an original story created by Leslye Headland that’s set long before the events of “The Phantom Menace.” Headland, known for directing films such as “Sleeping With Other People” and co-creating Netflix’s hit comedy series “Russian Doll,” is the first woman to serve as showrunner of a “Star Wars” series.

Carrie Fisher got back on drugs to slim down for the Star Wars sequels… At least that’s what her pal James Blunt says.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Musician James Blunt recently said at the Hay Festival in Wales (via People) that his close friend Carrie Fisher faced tremendous pressure to be thin for “Star Wars” when she reprised her iconic role of Princess Leia in “Star Wars: The Force Awakens.” Fisher previously told Good Housekeeping U.K. in 2015 shortly before “The Force Awakens” opened in theaters that she lost 35 pounds for the movie.

Katcy Stephan Diablo Cody and Mason Novick are teaming with Wattpad Webtoon Studios to produce an adaptation of the popular Webtoon webcomic “Death of a Pop Star” as a film. The script will be written by rising screenwriter and producer Isa Mazzei (“Cam,” “Faces of Death,” “How to Blow Up a Pipeline”).

Earlier today, we shared a news item about Rahul Kohli being a bit heartbroken that he didn’t land a role in Marvel Studios’ “The Fantastic Four.” Now, here’s a story about another actor, Glen Powell, who is finally able to joke about the fact that he “blew” the final audition for a major “Star Wars” role.

Katy Perry handed down the ultimate compliment to one of her pop peers, calling them the “best singer of our generation.”

Star Wars films were “all white”, countering that “most of the people are aliens”.Lucas was the executive producer, writer and director of the Star Wars franchise up until Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith in 2005, and also conceived and produced the Indiana Jones film series.Speaking at the Cannes Film Festival after receiving an honorary Palme d’Or Award, he responded to the accusation directly.“They would say, ‘It’s all white men’,” he said (via Variety). “Most of the people are aliens!”“The idea is you’re supposed to accept people for what they are, whether they’re big and furry or whether they’re green or whatever.