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Agent of Chaos – An Interview with James Luceno

The New Jedi Order, an epic tale of an alien invasion into the Star Wars galaxy, is now a year old. What began with an explosive hardcover novel in October of 1999, Vector Prime by R.A. Salvatore, has recently been expanded by a duology of paperbacks, Agents of Chaos. Author James Luceno answers some questions about his addition to the ever-growing saga.

Your two novels, Hero’s Trial and Jedi Eclipse, comprising Agents of Chaos, are the first books in Del Rey’s New Jedi Order series to focus on Han Solo. After all the controversy surrounding the death of Han’s partner, Chewbacca, did you have mixed feelings about accepting the assignment?

None at all. I jumped at the chance, because Chewbacca’s death allowed me to take Han through something more than a rousing adventure. The Star Wars films concern themselves with heroic journeys, and I tried to bring some of that sensibility to Hero’s Trial. Ultimately Han returns to the land of the living, but he is forever changed.

How is the Han Solo of your books different from the Han we know and love from the original movies?

Obviously he is grief stricken during Hero’s Trial. But he also has a wife, three kids, and a lot more miles under his belt. He’s living a somewhat cush life — though Leia has clearly been the principal bread winner — and he has become a legend in his own time. Fortunately, life in the Expanded Universe hasn’t allowed anyone to rest on his or her laurels, so Han has at least been able to keep his blaster hand strong. Even so, I figure that he has days when he misses having to embark on a risky spice run just to square with the Hutt. And he probably daydreams about past exploits while he’s fine-tuning the Falcon’s drives. You know things have changed when you can suddenly purchase whatever hardware you need, instead of having to rely on suspect after-market parts.

One thing in particular that struck me in your books is the relationship between Han and Leia. That quick-witted, back-and-forth banter is there again, but it’s taken on a darker, more adult coloring . . . even as Han seems to be sheltering in the habits of his younger, less responsible days.

Grief can test the limits of even the strongest relationships, and grief can affect people in very unexpected ways. Grief can sometimes immobilize the toughest, or afford surprising spiritual strength to people who might have appeared overly dependent. In terms of Han and Leia, I didn’t want to treat their estrangement as anything less than real. But Han’s recidivism is a sham, as well as a conceit. Deep down he knows there is no escape along that route. But even Han is not above deceiving himself.

Chewbacca’s death has sent shock waves through Han’s life. He blames Anakin, for one thing. His loss has distanced him from his other children, and even from Leia. What was it about the friendship of this human and Wookiee that made it so central to both their lives?

Deep, enduring relationships often spring from shared experiences, and Han and Chewbacca certainly had more than their fill. During their long years of adventuring they came to appreciate each other’s strengths and weaknesses; they watched each other grow — even though Chewbacca was, what, 200 years old when he met Han? Their loyalty to each other was boundless, and they certainly loved each other. But that love wasn’t complicated by passion. They could disagree, argue, hurl insults at each other, without having to worry about long-term repercussions. They knew each other as well as each of them knew the Falcon, which, in a sense, was their scion. Though he never said this, Han might have blamed the Falcon for Chewie’s death, as much as he blamed Anakin.

You co-authored the Robotech series with your sometime writing partner, the late Brian Daley. Did those books help prepare you for working in the Star Wars universe?

Robotech disciplined me for tackling epic stories. It trained me to absorb details about hundreds of characters, countless ships, a score of alien lifeforms. And like Star Wars, Robotech was a franchise that spilled over into comic books and role-playing games; so I quickly came to appreciate the importance of continuity — which I believe is essential for sustaining that “willing suspension of disbelief.” The universe has to be made real; and it’s the writer’s job to keep everything consistent and internally logical. You have to adhere to the guidelines.

Robotech also gave me insight into fandom. There are legions of readers who know more than I will ever know about Robotech or Star Wars, and it’s a sometimes daunting task to write for them, as well as for the casual reader. I’m being paid to contribute to the vision, but let’s face facts: Unless the creator of the franchise is doing the writing, it’s all a kind of fanfiction, isn’t it? But I have to add that The New Jedi Order is a whole other species. Considering that each book is only going to tell a piece of the story, we’re asking for a good deal of trust from the fans. Instead of inviting everyone to sit down to a huge repast, we’re asking that they content themselves with single bites — differently spiced and hopefully savory. If all goes according to plan, four years from now everyone will be able to sit back, blissfully sated. But until that time, readers have to accept that what may seem a dangling plotpoint is setup for a recurring theme. To some extent, the series mirrors what George Lucas is doing with the prequel films — save for the fact that we know how that one concludes.

Brian, of course, wrote some wonderful Star Wars books himself. Did you feel him looking over your shoulder at any time as you worked on Agents of Chaos?

More like berating me for failing to pump up the battle scenes or come up with funnier lines of dialogue. And there are places in both novels where I wish he’d yelled a bit louder. Aside from being sometime collaborators, we were best friends for 25 years. Without putting too fine a point on it, we shared a kind of Han/Chewie friendship that took us on adventures all over the world — Nepal, Thailand, Central and South America …. Brian was the first author to write a Star Wars tie-in, and considering that his trilogy dealt with the early adventures of Han Solo, it was a sweet-and-sour irony to be commissioned to write about Han, in the wake of his partner’s death.

Let me turn to a new character. Tell us about Droma, the Ryn whom Han takes on as a partner. Is he going to be a regular?

I modeled the Ryn on the Rrom people, that is, the so-called gypsies. It was tricky coming up with someone who could complement Han without being a simple replacement for Chewbacca, thereby cheapening Chewie’s death. Also, we wanted Droma to complement Han in a different way; not so much in the maintenance bays, as someone who could guide Han through his grief and dislocation. As a guide of that sort, Droma’s place in the scheme of things is not necessarily a permanent one. All involved in The New Jedi Order weren’t certain how readers were going to react to Droma, so his path in the story arc is not fixed.

Are the Yuuzhan Vong evil . . . or are they simply alien?

Jedi Eclipse This is one of the principal points of The New Jedi Order, and one that will be explored until the very end. One of the cultures we looked at when fashioning the Yuuzhan Vong were the Aztecs. When the Spanish arrived in present-day Mexico, they immediately decided that the indigenous cultures were evil, and they planted crosses atop every Aztec temple they razed during their march on Tenochtitlan — crosses that eventually grew into the very churches and cathedrals in which the Christianized Maya and other groups now worship. Yes, the Aztec were ferocious warriors, ruthless empire builders, and disciples of human sacrifice — but all in service to their sense of the cosmos. Do those cultural traits brand them as evil? Were the Aztec more or less evil than the Europeans, who, like the Yuuzhan Vong, essentially forced Christianity on the cultures of the Americas?

Will you be writing any more Star Wars books?

I’ve been commissioned to write a prequel to The Phantom Menace (due out Summer 2001) — a novel of political intrigue that will delve into the fall of Supreme Chancellor Valorum — as engineered by Senator Palpatine. It’s like being entrusted to write about what was going on in the Garden before the serpent decided to chat up Eve.

What about Robotech? Those novels remain quite popular, and fans routinely write to Del Rey asking for more.

I feel that Brian and I brought the Robotech cycle to completion — though, granted, not everyone agrees with the manner in which we wrapped the saga. For a time it looked as if Robotech’s creator, Carl Macek, in partnership with the folks behind “Babylon 5,” were going to resurrect the story as a television series, called “Robotech 3000.” But I’m not certain where things stand just now.

Do you have any advice for the fans out there who dream of writing Star Wars novels of their own some day?

The current prerequisite is that one have a reputation in science fiction, or, better yet, fantasy. You need to be able to work fast, and work well. But more than that, you have to be willing to let yourself be subsumed by the Star Wars universe, and not attempt to make the characters your own. Han, Luke, Leia, and the rest, all have distinctive voices, and you need to have an ear for those voices, as well as a facility for writing swashbuckling action scenes, lightsaber duels, and full-scale battles. In terms of developing stories, it’s best to consider the elements that work so well in the films: mythic characters and situations, narrow escapes, unexpected reversals, drama, derring-do, romance, humor, hi-tech alternating with primitive … A lot of voices contribute to Star Wars novels, so you have to be adaptable, a team player, willing to jettison even what you might consider to be a great scene if it simply doesn’t work well within the framework.

Are you working on any new writing projects?

I’ve just completed a memoir that details a solo trip I took to Guatemala to deliver some of Brian Daley’s ashes to a remote archeological site we had always talked about hiking into. The site is called Calakmul, and, as the quetzal flies, it is about 150 miles from the extraordinary Maya site of Tikal — otherwise known as Yavin 4.

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1977
The Star Wars Theatrical Experience

Coming Soon to a Lobby Near You

In 1977, the phrase “I’ll just wait for the DVD” was not the common recourse it is today, when fans can wait a few months for a film to make its way to the home video market. Back then, home entertainment systems and videocassette players were few and far between, and television movie premieres were often broadcast years after a film’s theatrical debut. So, to catch the latest movies, people went to the theater.

While the exercise of theater-going has changed little over the last three decades — buying tickets, waiting to buy popcorn, finding a good seat, etc. — the theatrical experience itself has changed significantly. Moviegoers now often have a choice of several films, with the added option of digital or traditional projection. In 1977, most small-town theaters offered only a single screen, and a digital presentation was still decades away from the projectionist’s booth. Audience members were also not guaranteed a clear view of the screen from a stadium-style seat, smoking was still allowed, and monaural sound was slowly being replaced by stereo and the new Dolby technology of the day.

It was this old-world, analog setting that greeted the early Star Wars audiences of 1977, whose first stop on their way to that faraway galaxy was often the theater lobby. Unlike today, where posters, banners, standees, and other promotions from any number of movies compete for attention within a theater megaplex, a single film was often the star attraction at venues of the past, and the lobby was the first place to exploit it.

Movie tickets, programs, posters, concession premiums, retailer tie-ins, t-shirts and more all had the effect of collectively dazzling patrons as they entered, adding to the “event” experience of the film they were about to see. What follows is a collection of items that old-school movie-goers might have seen while catching Star Wars at their local U.S. theater back in 1977, or in the subsequent re-releases that ran through 1982.

Handbills

Handbills, or flyers, were often given away at local businesses, college campuses, and theaters themselves to ramp up excitement for movies either coming soon or already playing. For Star Wars, three different handbills were printed — one that simply said “Star Wars”, another with the “A long time ago…” slogan, and finally a third with the word-intensive “An Entertainment Odyssey to the Edge of your Imagination and Beyond. Far Beyond.”

Tickets

While admission tickets to see Star Wars were probably the first tangibles most moviegoers received from their theatrical experience of the film, few, it seems, were actually saved. Of course, most theater tickets back in 1977 were generic, with no venue or film information printed on the stub — as a result, fans and collectors saw little reason to keep them. Some big city theaters and benefit organizations managed to print up nicer tickets with the Star Wars title on them, giving some examples (such as cast and crew screenings) an enhanced appeal among collectors.

Posters

While today’s theaters will often display movie graphics in the form of a one-sheet (27″x40″) poster or larger banner, back in the ’70s and early ’80s there were several formats theater managers could choose from. Star Wars posters could be displayed in the classic one-sheet size (actually 41″ tall back then), or insert (14″x36″), half-sheet (22″x28″), 30″x40″, or two-sheet (40″x60″) sizes. The two-sheet was also available printed on thick cardstock with an easel, called a standee.

Poster artwork itself was different in 1977. While most of today’s posters are photo-montages composed in the computer with several hands in the design, most posters 30 years ago were beautifully illustrated, with much of the composition left up to a single artist. Star Wars and its various re-releases represented the best of this tradition, with posters such as Tom Jung’s classic Style “A” one-sheet (and re-styled half-sheet) and the retro-inspired White/Struzan “Circus Poster” of 1978. Though not illustrated, the silver mylar “Coming to Your Galaxy this Summer” advance and “Happy Birthday” anniversary posters were also stunners, and have taken on mythic status among collectors. (Collectors note: The famous Style “C” artwork one-sheet by Tom Chantrell was actually distributed exclusively to international venues, although a few “mystery” domestic issues have recently surfaced).

As an interesting side note, many theaters early on were using the commercial Hildebrandt poster printed by licensee Factors Etc. in their lobbies, since distribution of the famous Tom Jung one-sheet bearing similar artwork was allegedly slow to reach them.

Theatrical Banner

Most fans who caught Star Wars in its original theatrical run probably don’t remember seeing a large nine-foot silk-screened banner draped from the lobby ceiling, since few were ever distributed. Little documentation exists to reveal the exact numbers produced for the infamous, cartoon-like nylon banner with gold fringe, but their scarcity make them hotly sought-after among today’s collectors.

Lobby cards, which traditionally depicted photographed scenes from the movie in any number of different sizes, were a lobby fixture dating back to the earliest days of cinema. Sadly, they fell out of favor when single-screen cinemas began giving way to megaplexes in the U.S., and were largely phased out by the mid-1980s.

But in 1977, lobby cards were still in full swing — and for Star Wars, interestingly, lobbies were apparently the primary means of advertising the movie at the theater level in its first weeks of release. Photos of theaters showing Star Wars during May and June of ’77 reveal that lobby cards were often the only form of advertising displayed, with no posters in sight (even the famous footage captured at the Chinese Theatre footprint ceremony held on August 3 shows no posters — only lobby cards).

For Star Wars, there was an endless array of images and sizes produced in lobby card form. There were eight mini lobbies (8″x10″), eight standard (11″x14″), four jumbo (16″x20″), and two scene cards (20″x30″). There were also six portrait cards of the core cast (12″x17″), although these are often found printed together on a single uncut sheet. (Collectors note: The earliest mini and standard lobbies were designated with the number “77-21-0″, while subsequent printings exhibited the same code without the “0″.There were also cards printed with no number codes at all. Also, early printings of the jumbo card depicting Luke and Leia in the Death Star chasm included the soundstage’s floor in the shot just below the heroes. For this reason, most of these jumbo cards are found with the lower edge trimmed by the printer to preserve the scene’s intended illusion of a perilous height).

Some Star Wars licensees tried to reach their target consumers directly at the theater level, touting sweepstakes, rebates, or premiums to generate interest in their products.

In 1977, Toyota ran a sweepstakes which awarded a grand prize customized Star Wars Celica to one lucky winner, a promotion that was advertised both in car showrooms and in movie theaters. Posters and counter displays were sent to theater owners, graced with rare artwork by noted rock-and-roll illustrator John Van Hamersveld. The fate of the stellar auto has since receded into the realm of collector lore.

Kenner finally took its Star Wars merchandising message to theaters in 1979 with a free handout booklet full of coupons and rebate offers — a promotion even called out on the 1979 re-release one-sheet. They followed with a similar promotion for the film’s 1981 re-release, this time installing an attractive countertop display in theaters asking kids to send in their movie ticket stubs for a $1 rebate. Not a bad deal when one considers the cost of a movie ticket in 1981 was about $3.

Coca-Cola offered a concession stand premium in 1982 for Star Wars’ final solo re-release to theaters. With the purchase of a Coke, patrons could get a free 20 or 32oz plastic cup, and for the ambitious, a 50oz pitcher filled with popcorn. Interestingly, the cups and pitcher featured graphics from both Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back, since both were appearing in re-release that year.

Programs

Among the very first Star Wars collectibles available was the movie program, which could be purchased directly from the theater lobby. Unusual for its horizontal format, the first printing was an immediate sell-out, since initial orders did not anticipate the strong level of enthusiasm for the film. (Collectors note: The first printing of the theater program can be distinguished from later printings by its slick cover — later printings have a textured “pebbletone” cover and pink interior pages). Lucky attendees of early preview and benefit screenings took home the relatively scarce credit sheet, which was a slick foldout brochure listing the film’s cast and crew.

T-shirts and Buttons

Twentieth Century Fox issued t-shirts and buttons bearing the “May the Force Be With You” slogan to some theaters for employees to wear. While the t-shirts are quite rare, the buttons are still relatively easy to find, as many theaters ordered hundreds to give away to moviegoers.

Life in 1977

When Star Wars hit theaters in May 1977, punk music pushed out disco and Burt Reynolds became the poster boy for outracing the boys in blue. Take a look back at what life was like in 1977 in preparation for the DVD release of the original theatrical edition of Star Wars! The original Star Wars will be available as a bonus disc packaged with the 2004 Special Edition of A New Hope when the Star Wars trilogy is released as individual movie DVDs on September 12. Click here for more information.

Highlights of 1977:

President Jimmy Carter is inaugurated as the 39th President of the United States; pardons Vietnam War draft evaders in the same year.

Elvis Presley is found dead at his home in Graceland at the age of 42.

The bands the Sex Pistols, The Clash, Talking Heads and Motorhead release their debut albums. The bands the B-52′s, Black Flag, INXS, Whitesnake, Def Leppard and X form.

Stevie Wonder wins the Album of the Year Grammy Award for Songs in the Key of Life.

The television shows “Three’s Company,” “Fantasy Island,” “Eight is Enough,” “CHiPs,” “The Love Boat,” “Soap” and “Lou Grant” debut.

ABC broadcasts the TV miniseries “Roots” — setting ratings records.

Comedian Bill Murray becomes new cast member of “Saturday Night Live.”

A private plane crash kills three band members of Lynyrd Skynyrd.

Celebrity deaths include Anaïs Nin, Freddie Prinze, Joan Crawford, Groucho Marx, Bing Crosby, and Charlie Chaplin.

The first Apple II computer debuts.

The New York City Blackout of 1977 lasts for 25 hours, resulting in mass looting.

United States Senate Hearing on CIA mind-control research program Project MKULTRA begins.

David Berkowitz, otherwise known as the serial killer the Son of Sam, is captured after one year of murders in New York City.

Cost of a movie ticket is $2.23, while gas is .62 a gallon. A first class stamp is .13.

New York Yankees win the World Series with help from Reggie Jackson who hits 3 home runs and earns the nickname “Mr. October.”

Top-grossing films: Star Wars, Saturday Night Fever, Smokey and the Bandit, King Kong, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and A Star is Born.

Other films released: Annie Hall, Eraserhead, Oh, God! , Orca, Pete’s Dragon, The Goodbye Girl, The Rescuers, The Spy Who Loved Me, Pumping Iron and Carrie.

Annie Hall wins Oscar for Best Picture, and Woody Allen wins for Best Director.

Atari develops the Game Brain — the first Atari system to use cartridges. Cinematronics releases Space Wars, the first vector-graphics arcade game. Mattel releases Missile Attack, the first handheld LED display electronic game.

Hit songs:

“Heroes” – David Bowie
“We Are the Champions” – Queen
“Watching the Detectives” – Elvis Costello
“Carry on My Wayward Son” – Kansas
“Go Your Own Way” – Fleetwood Mac
“God Save the Queen” – Sex Pistols
“Margaritaville” – Jimmy Buffett
“Nobody Does It Better” – Carly Simon
“Sheena Is A Punk Rocker” – The Ramones
“You Light Up My Life” – Debby Boone
“Dancing Queen” – ABBA
“Star Wars Theme/Cantina Band” – Meco

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Pirates Ahoy!
An Interview with Haden Blackman

Bad to the Crossbones

The expanded universe of Star Wars spin-off fiction has developed a cast of unforgettable characters that typically reside only within the media of their origin — a comic book, a novel, or an electronic game. It’s a rare and special occasion when a character draws enough attention to break through into a different medium. Such is the case with Nym, the alien pirate, who has made the jump from electronic games to comic books in Dark Horse Comics’ current series, Star Wars: Starfighter — Crossbones.

Nym is the brainchild of LucasArts story developers, and helming his comic book escapades is Haden Blackman, producer at LucasArts.

“When we were working on the first Star Wars: Starfighter, I sat down with [Project Director] Daron Stinnett. We started brainstorming different character concepts, including a Robin Hood-type pirate figure who was a little more gruff than he was flamboyant and similar to Han Solo in some ways, but we envisioned him as big and loud,” recalls Blackman.

Early concepts had pegged Nym as a human. It wasn’t until Lead Artist Jim Rice and Concept Artist James Zhang first sketched the tentacle-tressed alien that Nym gained his Feeorin heritage.

“At that point, it all came together, and we realized how cool he looked,” says Blackman. “There’s something you can do with an alien that is harder to do with a human character. You can really punch it up and go overboard with his emotion, so we really made him wear his emotions — especially his anger and frustration — on his sleeve. That was incredibly fun to write.”

Stinnett worked with a team of writers to develop Star Wars: Starfighter’s dialogue. He oversaw the recording sessions, and it was then — with the casting of actor Charlie Rocket (“Saturday Night Live,” “The X-Files”) as Nym — that the character came to life.

“He just brought a really great voice to Nym,” says Blackman, “really deep and gruff, and was able to take that certain kind of emotion we wanted to put behind Nym, and not make it too comical but really push it.”

Though internal reaction to Nym was overwhelmingly positive, it wasn’t until the game went public that Blackman knew he was dealing with a character with star potential.

“We started to receive some really good feedback about Nym. Then, Dark Horse actually came to me and asked if I wanted to do a short story featuring a character from a LucasArts game. I brainstormed some ideas, and the one they liked the most was the one with Nym.”

Thus Nym saw publication in a Blackman-penned short story in the pages of the anthology series, Star Wars Tales. Dark Horse wanted more, and Blackman was only happy to oblige.

“He’s fun to write,” the author reveals. ” I kind of describe him as the Lobo of the Star Wars universe, without the comical invulnerability. It’s the fact that he can be so loud and rude.”

A comic series was then envisioned to tie-in into the upcoming sequel to the best-selling Star Wars: Starfighter game. The Dark Horse mini-series would prepare fans for some of the events to be depicted in Star Wars: Jedi Starfighter.

“We wanted it to be a story that stood on its own, so it had to show some of Nym’s story-arc, but it also planted some seeds for the game,” says Blackman. The events of Crossbones would advance Nym’s character, aging and maturing the pirate to a level anticipating the game. “At the end of the first game, Nym just takes off. He does what Han Solo doesn’t — he turns his back on his new friends and decides to go back to his old way of life. But he can’t really, because the Trade Federation has taken everything from him. We had to get him to where he could actually become a more important leader than he was in the first game. There, he’s leading a band of pirates. In the second game, he’s leading a real resistant movement that’s fighting the Trade Federation in a remote system.”

Cast and Setting

While Nym’s moral growth is but one aspect of the three-issue series, fans of blaster-packed hard-hitting action have plenty to look forward to. Crossbones takes Star Wars piracy from the spacelanes to the high seas, and delivers a story with sail-rigged vessels, hull-scaling boardings, and deep sea treachery.

“It’s something that I’ve wanted to do with Star Wars,” admits Blackman. “It’s one of those ideas that has been kicking around, but there hasn’t been a good outlet for it. I’m a big pirate buff — you know, Blackbeard and Captain Kidd — so whenever I hear that term ‘space pirate’ it conjures up these other images that are outside of what we think about in Star Wars. I really wanted to make that crossover.”

Blackman’s affinity for buccaneers dovetailed well with the story development of Jedi Starfighter. “One of the things we decided early on was to have a water planet in the game.” he says, “We wanted it to be in Nym’s home setting, so that planet, Maramere, became a natural setting for the Crossbones comic.”

Aside from settings, the comic also previews upcoming characters. “Loreli Ro makes a cameo in Jedi Starfighter,” reveals Blackman, “Adi Gallia, who makes a cameo in the very beginning of Crossbones, is one of the main characters in the game.”

The previewed character with the most import, though, is the comic series’ main villain, the pirate chieftain Sol Sixxa. “Sol Sixxa has a scene with Nym in the game and tons of dialogue. We had Jeremy London (Mallrats, “Party of Five”) do his voice. He’s in several missions and he’s got his own special aquatic craft.”

By introducing Sixxa to readers first, Blackman not only previews an upcoming game character, but also sheds some light on Nym’s growth.

“In the Crossbones series, Sol Sixxa’s scope is relatively small. It’s limited to Maramere. He’s become a pretty ruthless, violent pirate. He preys predominantly on the Trade Federation, so in that way, he and Nym are similar. But Nym has grown past that. I almost see Sol Sixxa as a younger version of Nym. Nym still commits violent acts, but because he needs to, to get by, and it’s not a power trip that he’s on, like Sol Sixxa.”

Blackman’s writing is usually translated into rich vocal performances by professional actors and mindblowing graphics by electronic game artists. Having them instead rendered as pen-and-ink illustrations by artist Ramon F. Bachs is no less rewarding.

“It’s been pretty incredible working with Ramon,” says Blackman. “It’s unbelievable how he’s taken my panel-by-panel descriptions and been able to translate them very well. It almost felt like, towards the end of the series, that I wasn’t writing abstract descriptions anymore, but that I was writing concrete things that he’d translate.”

Throughout Blackman’s script are examples of faith in the artist’s ability:

Open with a large shot of the Havoc, Nym’s bomber, screaming over Maramere. It should be low to the water, kicking up wakes as it goes. It’s being pursued by several (six, seven?) Trade Federation droid starfighters. Laser-fire barely misses the large bomber. Through the next few pages, Nym engages in a battle with these droid starfighters. Yet again, if you can think of any images that would be more powerful, etc., feel free to mess around with the layout and even the action. I’m not married to any of the maneuvers described here.

“I really wanted him to have the freedom to change things so that they’re more dynamic,” says Blackman. “I’m friends with a lot of comic book artists, and talking with them before I even got started, one of the things that they say they hate is working with writers that say ‘this is the way it HAS to be,’ unless they’re someone like Alan Moore who always seems to have a larger plan. So, I try to be as flexible as possible, and try to provide as much detail as I can so that if that’s the direction he wants to head, he can translate that as well. Ramon’s just really intuitive, and even though we’ve only exchanged e-mails and have never met, we’re on the same wavelength, which is great.”

The future for Nym looks bright, says Blackman. “We plan to use Nym in one of our other game titles that takes place in the Galactic Civil War period. We do want to keep him around and use him again. If there are any future Starfighter games, Nym will probably be a part of them.”

Blackman looks forward to his future, too, particularly in writing comics. Recently announced is his four-issue high profile Star Wars: Jango Fett — Open Seasons series coming out in April.

“I really hope to write more comics in the future,” says Blackman. “The Nym comic was great because it’s sometimes just really fun to write a one-note character, and Nym is maybe a two-note character. He’s pretty in your face, and that’s really fun to write, but the tone of Open Season is totally different than Crossbones, and I’m really excited about that. Hopefully, if both of these series do well , I’ll get to do some other stuff.”

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Robin Gurland, Casting Director

Episode I was a very atypical assignment,” begins Robin Gurland. “The casting started in July 1995.” This was almost two years in advance of principal photography. “I’ve never had the luxury of such a lead time in casting before, but fortunately Rick McCallum had the foresight to know that we’d need an in-depth pre-casting period. It allowed me to look as long as I needed to get the perfect people.”

Casting, Gurland says, is far from an exact science. “There is no finite specific set of tasks,” she explains, “no checklist. There could always be somewhere else to look. And every agent in the business had people available to work on this Star Wars film!”

The casting project began atypically as well, Gurland notes. “There were no principals attached. I could look at anybody.” Star actors are often identified at a film project’s inception, but Gurland had a blank slate to work with. “Outsiders kept saying that we would ‘of course choose unknowns’ for the parts, but the truth is that I had no constraints. It didn’t matter whether someone was unknown or famous. All we wanted was the right person for the part.”

As for her techniques of casting, Gurland comments that “first instincts are usually best. This was true here in the cases of Ewan and Natalie. We went through the whole review process nonetheless, looking at everyone else, but we came back to our origins.”

Her quest began with brief summaries from writer-director George Lucas and Producer Rick McCallum. “I had thumbnail sketches of the characters from George to start with. Two months later I was working from the script itself.” Gurland worked on finding players for the two youngest roles (Anakin and Padme) first, then moved on to the Jedi Knights eventually portrayed by Ewan MacGregor and Liam Neeson. Around these principal actors she built the rest of the cast. “By January 1997 or so, I was fully casting the whole film,” she says.

Casting Anakin Skywalker was a particular challenge. “I first saw Jake Lloyd when he was five years old, when I was first starting the process. Of course, he was much too young at the time, but I was looking towards the future. Every six months or so I would check back in on him, to see how he was developing and what kind of identity was emerging in him.” Anakin’s character sketch carried not just traits but a very specific age, and at first Gurland thought Lloyd simply wouldn’t be the right age at the right time to play the part. “But he really stood out,” she says. “In the end, as a start date for principal photography was finalized and as George settled on the age of the character, Jake’s age worked out as well as his personality, and we had our Anakin.” Keeping an eye on promising talent and following up on her prospects over the course of the whole casting process allowed Gurland to settle on ideal choices time and again.

Gurland enjoys her job very much. “It has been wonderful to see how much talent is out there!” she says. “This big search will be helpful for future projects. I like working with actors-tweaking performances for auditions, and seeing what you can get out of a little bit of material. I also love talking with actors about the philosophy of theater.”

To hopeful future film performers, Gurland suggests “get in something, to get yourself seen! Theater, low budget films, anything. Be an extra on a film, just to try it out or get started.” Good intentions alone are not enough, she says. Letters pledging enthusiasm and asking ‘just give me a chance’ don’t get anywhere when there are so many people with demonstrated ability to review . “As an actor you need proof to show what you can do. Even a small part in a bad film can offer a chance for a noticeably good performance. As long as the role is not fighting your basic sensibility, or something repugnant, then take it and do your best,” she advises. Gurland stresses the need for a serious commitment, sounding a little like our favorite Jedi Master when she says this. “Do your homework, and know what you’re talking about,” she adds. “Acting is not something to be undertaken on a whim. You need to love your craft.”

The casting of Episode I was an enjoyable process for Gurland for many reasons. “Fortunately, our ideas about the principal actors were all aligned. George and Rick backed me up 100%,” she says. “I didn’t have to buy into any of the industry game-playing. We ended up with a wonderful cast that brings so much to the film.”

Which brings Gurland to the threshold of Star Wars: Episode II. Has the casting process begun for the prequel sequel? “Not formally,” she says. “But I was just noticing some interesting possibilities the other day….”