Eternal Padawan
05-22-2002, 10:02 AM
This came from a link from www.darkhorizons.com
The day after CNN's Connie Chung did a live show from "Star Wars" auteur George Lucas' famed Skywalker Ranch, CNN was asked not to attend a "Star Wars: Attack of the Clones" press junket on the property. The Insider's tipsters said CNN was tossed off the ranch, but CNN says that's an exaggeration, that there was "no physical removal" of anyone, that there was a "conversation" and that "as conversations like that go, it was fairly cordial."
The tipsters also say that what apparently rubbed Mr. Lucas the wrong way was that Ms. Chung, in a taped piece that set up her live May 7 interview with the moviemaker, ever so lightly suggested that "Episode One: The Phantom Menace" was, "to most, a disappointment."
"For all its special effects, critics complained about stereotyping, stale plot lines, even racism," Ms. Chung summed up, followed by a sound bite from controversial "Phantom Menace" character Jar Jar Binks saying, "Oh, this is going to get messy."
At CNN, the stance is that Mr. Lucas expected a one-hour love letter and a wet kiss in return for the access CNN was allowed and didn't feel he got that.
A Lucasfilm spokeswoman, holding down the fort while principals spread out for "Clones" premieres around the world, said she could not comment on conversations with which she was unfamiliar, but added that "Clones"-inspired interviews still scheduled for CNN include a piece on Mr. Lucas' Industrial Light and Magic.
© Copyright 2002 by Crain Communications
The day after CNN's Connie Chung did a live show from "Star Wars" auteur George Lucas' famed Skywalker Ranch, CNN was asked not to attend a "Star Wars: Attack of the Clones" press junket on the property. The Insider's tipsters said CNN was tossed off the ranch, but CNN says that's an exaggeration, that there was "no physical removal" of anyone, that there was a "conversation" and that "as conversations like that go, it was fairly cordial."
The tipsters also say that what apparently rubbed Mr. Lucas the wrong way was that Ms. Chung, in a taped piece that set up her live May 7 interview with the moviemaker, ever so lightly suggested that "Episode One: The Phantom Menace" was, "to most, a disappointment."
"For all its special effects, critics complained about stereotyping, stale plot lines, even racism," Ms. Chung summed up, followed by a sound bite from controversial "Phantom Menace" character Jar Jar Binks saying, "Oh, this is going to get messy."
At CNN, the stance is that Mr. Lucas expected a one-hour love letter and a wet kiss in return for the access CNN was allowed and didn't feel he got that.
A Lucasfilm spokeswoman, holding down the fort while principals spread out for "Clones" premieres around the world, said she could not comment on conversations with which she was unfamiliar, but added that "Clones"-inspired interviews still scheduled for CNN include a piece on Mr. Lucas' Industrial Light and Magic.
© Copyright 2002 by Crain Communications