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The second season of “Light & Magic,” about the history of VFX giant Industrial Light & Magic (helmed by “Jumanji” director and former Ilm vet Joe Johnston), kicks off with a fascinating glimpse into the making of Jar Jar Binks in the first of three episodes.

The initial fan response to the character was decidedly negative, whether for Jar Jar’s slapstick humor tone clashing with the other stories within “Star Wars: Episode I — The Phantom Menace” or for the Gungan’s broad characterization that some critics and audiences found reflected racist stereotypes. Jar Jar hate has softened a little over time, particularly concerning the work of performer Ahmed Best, who beat out both Robin Williams and Michael Jackson for the role of Binks and has now gotten to save Baby Yoda in the guise of Jedi Master Kelleran Beq in “The Mandalorian.” But Best was the first to step into a mocap suit,...

Quick ViewWho is Orson Krennic in Andor season 2?Why was his original story from Rogue One changed for Andor season 2?What to expect from Ben Mendelsohn’s Star Wars villain?

As we await Andor Season 2 with bated breath, let us take a trip down memory lane to learn about the man behind Project Stardust.

Vader in Rogue One. Credit – Disney.

Director Orson Callan Krennic is a fictional character in the Star Wars franchise, with his first appearance being in the 2016 film, Rogue One as the main antagonist. Krennic is the Director of Advanced Weapons Research for the Galactic Empire and was introduced in the 2016 prequel novel Catalyst by James Luceno.

Played with an unmatched smugness by Ben Mendelsohn, he quickly became a fan-favorite character, with his appearance in The Bad Batch adding importance to his role in the larger galaxy – the man behind the Death Star.

Who is Orson Krennic...

Another addition has been added to the Star Wars Celebration Japan guest list as Ahsoka star Rosario Dawson will be joining the event.

Rosario Dawson, who brought Ahsoka Tano to live-action, is coming to #Swcj! Photo Ops and Autographs are now available. See her and more guests by getting your tickets today! Limited Friday and Sunday tickets are available at https://t.co/qSctCWoZG4 pic.twitter.com/ZbSSlydpGJ

— StarWars Celebration (@SW_Celebration) January 29, 2025

Announced on Celebration's Twitter account and shared via Star Wars News Net (Swnn), she has been added to the guest photo op and autograph list for fans to meet the actor. She is the first person from Ahsoka to be added to the roster, but more than likely, not the last one. As Swnn points out, the show is set to start filming this year. Perhaps there is a planned break for the cast to attend. This...

Star Wars Celebration Japan is right around the corner in April, and the guest list is getting bigger by adding a fan favorite actor to the roster. Ahmed Best joins the group when Celebration kicks off April 18-20. Along with Best's announcement on StarWars.com, visual effects supervisor John Knoll will also be in Japan to share his tales and work from almost 40 years working at Industrial Light & Magic.

Ahmed Best is best known for his role as Jar Jar Binks in Episode I: The Phantom Menace and the rest of the prequel trilogy, but in more recent media, he's crafted a wonderful role as Jedi Master Kelleran Beq. Kelleran first arrived in the delightful all ages game show Jedi Temple Challenge, which I always hope will come back one day. He then jumped to the canon in The Mandalorian's third season when it was revealed he was the...

The Star Wars franchise is known for its unique visual elements with the 1977 original proving to be a groundbreaking piece of cinema. The franchise has lasted over five decades with several films continuing the original’s legacy. However, 2016’s Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is arguably one of the greatest entries in the epic space opera franchise.

Rogue One is considered one of the best Star Wars movies (Credit: Lucasfilm).

The film tells the story of a Rebel spy group stealing the plans for the Death Star, essentially serving as a prequel to the events of the 1977 film. However, fans will be surprised to learn that the film was almost engineered backward by using footage from other movies based on an idea from an effects supervisor. Here is everything you need to know about the surprising way Rogue One was conceived.

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story was made...

Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow continues to assemble its main cast as Deadline reports that Eve Ridley (3 Body Problem) is set to play Ruthye Marye Knoll, the young alien who teams up with Supergirl.

Milly Alcock will be starring in Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow, with the film set to be scripted by Ana Nogueira and based on the comic series of the same name written by Tom King and illustrated by Bilquis Evely. After her father is murdered and the one responsible is still out there, Ruthye Marye Knoll seeks out Supergirl to help her on a vicious mission. She wants revenge, and if Supergirl doesn’t help her, she’ll do it herself, whatever the cost. Matthias Schoenaerts (Rust and Bone) will play Krem of the Yellow Hill, the villain who kills Knoll’s father.

Related Rust and Bone actor Matthias Schoenaerts steps onto DC’s Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow...

Amazon Prime Video’s “Fallout” is set within the post-apocalyptic universe of one of the most beloved video game series of all time, something that gave its filmmakers a rich world they could build on, deepen, and expand. When production designer Howard Cummings came on board, the first thing he did was immerse himself in the game and its various environments. “I really got to research it like I was doing a period film,” Cummings told IndieWire, noting that there was a vast network of fans whose YouTube videos he could draw from to collect reference material. Those videos not only provided information, they made Cummings fully aware of how much scrutiny his work would be subject to from the video game’s devoted followers. “I realized, ‘Wow, if I do this, every single thing I do will be analyzed.'”

Yet the appeal for Cummings and the other department...

Exclusive: Aaron Eckhart and Devon Sawa are teaming with director Jesse V. Johnson for Thieves Highway.

Red Sea Media is handling foreign sales here at the Marche du Film in Cannes.

Travis Mills’ penned the crime thriller which Corey Large (One Ranger) is producing through his 308 Enterprises banner.

EPs are Kirk Shaw, Jordan Nott and Jon Keeyes (White Elephant). BondIt Media Capital and Pink 308 will finance the feature.

Eckhart plays an Oklahoma Stock Detective in over his head in the Breaking Bad world of modern cattle rustling. Eckhart and Johnson previously collaborated on Vertical’s Chief of Station which is currently in theaters and streaming.

Ex-stuntman, Johnson says, “Thieves Highway is a passion project, for Aaron and me. We spent a lot of time developing Travis Mills’ script, embracing factual anecdotes and actual characters...

One of the most heart-pumping and enthralling action set pieces in The Phantom Menace is the pod racing scene, which sees Anakin Skywalker demonstrate the full scope of his raw talent. The sequence remains one of the better-received aspects of the film, which is why fans might be surprised to learn just how challenging it was to execute.

The pod racing scene in The Phantom Menace is one of the film’s best moments.

John Knoll, the renowned visual effects supervisor who worked on the film, spoke about crafting the pod racing scene in The Phantom Menace. Knoll highlighted how Ilm lacked the necessary technology and tools to execute the scene and had to come up with compelling solutions for the same. Here is what Knoll said about the creation of The Phantom Menace‘s pod racing scene.

John Knoll Talks Challenges of The Phantom Menace‘s Podracing Scene

John...

Gareth Edwards' 2016 film "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story" was the first non-episodic feature from the "Star Wars" canon after Disney notoriously purchased Lucasfilm in 2012. At the time, Disney announced a very ambitious plan for "Star Wars" which involved releasing a new film every Christmas. The odd-numbered years would boast numbered chapters in the central "Star Wars" canon, and the even-numbered years would feature spin-off movies that take place at other points in the vast "Star Wars" timeline. That plan lasted only five years. 

The plan likely fell apart through a lack of creativity. "Rogue One" was a direct prequel to the original 1977 "Star Wars," telling the story of how the Rebels secured the blueprints to the Death Star. This wasn't a broad expansion of the "Star Wars" myth as promised, but an inward turn. "Rogue One" was an announcement that "Star Wars" had no interest in straying from its tightly-constrained,...

Author Jessica Knoll’s novel Luckiest Girl Alive was recently turned into a film that was released through the Netflix streaming service, and now Deadline reports that Knoll has secured a deal with Bruna Papandrea‘s Made Up Stories, Eric Feig’s Picturestart, and Fifth Season to make a television series based on her Ted Bundy thriller novel Bright Young Women. Knoll will be writing and executive producing the adaptation.

Bright Young Women was just published by Simon & Schuster’s Marysue Rucci Books on September 19th and went right onto the New York Times Best Seller list. Inspired by true events, the novel is about the women whose lives were forever changed by Ted Bundy’s cross-country killing sprees. Opening on the night of Bundy’s attack on a Florida State University sorority house in the early morning hours of 1978, the story follows sorority president Pamela Schumacher as she...

Exclusive: Luckiest Girl Alive author Jessica Knoll’s new bestselling thriller novel Bright Young Women is in the works for the small screen. Bruna Papandrea’s Made Up Stories, Erik Feig’s Picturestart and Fifth Season have acquired the rights to the book to develop as a television series. Knoll will pen the adaptation and serve as executive producer.

Inspired by true real-life events, the novel tells the story of the women whose lives were forever changed by Ted Bundy’s cross-country killing sprees. It was published September 19 by Simon & Schuster’s Marysue Rucci Books and quickly landed on the New York Times Best Seller list.

Opening on the night of Bundy’s 1978 attack on a Florida State University sorority house in the early morning hours, the novel follows sorority president Pamela Schumacher as she seeks answers to questions that remain even after four decades. It culminates in a...

In “I’m a Virgo,” Jharrel Jerome plays a 13-foot-tall teenager in Oakland named Cootie raised by his aunt and uncle (Carmen Ejogo and Mike Epps) in secret. Over the course of the show’s first season, Cootie comes out of hiding, makes friends, and contends with media obsession over his height. Like Riley’s first feature “Sorry to Bother You,” the series develops its own internal logic as it transforms into a scathing indictment of capitalism from some very unexpected directions.

None of that would hold up without its central conceit, which proved challenging, given that Jerome is actually five feet and eight inches. Riley made the show with Amazon on a relatively modest $53 million budget (around the same time that its first season of “Lord of the Rings” cost a reported $1 billion). However, the minimal effects budget wasn’t the only reason he turned to puppets and forced perspective...

Mila Kunis would love to do a “Luckiest Girl Alive” sequel.

The actress stars in Netflix’s film adaptation of Jessica Knoll’s 2015 bestselling novel of the same name. It follows a young woman, Ani, making the decision to publicly speak out about being sexually assaulted as a teen.

Her essay gets national attention when it makes it into the pages of The New York Times and upends her life for the better.

Read More: Mila Kunis On How She Handled ‘Luckiest Girl Alive”s Most Shocking Scenes (Exclusive)

When asked by People about the possibility of a follow-up to the film, Kunis was enthusiastic.

“Oh my God, I hope my character is happier! Yeah, of course [I would]. I love Jess,” she answered.

Knoll previously revealed she was partially based Ani’s story on her own trauma, having been sexually assaulted at 15. Reader comments in the ending of the film are...

Painful pasts and the path forward were central to the 2022 Wif Honors last Thursday. Held at a ballroom bathed in magenta at the Beverly Hilton in Los Angeles, the annual event honors the accomplishments of women in the entertainment industry. This year, honorees included "Abbott Elementary" creator Quinta Brunson, "The Woman King" director Gina Prince-Bythewood, and "Don't Worry Darling" director Olivia Wilde.

The ceremony began how all ceremonies should: with Jane Fonda. The veteran actor, who last month disclosed her cancer diagnosis, was met with a standing ovation. Fonda was there to present the second-ever Humanitarian Award, named in her honor, to Michaela Coel, whom she described as a "boundary-pushing" artist who "makes us think about hard stuff in new ways." Fonda personally picked Coel and was an early champion of her seminal show "I May Destroy You."

Coel is currently on a marathon "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever" press tour...

Mila Kunis in Netflix’s Luckiest Girl Alive. Photo: Netflix How does one go about critiquing a movie that offers some really good insights, but doesn’t necessarily hold together in other ways? In the case of Luckiest Girl Alive, its points about rape and privilege are both dead-on and...