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According to what appears to be a casting breakdown, Bad Robot, Lucasfilm and Disney are looking to fill seven new roles. The first three could be filled by the mid-1970s versions of Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher:

1) Man Early 20s. Not classically handsome. He is witty and smart. Physically fit.

2) Man Late 20s. Physically fit, handsome and confident.

3) Woman late teens. Physically fit, independent and with a great sense of humor.

Then there’s this:

4) Man 65-75 Tough and opinionated.

Alec Guiness was 63 in 1977.

5) Man 30ish An intellectual.

So they’re finally sticking a nerd in “Star Wars”? This is the only character among the seven who can be fat.

6) Man 40s Physically fit, military type.

A military type in a film with “Wars” in the title!

7) Woman late teens. Tough, smart, physically fit.

A female Biggs Darklighter to serve as BFF to character 3?

I’ve not read any “Star Wars” novels since the 1970s, so I leave the talkbackers to spin themselves into a frenzy guessing which expanded universe characters these might or might not be describing.

“Star Wars Episode VII” is due to hit screens mid-2015.

The casting breakdown was apparently first posted Schmoes Knows.

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Distributors are starting to actually sit down and watch movies that may or may not be awards worthy. Disney moved "Saving Mr. Banks" into a limited platform release before the holidays; Oscar mavens the Weinsteins are lining up their ducks, from "Fruitvale Station"'s summer launch to likely fall fest entries "August: Osage County" and "Mandela: Walk to Freedom."  But are we ready for B-movie purveyor Relativity to enter the Oscar derby? The distributor is making a significant change in its release plan for Scott Cooper's gritty drama "Out of the Furnace," starring Christian Bale, Casey Affleck, Woody Harrelson, Sam Shepard, Zoe Saldana and Willem Dafoe. Previously scheduled for October 4, the film will now have a limited release on November 27, expanding on December 6, at the height of awards season. This bespeaks confidence, whether deserved or misplaced. Relativity has reason to believe, as Cooper's last feature, "Crazy Heart," won Jeff Bridges an Oscar. And the... ...

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Check out the new trailer for Dan Mazer's Brit comedy "I Give It a Year," starring Rose Byrne and Rafe Spall ("Life of Pi") as newlyweds who may have rushed to the altar a little too quickly. Anna Faris, Minnie Driver and Simon Baker also star. Director Mazer ("Borat") penned the script, with Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner ("Love, Actually") producing. Here's the official synopsis:Since they met at a party, ambitious high-flyer Nat (Rose Byrne) and struggling novelist Josh  (Rafe Spall) have been deliriously happy despite their differences. Josh is a thinker, Nat’s a doer, but the spark between them is undeniable. Their wedding is a dream come true, but no one — family, friends and even the minister who marries them — is convinced that they will last. Josh’s ex-girlfriend, Chloe (Anna Faris), and Nat’s handsome American client Guy (Simon Baker) could offer attractive alternatives. With their first anniversary approaching, neither wants to be the first to give up, but... ...

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Fox Searchlight has released the first official images for Steve McQueen's highly anticipated "Twelve Years a Slave," starring Chiwetel Ejiofor, Michael Fassbender, Benedict Cumberbatch, Solomon Northrup, Sarah Paulson and Lupita Nyongo.  No sightings yet of Brad Pitt, Paul Giamatti, Michael K. Williams or Paul Dano, who also have roles in the film. An unofficial image of pint-sized Quvenzhane Wallis in costume is here.Here's what we know so far about the film: Written by John Ridley from the book by Solomon Northrup, it centers on his true story. Northrup (Ejiofor), a freed black man from upstate New York, is abducted and sold into slavery in the pre-Civil War United States. Fassbender plays Northrop's malevolent slave owner, and Pitt a Canadian abolitionist.McQueen previously directed Fassbender in "Shame," acquired by Searchlight, and "Hunger." The film is set to hit theaters on December 27, just in time for awards season.  ...

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David Cage is the director behind some of the most emotionally engaging games of the last two console generations, chiefly marked by supernatural conspiracy thriller Fahrenheit and kidnapping drama Heavy Rain. The latest game from Cage’s studio Quantic Dream, Beyond: Two Souls, launches later this year on PS3. Empire caught up with the auteur creator at E3 to discuss working with Hollywood, the changing landscape of media and the challenges facing the games industry. Empire: Another PS3 exclusive, The Last of Us, has just launched to considerable acclaim, largely on the basis of its very human and emotionally grounded story. Does that add to the pressure of what you’re trying to do with Beyond: Two Souls? David Cage: Oh, not at all, not at all. On the contrary, it’s great to see more games exploring the directions we started to explore like ten years ago. It’s great – we started this vein of games where we’re talki......

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Crytek’s upcoming historical action game Ryse: Son of Rome has gone through a few iterations already. Originally announced in 2011 as a Kinect-only title for Xbox 360, its slow development has seen it lose the Kinect requirement and get an upgrade to Xbox One launch title. In a closed session, the game was exhibited to press by Crytek’s Wayne Cline and Ryse’s Senior Producer Justin Robey. Players will be cast in the role of Marius Titus, a soldier whose family is killed, leading him to seek vengeance against those responsible – yes, Russell Crowe’s Gladiator is a clear influence. Our initial impression was that Ryse would just be an attempt to cash-in on the shock-and-gore fanbase of God of War, and while the one-on-one combat here does borrow from the same playbook (onscreen prompts to execute gruesome killer blows, linear progression through areas, occasional environmental puzzles) it soon became apparent that despite the surface similarities, there’s more go......

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In a closed-door presentation, Guerilla Games’ PS4 launch title Killzone: Shadow Fall was shown off in depth, presented by Game Director Steven Ter Heide and Managing Director Hermen Hulst. Set 30 years after Killzone 3, the game evokes a Cold War-era mentality with the opposing Helghast and Vektan races uncomfortably sharing a giant, walled city. Playing as a Shadow Marshall, you’re in a black ops role, undertaking covert missions to prevent tensions from escalating into another full-blown interplanetary conflict. Although the fourth main game in the series, Hulst and Heide stressed that prior knowledge wasn’t necessary – this is a new chapter in the series and while returning fans will get more from knowing the history, newcomers will feel still like they’re in on the ground floor. We can believe that too – on aesthetics alone, the verdant alien world Shadow Fall is set on is a significant departure from the rubble-strewn battlefields of the original trilogy.......

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Electronic Arts’ stand at E3 tragically had no further information on Mirror’s Edge 2. To make up for that shocking omission, the publisher instead offered hands on time with a number of its upcoming titles and extended previews, revealing more than was shown at the earlier press conference.......

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I have to write about this great series because after all, I am a Los Angelina myself!

Los Angeles Filmforum was started by Adam Hyman as an act of love for films which would not reach the light of day without his work.  That MOCAis supporting him in this series is also important and it shows that Los Angeles has a sense of itself and finds the sense in preserving what film history has created.

Los Angeles Filmforum at MOCA is supported through both organizations by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors through the Los Angeles County Arts Commission; the Department of Cultural Affairs, City of Los Angeles; and at MOCA by Catherine Opie. 
 
Additional support of Filmforum's screening series comes from the Mike Kelley Foundation for the Arts. Additional support to Filmforum generously provided by American Cinematheque. They also depend on our members, ticket buyers, and individual donors.

Los Angeles is perhaps the most photographed, yet least understood city in the world. For all of the countless images, it is as though few people have actually seen the city well enough to depict it. Coinciding with A New Sculpturalism: Contemporary Architecture from Southern California, Los Angeles Filmforum at MOCA presents a program of recent films that break this mold, and in so doing document the changing landscape of the city in the 21st century. Thom Andersen, Alexandra Cuesta, and Clay Dean use poignant and at times even poetic images of buildings, immigrant neighborhoods, deteriorating signage, and readymade still lifes to give us a sense of place as well as the uncanny. Serving as an elegiac prologue to this recent efflorescence of observational cinema is Kent MacKenzie’s heartbreaking Bunker Hill 1956, a rich documentary memorializing the site whose destruction preceded downtown’s current incarnation as a corporate office block (and home to MOCA).
In person: Thom Anderson and Clay Dean
What: Los Angeles Filmforum at MOCA Presents: This is the City
When: Thursday, July 11, 2013 – 7pm
Where: MOCA Grand Avenue, Ahmanson Auditorium, 250 South Grand Avenue, Los Angeles 90012
Tickets: $12 general admission; $7 students with valid ID
Tickets available at moca.org
FREE for MOCA and Los Angeles Filmforum members; must present current membership card to claim free tickets
INFO 213/621-1745 or education[a]moca.org

“Get Out [of the Car]” began as an outgrowth of “Los Angeles Plays Itself,” inspired by a peeling billboard. The film became a 30-minute symphony devoted to the remnants of a vanished Los Angeles of neighborhood farms and demolished concert halls. —Saul Austerlitz, New York Times

“Although Los Angeles has appeared in more films than any other city, I believe that it has not been well served by these films. San Francisco, New York, London, Paris, Berlin, Tokyo have all left more indelible impressions. It happens that many film-makers working in Los Angeles don’t appreciate the city, and very few of them understand much about it, but their failures in depicting it may have more profound causes. 
 
“In Los Angeles Plays Itself, I claimed that the city is not cinematogenic. ‘It’s just beyond the reach of an image.’ Now I’m not so sure. In any case, I became gradually obsessed with making a proper Los Angeles city symphony film.” —Thom Andersen, “Get Out of the Car: A Commentary”

Screening:
Kent MacKenzie, Bunker Hill 1956
1956, 16mm, black and white, sound; 18min.
Print courtesy of USC.
 
Before making his landmark feature The Exiles, Kent MacKenzie produced this intelligent and sensitive portrait of the Bunker Hill neighborhood, which was already in 1956 under very serious threat of total redevelopment and eradication. The film focuses in particular on the single, elderly pensioners who lived in the neighborhood, and proposes that far from being a slum, Bunker Hill was a very defined and beloved community. —Mark Toscano

Alexandra Cuesta, Despedida (Farewell)
2013; 16mm, color, sound; 10 min.
 
Shot in Boyle Heights in East Los Angeles, this transitory neighborhood resonates with the poetry of local resident Mapkaulu Roger Nduku. Verses about endings, looking and passing through open up the space projected. A string of tableaus gather a portrait of a place and compose a goodbye letter to an ephemeral home. —AC
 
Clay Dean, Not West of Western
2011; 16mm, black and white, sound; 13.5 min.
 
Walking within parameters that define the heart of Los Angeles, Not West of Western explores the cross section of still photography and cinema while at the same time calling attention to the unique cross-cultural landscape of the city. —CD
 
Thom Andersen, Get Out of the Car
2010; 16mm, color, sound; 35 min.
 
Direction: Thom Andersen; camera: Madison Brookshire, Adam R. Levine; editing: Adam R. Levine; sound: Craig Smith
 
Get Out of the Car is a city symphony film in 16mm composed from advertising signs, building facades, fragments of music and conversation, and unmarked sites of vanished cultural landmarks (including El Monte Legion Stadium and the Barrelhouse in Watts). The musical fragments compose an impressionistic survey of popular music made in Los Angeles (and a few other places) from 1941 to 1999, with an emphasis on rhythm’n’blues and jazz from the 1950s and corridos from the 1990s. The music of Richard Berry, Johnny Otis, Leiber and Stoller, and Los Tigres del Norte is featured prominently. —TA
 
Total Running Time: 76.5 min.

Programmed by Madison Brookshire
 
Los Angeles Filmforum at MOCA furthers MOCA’s mission to be the defining museum of contemporary art by adding a bimonthly series of film and video screenings organized and co-presented by Los Angeles Filmforum—the city’s longest-running organization dedicated to weekly screenings of experimental film, documentaries, video art, and experimental animation.
 

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