'Star Wars: Episode VII' to Feature Original Cast
The original cast from "Star Wars" which includes Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher could return to their roles for the new trilogy being produced by Disney.
George Lucas, creator and former owner of the "Star Wars" franchise revealed to BusinessWeek that he was already in talks with Hamill, Fisher and Ford to sign on for a new film before the deal with Disney was brokered.
"We had already signed Mark, Carrie and Harrison- or we were pretty much in final negotiations," he said. "So I called them to say, 'Look, this is what's going on.' Maybe I'm not supposed to say that. I think they want to announce that with some big whoop-de-do, but we were negotiating with them. I won't say whether the negotiations were successful or not."
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Lucas actively began developing the new trilogy before the Disney deal in order to increase its overall value. These discussions with the old cast worked as part of that strategy. He even developed treatments with screenwriters Michael Arndt and Lawrence Kasdan before agreeing to show Disney the rough outlines for Star Wars: Episode VII, VIII, and IX.
Lucas had Disney agree to him writing the broad outlines of their deal. He then turned over his treatments for the new trilogy under certain terms only allowing Disney CEO Robert Iger, and Disney Studios Chairman Alan Horn and Kevin Mayer to read them.
"We promised," said Iger in BusinessWeek. "We had to sign an agreement. We thought from a storytelling perspective they had a lot of potential."
The deal also involves Lucas attending story meetings for the next film where he keeps Disney in check over matters related to the Star Wars universe he created over 30 years ago.
The new Star Wars film, known simply as Episode VII, will hit theaters sometime in 2015.
