The last two movies Jason Reitman directed, Labor Day and Men, Women, & Children, have been the cinematic equivalent of a bubble bath fart, so he needs all the good press he can get. No wonder that for his next live-read in Los Angeles, Reitman is re-staging The Empire Strikes Back with Aaron Paul as Luke Skywalker and J.K. Simmons as Darth Vader.
“The first thing I had to figure out was who is going to be the voice of Luke,” Reitman says. “My first instinct was, ‘Who is the actor most like Mark Hamill today?’ But five minutes into that, I’m thinking we already have that, we already have Star Wars as it is. What is the opposite of that?”
The Emmy-winning Paul’s tough, streetwise screen presence is a stark contrast to “the sweet, innocent farmboy on Tatooine,” Reitman says. “Jesse from Breaking Bad questions authority in a much different way than Luke Skywalker does. He growls at it, and his annoyance at his journey will be unique from the traditional boy-to-man transition.” (Via)
The rest of the cast has been filled out with Stephen Merchant as C-3PO, Dennis Haysbert as Lando, and Kevin Pollak as Yoda. No word on which actress will play Princess Leia, but there are plenty of options out there. The gold bikini doesn’t appear until Return of the Jedi, but hey, I mean, if Olivia Munn wants to bring hers…You’re not invited, American Idol guy.
