As to matters non James Bond.

1.) So the Mouse bought Lucas Films and is going to make post Jedi Star Wars films. See, I'm a part of the minority who a) liked the prequels, b) doesn't hate George Lucas, and c) isn't actually interested in the story post Return of the Jedi, so emotionally, this doesn't mean anything to me. The reason why I'm not interested, btw, isn't lack of character sympathy, it's just that I thought the story of Luke, Leia and Han was carried to a good wrap up point, leaving the audience with a sense of completion on the one hand and on other other confident there are further adventures and life waiting for Our Heroes. I never felt I needed more than that for these three. Obviously not many other people felt this way, hence zillions of sold EU books (which btw look as if they're about to get decanonized, I take it?), and I'm sure the new film(s) will sell well, be loved and hated by many because such is the nature of fandom, and who knows, if I hear enough intriguing reports I might get interested. (Or not, if Trusted Sources deem them dull.) But basically what I wanted from the Star Wars franchise after having finished Return of the Jedi was the backstory, Anakin's story, and I got it years ago, so I'm content either way.

Now, if we're talking about which Disney aquisition really troubles me, then it's still the discovery I made a few years ago, decades after the fact, that Disney took a children's novel from my beloved Erich Kästner called Das doppelte Lottchen, americanized it (which included making a single mom/Munich career journalist into a Boston socialite), called it The Parent Trap and now millions of people think that form is the original of the story. See, Star Wars never was the big deal to me and my childhood/adolescence it was for others, though I'm exactly the right age. But Kästner was and is! Das doppelte Lottchen isn't even my favourite Kästner novel, but ERICH KÄSTNER IS SACRED and Disney retrospectively ruined my childhood, omg.

(Kidding, because I never can resist taking a cheap shot at the "George Lucas ruined my childhood by the Special Editions/Prequels/whatever" crowd, sorry.)

(Though I do love Erich Kästner and his novels, and discovering The Parent Trap's existence may have made me mutter "Yankee Cultural Imperialism Be Dammed" once or twice.)


2.) There will finally be a Brian Epstein biopic, and it will starr Benedict Cumberbatch. Good lord, as Giles would say. I'm not as enthralled by Mr. Cumberbatch as many an audience member, but there's no doubt he's an excellent actor, he has a good track record in choosing projects which gives me some confidence the script will be decent (i.e. not made-for-Lifetime tv bio pic style superficial), and a Brian biopic has the advantage that the scriptwriters don't have to feel encumbered by having some of their main characters still being alive (or their main characters' widows) which Beatles pio pics do, not to mention that it has a clear story with an actual ending. A sad ending, though, which means the scriptwriters will have to fight temptation to make this into a version of The Tragic Homosexual. Hopefully we'll see more of Brian than him popping pills, getting beat up by rough trade and pining after John - i.e. the drive and energy that made him succeed in the first place, the charm and charisma testified by virtually everyone who knew him.

On a more irreverent note, given that the casting of Cumberbatch-as-Smaug already singlehandedly created the pairing of Bilbo/Smaug before The Hobbit ever graced the screen, I wonder whether Cumberbatch-as-Brian Epstein will create a lot of time travelling fanfics in which BBC John Watson ends up in the 60s, gets paired with Brian and is at hand to save him from the fatal overdose. Though two people less alike than BBC!Sherlock and Brian Epstein I can't imagine, and BBC!John doesn't strike me as Brian's type at all, but there you go. (Additional possible casting in joke in fanfiction: Andrew Scott aka Jim Moriarty, who played Paul McCartney in all of the five seconds he pops up in Lennon Naked.)

A good interview-cum-portrait article about Imelda Staunton, who has yet not to be fantastic in anything I've ever wached her in. Character actors are awesome.

***

I'm not entranced with the man the way so m any on my flist are, but this is both funny and cute: Benedict Cumberbatch gives us impressions of Alan Rickman and David Tennant. (He's dead-on with both.) (Also of Jonathan Ross, but who cares about Jonathan Ross?)



Now I want DT to do a Benedict Cumberbatch impression.