The Bearded Trio

According to Variety, Joby Harold has been selected to be the lead writer on the forthcoming Disney+ Obi-Wan Kenobi series.

The series, which has a firm commitment from Ewan McGregor to star in the lead role, was slated to begin filming sometime in 2020. However, that date is up in the air due to the worldwide COVID-19 crisis.

Harold (IMDB page) most recently served as executive producer for John Wick Chapter 3 - Parabellum and has done work with projects such as Edge of Tomorrow (2014), He's also tied in with another forthcoming project The Flash (2022).

A series featuring Obi-Wan Kenobi was announced for Disney's streaming service in August of 2019. It was the third officially announced live action project for the channel, joining The Mandalorian and the as-yet-unnamed series featuring Cassian Andor (Diego Luna) from Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016). The Mandalorian debuted in November 2019 to wide-ranging success from both fans and critics.

The announcement of McGregor …

Scotland Holds The Secret To The Holy Grail Even when Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom was enjoying being at the top of the cinema box office back in 1984, George Lucas was already thinking of Indy III.  Just six months after Temple of Doom, Lucas had produced an eight-page story treatment.  The story was called Indiana Jones and the Monkey King and it was easy to see that even with this short treatment a few elements would end up in the final third Indy movie, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.

A boat chase, a female archaeologist, a package in the post, the return of Marcus Brody, a German tank and the quest for eternal life were all packed into this eight-page treatment.  This official Lucasfilm memo from 1984 shows that George Lucas was not only trying to get the Holy Grail involved but also a connection to Scotland.  George Lucas tells us:

"The Holy Grail had been an early idea on the artefacts...I think it was one of the original ideas around Temple of Doom, but Steve…

Brad’s April Escape - Episode 3 April 3 - Star Wars: A New Hope (1977)

Each weekday this month, I’ll screen a film from The Bearded Trio Cinematic Universe and list 10 random scenes, characters, musical cues or performances that I particularly enjoy and look forward to upon every viewing. I’d love to hear similar little things you enjoy about these films, and hope you join me in this escape from the present-day world.

Next up is a film maybe one or two of you might have seen at some point over the past 42 years, Star Wars: A New Hope (1977)

A New Hope - An Introduction
I was a few months past my 4th birthday when Star Wars hit my suburban Detroit cinema. Like so many of my generation, I have vivid memories of that screening, and many subsequent screenings over the next couple of years. I recall being SO MAD that Darth Vader got away. He was the bad guy, he killed Obi-Wan Kenobi, he should die so the good guys can really win. That’s how my 4-year-old brain processed it at the time. If …

Brad’s April Escape - Episode 2
April 2 - Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977 Each weekday this month, I’ll screen a film from The Bearded Trio Cinematic Universe and list 10 random scenes, characters, musical cues or performances that I particularly enjoy and look forward to upon every viewing. I’d love to hear similar little things you enjoy about these films, and hope you join me in this escape from the present-day world.

Starting this month-long series is that “other” movie that came out in 1977, Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

I’ll be up front about this film...today was the first time I ever sat down and watched it from start to finish. I selected the Director’s Cut on my blu-ray copy. I felt compelled to purchase this movie several years ago, because I considered it Essential Spielberg/Williams. And I caught slices of the film here and there over the years, mainly the model train scene at the beginning, and the Devil’s Tower sequence at the end.

So some of these observ…

BRAD'S APRIL ESCAPE #1 - Star Wars: Episode 1 The Phantom Menace Each weekday this month, I’ll screen a film from The Bearded Trio Cinematic Universe and list 10 random scenes, characters, musical cues or performances that I particularly enjoy and look forward to upon every viewing. I’d love to hear similar little things you enjoy about these films, and hope you join me in this escape from the present-day world.

Starting this month-long series is perhaps the most-anticipated film of the past 25 years, Star Wars: The Phantom Menace (1999).

The Phantom Menace - An Introduction
I count myself as a survivor of the Prequel Message Board Wars of the early 2000s, when the backlash to TPM and Attack of the Clones was loud and palpable. I relentlessly defended the first two episodes of George Lucas’s prequel trilogy, and am proud having done so. I consider TPM to be the quintessential George movie. Meant for a young audience, but heavily layered in mythology and the Star Wars lore, TPM st…