(S01E07) So that was a pointless episode. And to think, I was just complimenting the show on how they are using their twenty-two minutes wisely and balancing character development with intriguing bits about call girl life. I’m actually glad that next week is the season finale. If next Monday wasn’t the last episode and we had say, three or four more to go, I would be abandoning Secret Diary of a Call Girl. My feeling is that some of you readers have already done so.

For those of you who enjoyed last night’s episode, sorry, but my review doesn’t get any better after the jump…

Here’s what has me so annoyed. If you saw the previews for “Episode 1-07,” you didn’t even need to watch last night. You could have turned in after Weeds or watched something else. I’m sure HBO was replaying Generation Kill or VH1 was replaying I Love Money, or Food Network was airing Ace of Cakes or some challenge show.

We found out from the previews that Belle’s clients were a longtime couple and wanted a couple for their services. We also found out from the previews that Ben wanted to be Belle’s beau for the night. We also found out that Belle ended up agreeing to letting her best mate and ex-boyfriend participate. Then we found out that Ben, in the heat of the moment, wanted to have sex with Hannah, but she either refused him or was uneasy about the idea.

And that’s it. Nothing else happened during the show. Why watch the full twenty or so minutes when you can get the whole show in two from a Showtime preview. It was like having microwave pizza except the microwaved cardboard stuff was just as good as the stuff you get from a real pizzeria.

Other than our learning some more about the life of London hooker, I’m not sure if this episode had any redeeming qualities. What do you think? Is it just the way Showtime is advertising this show? Is it the show’s length? I think Call Girl could benefit from being a full hour or at least a full half hour like Weeds or Curb Your Enthusiasm. But that’s not Showtime’s call.

And what was with Ben at the end of the episode? What did he learn from the experience? Is he mad at Hannah for not giving herself to him? Does he think more or less of her now that he’s seen her in professional mode? I could see that he was disappointed that he didn’t get more action or pleasure out of it. But other than that, nothing was really furthered in their friendship.

I’m predicting that next week’s Call Girl will be the same. We saw a good amount of next Monday’s plot last night.

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(S03E07) “Dreams come true on America’s Got Talent” – The Hoff

Dreams not only come true on AGT but they are also crushed (and, let’s face it, it’s a good thing that some dreams are crushed on the show because some acts are just plain wrong). This week, MySpace devotees faced off against the judges and the crowd in the hope that their dreams would come true. Does MySpace have talent? Let’s review the final auditions of the season.

This episode is not what I expected. I knew that some of the MySpace acts were going to be performed live on stage and be judged then and there. However, I expected the episode to feature some of the footage posted on MySpace by the contestants in order to get picked for the live show. I wanted to know how and why they got picked to go on stage. Nada. Instead, this looked like a normal episode, only sponsored by MySpace (even the huge X on the stage was replaced by the MySpace logo).

Since these contestants had to apply via the MySpace America’s Got Talent section, each of them has a MySpace page (I wasn’t able to find the page for one of them though). If you want to learn more about this week’s contestants, click on the links provided throughout this review.

Michael Trixx, magician – When he was introduced, I thought that this could be a cool act. There are not a lot of Rock & Roll magicians around the world so this idea could lead to a fun act. Sadly, Michael’s basic magic skills, lack of organization in his routine made the act quite boring. He ended up being Xed by two judges and the crowd wasn’t happy either. This “little Rock & Roll hobbit,” as Sharon nicknamed him, will have to watch how the best of magicians put their act together if he ever wants to make it in the industry. Actually, he could just watch a few episodes of Arrested Development to see how GOB does it and it would already be better than what Trixx offered on stage.

Diva Boy, singer – Oh, boy! Need I say more?

Eloy, motivational speaker – Demotivational speaker would probably be a more precise category for him after this week’s performance.

Randy, Ozzy Osbourne impersonator – I had my doubts about Randy when he walked on stage, mostly because of the other Ozzy impersonator who auditioned in episode 3.02. But I quickly changed my mind when Randy started to answer the judges questions in persona. He was Ozzy from the start. Not only did Randy show that he could answer questions as Ozzy would, but he could sing like him and win the crowd over. He was so good that even Sharon approved! I doubt Randy will make it far in the competition but after the show, I’m pretty sure he’ll get a few jobs impersonating the Prince of Darkness.

Holly, singer – Yet another great singer auditions for the show. It will be a tough competition for singers this summer. Holly offered a good performance this week. She has a nice R&B-type voice and could probably do very well recording adult contemporary songs. She has a good presence on stage and showed that she had pipes at the end of her song.

The Cadence, percussions ensemble – People love a good percussion ensemble. It’s my ninth summer working at a school of music and I can tell you that when we have percussionists perform on items that are not usually drums, the crowd goes wild. The “pots and pans” ensemble is always the talk of the town! So it’s no surprise that the crowed loved The Cadence performance. Yes, the group has room for improvement and could insert some more moves in there, but they deserved a ticket to Vegas Week thanks to the faire performance they gave.

The Sweetones, whistlers – When contestants in interview say the words “unique” and “nothing like it,” I immediately think that the act will suck. When Claudia and Elaine said that they were not sure what the judges would do with them, I knew it would be an unusual act. Let’s face it, the word “unusual” may not be strong enough here. I’ve really never heard anything like this before. The mother and daughter duo whistled their way through the audition very well. They were in tune and followed the music. Even if their performance was good, the act was too “out there” to move on. Would you pay the big bucks to go listen to whistling for two hours?

Daniel, singer – The final audition of the season was definitely worth watching. Daniel, who served in Iraq for 15 months, gave a touching performance. The song choice was fitting and he gave it his best, and his heart. I agree with Piers that Daniel has to work a bit on his singing but it wasn’t that bad at all. After all, not every AGT contestants are perfect and all need to work on their talent if they want to make it to the end of the show.

Other tidbits of interest:

• One of the most unusual acts of the night was definitely performed by the 10 times Cluck-off champion. Did he really think he had a chance to win the competition?
  
• We didn’t see much of Shimshi‘s act but seeing the middle portion of the cut-off woman be taken away from the table was really impressive. I watched one of his clips on MySpace, which includes the same act he performed on the show, and it was really impressive. He could very well be one of the top contenders.
  
• Lesson of the week: Before going on stage to sing, tape yourself and watch it to ensure that your facial expressions aren’t scary as hell.
  

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(S10E08) “I’m in jail. I’m in jail for the wrong reasons. I can’t sleep! I’ve been falsely accused!” – Jessie

Keesha holds the power this week as the Head of Household in the Big Brother 10 house. Her nominations of Jessie and Angie set the stage for new subdivisions within the main alliance responsible for voting out Steven and Brian. Hey, shake it up, Hooters girl. What’s BB without some kind of excitement? The worst thing that can happen with this show is when it all becomes too predictable.

Read on past the jump for my full review of the show.

The nominations aftermath
Angie was pretty sure she was going to be nominated. She, along with Dan, were really the last of the Brian/Steven alliance. Of course, she thought she’d be nominated with Dan, but that’s beside the point. On the other hand, Jessie was sure he’d be safe this week. Heh, expect the unexpected Body Boy! The nominations also took Memphis by surprise. He believes that Keesha made two new enemies in the house. Perhaps she has. But if she has, it will make it all the more interesting viewing, right?

It seemed like half of the show was Jessie fussing about being nominated. Now, we all could have predicted that he’d look at Keesha’s nomination of him as disrespect. I just can’t understand why a young kid like him has such a huge chip on his shoulder about being respected. He’s in a game known for betrayal, deceit, and backstabbing. If a person truly wants respect and respects himself … they don’t go on a reality show, especially one like Big Brother. Jessie is sure he’ll win the Power of Veto, remove himself from the block, and warned Michelle that she’ll probably go on the block then.



Jessie thinks Libra orchestrated everything. Of course, it’s not that Keesha might indeed think of him as a threat in the game. It couldn’t be that he was merely put up as a pawn and to let him know he’s a bit too arrogant. It has to be Libra’s doing! He ran to Keesha in the HOH room, starting off great with a “no hard feelings” approach which rapidly turned into a lecture about how she should backdoor Libra. Jessie went on and on about how Libra is using Keesha, lying to her. He told her Libra was responsible for Steven going on the block and going home. Although Keesha indeed seemed to be listening to him, she had given Libra her word that she wouldn’t nominate her.

When Libra and April join Keesha after her talk with Jessie, Keesha doesn’t really bring it up. Not at that time, anyway. But Jessie ran to Michelle and Memphis acting like it was a done deed. All they need is for one of them to win the Power of Veto and Libra would go up on the block, then be evicted. Huh? Since when does a rather sympathetic listening mean she’s going to do what he wants her to do?

Time for the Power of Veto competition!
In a Diary Room segment Jessie assures us he has no worries — no one in the house can beat him either mentally or physically. Um, right. When the two nominees and Keesha drew names from the bag, Keesha ended up with Libra, Angie picked Ollie, and Jessie picked Memphis. Keesha selected Dan to be the host of the comp.

They all had to don tight-fitting green spandex suits and huge flower hats, then meet up in the yard. The men looked sillier than the women, but it was all rather bizarre. In the yard there were four almost casket-like wooden “flower boxes.” In the competition called “The Garden of Veto,” each of the participants had to get in their respective flower boxes resting their heads on a headrest. As the boxes were being watered, they had to stay in the boxes for what they estimated to be an hour. The person closest to an hour without going over wins.

They started off being watered — cold water dripping smack on their foreheads similar to Chinese water torture. Angie said it gave her brain freeze. Next they were given a choice between compost or worms. Jerry yelled out “Worms!” So, that’s what they got first. Ollie thinks “anything without legs and moves is cursed.” But it was Keesha who just couldn’t take the earthworms and was out of the comp first.

The others went on to endure nasty compost and the comp continued on in its Fear Factor mode. Jessie decided it was time to call Libra out for being instrumental in Steven’s going on the block. She admitted it, said he had threatened to go after her. Libra finally thought an hour was nearly up and made arrangements with Ollie to get up five minutes after she did. She got out followed by Jessie (who continued to go on about Libra and Steven while on the bench). Then Angie, Ollie, and Memphis in that order. Ah, but the kicker … Keesha, the first to give up at 21 minutes, won the Power of Veto. Everyone else was over an hour by at least fifteen minutes.

May we have a brouhaha or two, please?
Jessie convinced Angie to approach Keesha for the backdooring of Libra. Nope, no brouhaha there. Angie was very calm in the room, told Keesha that she would rather go home than spend another week with Libra. Angie knows she’s the target this week and is taking it rather well. Keesha, although she doesn’t like Angie and wants her out, treated her respectfully. But when Keesha, Ollie, Dan, and April later talked, it turns out that all of them are irked by Libra. They know if she goes on the block, she will be evicted. But Keesha promised she wouldn’t nominate her.

Then Jessie once again went to Keesha’s HOH room ranting about how he shouldn’t be on the block. He’s in jail for a crime he didn’t commit! He’s lost six pounds! He can’t sleep! He’s been falsely accused! She once again listened, but told him she had given Libra her word. He leaves, but it’s driven Keesha to the point of no return with him. Jerry told her to tell Jessie the HOH room is closed. Renny, Dan, and April all rolled their eyes about Jessie pushing to backdoor Libra. So Keesha ran to each of the Jessie 4 in turn and announced that she had given her word to Libra … enough!

When a banner plane flew over the yard, none of the Jessie 4 out there really caught what it said. I tried to enlarge and clarify it … it looks like it says “Happy Birthday to (a name I can’t make out) I <3 you” But they figured that the others don’t know they didn’t see it, so they decided to lie. They came up with “Keesha, Libra lies, love Steven.” No, it didn’t fly. They didn’t believe them. Memphis admitted they made it up, then tried making up another banner. Silly hamsters.



Then, when pushing the anti-Libra agenda, Memphis started in on Jerry! Dog fight! Ruff. Memphis is still seething because Jerry called him a “womanizer.” I mean, come on. He has a point in that Jerry has a bit of a reputation for being a dirty old man, but it’s not something that a young strong dude like Memphis should be all but physically threatening a 75-year-old man about. Ollie and Dan had to hold Memphis back. Jerry just sat there in his chair with a “whatever” kind of attitude. Ruff.

To use the veto or not
Angie gave a nice little “please save me” speech about making some decisions she’s regretted, would like to stay, it’s been a very tough week for Keesha, but I’ve always remained true to myself.” Jessie’s speech started off with something odd about his family and his honor, then he justified his actions with “If I threw everybody under the bus, it’s because they did it to me first.” Um, okay.

Keesha chose not to use the veto. Angie and Jessie remain on the block. Jessie is still seething while Angie hopes he ruins his chance to stay.

America’s Player
It’s back! Not for the season, but for one week. America gets to vote one houseguest to do their bidding much like Eric a few seasons back. According to the official website voting page: “America, do you want to play the Big Brother game? Now’s your chance! America’s Player is back … And this time, you get to choose who it will be!
The Houseguest with the most votes will be given an offer to become America’s Player for one week. If they accept, they will do your bidding all week long! From who to target for Nominations, to who to vote out of the house. But vote carefully, because the Houseguest you select can decide whether or not to accept the offer. Who do you think is most likely to take the challenge and agree to do your bidding? The power’s in your hands, America! ”

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 AP

Ryan Seacrest

Ryan Seacrest was taking a swim in the ocean over the weekend when he was bitten by a shark, he said on his KIIS-FM radio show Monday.

The “American Idol” host said he was “about eight feet out” when he felt something swim by him.

“I thought it was a stick,” he said. “I wasn’t sure what had happened.”

Then, he said, “I saw it swim! He took a bite, and he left.”

Seacrest, 33, said the shark’s tooth “wasn’t a great thing to find. It was like finding a splinter!”

Although he said he was “in pain,” the “American Idol” host wasn’t hurt too badly, but said he “needed to take an Advil.”

Asked by his radio co-host if anyone else was bitten, Seacrest said: “No, just me, of course! There were like 1,000 people in the ocean, and I get bit by the shark!”

Steve Keller and Mike Stone are back on “The Streets of San Francisco.”

CBS is developing a contemporary remake of the classic 1970s cop series that starred Michael Douglas and Karl Malden.

Feature writer Sheldon Turner (“The Longest Yard”) and “Numbers” producer Robert Port are penning the script, with Simon West on board to direct the potential pilot.

CBS Par TV, which owns the rights to Quinn Martin Prods.’ original series, is producing the new take that has received a script order from the network.

Turner and Port, a certified member of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, had worked on reinventing “Streets” for the past seven months. They spent time in San Francisco, riding along with SFPD cops.

The remake will keep key elements from the original series: the title, the names of the two main characters and, of course, the backdrop of the City by the Bay. But the main focus is to bring the spirit of the original “Streets” into the new reincarnation, Turner said.

“The times are very similar — it was the Vietnam War in the 1970s and the Iraq War now,” he said. “There is the same sort of tension between generations, and we wanted to carry that to the new series.”

Turner compared the 21st century Keller and Stone to presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain.

“One, like Obama, wants to be active and believes in rehabilitation, while the other one, like McCain, doesn’t quite believe in rehabilitation and believes that the enemy is the enemy,” Turner said.

Turner and West, who has a deal at CBS Par TV, will executive produce the new “Streets,” which also will feature elements of a traditional crime procedural. Port and West’s producing partner, Jib Polhemus, serves as co-exec producer.

While several classic cop series such as “Starsky & Hutch” and “Miami Vice” have made the leap to the big screen, TV remakes, such as Dick Wolf’s 2003 attempt to revive “Dragnet,” have been rare.

Still, reinventions of old series are hotter than ever among the broadcast networks with such recent entries as NBC’s “Knight Rider” and “The Bionic Woman” and CW’s “90210.”

Turner, whose credits also include “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning,” and “Lara Croft: Tomb Raider” director West are repped by CAA. Port, Oscar winner for “Twin Towers,” is repped by UTA.

Star Wars made George Lucas a fortune and transformed an industry. Now he brings us The Clone Wars, an animated film with a host of familiar faces

Will Lawrence

Watch The Clone Wars trailer

Just because I’m not Britney Spears, it doesn’t mean that I’m a recluse.” Sitting in his headquarters at Skywalker Ranch, George Lucas is engaged in a bout of myth-busting. Given the rarefied nature of a Lucas interview, the creator of Star Wars is often cast as something of a loner, a professional Han Solo, dismissing the outside world while sitting astride his empire, Lucasfilm, which is buried in the heart of Lucas Valley, in northern California. (The locale, inciden-tally, boasted the name long before the film-maker arrived.) “Honestly, everyone feels you have to talk about yourself all the time,” he says. “They say I’m introverted because I don’t give many interviews. But I don’t give many interviews because I don’t make many films.”

Lucas concedes that he can find interviews uncomfortable. “They’re hard work,” he says, “but this is part of the film-making process. It’s hard for you, I realise that, but it’s hard for us, too.” Truth be told, much of the mystery that surrounds him stems from the fact that journalists often treat him with extreme deference. While his film-making peers, from Spielberg to Scorsese, have all attained iconic status, Lucas is set apart in the pantheon: he created Star Wars and, for many, that elevates him to a different plane. In consequence, interviewers rarely inquire into his private life, his 1983 divorce from Marcia (his wife of 14 years and a close professional collaborator) and the fact that he went on to raise three children as a single parent. Yet surely these events must have had a profound effect on his work?

“Probably,” he concedes. “If I’ve directed fewer movies than I might have, it was a combination of things. But I think the most outstanding thing was that, back then, I was financially devastated and I had to get myself back on my feet. And, at the same time, I had a daughter to raise. These two things together changed my focus. I decided to spend time building up the company and doing things I could do a few hours a day.

The rest of the time I could spend raising my daughter.” He smiles. “And, at that point, it wasn’t realistic to think I could move off and start making esoteric movies. I simply didn’t have the resources to do that.”

Working amid stories that his wife had run off with a Lucasfilm employee, Lucas devoted himself to developing his business and raising his adopted daughter, Amanda, who is now in her mid-twenties. Beavering away through his forties, he adopted twice more, taking in Katie (born in 1988) and Jett (1993), and says that, for all his cinematic success, raising a family is his proudest achievement. Indeed, at 64, Lucas looks the perfect picture of a family man, a wholesome American patriarch, wrapped in his almost-trademark attire – blue plaid shirt, jeans and trainers (suits are for special occasions) – his thick crop of hair and perennial whiskers now a blanket of white. His patronage extends beyond his immediate family into the world of industry.

“I am the father of our Star Wars movie world – the filmed entertainment, the features and now the animated film and television series,” he says. “And I’m going to do a live-action television series. Those are all things I am very involved in: I set them up and I train the people and I go through them all. I’m the father; that’s my work. Then we have the licensing group, which does the games, toys and books, and all that other stuff. I call that the son – and the son does pretty much what he wants.” He laughs. “Once in a while, they ask a question like ‘Can we kill off Yoda?’, things like that, but it’s very loose.

“Then we have the third group, the holy ghost, which is the bloggers and fans. They have created their own world. I worry about the father’s world. The son and holy ghost can go their own way.”

The father’s world has proved extremely bountiful. The six Star Wars films alone have earned billions in box-office receipts and, at the same time, an extended family of film-makers has benefited from the advances in digital technology forged by Industrial Light & Magic (ILM), a subsidiary of Lucasfilm, formed in 1975 to create the special effects for Star Wars. From Jurassic Park through Harry Potter and Transformers, all have borrowed the expertise gathered by Lucas for his business empire. Yet his firm’s intention is not to register huge profits for the emperor’s money box; rather, everything earned is ploughed back into the technology. As Gordon Radley, who retired as Lucasfilm president two years ago, notes: “This was never a business strategy, in that you don’t go into a business like ILM to get rich. If George had invested his profits in, say, pork bellies, he’d have made a lot more money.”

The tale of how Lucas earned his fortune is almost as celebrated as the Skywalker saga itself – when the young film-maker came up with the idea for Darth Vader and his evil minions, he struck a deal with 20th Century Fox that saw him retain the Star Wars merchandising rights. Each time one of the stiff-limbed action figures appeared in a child’s toy box, Lucas earned a few more cents. He is now worth an estimated $3 billion, which isn’t too shabby for a small-town slacker whose giddy dreams drew short shrift from George Lucas Sr, a conservative father. Born and raised on a walnut farm in Modesto, California, George Jr was expected to enter the family stationery business after finishing his studies.

“Right at the beginning, I wanted to be an illustrator,” he explains. “Then I wanted to go to art school, to an arts centre in Los Angeles. My father said, ‘No way – you are not going to be an artist. Artists don’t make any money, and I won’t pay for that.’ Knowing I was a lazy underachiever then, he knew I wasn’t going to pursue that seriously. It was hard, but I do believe that, in the end, if I had gone to the arts centre and started to be an illustrator, I would probably have drifted into animation, and would probably have moved into Star Wars, just like I did.

“It would have been the same thing with anthropology, which was my first major at college. I’d have made documentaries and eventually features, then done exactly what I did. If you take all the things I love – art, anthropology and making movies – what I do pulls them all together.”

If Lucas feels there is a sense of destiny at play, it would be apt. While every Star Wars acolyte knows that the series as an entirety deals with the redemption of Anakin Skywalker (aka Darth Vader), and that the first trilogy borrowed from Eisenstein, the Flash Gordon series and the ideas proffered by the mythologist Joseph Campbell in The Hero with a Thousand Faces, many still read the first film, 1977′s Episode IV: A New Hope, as a reflection of the young Lucas’s dreams.

Just as Luke Skywalker was raised in the galactic backwater of Tatooine, working for a family member who poured scorn on his dreams of becoming a pilot, so the young Lucas was reared in lonely Modesto, his father eager to see him ply the family trade rather than entertaining dreams of car racing. Then, just as a benevolent savant, Obi-Wan Kenobi, assisted Luke in his battle against his father, so Lucas met the cinematic sage Francis Ford Coppola, who helped him to make his first feature in 1971: an adaptation of one of his student works, THX 1138. Finally, just as Luke achieved his dreams at the end of the first picture, so, too, did Lucas, who fulfilled the pledge he had made to his father more than a decade before: that he would be a millionaire before he hit 30. Honestly, though, did any of those thoughts enter Lucas’s mind when he was writing the film?

“I don’t read the reviews, that’s for sure, so I’m not so familiar with all the theories,” he smiles. “But, psychologically, as with every writer or work of art, it comes from himself. It doesn’t come from some magical place. It filters through his own brain, and it’s reflective of an artist’s own sensibility. That’s a given. It would be someone who can divorce themselves from their work, because it’s a creative medium. You have to drag it out of yourself, unless you copy something or somebody else tells you what to do. If you are writing the screenplay, and doing the whole thing yourself, it’s 100% you.”

Lucas has now finished with the live- action films, although the wider Star Wars universe remains very much alive. In terms of fresh storytelling, Lucas has overseen production on The Clone Wars, a 3-D animated movie, out here next month, which will launch an animated television show on the Cartoon Network this autumn; and he has already started work on a live-action Star Wars television series, which will go into production in 2009.

“It’s completely separate from the Star Wars films,” he explains. “The Clone Wars has all of the characters everybody knows — from Yoda to Anakin to Mace Windu to Obi-Wan — they’re all there. The live-action series, meanwhile, has nobody there, because it’s after Episode III, so everybody’s dead, basically, or hiding somewhere. You hear about the emperor, just like you do in Episode IV, but it’s mostly about a whole different world. I mean, there are a million stories in the big city — you’ve only seen one of them.”

Lucas is also considering what to do about the fifth instalment in the Indiana Jones franchise, which he has produced from the outset. The most recent film, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, has taken almost $750m (£375m) at the international box office, and the whip-snapping archeologist remains in high demand, even though his own days as a whippersnapper are behind him (Harrison Ford is two years older than Lucas).

“We were hoping for box-office figures like that, which is, ultimately, with inflation, what the others have done, within 10%,” Lucas explains. “So, we squeaked up there. Really, though, it was a challenge getting the story together and getting everybody to agree on it. Indiana Jones only becomes complicated when you have another two people saying ‘I want it this way’ and ‘I want it that way’, whereas, when I first did Jones, I just said, ‘We’ll do it this way’ — and that was much easier. But now I have to accommodate everybody, because they are all big, successful guys, too, so it’s a little hard on a practical level.

“If I can come up with another idea that they like, we’ll do another. Really, with the last one, Steven wasn’t that enthusiastic. I was trying to persuade him. But now Steve is more amenable to doing another one. Yet we still have the issues about the direction we’d like to take. I’m in the future; Steven’s in the past. He’s trying to drag it back to the way they were, I’m trying to push it to a whole different place. So, still we have a sort of tension. This recent one came out of that. It’s kind of a hybrid of our own two ideas, so we’ll see where we are able to take the next one.”

In the meantime, Lucas is set to start production on Red Tails, which tells the story of the Tuskegee Airmen, an important subject for the film-maker. They might sound like distant relatives of Star Wars’ Tusken Raiders, but they were a real-life USAF squadron, the first black pilots to fight in the second world war. “I’ve had a hard time putting it together — 18 years, it’s taken me,” he concedes. Why so long? “Because the story is so great, so fantastic, but so big. There’s also an element of personal responsibility to those involved.

“I’m only going to produce Red Tails — we have a black director — but then I think I am going to direct some more, make some esoteric films that have a personal significance.” And what might they be?

“I can’t say yet, but they’ll be personal. n fact, I’d sooner just make them and not even release them, just put them on the shelf, like ships in a bottle — ‘Oh, look, let me show you my collection.’ Unfortunately, it doesn’t work that way. Films are a very expensive hobby. And you have to get people to want to go and see them.”

When Lucas does embark on his more personal, esoteric films, the chances are he’ll talk more to promote them through the press. Although don’t expect a media deluge. After all, this is George Lucas, not Britney Spears.

Star Wars: The Clone Wars opens on August 15

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Hayden Panettiere apparently performed a striptease for her boyfriend, Milo Ventimiglia, on his 31st birthday. Panettiere whipped off a Velcro-lined version of her cheerleader outfit to reveal sexy red lingerie.

“Hayden gave Milo an unforgettable birthday surprise by morphing from her bouncy cheerleader character in Heroes to a bump-and-grind striptease.

“She asked the wardrobe girls to make her a Velcro-lined version of the outfit she wears on the show. As she sang ‘Happy Birthday’ to Milo in front of cast and crew during lunch she ripped off the costume to show off her sexy red lingerie. Milo’s face went bright red.” 

Hayden finished her session by kissing and hugging Milo.