Jar Jar Binks Returns for ‘Fanboys’
Sam Huntington talks about his upcoming ‘Star Wars’-based comedy
Jar Jar Binks, cinema’s most maligned Gungan, makes a triumphant return in “Fanboys,” warns Sam Huntington, who stars in the upcoming Weinstein Co. comedy.
“Jar Jar appears in the movie in a very very funny way that I can’t reveal to you, because it’s absolutely hysterical,” Huntington warns. “It’s one of my favorite moments in the whole movie.”
Huntington, talking to reporters about his role as eager-beaver photographer Jimmy Olsen in the upcoming “Superman Returns,” is part of a “Fanboys” ensemble that includes Dan Fogler, Kristen Bell, Jay Baruchel and Chris Marquette. Directed by Kyle Newman, “Fanboys” focuses on a group of lifelong friends who embark on a roadtrip from Ohio to the Skywalker Ranch in Northern California. Their goal in the not-so-distant period piece? To steal a copy of “Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace” so that a dying friend can see it before its worldwide release.
“It’s really, really funny and it’s very very emotionally powerful, believe it or not, because they’re fulfilling the wish of their dying friend,” Huntington explains. “And I know that sounds very cliched, but it’s actually very tastefully done.”
Huntington is probably best known from roles in “Detroit Rock City” and several TV appearances, but by the time “Fanboys” hits theaters (some time early next year, likely), he’ll be wildly recognized for his turn as Superman’s favorite shutterbug in Bryan Singer’s big budget Warner Bros. film. While he plays support to the likes of newcomer-in-tights Brandon Routh, Kate Bosworth and Kevin Spacey (whose Trigger Street shingle is producing “Fanboys”) in “Superman,” the upcoming comedy will give him more of a lead role.
“I play a guy who basically has been segregated from his fanboy friends,” says Huntington. “They’ve all continued on after college to be remain fanboys and I’ve kind of gone the corporate road and work for my day at a car dealership and inherit it at the beginning of the movie and then it just kind of goes on after that.”
He adds, “Yeah. That’s right. I rediscover my inner fanboy.”
So Huntington can tell us that Jar Jar — last seen in the background of two shots in “Revenge of the Sith” – is back in all his floppy-eared glory, but will there be any other cameos from within the “Star Wars” universe? And, equally importantly, will the Dark Lord of the Skywalker Ranch, George Lucas, make an appearance?
“Needless to say, we kiss his ass for an hour-and-a-half, he kind of had to sign off it on it, you know,” Huntington laughs. “The extent of his… I should keep that kind of a mystery, the extent of his involvement. It’s very cool. It’s going to be a fun, fun movie.”
Before “Fanboys” opens, real life fanboys (and girls) can see “Superman Returns” when it opens wide on Wednesday, June 28
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