Hot on the tails of losing her battle with Geffen Records over the release of "You Know You're Right," Courtney Love again suffered defeat in her constant battle to keep fans of grunge god Kurt Cobain from experiencing every facet of his considerable talent.
Cobain's former label has won another legal skirmish: California courts today announced that they do, indeed, hold the rights to all records of Cobain's existence, thus paving the way for a licensing deal with Lucas' company Industrial Light and Magic. The deal will result in Lucas's using his state-of-the-art computer technicians and sizeable bankroll to convert all available information on the late singer into an interactive digital performer.
"It's going to be f---ing amazing," Lucas said in a phone interview. "Everything we perfected with Jar Jar in the first two films has just been gearing up to this: the actual resurrection of the man who, let's face it, exemplifies everything we've laid out about the angst-ridden world of the other films."
Lucas went on to describe how after teen heartthrob Hayden Christensen was critically panned for his performance in "Attack of the Clones" last summer he realized what was missing.
"I went about it all wrong," Lucas said, "trying to use digital technology to create the environment when I could have been replacing my lead actors - hell, all of the actors - and saved the big bucks up front while completely manipulating every detail of their performances!"
It is this assertion that makes industry observers nervous.
"Let's face it," said an animator from rival studio Pixar, "George's work is all about backdrop; there hasn't been any subtlety in the acting he's used since American Graffiti. If he can't coax it out of live performers, how is he going to figure out how to get it out of a few lines of code?"
"He couldn't do it with Jar Jar, and he's rubbish at hair," added the Pixar animator.
Lucas countered the accusations, asserting, "With Cobain, it's all there. My kids are Nirvana fans, you don't think I'm not aware of the layered performances he gave on shows like Unplugged?"
And regarding Lucas' own talents with programming believable hair?
"I'll pay the guys who did Final Fantasy if I have to. But really, Kurt's hair should be a piece of cake, thanks to the fact that all our research indicates it hadn't been washed since 1982."
Nirvana fans seem divided on the issue, especially given Love's adversarial stance on the release of information to ILM.
"That b----, she just wants to keep us from dissecting everything about him," said Edna McMisry, a junior psychology major. "She killed him herself, didn't she, with her whining and her sapping off his fame to promote her band - which sucked!"
Freshman political science major Jonique Toadstool, who is also president and founder of SA's Star Wars Aficionado club, disagreed.
"I'm not saying George (Lucas) is capable of making a mistake, but it seems to me like Kurt Cobain is the voice of an older generation; I mean, I was only seven when he died, and I think George needs to look to a more contemporary face to ensure the continued relevance of the Galactic Empire, which is just to say that I don't think he's going to attract newer viewers, not that I don't think he's not a genius or something like that you know, but if anybody disagrees with me they're welcome to come down to our weekly meeting in the Baldy basement and I'll use my light saber of power and we can deal with it like two responsible Jedi Warriors."
He then wiped his nose on his sleeve.
Former Nirvana members Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic had originally opposed the bid by ILM to secure rights to use Cobain's image, but withdrew their objections when they found that Love had already filed suit.
It is not yet clear what Cobain's role will be in the new film, although Lucas did reveal that "it's going to be real cool, he's going to be some kind of Jedi, you know, probably he'll get in a fight with Obi-Wan at some point and I'm thinking of adding a new Jedi superpower that will let his light saber extend from this great futuristic looking guitar."
It has been confirmed that the soundtrack to "Star Wars: Episode Three" will include digitally-arranged tracks based on manipulated sound bytes and telephone calls made by the deceased rock star prior to his suicide.
This is not the first time a deceased actor has been included in the final cut of a film ("Queen of the Damned," "The Crow"). It is, however, thanks to modem technology, the first time an entire performance will be literally "phoned in."
