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Capote-Sounding 'Star Wars' Character Only As Gay As You Want Him to Be
Posted by STV at 10:30 AM on August 13, 2008
We thought all discussion of The Clone Wars ended yesterday with the discovery that if Harry Knowles hates it — enough even for George Lucas Warner Bros. to swoop in and kill his embargo-shattering review — it must be some kind of radioactively awful. But new revelations have surfaced this afternoon about Ziro the Hutt, the fringe character whom Knowles described as sounding like "a racist take on a Black New Orleans Crack-Dealing Whore." Not quite, Harry — not even close, in fact, according to an interview published today at MTV Movies:
It's not the look or design that pushes it over the top into stereotype, of course, but the voice (performed by Corey Burden), a lispy, high-pitched twang purposively reminiscent of Truman Capote. So how did a character who wasn't even supposed to speak English wind up sounding like that? Because George Lucas insisted on it, Clone Wars director Dave Filion confessed.
"Zero, Jabba's uncle, originally spoke in Hutt-ese, like Jabba and then he had a different sluggish voice just like Jabba, and then George one day was watching it and said 'I want him to sound like Truman Capote.' He actually said that and we were like 'Wow!'" Filion revealed. "It's a hybrid of it but the inspiration is definitely there on Capote. It's one of those things that takes him from being an interesting character and I think really does put him over the top and does something. He's a favourite among the crew here."
Filion bafflingly stopped short of acknowledging Ziro's sexual orientation, however ("He's of questionable [sexuality] at least as a slug. They tell me that these slugs can be either male or female depending"), leaving it to Lucas to wait and see how the currently developing Great Sissies of History trilogy does on its own before permuting it for a more fabulous galaxy far, far away.
- Is Zero the Hutt The First Gay Alien In 'Star Wars' History? [MTV Movies Blog]
Comments (AU Comments · US Comments)
There are currently no AU comments for this post.
goldfarb
Posted 10:36 AM 13/8/08
"He's a favorite among the crew here."
that's not necessarily a good thing...in fact it's almost always bad.
goldfarb
IamXenu!
Posted 11:24 AM 13/8/08
Remember when Lucas was talented? Yeah, me neither.
IamXenu!
mothrafairy
Posted 11:08 AM 13/8/08
"I want him to sound like Truman Capote."
Instead of a giant slug? What's the difference?
mothrafairy
Fry_Bread_Power
Posted 11:39 AM 13/8/08
"It's one of those things that takes him from being an interesting character and I think really does put him over the top and does something."
But not in a good way.
Fry_Bread_Power
NotReadyForPrimeTime
Posted 11:37 AM 13/8/08
How can slugs be gay if they do asexual reproduction?
NotReadyForPrimeTime
brokennails
Posted 12:28 PM 13/8/08
@WGARefugee: I think you nailed it.
brokennails
WGARefugee
Posted 12:18 PM 13/8/08
I see Lucas as an extremely intelligent, emotionally distant guy who takes refuge in fantasy because human relationships are a little mystifying to him. Consequently he writes stilted, unbelievable, and overly technical dialogue and occasionally appears completely tone-deaf on issues like this one.
WGARefugee
mothrafairy
Posted 1:14 PM 13/8/08
@WGARefugee:
Possible. But I see him as not nearly as talented or intelligent as people once believed.
mothrafairy
goldfarb
Posted 1:53 PM 13/8/08
I think it's that Lucas /is/ a very intelligent and imaginative guy...but it's the execution that messes everything up...
and he seems to hold onto ideas/creative choices with a death grip...quality be damned
goldfarb
raincoaster
Posted 5:44 PM 13/8/08
A. Claveringi Capote.
[www.gwthomas.org]
raincoaster
mothrafairy
Posted 5:41 PM 13/8/08
@goldfarb:
So he doesn't have the imagination to execute well and his ideas/creative choices lack quality? Is that the intelligence of which you speak?
I hear you, though, and I also believe that, in his youth, Lucas became an extremely effective storyteller and film-maker.
Then I believe he became a drunk.
mothrafairy
peglegpete
Posted 9:56 PM 13/8/08
Black New Orleans Crack-Dealing Whore = Truman Capote
peglegpete
RollsRoyceRevenge
Posted 11:57 PM 13/8/08
Funny, because whenever I saw the original Jabba the Hutt, I always thought of Holly Golightly. I mean, twins, right?
RollsRoyceRevenge
A Pimp Named DaveR
Posted 12:36 AM 14/8/08
@goldfarb: Lucas IS a very intelligent and imaginative guy. But it's not the execution -- it's the fact that everyone is apparently afraid to look him in the eye and say, "George, that is the most fucking batshit stupid thing I've ever heard, and I've worked with Paris Hilton before."
A Pimp Named DaveR
NoGrumpys
Posted 1:26 AM 14/8/08
I think someone needs to slug George Lucas
Zero has high blood pressure - please don't feed him salt
NoGrumpys
TheQuestion
Posted 1:19 AM 14/8/08
@A Pimp Named DaveR: Laideez and gentz, we have a WINNAH!
TheQuestion
overqualified
Posted 3:05 AM 14/8/08
Still only the 2nd gayest Star Wars character ever... sorry Jar Jar.
overqualified
denominator
Posted 3:16 AM 14/8/08
Not that it matters, but the director's name is actually Filoni. Italian rather than Lucasian.
@A Pimp Named DaveR: The only instance I heard of something even close to that was when Seth McFarlane and Co. went up to Skywalker to screen the Family Guy Star Wars Framegrab-a-thon. I guess after the screening was over, Lucas said, "Well, it's Star Wars, all right." To which Seth responded, "Yeah, but ours is better."
denominator
Sloth
Posted 4:20 AM 14/8/08
What happened to those art films Lucas said he was going to do? I was looking forward to what Lucas thought art was.
Sloth
Baronzemo
Posted 5:38 AM 14/8/08
actually Sloth I'd hunt down the quote, but I have 2 floss...Lucas actually said in an interview all his time raising his adopted kids cut into the time of his life when he was going to do those "noncommercial art movies" he spent 30 years talking up.
Baronzemo
WGARefugee
Posted 11:42 AM 14/8/08
@Baronzemo: well there's always TXH1138. It was pretty darn non-commercial.
WGARefugee