Looking back to the film that put him on the galactic map, Kyle Newman discusses Fanboys the 2009 film that starred a stellar cast with incredible futures including  Dan Fogler, Jay Baruchel, Sam Huntington, Chris Marquette, and Kristen Bell. Kyle looks at how the project got off the ground, how it gained the approval of Lucasfilm and in the process became a much-loved fan favourite.
Set in 1998, Fanboys revolves around a band of childhood friends — Windows (Jay Baruchel), Hutch (Dan Fogler), Eric (Sam Hungtingon), Linus (Chris Marquette), and Zoe (Kristen Bell) — who decide to steal a print of The Phantom Menace from Skywalker Ranch when Linus is diagnosed with terminal cancer.
Thus begins a wild, cross-country road trip punctuated by a gaggle of memorable characters like Seth Rogen’s belligerent Trekkie, Admiral Seasholtz, and several genre icons like William Shatner (playing himself) and Silent Bob duo Kevin Smith and Jason Mewes. The biggest guest stars of the entire film, however, are bona fide Star Wars veterans like Carrie Fisher, Billy Dee Williams, and Ray Park — all of whom make metafictional cameo appearances throughout the journey.
“We would write them in and hope they would say yes,” Newman explains. “The script had a great buzz about it … It was, in a sense, a hot property comedy in the Hollywood system. It was an independent movie, but people were aware of it, so people were pushing their clients to be in it. For the most part, everyone we went after wanted to do it.”
In particular, the late Carrie Fisher plays a kind-hearted doctor who urges the group to take Linus back home to Ohio. Due to the severity of his illness, he’s just too sick to complete the last leg of the expedition. “We gave her some options of things that she could do because she’s like, ‘I want to do more. I don’t just want to be the stick in the mud that prevents this from fulfilling his last wish,” Newman says.
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