Short Cuts

Episode II: Attack of the Untrustworthy Lucasfilm Employees Dept.: Did George Lucas employ the skills of the Empire's evil med-droid-hover-ball-thingee from The Empire Strikes Back to discover the secret location of the hidden rebel wastrel (and former Lucasfilm employee) who surreptitiously made off with loads of Attack of the Clones loot, including images and video files? Further, E! Online reports that the suspect "was questioned about supplying the Aintitcool.com critic [Harry Knowles] with his early-bird review copy [of Episode II]." The Marin Independent Journal broke the story earlier this week of the arrest of Shea O'Brien Foley, 30, who was popped by the cops in Burbank. Lucas is known to have been miffed that local Web/film guru Knowles got a highly irregular sneak peek at the film way back in March 2002, two months before its May 16 release. For his part, Knowles, reached at his Austin home this past Tuesday, says Lucasfilm nailed the wrong man. "I've never heard of the guy that they got," says Knowles. "What happened was that they found somebody who had stolen material in their possession, but the person who had showed [the Epidsode II tape/CD-R/flip book] to me had long ago returned what I had seen. He had never actually stolen it, really; he just borrowed it and then put it back where it belonged." Dodgy thievery semantics aside, Knowles says none of the many news organizations now drooling over the flap have contacted him for his side of events, nor has Lucasfilm dropped round to grill him. In other Knowles news, keep your eyes peeled for an appearance by Hollywood's red-headed stepchild in an upcoming Apple Computer television spot with Harry extolling the virtues of non-PC Web-wrangling... In less hairy news, the Austin Gay and Lesbian International Film Festival is holding a Saints & Sinners Ball, Saturday, Oct. 26, 9pm-midnight, at the Texas Fine Arts Association (Seventh and Congress) benefiting, uh, itself. The righteous blowout will include free snacks, music by DJ Lixx, and a cash bar. Costumes encouraged. E-mail [email protected] for more info... Austin FilmWorks is once again offering their highly recommended Final Cut Pro Workshop for all you Luddites still using Premiere. Crawl out of the dark ages with an able assist from FCP guru J. Kevin Smith, Saturday, Nov. 9 and Sunday, Nov. 10, 9am-5pm both days, at Austin FilmWorks (1705 Guadalupe, Studio 235, in the GuadalupeArts building, formerly ArtPlex). The class is limited to six(!) students, so call 467-0731 to reserve your space now, or weep about the injustice of it all later. Fee is $350, which is cheap considering the current state of your editing skills, pal. Macintosh skills are suggested but no previous knowledge of FCP is necessary. Check 'em out online at www.austinfilmworks.com... Finally, congratulations to Scott Miles, who took the Audience Favorite Award during Alchemy Works' recent Movie Midwifing series with his script Visions of Oz. As the audience fave, Miles will have his script presented as an unstaged reading at the Manhattan Theater Source in Washington Square Park in NYC on Saturday, Nov. 23. Check it out if you're in the area, and buy the man a beer while you're at it.