From E! Online: <http://www.eonline.com/News/Items/0,1,9319,00.html>
Jar, Jar, Jar: 'N Sync's "Clones" Cameo by Mark Armstrong Jan 2, 2002, 2:45 PM At last, someone has stepped in to replace Jar Jar Binks as the target of derision from Star Wars fans the world over. Brace yourselves: The boys of 'N Sync will have a cameo in the upcoming Star Wars: Episode II--Attack of the Clones. A Lucasfilm spokeswoman confirmed what Star Wars fan sites had been buzzing about for days, saying the fivesome will appear briefly in a "big scene." (Breathe, people, breathe.) There are two different stories as to how this shocking development occurred. The New York Post reports that George Lucas' adopted daughters, Amanda and Katie, are huge fans of the popster supergroup, so he cast the boys as Jedi knights. The Post says they appear in the background of the film's climactic battle scene, before getting blown up by "battle droids." [Just as long as they don't use special effects for that scene.] Lucasfilm rep Lynn Hale, however, says that, while Lucas' daughters are big fans, "that didn't have anything to do with it." Hale says Justin, Lance, Joey, JC and Chris were big Star Wars fans, so they asked producer Rick McCallum if they could appear in the latest installment. McCallum apparently found a spot for them, in "a big scene with lots of extras." But Hale says they have no dialogue, and they won't even be credited as extras when the film hits theaters May 16. Still, the mere blip of an appearance by the Pop stars has set off a firestorm of talk on Star Wars Internet message boards. "Please no. George, no. Please. Anything but the boy bands. Please," wrote one fan in a discussion on Star Wars news Website TheForce.Net. "Jar Jar I could handle. Not this." Other fans, however, were actually willing to give Lucas the benefit of the doubt--assuming that any cameo with the 'N Syncers would be so brief that they wouldn't even be noticeable. "If they're just in the background, I don't see what it would matter," writes another fan, known as Silac5. "Now, if they were to start having synchronized lightsaber battles and spontaneously bust out in song, then I would have to walk out of the theater." At first, it appeared the 'N Sync news was just another twisted rumor--conjured up by the same Star Wars geeks who have claimed that Celine Dion is singing the theme for Attack of the Clones and that Van Halen planned to record an instrumental score for the film. This time, the rumor turned out to be true, and Lucasfilm confirmed it after tabloids in London and New York published stories on the cameos. Truth, it seems, is stranger than fiction.
