George Lucas talks 'Star Wars VII' casting

LOS ANGELES, March 7 (UPI) -- "Star Wars" creator George Lucas says Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher and Harrison Ford are in talks to star in a seventh installment of the Hollywood franchise.

Hamill and Fisher previously said they were interested in reprising their roles of twins Luke and Leia Skywalker in the anticipated "Star Wars" sequel, but Ford has not spoken publicly about the film series' future and his possible place in it since the announcement of three planned followups was made last year.

"We had already signed Mark and Carrie and Harrison -- or we were pretty much in final stages of negotiation. So I called them to say, 'Look, this is what's going on,'" Lucas told Bloomberg Business Week. "Maybe I'm not supposed to say that. I think they want to announce that with some big whoop-de-do, but we were negotiating with them."

Lucas stopped short of saying what the outcome of the talks with the actors was.

"I won't say whether the negotiations were successful or not," he said.