Star Wars with occasional sarcasm
Entertainment Tonight’s Ash “Porg Queen” Crossan managed to snag a few moments with Episode IX director J.J. Abrams at the 14th Annual Oscar Wilde Awards on Thursday. Naturally, he’s low on specifics, but they are his first comments since wrap, so have at it:
Transcription under the cut.
Continue reading “J.J. Abrams on Episode IX, Billy Dee Williams, and the art of the dodge”
A rumor was circulating yesterday that The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson had dropped out of his upcoming standalone Star Wars trilogy, until Johnson himself chimed in. “No it isn’t true,” he tweeted late Wednesday night. “I’m still working on the trilogy. With all due respect to the movie bros, who I’m sure are lovely kind bros with good fraternal intentions.”
Johnson has been a frequent target of some less savory parts of the fandom who have been unusually irate about The Last Jedi.
The trilogy, which was announced before Jedi‘s release, has no release date, script, or cast yet, which isn’t particularly concerning: Lucasfilm hasn’t said much about any film projects beyond Episode IX. A second set of non-saga films is in the hands of Game of Thrones‘ David Benioff and D.B. Weiss – rumor has it that at least one of theirs will go into production before Johnson’s.
Johnson is currently doing post-production on Knives Out, a murder mystery starring Daniel Craig.
As we patiently (or not) await the Episode IX title, Making Star Wars has a nice set of rumors/possible plot details to briefly
Let’s all remember that the one big thing about rumors, though: It’s all a game of telephone, and sometimes guesses and assumptions made along the way get all mixed up in a tiny bit of truth. Remember, MSW had Knights rumors from last time that turned out to be nothing. As always, I recommend not taking these things too much to heart – at least until we have proof in the form of something official, anyway.
All we’re getting from official sources are firm silence and some minor teasing, so rumors have to do. For now.
Another important character has wrapped in Episode IX – BB-8, per puppeteer Brian Herring, who shared some behind-the-scenes pictures from The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi for the occasion.
So who’s still working? John Boyega, for one.
→ Anthony Daniels (and thus, Threepio) has wrapped filming on Episode IX. “…We’re so proud to have worked with such a lovely, talented cast & crew lead by J.J. & Kathy,” he tweeted this afternoon. “I’ll miss everyone but I’m glad to know that we’ve been making something exceptional together, to share with the waiting world.
→ We haven’t heard from many other cast members since John Boyega’s big hint, but we do know that Adam Driver was filming when the Oscar nominations were announced, per Spike Lee. (Here’s Driver himself on his nom.) He’s at Sundance now for The Report, where he’s perfecting his Star Wars dodges.
→ The other supporting nominee who happens to be in Star Wars, Richard E. Grant, has his own reaction in the NYT. He actually talks about IX – and his nomination – with Radio Times.
→ No matter how much wishful thinking is knocking around the internet, there won’t be anything from Episode IX at the Super Bowl. Like Solo last year, Disney’s likely contenders for a big game spot are all spring/summer releases. More at Deadline.
→ That said, I still expect that our next major drop will be the title.
→ And finally…
Oscar nominations came out this morning, and Solo got a nod for Best Visual Effects. Congrats to ILM’s Rob Bredow, Patrick Tubach, Neal Scanlan and Dominic Tuohy and the rest of the crew. It’s up against Avengers: Infinity War, First Man, Ready Player One and Christopher Robin.
We’ve also got a Golden Globes repeat in the Supporting Actor Race, with Adam Driver (for BlackkKlansman) and Richard E. Grant (for Can You Ever Forgive Me?) going up against each other, as well as Mahershala Ali (who won the Golden Globe,) Sam Elliott and Sam Rockwell.
It’s another record-breaker for Marvel, as Black Panther comes out with seven nominations, including Best Picture. It’s the first superhero movie, period, to be a Best Picture nominee. Ludwig Goransson, who will score The Mandalorian, is up for the film’s score.
Low-res preview pages for Industrial Light & Magic Presents: Making Solo: A Star Wars Story have appeared on Edelweiss. Take a look inside the Disney era’s first making-of book in the gallery under the cut.
Continue reading “First look inside ILM’s Making Solo book”
Kaz does a favor – sort of – for Flix and Orka and finds himself in First Order trouble – again – in next Sunday’s “Dangerous Business”.
In exchange for parts, Kaz minds Acquisitions for Flix and Orka, and comes into conflict with a shady alien customer in league with the First Order.
More pictures and a clip under the cut.
Continue reading “It’s ‘Dangerous Business’ for Kaz on Sunday’s Resistance”
John Boyega got his hands dirty – and a little bloody – on the set of Episode IX today. He shared on Instagram: “Great working day on set!! The whole team pushed themselves today to achieve something visually crazy! I’ve had many moments of shock on set but not like today and I can’t wait until you know why. #FN2187”
In non-Star Wars news, he’s executive producing and overseeing the soundtrack for God Is Good, a South African crime thriller.
→ Naomi Ackie nabbed a role in the upcoming Game of Thrones prequel series.
→ Adam Driver has been doing a lot of press for BlacKkKlansman during awards season, and in a recent Q&A he briefly addressed signing on for Star Wars and having “one piece of information of where it was all going.”
→ Dominic Monaghan shared his Episode IX jacket, as well as attending a Manchester United game with Kelly Marie Tran and Billie Lourd.
→ In the realm of possible spoilers, another Making Star Wars set report.
→ And for those who want to avoid the (possible) spoilers, there have been a few reports that a trailer has been cut, but little on the timing. No one is ruling out one appearing early (by which I mean, before Celebration in April) but it seems more likely to me that we’ll get a title as (maybe) production officially finishes, which is how things went down for The Force Awakens. (And that’s likely soon, given all the cast and crew gifts we’ve seen lately.) Could we get a teaser of some sort then? Never say never, but I’m not counting on it. Of course, I’ve been wrong before.
Today is the day that Solo debuts on Netflix. It joins The Last Jedi and Rogue One on the streaming service – though the later will be departing on the 18th. (If you’re not in the U.S., your terms – and the available films – may vary.)
Solo will be the last Star Wars film on Netflix under Disney’s current agreement – Episode IX will be the first to debut on Disney+.
