Star Wars with occasional sarcasm
All the Star Wars folks struck out at the Golden Globes. Adam Driver and Richard E. Grant lost out to Mahershala Ali for a supporting actor, while Donald Glover (Atlanta), Laura Dern (The Tale), Keri Russell (The Americans) and Thandie Newton (Westworld) all struck out in their respective categories.
Grant and Russell will make their Star Wars debuts in the upcoming Episode IX.
Making Star Wars has some details on Episode IX filming. Ducks! (Not a spoiler. Well, maybe a spoiler.)
Also, a reminder that while there’s (always) speculation, we have zero legitimate reasons to believe we’re going to get a look at Episode IX this month. That said, tomorrow is the one-year-out mark. I’d wager that our next bit of news will probably be the film’s title: The Force Awakens was announced in November 2016, and The Last Jedi in January 2017, so we’re in that range. Maybe J.J. will drop us another picture. But actual footage? Unless it’s something for Force for Change, don’t count on it it.
Yes, it’s hard to wait. But it’s also nice to have a December off from the madness. I dunno, maybe I’ve been blogging this stuff for too long.
Now, for our other production-in-production, MSW also has some hints at familiar figures we might see in The Mandalorian.. Or if that doesn’t do it for you, how about supposed details on Nick Nolte’s character? He’s not what any of expected.
One of the most delightful bits of merchandise to come out of the sequel era is no more: Sphero is dropping out of the the licensed product market, which means there won’t be any further BB-8s, BB-9Es or R2-D2s out of the company. They’ll continue to support the apps for two years.
The company sold “millions” of BB-8s, their first Star Wars toy, but “the licensed toy business required more resources than it was worth,” per The Verge.
Debuting only moments after The Mandalorian casting was confirmed on Wednesday, the Star Wars Fan Award winners got a little lost in the shuffle. The winners (including, above, Best Custom Costume winner, Michaela M.’s Enfys Nest) were announced on a special episode of The Star Wars Show. Check them out below, or skip straight to the interviews.
Solo: A Star Wars Story and all four Indiana Jones movies are among the new offerings coming to Netflix in January.
Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull drop on the first; Solo appears on January 9.
Meanwhile, Rogue One is leaving on January 18. It’s next stop is with the rest of the saga on TBS/TNT. It was, notably, the first Star Wars movie on (American) Netflix. Solo will be the last; Episode IX will debut on Disney+.
While on set for the Knights Templar drama Knightfall, Mark Hamill discusses Episode IX security with Entertainment Weekly:
“They’re going to fly [the rewrites] over with somebody from the company,” Hamill said. “They’re going to come and give it to me and wait for me to read it before I give it back. So no pressure! You can’t even keep it overnight. But that’s the way it is now.”
He reveals that he has done about a week of filming for the next Star Wars, and will head back between his Knightfall schedule. He also has a “very high profile” non-Star Wars voiceover project coming up that hasn’t been announced yet.
Knightfall season 2 doesn’t have a premiere date yet, but Episode IX will be out December 20, 2019.
Making Star Wars has another collection of Episode IX rumors, including a commercial being filmed at Disney World for Christmas Day – which, to be fair, might be for Galaxy’s Edge and not the movie at all – and some far-off pics from Pinewood. They’re mostly spoilery, so I’ll refrain from the details.
Kevin Smith was on Good Morning America today and he discussed visiting J.J. Abrams and the set of Episode IX in London. Although he signed “so many nondisclosure agreements that if I said anything somebody would pop out with a lightsaber and cut my hand off,” he did manage to share a few things, namely that the movie looks great and he witnessed someone give “a career-best performance.”
Video, and a transcription of the most relevant bit, under the cut.
Continue reading “Kevin Smith visits Episode IX set, says movie looks “fantastic””
Making Star Wars is verifying, of all things, a Reddit report regarding the state of certain headgear in Episode IX, as well as a new droid. I make a habit of not trusting Reddit, yet I do trust MSW. As always, we consider and wait.
There’s also a considerably more spoilery report re: The Mandalorian if that’s more your speed.
Although there have been numerous reports – and even social media posts from the likes of John Boyega (mostly via Instagram stories) and Oscar Isaac’s wife Elvira Lind – we finally have some comments from higher up the food chain. Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy and director J.J. Abrams both talked to Roya News about Jordan’s Wadi Rum:
“Wadi Rum is breathtakingly beautiful and the perfect location for our film,” says Abrams. “I feel extremely fortunate to have been able to shoot in Jordan. Between the warm welcome from the government and the dedication and hard work of the local film professionals, we couldn’t have had a better experience. We are enormously grateful.”
Producer Kathleen Kennedy said “I also want to thank the Royal Film Commission Jordan, and the Army, whose tremendous support has been invaluable, and helped make this shoot possible.”
Other than Boyega and Isaac (and maybe Anthony Daniels,) the cast has been mainly mum on who exactly is out in Jordan. There are fuzzy photos that may indicate at least one other cast member joined them, but they’re hardly conclusive.
STAR WARS – EPISODE IX – SPOLER ALERT – NOW IT CAN BE TOLD LEAK. DATELINE PINEWOOD. It's cold & raining. Demands are made to return to the wonderful warm planet of Jordan's, Wadi Rum where cast and crew spent a glorious time in a beautiful, spectacular, thrilling setting. Or two.
— Anthony Daniels (@ADaniels3PO) November 28, 2018
There’s plenty of speculation on what Jordan means for the story – understandably, a return to Jakku is a common theory – but it’s interesting that Daniels’ tweet implies it may be standing in for more than one. Curious.