Star Wars with occasional sarcasm
Of course Mark Hamill, big geek, is apparently roaming San Diego Comic-Con “incognito.” His Twitter reveal of his Thursday “disguise” (or one of them) does show that he seems to be growing back his beard, which was noticeably absent a week ago.
Continue reading “Episode IX hair watch: Is the Hamill beard making a comeback?”
Solo’s Donald Glover will host Saturday Night Live on May 5, the show announced last night. He’ll also be, as alter ego Childish Gambino, the musical guest.
Meanwhile, a skit that was cut for time last night about The Shape of Water’s Fish Man featured a cameo from Adam Driver.
A few new behind the scenes clips have emerged since we last checked in. The first, on Kylo’s choice to not kill Leia, features a new priceless quote from Carrie Fisher. The second is on the crystal foxes (err, vulptices), finally giving us a long-awaited look at the actual dog-wearing-straw-costume used to help develop them. And from yesterday, how a Ralph McQuarrie painting from Empire inspired the final showdown and a bit on the red of Crait.
IMAX and Collider held a live Q&A with The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson last night. They livestreamed it, and while I’ve been hoping for better video, you can still watch it at Facebook. Johnson answered questions about the throne room scene and prequel parallels, among other things.
Collider themselves have finally weighed in with Johnson on the deleted scenes, lack of a funeral for Han Solo, Rey’s parents, and figuring out Poe’s journey. And finally, here’s the full Q&A in a proper video:
Disney has posted a few new The Last Jedi things on their award site, including several new stills, an extended score, production notes and the BAFTA Q&A with Rian Johnson and the cast.
Rian Johnson talks to People about how they filmed the “Force connection” scenes between Rey and Kylo Ren. Remember those paparazzi shots of Adam Driver flying into Ireland with Daisy Ridley and Mark Hamill, and all those rumors of a big fight scene with the Knights of Ren? Jokes on us. Johnson has another wide-ranging interview over at the Daily Beast. He also explains Snoke’s big scene and the Kylo shirtless scene.
The NYT takes a look at the women behind Lucasfilm’s story group, mainly Kiri Hart. It’s not just Pablo!
You’ll never guess what from the Legends EU made it into the movie. Sort of. Hey, at least it’s not something Courtship of Princess Leia this time.
On that note, there’s a ton of meta happening on Tumblr. I’m reblogging a lot of it and hope to do a roundup of the highlights here, but for the moment, an analysis of “the sacred Jedi texts.” (There’s plenty more coming – the fandom is prolific and I have a ton of backlog in the drafts folder.)
Tech corner: Neal Scanlan on how they built the film’s creatures, and again | Visual effects supervisor Ben Morris on creating Crait and the Earth equivilants | How Yoda was rebuilt | The movie’s sound design | The creation and science of that silent hyperspace scene.
Adam Driver was on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert last night, where he talked about the difference between this and the leadup to The Force Awakens, and they play with some action figures.
The Last Jedi press conference (and junket) was held on Sunday, and while it was low on news, an official video has now been released so you can comb through it for details on your specific foci. It had fun moments, but you can feel the exhaustion pouring off all these poor people. Moderated by Entertainment Weekly’s Anthony Breznican, it features Rian Johnson, Mark Hamill, Daisy Ridley, Adam Driver, Oscar Isaac, John Boyega, Kelly Marie Tran, Laura Dern, Gwendoline Christie, Domhnall Gleeson and Andy Serkis.
There are a lot of interviews coming out from the junket and other apperances, and honestly at this point all I can do is point you towards the Tumblr. Some highlights include The Star Wars Show, the First Order folks interviewing each other , everyone’s favorite Snoke theories and basically everything with Laura Dern and Oscar Isaac. (Just… Laura Dern.) Oh, and Daisy Ridley’s clarification on that quote about leaving the franchise.
Continue reading “The Last Jedi: Press conference, interviews and more”
Jimmy Kimmel Live was almost all Star Wars last night. As expected, it was low on revelations, but Rian Johnson did reveal the first word of the film, and we spotted a couple of familiar faces in the audience…
Continue reading “Videos: The Last Jedi cast on Jimmy Kimmel Live”
A new featurette arrived today, a look at training for The Last Jedi featuring Daisy Ridley, Gwendoline Christie, John Boyega, Kelly Marie Tran and Adam Driver.
Continue reading “To celebrate #ReyDay, LFL drops The Last Jedi training featurette”
The big feature today was Rolling Stone’s cover story, which talks to a good chunk of the cast and reveals some shocking facts – like Adam Driver not knowing what emo is, which is a shame. It also gives us this priceless quote from Daisy Ridley:
“It’s somewhat a reflection of society,” acknowledges the saga’s new star, Daisy Ridley, who plays Rey, and who has gone from unknown London actress to full-blown movie star nearly as fast as her character went from desert scavenger to budding Jedi. “But also it is escapism, because there are creatures and there are people running around with fucking lasers and shit. So, I think, a wonderful mix of both.”
Fucking lasers and shit. Star Wars! For a less sweary take on the subject, Rian Johnson:
“That’s one thing I hope people will be surprised about with the movie,” Johnson says. “I think it’s very funny. The trailers have been kind of dark – the movie has that, but I also made a real conscious effort for it to be a riot. I want it to have all the things tonally that I associate with Star Wars, which is not just the Wagner of it. It’s also the Flash Gordon.”
There’s plenty more – consider this one a must-read.
It was John Boyega’s turn on the publicity rounds today, as he stopped by Good Morning America and Live with Kelly and Ryan. And Kelly Marie Tran is on The Star Wars Show. I believe this is the first we’ve heard that she’s narrating the Cobalt Squad audiobook?
Nissan gives Captain Phasma the car treatment. Eat your heart out, Hot Wheels.
Continue reading “Today in The Last Jedi: Rolling Stone’s cover story hits”