Carrie, crystal foxes and more in latest The Last Jedi behind the scenes featurettes

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.

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The Last Jedi behind-the-scenes with Andy Serkis, Carrie Fisher, Oscar Isaac and Daisy Ridley

With The Last Jedi home release imminent, several behind the scenes clips and featurettes have been released. There’s an interview with Andy Serkis on Snoke at Entertainment Weekly; Oscar Isaac, Carrie Fisher and The Slap at People; Daisy Ridley and Rian Johnson on Rey at E!.

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Rian Johnson on The Last Jedi’s throne room fight, prequel parallels, deleted scenes

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:

The Last Jedi: More pictures, how the Rey/Kylo scenes were filmed, Story Group and more

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.

It’s the night before Star Wars, and George Lucas has weighed in

The Last Jedi script originally called for 160 sets, which is “a ridiculous amount of sets,” production designer Rick Heinrichs told The Hollywood Reporter. The production ended up having 125 sets at Pinewood. He also reveals that George Lucas visited the set… And on that note, he’s seen the movie as well, calling it “beautifully made.” In London, Rian Johnson said: “To have a chat with him and to have him be so kind and gracious felt really good.”

StarWars.com has the first excerpt of Cobalt Squadron, a middle-grade novel that features The Last Jedi’s Rose and Paige Tico. The book by Elizabeth Wein (Code Name Verity) will be out Friday.

This week’s Star Wars Show takes us back to the World Premiere with a behind-the-scenes look at creating the livestream.

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Today in The Last Jedi: Rian Johnson goes long, Louboutins up for auction

There a new, wide-ranging interview with writer/director Rian Johnson over at StarWars.com today. Topics include porgs (naturally,) Snoke’s red room/gold robe, and why there hasn’t been much of Finn in the marketing. There’s also a super charming cast interview over at the New York Times.

The charity auction for the custom Louboutins has begin. (Currently in the lead is the Amilyn, for $9,500, followed by Rey, Rose and Phasma.) In true collector fashion, each auction winner will come away with two pairs of the shoe – one signed by Christian Louboutin and the actress, and a second “in the size of your choice” – which means yes, you CAN wear them.

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The Last Jedi: Press conference, interviews and more

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.

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