rumors – Page 18 – Club Jade

August 23, 2015August 23, 2015

Rumor: Rogue One bringing back Grand Moff Tarkin

Today’s crazy rumor comes to us from The Daily Mail, so be sure to treat it with the upmost sincerity.

The Mail says that Rogue One will feature a “digitally recreated” Peter Cushing reprising Grand Moff Tarkin. Okay!

To their credit, it is somewhat plausible, given the great strides we’ve seen in digital makeup recently, but the performance would also be under far greater scrutiny… Of course, we also heard similar rumors for Revenge of the Sith, where young Tarkin (played by Wayne Pygram and a lot of makeup) showed up only briefly with no actual lines. But the article also goes on to describe (presumably) ILMers recreating his legs, which seems a bit disingenuous when you could hire a talented stand-in. Maybe their source is actually talking about Battlefront?

August 22, 2015August 22, 2015

Rumor: Will Episode VIII introduce another major female role?

A site called GeekNation claims they’ve heard through the ever nebulous “sources” that Rian Johnson and company are looking for an actress to play a “strong, young female character” who will be “featured heavily” in Episode VIII.

Where I start to side-eye things is who the sources say this character specifically is, but that’s spoiler territory (including some fairly mild speculation on The Force Awakens,) so I’ll steer clear.

This isn’t the first we’ve heard that Episode VIII may feature another leading woman; Making Star Wars had something back in June, though the specifics were quite different. (Or were they?)

But as much as I hope for continued variety of Star Wars ladies in this new trilogy, I’ve never heard of this GeekNation site before and can’t vouch for their reporting at all. The salt cellar is close at hand.

August 20, 2015August 20, 2015

Drew Struzan gushes about The Force Awakens

Legendary poster artist Drew Struzan told Movie Weekly that The Force Awakens is “probably going to be the best Star Wars you’ve ever seen.” Pretty high praise, even from a guy being paid by Lucasfilm. He also talks about how J.J. Abrams called him up, how much of the film he’s seen, his process, and why the lightsaber colors on the Revenge of the Jedi poster were reversed.

→ Lucasfilm has trademarked new new names. They could be for The Force Awakens, Rogue One, or just about anything, really.

→ Yet more D23 video: Lupita Nyong’o on being a part of the franchise and her other Disney roles, Abrams on what fans can expect, Oscar Isaac’s favorite character, and Daisy Ridley hopes that her and John Boyega’s friendship comes through on screen.

→ Spoiler corner: A tiny bite-sized scoop of information about Poe Dameron’s squadron name.

→ On that note, a nice, if top-heavy, piece from newcomer The Star Wars Post on if Star Wars 7 News leaking the Luke Skywalker image crossed a spoiler line. I’ll just say that SW7N has never exactly been known for their sound judgement, which is why I tend to warn so profusly when linking them.

August 14, 2015

Rumors: Benicio Del Toro isn’t playing coy, and are these more Knights of Ren?

Benicio Del Toro, who’s reportedly in talks for an important role in Episode VIII, told Entertainment Tonight that “it looks like it’s gonna happen.” Let’s hope that Rian Johnson is more forgiving of information slips than J.J. Abrams…

→ Indie Revolver has a collection of concept art that could very well be more Knights of Ren, the group that (apparently) gave rise to our pal Kylo.

→ You want leaked action figures? Knock yourself out.

→ After dropping a big bombshell on fandom last night, Star Wars 7 News plays it a bit safer today, with… The film’s marketing plan. Their apparent willingness to leak images aside, I don’t find SW7N the most trustworthy site, but the bit about “a mandate from the absolute top down” rings fairly true.

August 14, 2015August 14, 2015

Doctor Who’s Tom Baker coming to Star Wars?

Could Tom Baker, who played the Fourth Doctor on Doctor Who, be the second (official) Doctor to come to Star Wars? “I’m going to be in this new Star Wars thing, you know,” he told fans at a recent convention, per Sci-Fi Fantasy Network. “I’m going down to recording some voices for this new character they’ve created for me, very soon.”

The article references The Clone Wars, but a voice part makes me think the mostly likely answer is Rebels. Or, if you want to go a little further, he could be lending his voice to a character in Rogue One.

One of Baker’s Doctor Who successors, Tenth Doctor David Tennant, voiced a droid on The Clone Wars in 2012.

August 13, 2015August 14, 2015

Hey kid, you wanna see a picture of Luke Skywalker in The Force Awakens?

A picture of Mark Hamill in costume as Luke Skywalker for The Force Awakens has been C&Ded all over the place – including the source – so it’s likely legit, but I’m not going to post it myself. The internet being the internet, chances are you’ll have no trouble finding it, even if you don’t want to find it.

If you can’t resist, sites still running it (as of post time) include Indie Revolver and Heroic Hollywood. And it’s been posted multiple times in the Luke Skywalker tag on Tumblr, a trend which will no doubt continue. Catch them while you can!

August 3, 2015August 3, 2015

The Force Awakens Blu-ray coming in April?

And today’s hot rumor is… The Force Awakens’ Blu-ray release date, maybe. It’s April 26, 2016, according to Jedi News. Seems pretty likely, but man it’s weird that we’re already at the point where rumors are dealing with the home releases.

→ There’s a new Adam Driver interview at Esquire. This publicity tour is going to be interesting, that’s for sure.

→ Do we have a new planet name from LEGO? Planet name? Maybe a ship name? It’s a name, in any case.

→ Video: Yes and No questions with J.J. Abrams.

July 30, 2015

Spoilerphobes beware: Today’s The Force Awakens drops

For today’s The Force Awakens leaks and rumors, we have a look at Ken Leung’s character – who may have a very blurry appearance in the SDCC behind-the-scenes video – at Star Wars 7 News. Making Star Wars has another shot of his costume, plus another actor we haven’t heard much about. And yet another new character. And for those looking for something more substantial, the happenings at Maz Kanata’s, a continuation from yesterday.

July 29, 2015July 29, 2015

Rumor: Three Star Wars live-action shows for Netflix?

Today’s hottest Star Wars rumor comes from Cinelinx, where Jordan Maison says he’s heard that there’s still movement happening on live-action TV – and not just one series, but three.

It’s not a shock that Lucasfilm would follow in the footsteps of corporate stepsibling Marvel, who debuted Daredevil, the first of four limited series, on Netflix earlier this year.

We don’t know what (or who) the Star Wars ones would cover, but Jordan is guessing they might begin about 2017.

I’m still not thrilled with the idea of yet more TV, but a Netflix series may be the least annoying way to do it: Drop a complete set of 12-13 episodes, let it marinate for a few months, then drop something new. Of course, it all ultimately depends on what they do with it…

July 29, 2015

The Force Awakens: Special effects, sets, names and… toy packaging?

Despite a hefty amount of fan grumbling over the focus on ‘practical effects’ coming out of The Force Awakens publicity machine, I doubt anyone actually believes that the film isn’t going to have any CGI. (And, let’s face it, us hardcore fans aren’t the audience that they’re going for by saying that in the first place.) But if you’re wondering, and don’t mind spoilers, Making Star Wars has some (supposed) details about the completely CGI shots that are in the film, and where practical effects are are used.

→ Also on MSW, a few Rogue One details, and how they relate (or not) to The Force Awakens, via a bit of creative recycling.

→ We have a name, or maybe just a designation, for Miltos Yerolemou’s character. This, naturally, leads to some details of a certain sequence at MSW.

→ The Force Awakens toy packaging has been spotted in the wild… On a Rebels-themed item, naturally.

→ Look who’s talking: Simon Pegg and (sort of) Jessica Henwick.