Lucasfilm Crushes CGI Leia Rumors

Earlier this week, a distasteful rumor that Lucasfilm was going to use CGI (like we just saw in Rogue One) to recreate the late Carrie Fisher for future appearances of Princess Leia in the Skywalker saga began to spread like wildfire when BBC Newsnight reported that Lucasfilm was reportedly negotiating with Fisher’s estate for the continued use of her likeness. But thankfully, Lucasfilm has responded to the rumor, crushing it with their official statement:

We don’t normally respond to fan or press speculation, but there is a rumor circulating that we would like to address. We want to assure our fans that Lucasfilm has no plans to digitally recreate Carrie Fisher’s performance as Princess or General Leia Organa.

Carrie Fisher was, is, and always will be a part of the Lucasfilm family. She was our princess, our general, and more importantly, our friend. We are still hurting from her loss. We cherish her memory and legacy as Princess Leia, and will always strive to honor everything she gave to Star Wars.

Myself, many Star Wars fans, and most importantly Carrie Fisher’s family are still mourning the untimely loss of Carrie. While I don’t think the use of a CGI Leia would be unethical, it would, however, be insensitive this close to Fisher’s death. As we saw just a few years ago, Universal Pictures had to recreate the likeness of Paul Walker using CGI and his brothers, both Caleb and Cody (along with the blessing of Walker’s family) to complete Paul’s scenes in Furious 7 when Paul tragically passed away in a car accident midway through the film’s production. That is now the case, however, with Fisher.

Carrie had already completed her scenes for Episode VIII before she passed away but that doesn’t mean the film won’t be affected. Insiders have told THR that at least two major scenes from the upcoming films (Episode VIII and Episode IX) will be affected including (spoiler warning) a reunion between Princess Leia and her brother, Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill), and a confrontation between Leia and her son, Kylo Ren (Adam Driver), over the murder of his father, Leia’s husband, Han Solo (Harrison Ford). Lucasfilm has already begun to develop a plan to weigh out the options with Episode IX director Colin Trevorrow. Considering Episode VIII isn’t due out until the end of this year, Lucasfilm has plenty of time to come with a way to alter the storyline that not only serves the franchise best but also honors the memory of Carrie Fisher.

SOURCE: LUCASFILM

‘Star Wars: Episode VIII’ Will Dig Deeper Into The Characters

When Star Wars returned to cinemas at the end of 2015, the franchise introduced us to a new set of iconic heroes as well as a villain who solidified himself as one of the most flawed and interesting villains in Star Wars history. While everyone was intrigued and captivated by Rey thanks to the powerful performance given by Daisy Ridley, the most interesting and layered character by far was Kylo Ren played by Adam Driver.

Kylo Ren felt more like a real person than most Star Wars characters. Driver portrayed a man who was struggling to be something he wasn’t as Kylo seemed to almost overcompensate with his forceful step through scenes in which he aspired to be as menacing as his Grandfather Darth Vader. He used his mask as a pure intimidation tactic to instill fear in his enemies as he knew his scarless, clean shaven face wouldn’t frighten anybody. Throughout the film, the man formerly known as Ben Solo struggled between the dark and the light side of the force but in the end ultimately made the choice to extinguish the light within him and fully commit himself to evil when he murdered his father, Han Solo.

While Kylo was a fully fleshed out three-dimensional character, the same cannot be said for the other new characters introduced in The Force Awakens. One of the biggest complaints coming out of the film was that the new characters of Rey, Finn (John Boyega), and Poe (Oscar Isaac) were rather thin and as much as I loved them, I have to agree. Adam Driver recently told Larry King that Episode VIII will explore Kylo Ren’s humanity, or what little he has left of it, but now the film’s director, Rian Johnson, while speaking with USA Today offered up new details teasing that the film will dig deeper into the core of the new characters:

“I wanted to know more about each of them, and that doesn’t just mean information or backstory. Figure out what’s the most difficult thing each of them could be challenged with now — let’s throw that at them and dig into what really makes them tick by seeing how they handle that.”

Nothing about the plot for Episode VIII is known at this point other than it will pick up directly where The Force Awakens left off but Lawrence Kasdan, the writer of The Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi, and The Force Awakens called the script for Episode VIII “weird” which is a compliment coming from Kasdan. Adam Driver has teased the film will be “darker” in tone, comparing it to how Empire was a darker film than A New Hope, and John Boyega has said that Johnson has managed to craft a Star Wars film that has an “indie movie” feel. But Johnson has promised that while the film — said to be weird and dark as it digs deeper into the characters — will have the same fun factor that The Force Awakens and the classic trilogy had:

“I want it to be a blast and to be funny and to be a ride the way The Force Awakens and the original Star Wars movies were.”

Star Wars: Episode VIII hits theaters December 15, 2017.

The film stars Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Adam Driver, Oscar Isaac, Domhnall Gleeson, Gwendoline Christie, Benicio del Toro, Laura Dern, Kelly Marie Tran, and Andy Serkis. Written and directed by Rian Johnson.

SOURCE: USA TODAY

Rian Johnson Talks Luke and Rey in ‘Star Wars: Episode VIII’

With Rogue One: A Star Wars Story now in its fourth week in theaters, it’s already time to start shifting our attention to the next chapter in the Skywalker Saga, Star Wars: Episode VIII, due out next Holiday season.

The Force Awakens was rather cryptic with its explanation of Luke Skywalkers self-imposed exile but the sequel’s director Rian Johnson offered up a few interesting tidbits telling USA Today “a large part of the of the movie” will be spent addressing why Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamil) is on Ahch-To —  the planet believed to be home to the first Jedi temple — and what he’s going to do next.

The film will also focus on how Luke and Rey (Daisy Ridley) relate to one another. Johnson added:

“Part of what’s she’s dealing with is the realization that she has this power and this gift. She’s taking her first step to coming to terms with this thing inside her that she never knew was there and is just starting to reveal its potential.”

The last we saw Rey she was holding out Luke’s father’s lightsaber as her plea for him to return to the galaxy with her to restore balance to the force shifted into a demand. Rather than jump ahead a few years, Johnson reassured fans Episode VIII will break Star Wars tradition and pick up right where The Force Awakens left off:

“I don’t want to skip ahead two years. I want to see the very next moment of what happens.”

With Episode VIII already in the can, including Carrie Fisher’s scenes, Lucasfilm has begun to look to the future in order to develop a plan to rework the story for Episode IX due to the untimely death of the franchise’s beloved Princess.

Episode IX director Colin Trevorrow will meet this week with Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy to weigh out the options of how to alter the storyline in a way that not only serves the franchise best but also honors the memory of Carrie Fisher.

Insiders told THR that at least two major scenes from the upcoming films will be affected including (spoiler warning) a reunion between Princess Leia and her brother, Luke Skywalker, and a confrontation between Leia and her son, Kylo Ren (Adam Driver), over the murder of his father, Leia’s husband, Han Solo (Harrison Ford).

Star Wars: Episode VIII hits theaters December 15, 2017.

The film stars Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Adam Driver, Oscar Isaac, Domhnall Gleeson, Gwendoline Christie, Benicio del Toro, Laura Dern, Kelly Marie Tran, and Andy Serkis. Written and directed by Rian Johnson.

SOURCE: USA TODAY

Episode VIII to Explore Kylo Ren’s Humanity

At this point, the only things known about the next chapter of the Skywalker Saga, the untitled Episode VIII, is that the film will break Star Wars tradition and rather than taking place months or years later, the film will pick up immediately where The Force Awakens left off with Rey’s plea-turned-demand for Luke to return to the galaxy with her in an effort to restore balance to the force. That and the film will include a larger role for Carrie Fisher than she had in Episode VII.

A trailer isn’t due to drop until the spring but Adam Driver has given fans a small tidbit to chew on until then. While speaking with Larry King, Driver told King fans can look forward to seeing Kylo Ren’s humanity explored in Episode VIII, or what little he has left of it:

“I think, I mean this is such a general answer, but you know, humanity. Even though it’s very much a blockbuster movie, and I’m aware of that, there was no taking that for granted in that we were forced to be general. You know, there were a lot of plot points that we knew were operating in the first one that we get to explain more in the second one that kind of make the both of them make sense. They do kind of feel kind of socially active to me. In that they’re – this is a long answer, but George Lucas originally – you know a lot of Star Wars was in response to Vietnam and I think a lot of what the, I remember talking to JJ and Ryan with this idea of terrorism and two sides kind of being morally justified to behave however they wanted to to get what they thought was absolutely correct.”

Back when Star Wars was created, the world was much simpler. Things were much more black and white than the rather gray world we live in today. As we just saw with Rogue One, Lucasfilm is doing their best to address that and have the films of this new Star Wars era represent the world as it is today. As far as Kylo Ren’s humanity goes, I don’t think he has much of it left. Some fans have speculated we’ll eventually see him redeem himself in the final chapter of the new trilogy, however. I don’t think that is possible and it’s not because he killed his father. It’s what killing his father meant. The test Kylo was facing was when he killed his father essentially the same test Vader faced in his final confrontation with Luke. It was a test to extinguish the light within himself and commit himself to the dark side for good. I don’t think there is any coming back from the dark side for Kylo.

SOURCE: LKN

Lucasfilm Sets Meeting to Develop a Plan for Leia After the Loss of Carrie Fisher

As Carrie Fisher’s family and Star Wars fans around the world mourn the loss of Carrie, Lucasfilm has begun to look to the future in order to develop a plan to rework the story for Episode IX due to the untimely death of the franchise’s beloved Princess.

THR reports Episode IX director Colin Trevorrow will fly to Los Angeles next week to meet with Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy to weigh out the options of how to alter the storyline in a way that not only serves the franchise best but also honors the memory of Carrie Fisher.

Insiders told THR that at least two major scenes from the upcoming films will be affected including (spoiler warning) a reunion between Princess Leia and her brother, Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill), and a confrontation between Leia and her son, Kylo Ren (Adam Driver), over the murder of his father, Leia’s husband, Han Solo (Harrison Ford).

While It’s not something I care too much about at the moment, although I’m sure I will greatly going forward, Lucasfilm has plenty of time to come up with something that makes sense and serves the story well with Episode IX not due to start shooting for a few more months and the release of Episode VIII just under a year away. My only hope is that it doesn’t end up being something implausible like Paul Walker’s exit from the Fast franchise. Universal did they best they could mid-production of Furious 7 after the untimely loss of Walker, however. The exit of Brian O’Connor from the story doesn’t make much sense anymore with his brother-in-law, Vin Diesel, breaking bad in The Fate of the Furious.

Leia’s scenes could be reshot to work an exit for her character into the story or they could use CGI most recently seen in Rogue One to work around Carrie’s death. While it wouldn’t be unethical, my money would be on the former as the use of CGI to resurrect Fisher in order to keep her character going seems a little insensitive this close to Fisher’s death. At least in the case of Furious 7, it was really only used to exit Walker from the franchise.

SOURCE: THR

Oscar Isaac Shares an Episode VIII Set Photo of Carrie Fisher and Mark Hamill

After the tragic and untimely death of Carrie Fisher due to a major heart attack this past Tuesday, many actors, celebrities, and fans took to social media to outpour their heartache and support for Carrie’s family. Oscar Isaac, who plays Poe Dameron, the greatest pilot in the resistance led by Fisher’s Leia Organa in The Force Awakens reprises his role next December alongside Fisher and Mark Hamill in the next episode of the Skywalker Saga, the untitled Star Wars: Episode VIII. While it is still unknown whether or not Fisher and Hamill will share a scene, Isaac has shared a photo of the two huddled in costume on the backlot of Pinewood Studios that gives hope the space twins Luke and Leia will be reunited on screen come next December.

Isaac captioned the photo with some loving words of which he remembers Fisher and the impression she made on him in the few years he was lucky enough to know her:

“She had no patience for pretense or small talk. She saw through things, at a different angle, with the gritty wisdom that comes from the hardest lessons. And, man, did she make me laugh. Will miss you dearly, Carrie.”

Kathleen Kennedy Hints at When We’ll See The First Trailer For Episode VIII

With Rogue One: A Star Wars Story finally here, it’s already time to start getting hyped for the next chapter in the Skywalker saga, Star Wars: Episode VIII. Rey’s adventure is just beginning, Star Wars fans are eager to get back to Ahch-To so they can pick up with Rey after she confronted Luke to return to the galaxy and help restore balance to the force. There were rumors of an Episode VIII trailer dropping with Rogue One, but that would have been a mistake as it would have taken away from the event of Rogue One and the masters of this new era of Star Wars know better than that.

That, however, will not stop the press from trying to get a scoop on just exactly when Star Wars fans can expect the first trailer for Episode VIII which is still currently without a title. Recently at an event for Rogue One (h/t Slashfilm),  Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy told BBC News Lizo Mzimba when we’ll get to see that trailer:

“Well, pretty soon. We’re giving [Rogue One] a little bit of breathing room, and then probably heading into spring, you’ll start to see things.”

If the marketing campaign for Rogue One is any indicator, we can expect the trailer to arrive as soon as Rogue One hits shelves on Blu-ray about 16 weeks post it’s theatrical release. Lucasfilm wasted no time with the first teaser for Rogue One which dropped the day after The Force Awakens hit Blu-ray. But it is also possible they could push the teaser or trailer back a week to give fans in attendance at Star Wars Celebration 2017 the first look at the next chapter of Rey’s adventure.

A rough cut of the film written and directed by Rian Johnson is most certainly in order as legendary composer John Williams began scoring the project two days ago.

The #HanSolo movie will shoot in Feb and we'll see some #StarWarsEpisodeVIII stuff towards Spring says Lucasfllm President Kathleen Kennedy pic.twitter.com/dMkgXfdFz9

— lizo mzimba (@lizo_mzimba) December 15, 2016

SOURCE: LIZO MZIMBA

Does ‘Star Wars: Episode VIII’ Have a Title?

With Rogue One: A Star Wars Story set to premiere tonight in Los Angeles, the hype for the next chapter of the Skywalker saga Star Wars: Episode VIII is going to start to heat up. The film written and directed by Rian Johnson has yet to receive an official title but a trademark filing picked up by AVS forum suggests the film could be titled Star Wars Episode VIII: Forces of Destiny.

The amount of good and services the title is being trademarked for definitely suggests this could be the film’s title but we’ll have to wait and see. There have been rumors of an Episode VIII trailer being attached to Rogue One but I think it’s highly unlikely. The marketing machine at Lucasfilm is a masterful one. There wasn’t a Rogue One trailer until a day after The Force Awakens was released on Blu-ray and chances are Lucasfilm will wait to do the same for Episode VIII. But it’s also possible Lucasfilm could stretch it for another week and wait until Star Wars Celebration in Orlando to give fans in attendance the first look at Episode VIII.

Star Wars: Episode VIII hits theaters December 15, 2017.

The film stars Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Adam Driver, Oscar Isaac, Domhnall Gleeson, Gwendoline Christie, Benicio del Toro, Laura Dern, Kelly Marie Tran, and Andy Serkis. Written and directed by Rian Johnson.

(via CBM)

Daisy Ridley Says The Answer To Reys Parents is in ‘The Force Awakens’

“Whomever you’re waiting for on Jakku, they’re never coming back.” – Maz Kanata

When The Force Awakens cut to the end credits, the parentage of the franchise’s new lead heroine, Rey (Daisy Ridley), remained a mystery. The film was littered with clues that suggested Rey could either be the daughter or Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) or that her parents are characters we have yet to be introduced to.

While promoting the new documentary The Eagle Huntress, for which she serves as Executive producer, Ridley told Time Out London that she was caught by surprise at audiences reactions and their lack of understanding of her character’s origin:

“I thought a lot was answered in ‘The Force Awakens’. Then after the screening I went for a drink with my agent and everyone, and we were chatting away and I realized that oh, in their minds it’s not answered at all!”

Luke Skywalker has always been my favorite Star Wars character. Sure Han Solo is great but I never wanted to be Han. I wanted to be Luke. It wasn’t until Rey came along did the franchise have another character that came close to being as incredible as Luke for me. That being said, I will be pretty disappointed if she turns out not to be his daughter because I think if there has ever been a character worthy of the Skywalker name, it’s Rey.

Unfortunately, based on the clues in The Force Awakens and what we already know about the force, I don’t think Rey is Lukes daughter. Like Anakin, I think Rey is a vergence in the force. A vergence or nexus point was a phenomenon of the force that was centered on a place or around an object, and in some rare cases a person.

“I have encountered a vergence in the Force.”
“Located around a person?”

―Qui-Gon Jinn and Mace Windu on the discovery of Anakin Skywalker.

When the force is out of balance, the force itself will create a vergence to restore the balance between the light and the dark. With the dark side rising in Snoke and Kylo Ren — and Luke in exile on Ahch-To, it’s possible that Rey was created with the purpose of finding Luke and restoring balance to the force in the galaxy with him.

We’ll find out next Christmas when Star Wars Episode VIII hits theaters on December 15, 2017.

SOURCE: TIME OUT

John Williams to Begin Recording ‘Episode VIII’ Score This Month

Last Christmas, legendary composer John Williams took us back to a galaxy far, far away with his score to Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens, which is one of his greatest, densest compositions yet. Reports emerged as far back as August that Williams had already begun writing the score for the sequel, Episode VIII, just as it was being piped into the editing bay for Rian Johnson to begin assembling the film.

Fans were relieved when Williams confirmed he would indeed be returning to score the sequel after he told President of Lucasfilm Kathleen Kennedy that he didn’t want anyone but him scoring Daisy Ridley as she continued down the path towards becoming a Jedi.

Variety reports Williams will head back into the recording studio this month and continue to work on the score for Episode VIII up until March or April, giving him plenty of time to craft another masterpiece. At this point, it seems like Episode VIII will complete production eight months ahead of its theatrical debut.

Star Wars: Episode VIII hits theaters December 15, 2017.

SOURCE: VARIETY