New Info on STAR WARS: EPISODE VIII, It Will Start Right Where Episode VII Left Off
Director Rian Johnson recently wrapped production on Star Wars: Episode VIII and this weekend he showed up at Star Wars Celebration to talk a little bit about the movie and he revealed a few new details.
We really don’t know much about what is going to happen in Episode VIII aside from some rumors that have hit the internet, and we all know how rumors can go. They could turn out to be legit they could turn out to be false, we’ll just have to wait and see.
In the meantime, Johnson offered some solid intel on the film revealing that the story will pick up right where Star Wars: The Force Awakens left off. He says:
“This is going to start right where the last one left off. It was a break from tradition.”
We’ve never seen a Star Wars pick up right where they previous film left off before, so that’s a first and I like the fact they are doing that because I want to see what happens! That was quite the cliffhanger. He went on to say:
“The second film is where we zoom into the characters, getting to the heart of them and challenging them.”
I personally can’t wait to see Luke Skywalker utilized in a new epic adventure and see how his character has changed and evolved after all these years. That’s what I’m most excited about! He went on to talk about the shooting location where the film begins saying:
"Skellig Michael is an incredibly mystical place. To be there and have that be the first thing we were shooting was an appropriately surreal way to start everything off."
In preparation for to shoot the film, Johnson watched a few movies to help inspire him. Those film included the 1949 WWII drama Twelve O’Clock High, which he said “became extremely important”, the 1959 survival adventure Letter Never Sent, and other classic such as The Bridge On The River Kwai, The Dambusters, Sahara, and Gunga Din.
Johnson spent six weeks at Lucasfilm working on the story and what exactly they wanted to do with these characters. He explained that:
“We would watch dailies come in from VII. It was probably really healthy creating the story based on our reactions to the footage rather than the cultural reactions. It was a unique experience.”
Ryan was joined by Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher and John Boyega during the presentation and they just gushed about how talented of a director Rian is. Boyega said:
“Rian is awesome. He is doing an indie movie within a studio franchise. It is so much fun… Rian has a new energy for a new story.”
I can’t wait to see it! The movie comes out on December 15th, 2017.