Future Filmmaker Discussion. What to Expect from Episode VIII and Han Solo. Alden Ehrenreich Confirmed!
During the last panel at this year’s Celebration Europe LFL’s Pablo Hidalgo talked with filmmakers Rian Johnson, Kathleen Kennedy, Kiri Hart and Han Solo directors Chris Miller and Phil Lord. Read on for the details on what was revealed about Episode VIII and the second spin-off movie – Han Solo…
From StarWars.com’s LiveBlog:
The first question asked was how did they pick Rian Johnson to direct Episode VIII?
Kathleen Kennedy replied that she was very impressed with his previous films and she compared him to Spielberg (how he moves the camera).
Then Johnson takes the stage
…….gulp pic.twitter.com/7LlSHBGpQN
— Rian Johnson (@rianjohnson) July 17, 2016
Johnson started working on Episode VIII while VII was still in production. “One of the first things I did was go up to San Francisco, and spent about 6 weeks figuring out the story.” He would go over it with Kennedy and Hart, and watched dailies of VII. That helped shape where the story would go. “I think it was a good thing,” he says.
It was confirmed that Episode VIII will begin right after the events in The Force Awakens. This is the first time a Star Wars movie does that.
Rian Johnson on the difference between TFA and Episode VIII:
The first movie was “an incredible explosion of adventure.” VIII digs into character, challenging them.
Then Johnson showed some behind the scenes photos from Episode VIII:
Johnson said that the amount of sets they’ve built for Episode VIII is absolutely ridiculous. Also Dave Filoni visited the set several times.
Rian Johnson used to play Daft Punk on the set. He also mentioned that the working title of Episode VIII was Space Bear which logo he really loved (Panda with a helmet).
Han Solo directors take the stage.
Chris Miller and Phil Lord just moved to London and are still working on the script with Larry and Jon Kasdan.
On what Han Solo means to them:
“This is a guy who, on the playground, everyone was fighting who gets to play Han Solo.” They say the dichotomy of his seeming cynicism and heart make him an amazing character. “He’s a maverick, he’s a scoundrel, he’s clever but he’s not smart. He positions himself as this tough guy, but in the end he does the right thing.”
Lord and Miller almost got cameos in Rogue One. They were dressed but couldn’t make it. However Rian Johnson did get a cameo in Rogue One as a Death Star operator!
Also Gareth Edwards has a cameo in Episode VIII! And Miller has a cameo in The Empire Strikes Back, during his interning at ILM. They put out a call for extras for the Special Editions.
On casting Han Solo.
Alden Ehrenreich takes the stage!
They’ve seen thousands of actors. “We turned over every rock to find someone who has the charisma and magic swagger,” says Lord. Miller: “But it was a waste of money because the person to get the part was literally the first person to walk through the door.”
He auditioned for 6 months and he auditioned on the Falcon itself with none other but Chewbacca! He expressed his excitement.
Filming starts in January or February and there will be lots of droids and sets…
John Boyega surprises the fans appearing on stage! He is asked what is it like working with Johnson.
“The characters have been pushed in a new direction in a very, very cool way.”
So…is Finn OK after getting sliced by Kylo Ren? They won’t say. Johnson says they toyed with the idea of continually cutting to Finn in a coma throughout the film.
Johnson on Kelly Marie Tran:
“She’s really something special.” He can’t wait for the fans to see her in the film.
Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher are invited on stage!
Mark:
“It’s so moving. You can tell you’re apart of people’s childhoods…Sometimes I get light-headed with it.”
Carrie:
“It’s like family,” she says. She says taking your children to the family and sharing the saga with them is special. “It’s a fantastic thing.”
It’s a wrap!
For the full LiveBlog go to StarWars.com
Founder of SWNN, MNN and The Cantina forums.
Born on April 24, 1980.
so… really I missed nothing…
I’m shocked we didn’t get the title for Episode 8.
I’m shocked we didn’t get nothing
Somewhat surprised considering how very close they are to the end of filming and this being SWC. Not totally shocked b/c I wasn’t expecting it. They didn’t announce the title for TFA until the film was completely finished filming. Expect the same for this one.
There is not even a Star Wars panel scheduled in any listing for SD Comic Con that I’ve seen.
I don’t know if SW will have anything at SDCC. I think title announcement will be made via social media like TFA.
I tweeted Pablo Hidalgo about the title in the last day, I mentioned we got the TFA title in early Nov 2014, he said it didn’t have a title until a month or two before they announced it.
Yeah, that probably means they don’t have a title yet for episode 8 yet.
The title wasn’t announce for TFA until Nov 214
Right. The title for TFA was announced via Twitter. I’m paraphrasing but it read something like. “Filming has been officially completed for The Force Awakens.” That is how they announced the title. Also, filming for 8 started in January unlike for TFA, which was in May. That is why it was announced in November. I’m just speculating, anyway, on how and when the announcement will occur.
I guess in hindsight while Celebration was disappointing, maybe it’s better this way to preserve surprises in the long run. I think last year’s comicon reel was better than the rogue one reel though.
They had the perfect opportunity to promote Rogue One (which the general audience has little knowledge/interest of) and then blew it.
Believe me man, I feel ya. I wanted that trailer too.
didnt we hear this complaint before about TFA?
How’d that turn out? Only the biggest domestic gross ever
But if you’re trying to raise awareness with general audiences, why would you do it at a Star Wars fan event? Those people already know all about it.
Andi Guiterrez has really lovely legs.
My take from the weekend.
Aside from the very good Rebels presentation, this was a really poor Celebration. Why the heck couldn’t they show the Rogue One teaser trailer to everyone, and how come the future filmmaker panel wasn’t streamed, if they showed nothing? Is confirming Eihrenreich’s casting not something that we’re supposed to see?
I understand secrecy with upcoming big films like Star Wars, but it seems like they’re really going overboard with this crap.
I so agree.
The Rogue One BTS was really cool.
Was expecting:
More on Episode VIII and the Han Solo movie.
The Disney secrecy is counter productive. They wheel out all the stars who end up just being window dressing.
It’s called saving the experience for the theater. Most of us are happy for once that not everything is ruined beforehand
Her in that skirt…..
That olive green one? What I’d give to be a ladies razor.
No episode 8 title? I am disappoint.
-ed
Episode 8: The Attack Strikes Back, Episode 9: The Return of Revenge
Pffft, amateur: The Att8ack Strikes B8ck, and Dawn of the Return of the Revengening: Extinction
So, Dave Filoni is the only guy who showed respect to the fans,and he knows what fans wants from STAR WARS. If they don’t give him to direct at least one movie, I will never forgive them that. If people,like my self are so excited to see animated character brought to big screen, how amazing would it be to get that in live action movies,with some characters. He is a guy who knows what STAR WARS Fans wants,and he is not afraid to take risks and bring some new and original stuff in STAR WARS Canon
So, Dave Filoni is the only guy who showed respect to the fans,and he knows what fans wants from STAR WARS. If they don’t give him to direct at least one movie, I will never forgive them that. If people,like my self are so excited to see animated character brought to big screen, how amazing would it be to get that in live action movies,with some characters. He is a guy who knows what STAR WARS Fans wants,and he is not afraid to take risks and bring some new and original stuff in STAR WARS Canon. If he made me emotional in last season 2 Rebels episode, and he made that episode better than 40% of the movies,I just couldn’t imagine what that guy can pull out with LIVE-ACTION movie
Besides the reveal of Thrawn there was nothing really special that they showed or announced. Understandable for Episode 8 because the film is still far away but to not reveal anything new from Rogue One to quell all the negative rumours about the reshoots was a Major missed opportunity and a let down. Sure the more diehard fans know that any major film production whether it is Star Wars or anything else will already have reshoots sheduled into the production but for the casual fan this will continue those BS discussions of the film being in trouble, at least if they showed something some fears could have been quelled but again this whole celebration seemed to have been a waste. Still looking forward to the film though, a lackluster Celebration will not change that lol
“…his whole celebration seemed to have been a waste…”
That really depends on how you view Celebrations. I’ve attended three of them and had a blast every time. I’ve yet to attend any of the big panel things where folks expect all the big news to drop. All of that stuff hits the Internet five minutes afterwards anyway. Why travel to Anaheim or Orlando or London to see a commercial or get some special news? You can do that from home. That’s just not why Celebrations were created.
Celebrations are social events. You hang out, wander the floors, hits up some panels, check out the costumes, and wander into a bar for some beers, conversation, and debate with other Star Wars fans. As a vintage collector, Celebrations give me the opportunity to see friends from all over the world.
So, Dave Filoni is the only guy who showed respect to the fans,and he knows what fans wants from STAR WARS. If they don’t give him to direct at least one movie, I will never forgive them that. If people,like my self are so excited to see animated character brought to big screen, how amazing would it be to get that in live action movies,with some characters. He is a guy who knows what STAR WARS Fans wants,and he is not afraid to take risks and bring some new and original stuff in STAR WARS Canon. If he made me emotional in last season 2 Rebels episode, and he made that episode better than 40% of the movies,I just couldn’t imagine what that guy can pull out with LIVE-ACTION movie
Also since brought Thrawn back in canon,I think it is missed opportunity for Rogue one to bring him in live-action form. Ben Mendelson could easily be Thrawn,he plays exactly the same type of character,just without blue skin and red eyes
I don’t believe Filoni is “the only guy who showed respect to the fans”. I would imagine he still has to run his ideas past the Powers That Be, and it’s a more of a ‘group-think’ that decides what new things to bring into “canon”.
Perhaps more from this “group think” can speak out to fans at conventions like Celebration.
I’ve never figured out, you got people saying “fan service” in a bad way if they do too much for fans. It’s like they get complained at no matter what they do.
They could try bringing fans something interesting to the table and perhaps we won’t be “complaining.”
Only reason I complain because they promised they will give us 3 minute long trailer 2 days ago,I didn’t go out,I stayed awake until 5 am,and I was waiting trailer,and I didn’t get it. Why to promise something and not give it to us. Also,last year,they had 1 movie in production,and we got so much,now they have 3 movies in production,and we get nothing,even title for ep8,or trailer for Rogue One. I am fine if people who were there,to show something exclusive just for them,but we got nothing
Amen to that.
That’s the internet for you, I don’t think Star Wars.Com or Lucasfilm itself ever confirmed there was going to be a 3 minute trailer. ABC said they would get a 3 minute trailer after the force awakens special, which ended up being wrong. Apparently, ABC peeps don’t know the difference between trailer and reel.
Well,that’s what I first thought actually,and I made picture explaining that on twitter,but after that,I went to research about who confirmed that,and it was Lucasfilm.
Lucasfilm confirmed that ABC would be showing a 3 minute trailer, instead of a bts reel?
Each fan has their own definitions and opinions of what “interesting” is.
I find it “interesting” that fans think they know what’s best for Star Wars, when I doubt the majority of them have even run a lemonade stand before.
If we’re talking creativity, guaranteed half these fans couldn’t even write a 4 page double spaced essay much less a whole script of what they want to see as a Star Wars film.
It’s easy to critique after the works been done by someone else, and we have the advantage of hindsight.
Some use the defense “I don’t need to know plumbing to know when plumbing doesn’t work.” As if whether or not a toilet flushes is the same as subjective art.
Hahahaa or the “I don’t have to be a pilot to know that the chopper hanging in the tree means somebody messed up” Which I think was popularized by the comedian Steve Hofstetter. True, somebody messed up in that case, but there’s a big difference between objective screw ups and subjective art like you said.
There was good stuff from Celebration — the R1 reel, space monkey, Mark’s panel, Andi Gutierrez talking to Carrie, etc. — but outside of the Thrawn reveal just nothing big. It’s a shame as I was really expecting this Celebration to be the Rogue One show and it seems like Rebels totally stole it’s thunder.
I’m not whining that we were “owed” a trailer. It just seems like a missed opportunity to really hype up Rogue One and give it the best start to its promotional campaign.
Personally, I can take or leave Rebels most of the time and I’m fully cognizant of the fact they do good trailers then disappoint me with the actual show. I also never read the Thrawn novels so the most interesting thing for me was that they got Lars Mikkelson to do the voice.
And these Star Wars panels of recent memory have this annoying tendency to constantly remind us that they are using REAL sets and REAL props. We get it already…
I haven’t heard them say that very much this time.
Re-read those interviews again. Rewatch that three-minute Rogue One documentary again.
I do think that giant flying platform thing was cool though, we haven’t seen anything like that yet… maybe the closest thing was the falcon/ rey thing in Comicon reel.
I think there is a genuine interest by fans for practical costumes/props/sets – things which are tangible. They can see and touch these things in theory, at exhibits.
Its beyond ridiculous at this point.
For me, the biggest disappointment was not having warning that the Rogue One panel would have exclusive content only for those in attendance. They could have easily warned us and should have. Also, the last panel should have been streamed. To not show any footage or have any surprises and not stream it was b.s.
I would have liked them to have streamed the Future Filmmakers panel, so that was disappointing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B26RQLS-0d4
And….
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUnk90ALX5E
No Episode 8 title.
I don’t mean to brag “I told you so” because I too was hoping for one, but….. I told you do.
I guess not enough favor sta were sold. If they reveal it at SDCC, okay, fine.
If they reveal it atD23 or 24 or whatever this year’s is, then fine, but any longer And that’s BS
So….they really showed nothing. That is disappointing. I was hoping for some sort of reveal, even if it was just for the audience there. I mean at least in Rogue One we got the BTS and the audience got another teaser and Rebels got an awesome trailer.
It’d be great if Bollux could appear in the Han Solo film.
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/af08c9ac49827241e627f6c118b1617f4e56fb2c5b7e44b4ed7e251bf341803e.jpg
Or “Zollux” as he was known in the UK imprint of those books as “bollocks” means… testicles
My personal belief is that they did a bad coverage of stuff via streaming, the worst part being hiding the rogue one trailer. If it wasn’t for th Thrawn reveal, I would be hating LFL for that. Also I hoped they would say where will be star wars celebration europe 2018…
Last years was 10 times better, hopefully next year will be more like last years.
Next year, they will be closer to the Han Solo movie, closer to EP 8, AND it will be the 40th anniversary, so I imagine it will be far superior.
Some of the panels this year were just laughable, like the Anthony Daniels panel.
Laughable in a good way.
OH YES, 40th Anniversary all the way to expect!
What was wrong with Anthony Daniels’ panel? I haven’t watched it yet.
right now i’m more like GETUSTHATTRAILER
2018 will be at Orlando
2017 is in Orlando. 2018 hasn’t been announced yet.
Correct, I’m just gonna delete my OP
Disneyworld is in Orlando.
2017 will be in Orlando. 2018 will likely be abroad; possibly Celebration Japan 2. At any rate, I’ll be at both. They’re a blast.
Japan? please no… I need it to be in Europe…
sorry what? and celebration 2017?
Yes, I’m living in the future, 2017 will be in Orlando, July 15-17
you got me there. But won’t there be a SWC in 2017? They had one last year!
Sorry, Orlando will be 2017, July 15-17
No, they’ll do both in separate ways that get them $$$. They are going to milk every single part of SW announcements for maximum monetary benefit. They gave fans the minimum possible to keep people coming to Orlando and SWC 2017, and 2018, and whatever. This is maximum $$$$$$ from fans for minimum info and “experience.” Disney &LF have a cash playbook that will run until the money runs dry.
Now, you have a grand total of 32 posts and you’re saying pretty much the same thing in every one of them. Who were you two weeks ago?
I’ve always been Rabo Karabekian. Don’t call it a comeback I’ve been here for years.
Your entire answer the way you said it makes minimal sense… how would they get more money by making less people arrive at celebration?
I never said anything about minimal people. I said they will give the minimum information spread over the maximum number of opportunities. They didn’t give the title for E8 or a full trailer for RO at SWC, just a RO BTS featurette. They will roll those other two things out in future moneymaking ways: they can sell ads to play in front of the full RO trailer whenever they release it on YOUTUBE and the E8 title announcement can be sponsored by Burger King or Lego or whoever. That’s what I’m saying.
“They gave fans the minimum possible to keep people coming to Orlando and SWC 2017, and 2018, and whatever.”
Ummm it’s a corporation. They like making money and stuff.
Were you expecting them to treat Star Wars like a sole proprietorship would?
I would have like them ( in the ROGUE ONE ) panel, how they are going to ramp up awareness to ordinary citizen that ROGUE ONE is a prequel to STAR WARS.
A few advertising taglines that might suggest bridging the gap would have been welcome.
It literally takes one sentence. Rogue One’s story takes place shortly before the first ever Star Wars film from 1977 also known as Episode IV: A New Hope. If they can’t figure it out after that, there’s no helping them.
I know the poster says “A Rebellion built on Hope”, but to the average cinema-goer that doesn’t really tell them anything. Will be interesting to see what they come up with.
Seems like it was blast for those there which is cool. For me, watching at home, this celebration was a disappointment. Probably would have been less disappointed if they would have just said there would be exclusive videos for those in attendance instead of showing the BTS footage 3 times and no warning. Also the fact they didn’t stream the last panel but live blogged it on the official website was really disappointing.
I just don’t know why they keep the R1 traier exclusive…I mean I understand that they need to show exclusive stuff, thats why people went there and paid a lot of money, but why the trailer? I think the trailer is for a much wider audience than the BTS video, the BTS stuff is just for the fans but a trailer is for every moviegoer and I’m sure there are a lot of people who still don’t know about this movie.
It wasn’t really a trailer, though. It was under a minute and had mostly the save footage from the teaser with a few new shots thrown in
But it had Vader, and we all wanted Vader…
I should have written teaser instead of trailer, but what I want to say is that TFA had it’s second teaser in April and it’s July now, and we need that trailer, I mean I’m much more interested in ep. VIII than R1 now, and it won’t change if they don’t show a trailer/teaser
$$$$$ pure and simple.
Would you quit trolling these boards, please.
The marketing for Rogue One is weird, at least here in Europe. No trailer yet, just teaser. No articles about it and people were looking at me as I was saying that I am going on Star Wars this Christmas: ”But Episode VIII should be next year!” It’s just me and other SW geeks that know about this movie at all.
Because they will release the full real trailer at some point when they can make lots of money off of it. I’m think the little league World Series on ESPN. Get that dollar!!!!
Yeah, we like, don’t have dollars and don’t watch ESPN much outside of America 🙂 So at least, RO will make some money in the US.
This celebration sucked. I guess its just the timing. Last year we got spoiled with so much info on Star Wars movies being released in the upcoming years, but those were just ideas they were able to share. Now they’re deep in it and keeping things in their back pocket which I get but… I was hoping for a Rogue One teaser trailer, Episode 8 title, and another spinoff movie announcement at the very least.
Rogue One looks awesome but what the heck are they doing with marketing? This is the first spinoff movie.. they should be marketing the crap out of Rogue One NOW.
No, SWC was a huge success. LF once again made lots of money and obscured what craven, greedy folks they are. Your calf is wet, but your umbrella is bone dry. See you in Orlando for the search for more money!!!
“Your calf it wet, but your umbrella is bone dry.”
How many times are you going to use that phrase? You must find it awfully clever.
I don’t even own a calf, just a few hens
Hahaha!
They showed a new teaser to those who were there. I’m guessing they’ll show it at Comic-Con for everyone else, but that’s just speculation.
Did you attend Celebration? Have you ever attended a Celebration? It’s not about news breaks and movie trailers. You’re going to get those eventually anyway. Nobody traveled to London to see a commercial. It’s about hanging out and having a good time with buddies and people that are interested in Star Wars. They’re wildly fun.
Obviously I meant as a viewer back at home. I thought that went without saying. Anyone attending is going to have a blast, but most posting here about it are commenting with the same perspective as iam. As I said, we were just spoiled last year. I get it.
So pretty much Rogue One reel, and Rebels season 3 trailer. That’s the only “new” stuff we got revealed this celebration.
They made $$$. That was the point. That’s KK only goal. Did you notice your calf was wet but your umbrella was dry after all her appearances?
Isn’t one of the whole purposes to going to these things as a filmmaker is to market, and make money?
I don’t think anyone would go if they didn’t have to.
No, the purpose is to have a place for fans to come and celebrate star wars and commune, not to sell you on upcoming stuff or announcing new things to buy.
I’d argue it’s for the fans and to announce new stuff for the fans to buy. 😉
I would have before then, but clearly LFL feels differently.
So you’re telling me you didn’t enjoy seeing all the cast and the people behind the camera involved with these feature films? Not to mention just getting to hear the excitement that Rian Johnson has had in making Episode VIII which I think was the best part because it sounds like it is going to be a very, very good film. I think those two you mentioned were the big ticket items so to speak but there was definitely a lot of stuff to get the hype rising.
I didn’t get to see the future filmmakers panel so I can’t say for that.
I meant more in line with releasing new info. and reveals for the movies, tv shows, and games.
They should have ask KK how much money SW fans have to spend if they want any real updates on what films Disney and LF will be using to drain their wallets after this calendar year. KK is good. SWC is going to make millions for LF, Disney, and their corporate partners and all they had to do was hype something that a Disney subsidiary was going to show in 18 hours that was a huge promo for two movies, one 8 months old that is for sale on bluray (but won’t be on major cable or Netflix for at least a year…so buy it suckers!) and a film that is 5 months away, and they want people to fork over 18-25 dollars (plus concessions, not to mention merch).
Meet the new boss. Same as the old boss. I was very wrong. No E8 news at SWC. But hey, as long as KK gets that $$$.
TFA will be on the STARZ movie channel in September.
Why did you expect Ep. 8 news a whole year and a half before it releases? They just finished principle photography for crying out loud.
I kicked myself in the ass for months because I did not get my tickets for Europe. I am patting myself on the back now. Deciding to wait for Orlando was a wise choice. This celebration seemed like it would have been worth it for the locals, but I feel sorry for the people around the globe who travelled all that way to just walk out of there with a cool poster, a couple cool t-shirts and a stuffed animal. well they got to see Darth Vader’s shadow too I guess….. lol
Finally woke up after crashing immediately from getting back to my hotel after the panel. The lack of any real news from the panel was certainly disappointing, but the overall vibe and chemistry between everyone on stage was good enough to let me leave in a good mood. First off, just the fact that all these filmmakers seem very close with Pablo and Kiri is a great sign imo (meanwhile I’m not even sure if JJ knows anyone from the story group by name). Other notes: Rian is amazing and got emotional when talking about how excited he is about spending the next year and a half with us Star Wars fans, Boyega talked to Alden about what’s ahead for him and Alden was not able to stop smiling (Boyega even said “Damn you even got Han’s smile”), tons of behind the scenes pics and stories were shown, and above all else everyone seemed to be having a really good time. The banter between everyone on stage was really funny, in particular I can only hope we’re going to get to see more interviews or conversations between Pablo and Rian in the future. Anyways, this SWC was dated way before Ep8 was pushed back to December so I’m sure as many have said that’s probably a large reason why there was less news. Still, folks here seemed disappointed in the Rogue One panel so LFL does have their work cut out for them in the next 5 months or so. Oh, and EVERYONE here was gossiping about Ewan McGregor coming out and announcing an Obi-Wan spin off at the panel. Sorry Guys.
I wouldn’t judge based off these commenters. A lot of them are not easily pleased and pessimistic in general.
I meant more so the people I met while waiting in line and how they felt afterwards.
Ahhhhh well it was a spin-off oriented Celebration.
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/18adf3dba70704b90d3cb8d27c02a2d9e20784f98d42a0108e63f88ccc6ac728.gif
I think Alden will do a great job. He has the swagger of a Han Solo.
Seems like a lot of people here haven’t been on YouTube recently.
Wtf?! No trailer teaser title or anything? What a waste. Show rogue one trailer!! A title and teaser for 8 and where’s Adam driver?! I really hope comic on shows more. I’m going in Sunday but Star Wars is there on Saturday 🙁