Star Wars: Episode 7 to be filmed in New Mexico?
For some time now New Mexico has been a hot spot for film location scouting. Among the recent productions that took place there are Marvel’s The Avengers, and Disney’s The Lone Ranger. The rumors of Lucasfilm scouts being spotted in New Mexico started almost immediately after Disney announced the acquisition of George Lucas’ company…
Few days ago we published an article about other possible Episode 7 filming locations where Albuquerque Studios president Gary Arnold, said there has been talk for two years that parts of “Star Wars” may shoot in New Mexico, his facility’s home state.
So it looks like the idea for new Star Wars movies existed even before Disney’s deal.
Soon after Disney bought Lucasfilm some local NM reporters added more fuel to the rumors:
Now according to oneheadlightink:
Disney returns to the desert and to New Mexico’s class A-1 studio facilities and crew base to shoot the first of THREE pending sequels to add to the mega-galactic franchise.
New Mexico will share production duties with Los Angeles and London when filming gets underway in 2014. Original cast members scheduled to return include Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher and Mark Hamill…all of whom are slated to somehow reprise their roles from the original 1977 film.
Taking into account what Kathleen Kennedy recently said…
“Looking at all the Star Wars movies and getting a feel for what even some of the early films did, combining real locations and special effects – that’s something we’re looking very seriously at.”
… we could say that New Mexico’s scenery would definitely fit that approach.
Also the political situation in the Middle East and North Africa is not very stable right now and returning to Tunisia (which old set is in pretty bad shape) is highly unlikely. This could make New Mexico a very desired location for filming.
Founder of SWNN, MNN and The Cantina forums.
Born on April 24, 1980.
So Los Angeles, London and New Mexico! I like it. I really prefer USA state NM over Middle East and North Africa!
One qiestion will NM offer tax cuts for star wars?
It has been previously reported that the famous cantina is being recreated at Pinewood Studios. If they are unable to visit Tunisia in order to film the external shots, they would need to duplicate this elsewhere.
I don’t care if it’s the back lot of a trailer pack… On location will be far better than 99% CGI.
Park even 😛
I agree. The CGI in Avengers and Hobbit was terrible.
It’s too bad about the political instability in Tunesia. My favorate locations were those based in real living spaces like the Lars homestead. I would have loved to see aged Luke living in Obi-Wan’s old dwelling (too many bad memories at the Lars farm) and calmly listening to a sand storm among Ben’s old knicknacks – the treasure chest, the metal blade on the wall, the spice shakers, now joined by Luke’s yellow racing jacket, his metal from the battle of Yavin, and the small heating unit he brought to Degobah (ah procrastination!)
I hope tons of people hide out around the set with
very high-powered lenses & mics so’s we can get a sneak preview!
Lukes garage set in Tunisia has recently been fixed up by some fans. A project called “Save the Lars Homestead” comprised of about a dozen starwars fans ( I think ), along with the help from some Tunisian contractors.They went out to the exact filming location in Tunisia and fixed up Lukes Garage set. You can find it on youtube.
Wasn’t that where they shot the Sarlacc Pit scene?
Or was that in Arizona?