UPDATE 2! First Star Wars: Episode VIII Rehearsals Taking Place in Dubrovnik. Landspeeder Spotted!
There’s been a disturbance in the force today in Dubrovnik. TheDubrovnikTimes reports that the main street through the historic old city of Dubrovnik was closed from 8pm tonight as the Star Wars filming crew tested the set before the filming starts for real on the 9th of March.
Earlier today we got a word from a source that the movement on the Dubrovnik set is not an actual filming but just a test. Now TheDubrovnikTimes has more on the story:
This was the first time that the main street, the Stradun, has been closed for all pedestrians and there were high levels of security in place. The street was blocked with white panels and on every side street that leads into the Stradun there were security guards. From 8pm until midnight the Stradun will be closed today and again on Friday the 4th of March, again from 8pm till midnight.
On the 9th of March filming for the Star Wars VIII begins in Dubrovnik and lasts until the 16th of March. Security will be extremely high when the real filming starts, with a reported 600 security guards employed. Every angle is being locked down and a special team will be in Dubrovnik to deal with the problem of drones filming aerial shots.
The Dubrovnik Times has unofficially learnt that a team of “drone guards” will be using frequency blockers and long-distance jammers to knock out drones above the set. Some of these drone defenders available on the market can knock out drones with a range of up to 400 metres.
Exciting times, right?
Thanks to Mark Thomas for the heads up!
UPDATE!
The guys from MosCroatia have a new report and an interesting photo they got from the Dubrovnik local news portal Dulist from the today’s rehearsals. It’s a landspeeder. Here’s what they got:
Dubrovnik is under siege tonight as it prepares for complete shutdown of it’s historic centre due to rehearsal filming of the upcoming eight episode of Star Wars. As announced before, the closure of the old town is scheduled for camera crew rehearsals on 2nd and 4th March from 8 PM to midnight. The same scenario awaits locals and tourists from 9th to 17th March, again in evening hours, when real filming starts. Production companies on set already informed locals of the special traffic regulation and have set up signs all over town.
Our team on the ground reports that everything was hectic today in order to avoid any delays of rehearsals start at 8 PM. The biggest intrigue today was the protective fence which enclosed parts of the set, and one hour before the rehearsals, a forklift drove an unknown spacecraft covered with a tarpaulin. Local news portal DuList has been able to capture on camera a fragment of landspeeder under tarpaulins.
Not that we can see much from this photo, but the design of this speeder kinda reminds me of the Prequel movies. Could this really be Naboo or?
UPDATE 2!
The guys from the Dubrovnik news blog Dulist contacted us clarifying that the landspeeder photo is their property, which we mistakingly thought to be coming from MosCroatia. Our apologies for the mistake.
Now Dulist posted even more image from the set:
These are just a few images from the set. For the full gallery go to Dulist.
Founder of SWNN, MNN and The Cantina forums.
Born on April 24, 1980.
I hope they don’t freak out the residents too much. I know I’d be pretty worried to see a private army occupying my city.
I agree.
Oooh they freak us out. Honestly, it is just too much of everything…especially security and agreement signing…closing off public streets.its just too much. And crashing drones from the sky? And they fall and damage something or injure somebody? Nice one…
http://www.moscroatia.com/flash-news-landspeeder-na-setu-u-dubrovniku/984 LANDSPEEDER SPOTTED IN DUBROVNIK
Those drone guards. You had one job, one job.
Maybe the photo was taken from a window above, residents do live on that street..
You’re probably right. The drone guards aren’t due on set until the actual filming begins next week. It does however beg the question how they will restrict residents from seeing the set below. Have they paid the residents to live elsewhere during shooting?
I Doubt that they would move out an entire street XD Maybe they’ll just put green covers over the windows and CGI them later in production, just a wild guess..
I’d imagine that there would be guards protecting the shoot from the windows, too. I mean if they’re going so far as to EMP people’s expensive property, I’m sure they have some kind of protection against the simpler and more obvious forms of espionage.
With all that hired security they have to be as paranoid as possible. To me, it would make more sense to close down access to any vantage points overlooking the set, rather than simply trying to cover them up. The expense costs to Disney would be seen as next to nothing.
learnt?
Sounds like a full blown A2/AD capability…
i wonder how many fans will be camping out to try and get a picture of the shoot.
This looks NOTHING like Naboo —- that looks like Luke’s ORIGINAL LANDSPEEDER !
It is too shiny.
It has two turbines instead of three also. The angle of the shot makes it look like there is a third so people are jumping on it.
it could be a different part of the planet, we did only see one city after all.
Maybe they’ve started terraforming Tatooine … which, if you have the technology to build Starkiller bases, should not be a major thing.
It also looks nothing like Tattooine. Besides, he sold it to Jawas remember? I seriously doubt that they’d give Luke his old junker from 26 years prior. It wasn’t a heroic, special, or iconic piece like the Falcon was.
It’s the best they can do. Since the XP-38 came out, they’re just not in demand…
too new looking, similar shape
Why do you talk like there are two planets in the whole galaxy?
The speeder really excites me – more than the Falcon returning…..and I’m not sure why!
It’s not even the same
Did I say it was?
More excited than the Falcon? When we’ve seen other speeders in this vein in the other movies.
It’s clearly made to look very similar to the New Hope version. Likely intended as an extension of the design lineage….and yes, for me it is more interesting. I know this is sacrilege, but I never got a hardon for the Falcon. I was always more interested in things like speeder bikes, vehicles like this and imperial vessels. Plus I just like the thought of Luke and Rey riding in one with R2 in the back in the same manner that Luke and Obi-Wan did in New Hope.
Look, I like Luke’s Landspeeder, but COME ON! He lost that thing in the 1st act of ANH, what the hell is it doing here?
I know everyone’s got a soft spot for the OT stuff but this is just downright shameless. Don’t they have ANY new designs for ANYTHING in this series?
Calm down.
It’s not the same one.
It’s grey with two turbines.
Luke’s was orange, all beat up and had three turbines.
http://www.starwarsmodels.com/images/models/landspeeder002.jpg
Thank you.
I have an Hyundai Exel. It’s white . It’s the only one in existence.
Cars are looking similar from the beginning, why would people in the SW universe completely redesign everything every time?
There are some old 80’s, 70’s, or even 60’s era cars that are being used in under-developed countries to this day. However, that phenomenon is the polar opposite of what’s happening here. Luke’s Landspeeder was bought on Tatooine moisture farmers, and is most likely a P.O.S.
This planet appears to be significantly more developed, that plus the passage of 30 years. Essentially, seeing a speeder that bears even a passing resemblance to Luke’s old ride from halfway across the galaxy is directly equivalent to seeing someone in New York city driving a Yugo. Sure, it MIGHT happen, but it’s not really something worth focusing on in a movie.
We’re still flying planes that were built in the 60’s. Plus old models get updated. Why is it so hard to believe that tech in Star Wars either lasts or should inspire new builds? TIE Fighters and X-Wings are still in use. Tech is designed to last. I see no issue with a Landspeeder being in the movie.
It’s clearly NOT Luke’s landspeeder.
Can’t really tell much about it from the photo, but the design doesn’t look all that crazy different from anything we saw in the OT, it just looks new.
Shiny.
Oops, wrong sci-fi/fantasy universe.
Now THIS is podracing.
Try spinning. That’s a good trick!
This whole set feels to me like the start up of the new Republic and its Senate.