Oscar Isaac: Star Wars Episode VIII is “Like Making an Indie Film”.
Not that long ago, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens scribe Lawrence Kasdan suggested that Rian Johnson’s Episode VIII would be like nothing we had ever seen with Star Wars. While promoting X-Men: Apocalypse, Oscar Isaac agrees with Kasdan while offering his own spin on his experience under the new director.
From The LA Times:
“I would agree with [Kasdan],” said Isaac. “Rian is definitely going to places and investigating things that haven’t really been done in the Star Wars universe. For me, it’s so fun getting to explore different things that I wouldn’t have expected in this universe. In some ways it feels like we’re making an independent film,” added the actor, who has starred in critically acclaimed indies such as Ex Machina, A Most Violent Year, and Inside Llewyn Davis. “Certain things we get to play with – this kind of intimacy that we get to find – it’s special. It’s been really fun.”
Due to Lucasfilm’s secrecy, Isaac didn’t really get into the details of what sets the movie apart from the previous installment. In a best-case scenario, we might have a few more official details in July, when Star Wars Celebration Europe III hits. Until then, we’ll keep you covered on new leads as they hit.
Grant has been a fan of Star Wars for as long as he can remember, having seen every movie on the big screen. When he’s not hard at work with his college studies, he keeps himself busy by reporting on all kinds of Star Wars news for SWNN and general movie news on the sister site, Movie News Net. He served as a frequent commentator on SWNN’s The Resistance Broadcast.
I can’t wait for haters caling Episode VIII “not similar enough to the Original Trilogy”. 😛
I’m with you man. Give me something totally different !! So looking forward to Rogue One for exactly that reason.
Yeah, unfortunately it seems R1 took the most bland, generic type of “different” imaginable.
Reserving judgement and hoping for the best on R1 – there’s the potential for some messy, dirty, unpolished, non-focus-group-driven storytelling there.
True, though the trailer isn’t looking too promising. Then again, the first Suicide Squad trailer was blah as well but two awesome trailers (and two songs out of Wayne Cambell’s playlist) later and the movie is looking considerably more interesting (IMO), so there’s always the issue of presentation vs actual quality.
It’s funny because a lot of people liked the first Suicide Squad trailer the most, and thought the next two weren’t as good because they weren’t dark enough.
It’s really interesting how people like different things so much and proves that you will never please everyone.
For me, everything is going dark, and it is refreshing as f### to see a movie that’s out to … um … entertain. The sad part here is that Suicide Squad is looking to be more upbeat and humorous than Man of Steel. Rephrase: A feature length film about Superman is (probably) less fun than Murderers Murdering to avoid Life in Prison. THAT is sad.
While I disagree with they hyperbole….you’re not wrong lol
That push to make every single franchise SO fucking dark, and heavy, and IMPORTANT!(tm) has been what turned me off LotR, The Matrix, and the latter Pirates just for example. Seriously, you’re making goofy summer movies – embrace that goofiness and trust the audience to just have FUN.
I think LotR was ok. I was dark before it was cool 😉
Every fantasy movie before that was goofy and it was actually a good move to take Tolkien seriously.
Also, your point about Pirates of the Caribbean is exactly why I liked “On Stranger Tides”, because it didn’t take itself seriously. People said PotC 4 was bad but I really don’t see why people think that; the movie was out to entertain and didn’t try to be more intelligent than it is, and I’ll take that over PotC 2 & 3 in a heartbeat.
Oh, see, I just thought PotC 4 was bad because it was bad. I mean, like reeeeeeeally bad. 🙂 Like, not even Geoffrey Rush could save it kind of bad.
You know they will. Honestly it just makes me wanna bitchslap some people. But I won’t give into hate.
https://media.giphy.com/media/FTHs6rpi6leaA/giphy.gif
Love the “strange/dark/different” way has taken this project.
Can’t wait
I keep thinking they’re going to introduce reincarnation into the Star Wars world… it’s really the one part of Buddhism that hasn’t been touched on by the Force yet. Call me crazy, but maybe Rey isn’t Luke’s daughter— maybe she’s his father.
Dude, mind blown.
You think she’ll get her previous memories and continue doing good as the chose one?
I would totally agree with you, but it seems problematic with the ideas of force ghosts and the “netherworld of the force” both of which are canon. If people’s essences can live on as ghosts then they arent’t really being reborn. Now perhaps this is a nirvana state and everyone else is reborn, but then she can’t be anikan since he manifested as a ghost (though I suppose this could be a temporary state so they could explain it away is the REALLY wanted to go that route)
Obi-Wan’s ghost spoke in this movie and Frank Oz recorded audio for Yoda (only archive audio made it in). The only ghost not heard from is Anakin’s… maybe because he has since been reborn? The Chosen One returning would certainly be an instance of the “force awakening”
Strictly speaking, it’d be the force reawakening.
Rey touches Vader’s helmet and gets a vision, awakens and looks to Luke “[panting in cold sweat] … I … think … I’m …. your father.”
Luke stands in solemn silence but is secretly thinking to himself “DAMMIT! THIS again??!! Why is EVERYONE related to me?!”
there’s truth in this statement…read some news about her being the reincarnate of the chosen one. And apparently the chosen one is always reborn in times of need. Thanks Disney for the mashup of avatar and sw!
MOAR DADDY/DAUGHTER ISSUES!!!!
“Rey touches Vader’s helmet”
TOUCH IT! TOUCH MY MIGHTY HELMET!
Rey is the Avatar. I’m calling it right now.
so ep 8 will be like deadpool with Luke talking to the audience about who played the best Kenobi ? or will it be shot in black and white and jay and silent bob will cameo ? Or will weird dream sequences be shot on 8mm and Roger Corman is co producing ? im not sure what to expect here ….
I’m hoping for Jarmusch inspired B&W character tone poem. Fingers crossed!
I’m guessing it will be presented out of order like Memento.
https://youtu.be/I0gTpWXx4H8
This is actually a pretty effective trailer for the 1st half, though I wish that it told more about the rest of the movie, maybe showed some of the stuff about the death star. Though I’m a sucker for “Clair de Lune” so plus 2 points for that.
Sounds good. I’d rather go in that direction than have another rehash.
Better to have a $200 million “indie” than a $200 million fanfic
Yeah, well, we SAW that already….
This could be a disaster too. Rogue One realism is where I want Star Wars to go. But I am hopeful. Looper was good but that’s kind of a light resume to do this project. I loved 300 and we see what Zach Snyder did to DC.
ps is it just me or is this website real slow and unmanageable on IOS?
It’s only slow and unmanageable on IOS, Android, Windows, and whatever stupid-ass name aPPLE has give to MAC’s current OS. Other than that, it runs fine.
I haven’t had any trouble on either my Windows laptop or on my Android phone. I wonder why it seems to cause trouble for some folks and not others?
a light resume…so what George Lucas had when he made Star Wars?
No, I find that too.
Looper, Brothers Bloom, Brick, and Breaking Bad. LucasFilm made an inspired choice picking Johnson. I can’t wait to see what he does in this space.
“““Rian is definitely going to places and investigating things that haven’t really been done in the Star Wars universe…it feels like we’re making an independent fil – this kind of intimacy that we get to find – it’s special. It’s been really fun.”
.
Four words – Gay Cowboys Eating Pudding. Iiiiiinn…SPAAAAAAAAACEEE!!!
And Count Dracura
That dude needs a whole Wookiepeedia backstory.
I’d gladly write a fanfic bio about that.
You mean you haven’t? Colour me disappointed.
LMFAO!!!
Since Rogue One doesn’t look like the Rogue Squadron type film I had in mind, It would be kind of cool to give Poe his own spinoff about the adventures in his squadron. I’d really like to see a dog fight type of film (hopefully done better than the one in TFA) and then maybe we’d get another good game out of it too.
Great excuse for more alien fighter pilots or even droid ones too.
I’m all about Top Gun in space!
I was actually going to mention that but figure someone on here would before I had time to edit my comment. Will put Top Gun 2 to shame that’s for sure.
The original 1977 film had better dogfights than Top Gun.
I will stick to that statement. They re-use a ton of exploding F-5 Tiger shots (not MiGs) in Top Gun to the point of absurdity, and I noticed that even as a kid watching it.
Well, in Top Gun’s defense, it was kind of hard getting ahold of MiGs back then..
I heard there was an interesting story behind getting those Mi-24s they used in Rambo and Red Dawn.
There is a lot of cheese in it but the Rogue/Wraith Squadron books have plenty of good material to draw from for a film about fighter pilots.
That’s why I’m a BSG fan boy too!
It can be Top Gun in space.
DANGER ZONE!
I’d settle for Starfox even.
DO A BARREL ROLL!!
hit the brakes, he’ll fly right by…..
TRY A SOMMERSAULT!
I’ll try spinning, that’s a good trick. Whoaaaaaa!
Ooooops.
Now THIS is podracing!!
Get us off this autopilot or your going to get us both killed
2nd viewing TFA not as good as I thought. Isaac’s comments bode well for ep8
Really?! I thought the 2nd viewing of TFA was much better than the first.
Same here, even better the 2nd
Agreed. It was even better the THIRD time as well.
Same for me. Mainly because I had already been disappointed at the fact that I was watching ANH.
I recently watched it on digital, and I enjoyed it as much as the first time I watched it. And it honestly cemented it was my 3rd favorite – and I watched ROTJ right after to make sure…and I had a tough time getting through the first 90 minutes of ROTJ (special edition unfortunately – which makes a difference).
Second viewing of TFA was still my favorite viewing – 3D circular BB-8 opening shot and Rey holding out the lightsaber at the end were beautiful in 3D
I just talked to a guy today that didn’t feel so hot about it in the theater but loves it after watching it on BR/DVD.
Sometimes format changes will change opinions.. nothing wrong with that IMHO.
I’m a little disappointed that they are washing out the color in Rouge One. It looks really saturated. Hopefully somebody will restore it post release.
A beautician would be best.
I normally think of washed out as the opposite of saturated. Could you explain?
Yeah, like Minority Report.
It looks fine to me.
It’s not washed out at all and to suggest that it might be is completely absurd. Just because the color palette is mostly industrial or earth tones doesn’t make it washed out.
As excited as this makes me (especially his use of the word “intimacy”), think it’s important to remember that Adam Driver said basically the same thing about The Force Awakens: “It didn’t feel like a blockbuster as they were making it. The experience was not unlike an indie movie, just with bigger budgets.”
Ditto.
I’ve seen it 3 times now. I really loved it the 2nd time. I forgave a lot more during that viewing. Third time I was just analyzing all the background stuff and noticing things I had missed before.
Maybe everyone will stop harping on it for lack of originality. Watch the opposite happen. This isn’t Star Wars! I don’t like what they’ve done with the Force! Boohoo! 😛
To me this sounds exciting. I’m still blown away Poe was supposed to die!
Let’s just hope that making it feel less Star Wars doesn’t mean more Harry Potter. The “Magic saber/wand’ thing already has me wondering…
you mean… WANDering ?
The Elder Wan–I mean, um, Saber.
There is a good chance of that happening.. *dramatic silence*
I think he just refers to the in-resistance conflict and the new worlds
“it’s so fun getting to explore different things that I wouldn’t have expected in this universe. Certain things we get to play with – this kind of intimacy that we get to find”
It’s very interesting because he doesn’t seem to talk about the fantasy side of it, but the relation between characters and the way is portrayed. Can’t wait to find out what that means.
YAS, that’s what I want to hear!
way to go Rian!
my serious guess is that they will do things with the timeline : it will start right where we the force awakens left us , Luke will accept that lightsaber from Rey and we get a few scenes between them and then the story will jump ahead maybe a few years and the rest of the film will take place in that time. Thats the most extreme i think Disney is willing to go. Im sure they not gonna go all “21 grams” or “memento” on its audience.
That would actually be a good thing. It would also allow for comics, games and other side stories between the Episodes, so it would be a wise choice, business wise, too.
It has been rumored for quite some time now that Rian Johnson is aiming at something really new and original in Episode VIII, in a way that has never been seen before in the SW franchise. That is good and exciting IMHO, but is is also risky. The truth is TFA was very successful because it followed the OT model very closely, to the point of being sometimes branded a “remake” of Episode IV. How would fans react to an Episode VIII that departs significantly from that model ?
Its a delicate balance of keeping the ‘motifs’ but differentiating in other ways. My guess is that it will give us a new looking planet where the majority of the action takes place – no more deserts or planet-wide cities, we really need to be done with that – and that the mentoring of Rey by Luke will take on a vastly different form that won’t be Yoda or Obi-Wan.
Maybe even the conflict won’t be familial legacy but that of the relative mentorship of the two main characters – Rey and Ren – since Luke will already have a tortured history that Rey will have to redeem as her father figure, and Ren might still be dealing with ‘the pull to the light’. That eventual interaction might be interesting and definitely different in intensity but certainly still reflecting Empire Strikes Back in big ways – Vader offering Luke a partnership and the truth in a pathetic yet still empathetic way.
I just think that the mentorship of the two characters might give us something thats certainly ‘Star Wars’ but can be done in a more intense and meaningful way – Empire was subtle and still an introduction to the Force, but we don’t need that 3 episodes later.
As long as it feels like Star Wars I’m cool with it. I still think it’s going to be like ESB – it feels like SW and the high-level story (the story of a hero) will remain in tact. It’s the details that will be way out of this park, and I can’t wait.
Edit: But I have to (wait). 🙁
EP VII was crap. The more Rian Johnson goes in a different direction, the better. He’s a talented and creative director. I hope Disney doesn’t reign him in too much.
92% on RT. That is all.
Bought off critics. It was a turd and is by far the worst in the series. The plot is completely forced and derivative, the new characters have zero chemistry, each of them speaking in a completely different accent with Daisy Ridley’s being absolutely atrocious (pronouncing every single A as an O). The villains are a joke, General Hux seems like the Charlie Chaplin parody of Hitler, Kylo Ren is boring, his suit looks like shit, his motivation is never explained and Snoke looks like a cartoon.
Tarkin and the Emperor were impressive. This was shit.
Starkiller base… sucking a sun and then firing it mere meters away from a bunch of soldiers in plastic armor. Brilliant. What retard greenlit that?
Another desert planet… for real?
This movie was utter shit. No other way of saying it. Quite possibly the worst big budget Sci Fi since Robocop 3.
Disney ought to apologise for it, remove it from the canon and just restart the sequel series. Maybe go with Timothy Zahn’s books. That guy knew story structure. Of course Disney won’t do it, since all that matters to them is money and their feminist propaganda.
They will ruin the franchise. Maybe Warner can pick it up afterwards.
TL;DR, you lost me after the first sentence. Take of the tin foil hat.
I really hope Luke isn’t exactly like Yoda and obi wan as a mentor towards Rey. I kind of hope they take an approach with Luke much like they did with Stallone in Creed, he’s the wise, veteran figure, but he also has his own problems he’s dealing with and his own story arc. I want to see Luke in a vulnerable state and see him overcome one last time as the main protagonist of the entire saga.
I’m a Huge Fan of Rian Johnson. His first film “Brick” is one of my all time favorites. As one of the few people who actually knew who he was when he was announced as Director, I was very excited to see how he’ll handle The Franchise. I only wish he was directing Episode IX as well. Jurassic World was cool but I feel Colin Trevorrow is going to drop the ball. If you get a chance though, check out “Brick” & “The Brothers Bloom” Two great Rian Johnson movies.
12 full viewings for me.. with various additional viewing counts of certain scenes.