Gareth Edwards Talks About Jedha With Entertainment Weekly!

jeddahEW’s Anthony Breznican had the opportunity to talk to Gareth Edwards about the new planet and its importance to the upcoming movie Rogue One. Read on for the details…

 

 

Rogue One will be the first movie in the Star Wars timeline that has to deal with a galaxy, that lost its spirituality in the Clone Wars.

“The Force is basically in Star Wars like a religion, and they’re losing their faith in the period that we start the movie,” says Gareth Edwards

“We were trying to find a physical location we could go to that would speak to the themes of losing your faith and the choice between letting the Empire win, or evil win, and good prevailing,” he says. “It got embodied in this place we called Jedha.”

 

Jedha

 

Fun fact: in the real world we have a harbor city named Jeddah in the Mecca region that could have influenced the name choice for that planet.

Jedah scenes were filmed in Jordan, to capture that Middle Eastern Vibe for the film.

 

jeddah2

 

“It’s a place where people who believe in the Force would go on a pilgrimage,” Edwards says. “It was essentially taken over by the Empire. It’s an occupied territory… for reasons we probably can’t reveal.”

 

Asked for the reason Gareth Edwards dodged the question, but I think we know already what the Empire is looking for.

“There’s something very important in Jedha that serves both the Jedi and the Empire. It felt very much like something we could relate to in the real world.”

 

Donnie Yen gave a brief interview at Celebration Europe regarding that matter:

 

 

 

“Within Jedha, even though there’s the oppressive foot of the Empire hanging over them, there’s a resistance that won’t give up and our characters have to go and meet people there to try and secure a person from this group,” Edwards says.

 

And we learned that not only Donnie Yen’s character live on Jedha:

It’s also the homeworld of Bodhi Rook (Riz Ahmed) a pilot who was formerly conscripted into Imperial service but now serves the growing movement against Emperor Palpatine’s regime.

 

We will hear more from him Tuesday in his own article.

 

Until then take a look into Anthony Breznican’s article on EW.com.

 

 

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14 thoughts on “Gareth Edwards Talks About Jedha With Entertainment Weekly!

  • August 8, 2016 at 11:41 pm
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    i think it’s really interesting that edwards is somehow able to weave the force into this film, even though the main story has nothing to do with the force/jedi/sith/etc. furthermore, incorporating what seems to be kyber crystals into the story is even more impressive. looks like we’re getting some unique world-building and i can’t wait for it!

  • August 9, 2016 at 12:27 am
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    He must be talking about kyber crystals.

  • August 9, 2016 at 1:10 am
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    Even with the Rebellion in the original films, you hear General Dodonna say “May the force be with you.” when the X-Wing pilots leave the briefing for battle. Ackbar said “May the force be with us.” before attacking Death Star II.

  • August 9, 2016 at 1:21 am
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    Interesting… So Kyber crystals could be a power source for the death star laser?

    • August 9, 2016 at 2:36 am
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      Yes. The Ultimate Star Wars source book has actually confirmed this already. And the unfinished “Utapau” arc from the Clone Wars showed Grievous trying to procure a giant green kyber crystal. They never said it was for the Death Star but it was obvious to the viewer. Pretty cool stuff.

  • August 9, 2016 at 2:59 am
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    I am a bit annoyed by the heavy religious symbolism which makes the force and jedi seem like some sort of Abrahamic religion.
    It’s even gonna have it’s Jerusalem/ Middle East equivalent.
    Why can’t the religious pilgrimage site be on a forested planet or something that isn’t directly inspired by the Levant.
    I mean .. the planet is called Jeddah … Jeddah is the second largest city in Saudi Arabia.

    • August 9, 2016 at 5:53 am
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      Yea I agree. I don’t like how it’s trying to reflect a real religion. The force is just something that cannot be compared.

      • August 9, 2016 at 10:08 am
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        Hello, new here. But I don’t agree. The Force is a reflection of real life religions. The Jedi are sort of japanese zen buddhist samurai warrior monks, who meditate and use dialogue in their teachings. The concept of the Force is heavily influenced by chinese philosophy of the Great Dao (Tao) which is presented as Ying/Yang principle. The Chosen One is somewhat like a Messiah from abrahamic religions. Anakin is born out of a virgin remember.

        There is lots of pantheistic ideas in real world religions which can be translated as a all binding mystical Force (or God if you will).
        “Lift up a stone and you will find me there.” And btw I don’t think that Jedha is named after Jeddah but after Jedi. And of course there’s also the controversial science explanation midichlorians. So I think it’s fair to say that the Force is a combination of all real life religions.

        • August 14, 2016 at 11:30 am
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          Yes. Good follow up explanation. Makes sense

    • August 9, 2016 at 10:20 pm
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      I’d be more worried about the rumors form episode 8 that talk about a Force Tree and ancient twin children reincarnations…

  • August 9, 2016 at 4:22 am
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    Looks like our heroes may be trying to thwart the Empire’s plan to procure the hope diamond of Kyber Crystals to stop them from using it to focus the energy beam of the Death Star. Must not go well haha.

  • August 9, 2016 at 5:26 am
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    I wonder if there’s a Sitah

  • August 9, 2016 at 10:04 am
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    Who is this person the resistance is trying to secure?……have I missed something?!

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