‘Star Wars’ in ‘Vanity Fair’: Five Details Revealed About Upcoming Projects
Vanity Fair‘s cover piece, “Star Wars: The Rebellion Will Be Televised” answered some of fans’ burning questions about upcoming productions.
The Star Wars fandom has been full of rumors and speculation for years now. Even with all of the regular news slip-ups of the modern era and a long-announced schedule of upcoming movies and shows, they keep managing to surprise us. We’re always wondering what will be next. This week’s Vanity Fair cover piece, “Star Wars: The Rebellion Will Be Televised” dove into all of that with interviews with some of our favorite show headlining actors, directors, and writers. There’s a lot to love in the multi-page cover story, but a few items especially piqued our interest.
High Tech Answers to Expensive Problems
A Star Wars project can be an expensive one to work on. It’s difficult to budget a story in which characters fly from one planet to another to another, each with their own unique ecosystem and style. previously the solution has been to simply fly the cast half way across the globe and shoot on a series of different looking locations. But the streaming shows are expected to take “a third of the budget and half the time,” according to development and production executive Carrie Beck.
The solution is Industrial Light & Magic’s gigantic curved LED wall known as “The Volume” to the crew. There are three Volumes now, one in L.A., one in London, and the third in Vancouver, but each can make the studio into anywhere in the galaxy. The tech’s first use was back in 2018, and the crew felt unsure about it to say the least. But Richard Bluff, supervisor of ILM’s environment departments recalled the ‘ahha’ moment.
“James Cameron came to visit. He was next door working on the Avatar sequels in his water tank. Jon had asked for us to display on the monitors the test we’d shot earlier in the day. I remember distinctly Jim taking off his glasses and leaning close to look at the quality of the image and how convincing it was. I think, for everybody, that afternoon was the eureka moment, because it was working.” – Richard Bluff
The Transition to Persistent Storytelling
After the last trilogy, it looks like Star Wars may be shying away from shying away from three-movie arcs in favor of what Kathleen Kennedy is calling “persistent storytelling.” Rian Johnson was supposed to helm the next trilogy of movies, but that project has been backburnered indefinitely. He’s busy with Knives Out and a multi-movie deal with Netflix.
Instead, the galaxy will focus on smaller scale projects that will grow the galaxy in more interesting and organic ways. Patty Jenkins’ Rogue Squadron will follow the squad of X-Wing Pilots while Taika Waititi’s upcoming film will cover something entirely different, and judging by his comimetic history, likely breathtakingly poignant while simultaneously weird. The Acolyte will focus on an entirely different era of the galaxy,
Ewan & Hayden’s Return to the Galaxy
Much like his predecessor in the role of Obi-Wan Kenobi, Ewan McGregor didn’t always look fondly on his time in Star Wars. Especially after The Phantom Menace had been nearly universally panned, it was easy to second guess signing a multi-movie contract. But as the years went on McGregor apparently came to appreciate and enjoy the movies and the importance they had to fans. When asked to come back twenty years later, he was happy to and had been telling fans for some time that he’d be willing to reprise his role as Kenobi. “I really do think it has to do with growing up,” he said.
And Hayden Christensen, it seems, also has a fondness of the series and his character.
“This is a character that has come to define my life in so many ways. I was originally hired to play a very specific portion of this person’s life. Most of my work was with Anakin. And now I get to come back and explore the character of Darth Vader.” – Hayden Christensen
What We Know About Andor
We learned quite a bit about the upcoming streaming series, Andor from Vanity Fair this month. Star and title character, Diego Luna descibes it as “a refugee story” and “the journey of a migrant.”
“That feeling of having to move is behind this story, very profoundly and very strong. That shapes you as a person. It defines you in many ways, and what you are willing to do.” – Diego Luna
Andor will strongly feature resistance leader Mon Mothma and explain how Cassian grew to be a character who would sacrifice himself for the Rebellion. We will watch the empire colonize Cassian’s adopted home after his birth planet is destroyed and the empire rapidly expands through the galaxy.
A New Era of Star Wars – What’s On the Horizon
Kathleen Kennedy reflected on the underwhelming response to Solo: A Star Wars Story. Despite some bright spots and promising moments, the film overall didn’t succeed. And perhaps one of the reasons for that was attempting to recast another actor to replicate Han Solo’s famous swagger. But it also may be that we, as a fandom, are ready for the next round of characters and a new era of storytelling.
The Acolyte could be the answer to all of these problems. Showrunner Leslye Headland described her upcoming project and its uniqueness compared to previous Star Wars stories. It will take place about a hundred years before The Phantom Menace, before many of the characters we know have even been born and will answer questions many of us have had for years.
“How did we get to a point where a Sith lord can infiltrate the Senate and none of the Jedi pick up on it? Like, what went wrong? What are the scenarios that led us to this moment?” – Leslye Headland
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The answer may be in how untouchable and perfect the Jedi were seen to be. White and gold uniforms will represent how little hands-on action they see and how few skirmishes they get into.
Another upcoming project, currently code named Grammar Rodeo will take place in the post-Empire reconstruction of the galaxy. And of course, we have the upcoming projects we know about.
Have you read the Vanity Fair Star Wars piece? What piece of insider info was your favorite? What upcoming project are you most looking forward to? Let us know in the comments!
May The Force Be With You, Adventures!
