Chief creative officer of Industrial Light & Magic and the man who first pitched the idea that would become Rogue One: A Star Wars Story was recently interviewed by former Mythbusters star Adam Savage on the SYFY25: Origin Stories Podcast. On the podcast, the visual effects legend told the story of how he got his start at ILM and the early days of Rogue One. Check it out below,
Last year during Star Wars Celebration Europe, Lucasfilm announced a new Star Wars Virtual Reality project, written by David S. Goyer (Batman Begins) and developed by the ILMxLAB. The project was described as being several years away at the time, and we haven't heard anything more about it since. Yesterday, when ILMxLAB took the stage at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) to show off the virtual reality on the new iMac. During the presentation, ILM chief John Knoll appeared to show off new content from the upcoming project.
The man behind the original concept for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story may have another Star Wars film up his sleeve. Rogue One executive producer, ILM chief, VFX pioneer John Knoll spoke with Screen Rant recently and revealed that he's been working on idea for a another Star Wars Story film that he's considering pitching to Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy.
Earlier this week details emerged about an early version of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story in which Jyn Erso and Cassian Andor would have survived the film.While it was ultimately changed so that all the film's main characters were killed off, John Knoll, the man who came up with original story for Rogue One, recently revealed details about two other alternate endings he came up with for the film. In advance of the film's upcoming home media release (on digital HD this Friday and Blu-ray/DVD on April 4th), Knoll sat down with iO9 where he described the alternate endings.
The Force is strong with Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and Star Wars Rebels at this year's Saturn Awards. The Star Wars franchise was nominated for twelve awards at the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror annual Saturn Awards, which will be handed out on June 28th at a ceremony in Burbank, California. Rogue One led all films this year with nominations for eleven awards including Best Science Fiction Film, Best Director, and Best Actress. Check out the complete list of categories Star Wars was nominated in below,
By: Benjamin Hart
After an extended hiatus, Lucasfilm's weekly web series "The Star Wars Show" has finally returned. The newest episode includes several notable changes, including the addition of at least one new segment, as well as a brand new co-host.
It appears that Anthony Carboni, whom fans will know from the recent Rogue One premiere live stream and other events, will be taking over hosting duties from Peter Townley alongside Andi Gutierrez. Townley is still expected to return to the show in the future in some capacity.
One of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story's biggest fist-pump moments was the scene in which a Hammerhead Corvette is used as a battering ram to push one Star Destroyer into another. Recently we learned more about how the Hammerhead ship made its way from Star Wars Rebels to Rogue One. Now we have acquired some key information about the fate of the Hammerhead and her crew.
While Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is a stunning film on the surface, any hardcore Star Wars fan knows that some of the it's most memorable moments include callbacks and references to other parts of the Star Wars saga. Fans of the animated series Star Wars Rebels were especially excited to see the Ghost, the Hammerhead Corvettes, and even Chopper himself make a cameo in the film.
The stand out visual effects in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story were the digital recreations of Peter Cushing as Grand Moff Tarkin, and 1977 Carrie Fisher as Princess Leia. The effects used to create Tarkin and Leia were the subject of a feature on ABC's Nightline, where Clayton Sandell sat down with several key people at ILM, including John Knoll, to discuss the effect. The feature takes viewers through the various stages involved in creating the effect, and addresses the ethical questions surrounding bringing back dead actors for new films. Check out the Nightline feature below,
One of the biggest achievements of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story on a technical level was bringing back characters from A New Hope for the film who otherwise couldn't appear using digital technology. The two characters in particular are Grand Moff Tarkin and Princess Leia. In a new article in The New York Times, Rogue One executive producer and chief creative officer at ILM, John Knoll and head of the Lucasfilm story group Kiri Hart discussed the process of resurrecting the characters.
With the release of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story now less than two weeks away(!), the internet has been flooded with interviews the cast and crew did various media outlets. Yesterday we presented you with a compilation of excerpts from those interviews, which you can check out here. Below are several more excerpts from interviews that have been released today.
Today in San Fransico the cast of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story gatherer at Lucasfilm to answer questions from select members of the movie press about the film. The event was hosted by The Star Wars Show's Andi Gutierrez and featured cast members Felicity Jones (Jyn Erso), Diego Luna (Cassian Andor), Riz Ahmed (Bodhi Rook), Mads Mikkelsen (Galen Erso), Alan Tudyk (K-2SO), and Donnie Yen (Chirut Imwe), and Ben Mendelsohn (Director Orson Krennic), as well as director Gareth Edwards, executive producer John Knoll, and Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy. The press conference was live blogged by StarWars.com. Here are some highlights,
Next month Rogue One: A Star Wars Story will be revealed to the World, and with it comes a plethora of new characters, ships, creatures and more being introduced into the ever expanding universe. Among the new elements is the U-Wing fighter, which is a brand new starship that is part of the Rebel Alliance's fleet and will play a key role in the film.
Just weeks ago we were all blown away by the trailer for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. In the usual fashion, Star Wars fans across the globe went to the extra effort to record their reactions as they watched the trailer for the first time, thus spawning thousands of reactions videos that showed up online soon after. Today, Industrial Light and Magic released a video which features crew members who worked on the trailer reacting to the fan's reactions. In the video, Chief Creative Officer of ILM John Knoll, who is also Executive Producer on Rogue One, appears alongside many visual effects artists and introduces a compilation of reaction videos he cut together himself. They proceed to watch a plethora of fans react to the trailer in sometimes hilarious fashion. You can check out the video below:
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story opens in theaters December 16th!
It's an incredible time to be a Star Wars fan right now. There's plenty of Star Wars to enjoy, but there's also many ways for fans themselves to get involved and let their creativity flow. One of those ways is the Star Wars Fan Film Awards, which were recently brought back from an extended hiatus and are now underway. Lucasfilm is currently seeking submissions for this year's awards, and they just upped the ante with a big announcement. Today, in a video was uploaded to the official Star Wars YouTube channel, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story director Gareth Edwards and co-producer John Swartz announced that themselves, along with executive producer John Knoll, will be the judges for the "Filmmaker Select Award". You can take a look at the video below(also, check out those AT-ATs in the background!):
The winner will be treated to a Star Wars prize pack, a limited-edition print of Star Wars concept art autographed by the artist themselves, as well as a commemorative trophy. Winners in all categories, which include Best Animation, Best Non-Fiction, Spirit of Fandom, Best Comedy, Best Visual Effects, and Audience Choice, will be announced at a ceremony at this Star Wars Celebration in London this July. As they mention, submissions end on April 24th. You can head over to StarWars.com now to learn more!
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story opens in theaters on December 16th.
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