Video: Rian Johnson and Mark Hamill at SWSX

By: Dominic Jones

Earlier this week, Star Wars: The Last Jedi writer/director Rian Johnson was interviewed on stage at the South By Southwest Festival in Austin, Texas.  Johnson spoke about his career leading up to Star Wars, as well as his process for making The Last Jedi (some of which we reported on earlier in the week).  At the end of the panel, he was joined by "surprise" guest Mark Hamill.  You can watch the entire featured session with Johnson and Hamill below,

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'The Director and the Jedi' Documentary to Premiere at SXSW

By: Dominic Jones

The making of The Last Jedi documentary, The Director and the Jedi, will premiere at the South By South West festival on March 12th.  The documentary, which will also be available as part of the home media release of The Last Jedi (the film hits digital the next day on March 13th), follows director Rian Johnson throughout the process of making the latest installment in the Star Wars saga. Johnson tweeted about the documentary, saying, "We had [Anthony Wonke] & his crew on set every day, we were always radio mic’d up. This isn’t talking heads & b-roll, it really gets into process & captures what the shoot felt like."

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Gareth Edwards Discusses How the Ending of 'Rogue One' Evolved

By: Dominic Jones

One story that followed any member of the Rogue One: A Star Wars Story cast and crew everywhere they went in the months leading up to, and following, the film's release was the infamous reshoots.  There were conflicting reports about the extent of the reshoots, though official channels maintain that they were the regularly scheduled reshoots.  While few would argue that Rogue One did not deliver, there are still questions about what was changed in the reshoots.  Those questions are backed up by several shots that were seen in the film's trailers.  These shots seemed to indicate a more intricate battle on the beach on the planet Scarif, with Jyn (Felicity Jones), Cassian (Diego Luna), and K-2SO (Alan Tudyk) carrying the Death Star as they evaded the Empire.

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Gareth Edwards Explains How He Came Up With the Name "Scarif"

By: Dominic Jones

There are many iconic names in the Star Wars galaxy and one of the challenges the new filmmakers have is coming up with new names that live up to them.  Sometime they hit them out of the park (Director Orson Krennic), other times they fall a bit short (Supreme Leader Snoke).  But it's not just characters, the names spaceships and planets are just as important to the feel of Star Wars.

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Immersive 'Rogue One' Experience Coming to SXSW

By: Dominic Jones

Star Wars fans attending the South By Southwest Festival this weekend in Austin, Texas will want to take time to check out the all new immersive Rogue One: A Star Wars Story experience that Lucasfilm is running.  The details about the experience are vague but it will involve participants stealing the Death Star plans and trying to get the off Scarif.  The experience will run from 10am-7pm from March 10th to 12th at Grimes Studio (500 E. Fifth St., Austin, TX 78701).

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Details About 'Secrets of The Force Awakens: A Cinematic Journey' Documentary From SXSW Screening

By: Dominic Jones

The hotly anticipated "Making of" documentary about Star Wars: The Force Awakens debuted today at South by Southwest, and details are beginning to emerge about what the documentary includes. "Secrets of The Force Awakens: A Cinematic Journey" will be included on the home media release of The Force Awakens in early April (a preview for the documentary was also released earlier today). Director JJ Abrams was on hand at SXSW to introduce the film.  He told the audience (via EW),

“This is something that I’m really excited for you to see.  What’s so cool about this is that it shows and highlights people who put their heart and soul into making The Force Awakens. They were the greatest group of filmmakers, artists, and storytellers. To get to see the people behind the scenes was fun, frankly, even for me, and I was there.”

Entertainment Weekly also has a breakdown of ten things learned in the documentary, for example,

Daisy Ridley, the actress who won the role of Rey, auditioned with the scene in which her character is questioned by Kylo Ren. In the room, Ridley wowed the casting directors and Abrams with her ability to go to a very emotional place — even working up some tears — and taking direction with ease.

Also,

Peter Jackson, Star Trek’s Karl Urban, and Nobel Prize winner Malala Yousafzai were among some of the famous visitors to the Pinewood Studios sets.

And,

In explaining the character of Kylo Ren, Abrams draws a strong connection from his turn to the Dark Side and his parents’ fractured relationship. Making matters worse was Supreme Leader Snoke, who knew the child of Han Solo and Princess Leia would be powerful and targeted Ben from an early age, corrupting him and then recruiting him to the First Order.

You can read the entire list over at EW.

If you're interested in knowing everything that happens in the documentary, be sure to check out MakingStarWars.net's complete breakdown (but if you are concerned about Spoilers, you may want to skip this one).

Star Wars: The Force Awakens will be available for download on April 1st and on blu-ray and DVD on April 5th.  "Secrets of The Force Awakens: A Cinematic Journey" will be included in the home media releases as a bonus feature

Source: Entertainment Weekly

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'Secrets of The Force Awakens: A Cinematic Journey' Documentary to Premiere at SXSW

By: Dominic Jones

The world premiere of one of the bonus features from the blu-ray release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens will take place next week during the annual South By South West festival in Austin, Texas.   The feature length documentary, Secrets of The Force Awakens: A Cinematic Journey will premiere on March 14th, followed by a Q&A with The Force Awakens visual effects supervisor Roger Guyett, supervising sound editor Matthew Wood, and co-producer Michelle Rejwan. 

StarWars.com describes the 70-minute documentary as, "the complete story behind the making of The Force Awakens, revealed through in-depth footage and exclusive interviews with the actors and filmmakers in this feature documentary."

SXSW takes place in Austin, Texas from March 11th-20th.

Source: Entertainment Weekly

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