SPOILER Bothanspi "Leaks"

Well, not every shoot is going to be done in an exotic place either. Sometimes, a movie needs a mundane setting too. When you said bothanspi was on the opposite side of the world, I got the impression you were talking about some unusual place. Was he anywhere in Asia? Is that what you meant? I'm just trying to help you guys figure this out. If I could be given even a general idea of where he was, I think I might be able to solve this mystery.

 

You're correct Sir and I would eat my hat if there is a flashback scene in VII.
Flashbacks don't belong to Star Wars, it feels out of place. (like the nightmare scene in Ep.III)
That's what the crawl is for, to give information and backstory, to jump right into the action afterwards.

 

Thank you for the information, Voxx. Kansas and Missouri are right next to each other, so we can safely assume all the posts were done by the same person. I'll see what I can find. It's possible the guy was just visiting family between projects or something. For all we know, maybe he himself lives there and then simply travels wherever he needs to go when he gets a job. That's not that outlandish an idea. For example, Robert Duvall lives in rural Virginia but then will travel wherever he needs to go to do a movie. I wouldn't say his location data shows him to be a fraud. It might mean absolutely nothing.

I'll still look for movies shooting in Missouri and Kansas who share crew members with TFA. If anyone else wants to pitch in, please do! It will be tough if I have to do this by myself!

 

My personal impression is any back story "In Movie"Will be from Holocrons,not flashbacks.

 

Nice thought.

 

Can I just say Bothanspi was me so we can move on? I'm the one claiming I know how TFA ties into episode 8 and Rebels because of my privileged insider position as a second assistant gaffer at Pinewood. I'm the one who knows all of the characters' motivations, back stories, and intimate thoughts because of my super high up role working the catering table at Pinewood from approximately 10am-2pm GMT Tuesdays and Thursdays. I'm the one who knows that Finn is Lando's son, that Gleeson is Luke's son, that MVS is Kanan, that Poe is related to Biggs, that Rose is Yoda's first cousin/wife, that Kylo dies but Han lives, that Leia drinks too much and Rey is a scrapper living on the Missouri / Kansas border, all because of my hyper-connected dream job of checking out boom mics to the sound crew just down the road from Pinewood. It's me! I worked at Pinewood and all I got was this stupid t-shirt and the script and the dailies and the FX specs along with the cross-channel marketing plans for Lucasfilm that don't even exist yet.

Edit: Love you all!

 

You forgot that you knew that Leia was crazy over her weapon before Jason did.

Seriously, no one seems to care that bothanspi knew this first, and I don't know why. How did he know about Leia before everybody else? Was it just a lucky guess? Maybe it was, but none of us can be sure of that yet. Mizzlewump already backs him up in regard to the Lando connection. Now, Jason is starting to back him up on Kylo Ren being Han Solo's son. There are a lot of things going in bothanspi's favor, and I don't know why people have decided to hate him so much. There's really no good evidence so far that he was lying and there is at least some evidence he may have been telling the truth. Why should we "move on"?

 

For the reasons I just outlined. He claims to know things he wouldn't know if he were just part of the Pinewood crew of TFA, such as tie-ins to Rebels, reveals saved for episode 8, character back histories, character motivations, etc. Most of the claims are stupid. A few seem plausible because they line up with previous speculation, such as Kylo Ren being Han Solo's son -- this is from trade publication speculation that Driver is playing a villain who has a "Darth Vader" arc, which led to fan speculation that his character is based loosely on Jacen Solo. That's been a rumor since day one. The Leia thing isn't anything. It isn't a stretch to say Carrie Fisher is playing someone who's a little off.

Look, I don't want to rain on anyone's parade of fantasies, and I love outlandish speculation, piecing together clues and half-truths, but Bothanspi is so blatantly full of it. Kanan as MVS? I mean, COME ON. As Get In Gear stated earlier, JW at MSW gets some stuff wrong because it's clear he's piecing together incomplete information and filling in the gaps with speculation that may be wrong. He's very transparent about this. Whereas Bothanspi is claiming to have first hand knowledge of all sorts of total nonsense that he wouldn't know if he were actually a member of the Pinewood crew as he claims. That alone discredits him, regardless of the actual nonsense passed off as facts.

The evidence that he is lying is everything he says. If he were just talking about sets, costumes, actors that shared scenes together then maybe we could believe him, since he claims to be part of the Pinewood crew, but he claims knowledge of things he would only know if he had Kasdan's personally annotated copy of the script (back stories, motivations, etc) and notes from the Lucasfilm story group's brainstorming sessions about future projects (reveals saved for Ep 8 and a connection to the end of Rebels). Why would a member of a film crew know anything about closely held spoilers from a totally separate animated TV production? There isn't even overlap of personnel to gossip with. This is all evidence that literally everything Bothanspi says is a lie.

 

Everything bothanspi says could have been learned by simply watching the actors act and hearing things from his coworkers. It doesn't strain credulity all that much to suggest he might know the things he claims to. He didn't seem to have any sort of special knowledge about Rebels. All he said was that Max von Sydow was Kanan and that Kanan had abandoned the life of a Jedi for some reason. He could have learned that just from watching the filming. It still stands that bothanspi called something before anybody else—including Jason, who at first didn't believe bothanspi, even though you say bothanspi's claim "isn't a stretch"—and that several other credible leakers corroborate certain things he says. As far as I'm concerned, none of bothanspi's detractors have yet disproven his credibility.

And the Kansas and Missouri thing is really meaningless. There are all sorts of reasons why he could have been in that general area. His being in the Midwest in March doesn't disprove the allegation he was at Pinewood last year. A lot of people in the film industry live somewhere else and then travel to wherever a job takes them. Rosemary Harris is a British actress who often films movies in the U.K., yet she lives in North Carolina! Pomojema suggested he may have been getting routed through a proxy server altogether.

I'll continue to search for connections between the movie and Missouri and Kansas, but I don't know if they'll be forthcoming. His location might simply have something to do with some unknown aspect of his private life.

 

Well, Spoilerman called a lot of things before MSW, too, and I'm not so sure his outline of the story is accurate. I get that actors and actresses live somewhere else and travel for work but crews aren't necessarily the same thing. And does anyone know what the rules or laws are for film crews in the UK? I imagine they might be unionized and a certain percentage may actually have to be from the UK if they are filming in the UK.

 

I believe that they must be members of the European Union, but this I think is a certain percentage of the work force. In all likelihood they would not fly gaffers and production assistants from the US to work. We know that most of the above the line talent is from the US. If they were receiving money from the UK then that would be different also. Keep in mind lead actors are above the line talent and a certain number of them we know are British. I never shot in the UK, but did go to graduate school in Australia. I know they flew Aussie crews to New Zealand for Lord of the Rings, but again PA's and Gaffers and some people for cost alone you are going to prefer to hire locally.

 

He says, "Also to answer your Kanan question. Something happens during the tv show Star Wars Rebels where Kanan becomes scarred and unwilling to continue the life of a Jedi. It’s not touched on in the movie, but from my understanding it is the climax of the Rebels show." So he is claiming knowledge of the complete story arc for a character in an animated TV production that 1) has a completely different type of crew with different skillsets who wouldn't be on the Pinewood set, and 2) hasn't even entered pre-production on the arc in question, which would happen several seasons down the road. "From my understanding" -- of what? Nobody at Pinewood would have knowledge of this to share with him.

Additionally, Bothanspi seems caught off guard when someone asks about MVS's accent, which sounds nothing like Kanan (I know he's a thespian and could probably do a mean Freddie Prinze Jr impersonation, but this is indicative of getting caught in a poorly thought-out lie).

Like I said, many of his assertions about backstories and motivation would require access to JJ/Kasdan's annotated screenplay and the Lucasfilm story group's internal files.

To reiterate, it's not the details themselves that are the problem, it's what he claims to know given his claimed position.

As mentioned, for supposed sources like this who state they are part of the crew and have first hand knowledge of story elements, all you need to do is disprove ONE thing they claim with authority to prove they are lying. For someone like MSW, on the other hand, who is openly speculating based on piecemeal information that may or may not be legit, it's expected that some things will be wrong and some right (and we know for a fact he got the trailer right, and had access to legit concept art prior to it leaking all over the internet).

But it seems like nothing will dissuade you from your quest save seeing something official that contradicts one of these claims, and even then it may take multiple contradictions. Carry on and Godspeed.

 

what about set designers and creature shop folk? I imagine they are all handpicked. but i could be wrong.

 

Set designers are handpicked, they all are handpicked. Most creatures would be designed ahead of time. The regular make up artists however are a different story. I know for Lord of the Rings they flew them in from Australia, but that is largely dependent on the number that they needed. I imagine the make up artists for the stars might be flown in, make up for extras however would be hired locally. That would be my guess, but again if they don't have enough they would fly them in.

 

interesting tidbits of info i didnt know about film making. thanks.

 

Not all, I know that as a fact.....

(Though I know nothing about Star Wars)

 

I'm not aware of Spoilerman's having made claims unique to him which were later corroborated by a reliable source.

I've been looking through the credits, and there are indeed a few commuters from the United States who were on set (e.g., http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0764249/?ref_=ttfc_fc_cr494), though I have so far been unable to definitively connect any of the people I've studied to Missouri or Kansas. We also have to keep in mind that we have very little idea of what this guy's job title might have been. He might also have been getting routed through a proxy. And even if he really was in the Midwest, it's not as if no one from Europe has ever been to the Midwest! Has anyone examined his posts to see whether he uses British or American spellings? Still, from quickly scanning his posts, I can point out that the comparison he draws between the chrome troopers and Navy SEALs implies he is American. But with even that said, the SEALs are basically world famous at this point, so who knows?

You are ascribing claims to bothanspi that he never made. None of what he said insinuates that he possesses secret knowledge of the plot of Rebels. He only made two claims related to the show: that Max von Sydow is Kanan and that Kanan abandoned the life of a Jedi because something bad happened to him. That's it.

 

I think the whole Spoiler family peeps are just giving us small pieces of a larger puzzle. Finn is obviously the cousin of Lando's cousin, twice removed and Zare Leonis's illegitimate uncle's half stepdaughter.