Making Star Wars Full Synopsis

This comment always sounds a bit misleading.

How long was Mark Hamill really on the set for? A mountain of evidence suggests he was only there for 2 weeks with his beard, and possibly 1 more without his beard.

Kevin Smith says he called JJ Abrams while they were filming in Abu Dhabi, and that Mark Hamill was there, but the problem with this, is that his beard wasn't long enough to match his appearance at Skellig Michael at the end of the movie (and that is certainly the end of the movie). So unless they filmed Luke there with his face out of frame, he's not going to appear in any of those parts on Jakku (i.e. the entire first act).

He wasn't in London in early June, when they were filming the opening village sequences (he was in the US until at least the 10th of that month).
He probably wasn't there when they were filming some Resistance Base interior shots at Pinewood later in the month (because of that beard issue again).
He wasn't at the Puzzlewood shoot where they filmed Rey facing Kylo in the forests of Takodana for the first time (he was in the US at the time).
He wasn't at Greenham Common when they were filming the Resistance Base exterior scenes (his beard was growing way out of hand)
He likely wasn't there on Oscar Isaac's or Anthony Daniel's last day of shooting (again, his beard was getting crazy, and Pip Andersen who was there, never met Mark Hamill the entire time he worked on the movie)
He wasn't on the Paddock Lot at Pinewood when they were filming Takodana battle sequences around the ruins of Maz Kanata's castle (again... that beard, and the fact he was noticeably absent from Carrie Fisher's birthday celebration, and tweeted from home on the last day of that shoot).
He probably never filmed a single scene with Han Solo, because during the 1-2 weeks he was there with his styled Jedi beard, Harrison Ford was still recovering from his leg unjury...


Unless we're going to see his beard shrink and grow durign the movie, we can say with pretty a high degree of certainty that he never appears during the course of the film on Jakku, Takodana, D'Qar, or in ANY scenes with Han Solo*.

So unless Luke Skywalker is being held captive by the First Order on Starkiller, and get's freed during the mission to rescue Rey, his only appearance outside of flashbacks/holograms will be when Rey meets him on the Skellig Michael location at the end of the movie.

*It's possible that Luke communicates with Han via hologram or something... but chances of seeing both actors in costume on the set is next to nothing.

 

I don't know about "a mountain of evidence," and I didn't realize you were on beard watch.

Are you aware they shoot movies out of order? And that you can film multiple scenes in one day?

I know you are, and we both appear to be digging in and obfuscating in hopes that we're right.

There's only two weeks to go, while I accept the fact the you very well could be right about screen time, but you really need to acknowledge that, given the way the filmmakers have handled the information regarding bringing back the big 3 (see my last post), it would be pretty messed up to just have Luke appear at the end and/or never interact in person with the other 2 (or 3) from the OT.

 

I've been lurking in the shadows of this particular post for some time and now it's time for me to "awaken", for lack of a better (or worse) pun.

To start, it's easy to say that MSW has most key characters in key locations correct. The teasers, trailer, and tv spots have given some direct and some inferential evidence to support that. Those of us who have seen every teaser, trailer, snippet of footage (guilty) as well as read the synopsis (again, guilty) can clearly see that some of the information they have received has been right. However, I have some reservations, like many of you here...

Despite being able to point to actors being in locations and infer "this is what they posted was going to happen in (insert scene here)", the marketing crew has done a phenomenal job at keeping the actual storyline under wraps. I can't dispute that the shots themselves are wrong, but I haven't seen any semblance of a story from the tv spots that have been aired. They are puzzle pieces, I can assume that some of these pieces are incredibly important pieces, but I can't see the picture being depicted from the pieces themselves. There's just not enough information present for me to take it as gospel. Maybe my own doubt with the posted synopsis is clouding my better judgement, but I'm certain it's not blinding it. There's just not enough out there to say with any certainty that it's completely true.

There's so much more I could say on the matter, but to avoid over-saturating my main point I'll leave it with what I have here. Regardless, I'm excited to know all of the scenes we have seen with context, dialogue, and the overall arc in 17 days.

 

I've actually compiled a spreadsheet with filming dates, and tracking of several cast members, namely Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford (+ Peter Mayhew), Oscar Isaac, and Adam Driver, over the course of filming.

Beard watch is serious stuff. You should see Oscar's facial hair growth during different stages of production. One thing interesting to point out, is that Oscar Isaac filmed his last scenes on the 25th of September, more than a month before principal photography wrapped up. He also had about a whole month off from late July through to late August... He literally, only spent 2-3 months on set, which is potentially another 4 weeks more than what Greg Grunberg spent there.

Anyway, back to Mark Hamill.



Mark Hamill in mid may 2014 (When location filming began in Abu Dhabi)


Hamill, early June 2014 in Florida (about the time when they were filming the Village attack scenes at Pinewood)



Mark Hamill on the 24th of July at Guardians of the Galaxy Premiere in London (2 weeks after Puzzlewood filming wrapped up)



Mark Hamill around Kerry, Ireland on the 27th/28th of July 2014 (length, styling resembles leaked costume photo)

Mark Hamill, at home in California on about the 24th of August 2014, for Ice Bucket Challenge video.


Hamill at Golden Heart Awards Gala, California on the 1st of October 2014


Mark Hamill, home in California on the 22nd of October 2014 (Carrie Fisher had a Birthday celebration the night before in London)



Mark Hamill at Pinewood Studios on the 31st of October.

When you combine beardwatch, with all the other information about the shooting schedule, and everything we know about the story so far...
It's hard to fit a lot of Luke into the film in any way that make's much sense.

The only time Mark Hamill's facial hair ever matched his appearance in the leaked photo, while he was near the set, was the last week or so of July (the same week they filmed at Skellig Michael). Harrison Ford was still home recovering from his broken leg. You will never see Luke physically appear in a single scene with Han Solo, looking as we have seen him (not including a hologram added to the film in post production).
This is not just an opinion; this is fact.

If Luke is rescued from some sort of imprisonment on Starkiller... it will make for one really anti-climactic scene when he and Rey arrive on Skellig Michael at the end.

 

You need to get out more. I'm marking that post as "informative," but still, it's a tad disturbing.

Point taken, but...

May I recommend a wine tasting course or SCUBA diving?

--- Double Post Merged, Dec 1, 2015, Original Post Date: Dec 1, 2015 ---

Also, you never addressed my main point, which was about how the filmmakers and Hamill have handled things so that we shouldn't expect a Hamill cameo. That such a thing would fly in the face of so much behavior by the powers that be in this film.

 

People who are still in denial over Han's death and cameo Luke, I think you're way better off going into this movie prepared for these two highly likely possibilities and accepting that both developments may be important aspects of the story.

 

I sure do...

PR trying to spin a potentially negative situation?


@DarthCaedus
It's not pessimism if it's the truth.