SPOILER MakingStarWars Rumors and Speculation Thread (Part 1)

I just realized there's something else fishy about this rumor: The previous six films established a precedent where each movie is expected to end with a wide shot of multiple main characters in a kind of "pose" together. ANH has the medal ceremony; ESB has Luke, Leia, C-3PO, and R2-D2 looking out a window at a distant galaxy; ROTJ has the "group photo" at the Ewok party; TPM has the celebration on Naboo; AOTC has Anakin and Padmé looking out onto a lake with C-3PO and R2-D2 in a shot meant to imitate the ending of ESB; and ROTS first has a "pose" with Vader and Palpatine gazing out a window at the Death Star and then yet another "pose" with Owen and Beru looking out into the distance with baby Luke!

This rumor, if true, would seem to violate this longstanding convention concerning how a Star Wars movie ought to be brought to its conclusion. This observation about all the past movies would appear to indicate that there exists a very high likelihood of this rumor being false.

 

Or the filmmakers have simply decided to ignore a lot of the classic tropes that we've all come to expect to see emulated and redone. The endings of the prequels were meant to mirror their OT counterparts. It may be unlikely, but perhaps JJ and co are doing something completely different.

 

But it's not just about the prequels imitating the original films because EVERY SINGLE MOVIE has ended this way. Each original film ends with a "pose." The "pose" ending is arguably just as much a part of Star Wars as the opening crawl.

 

I'm not saying the MSW report is accurate or inaccurate - the fact remains, I can see how the description fits in with the established format anyway. ROTS was just a montage of various loose ends being tied up. TESB sees our heroes splitting up before the final shot on the medical frigate. I'd just presume in this case the final shot is of Luke and Rey looking out over whatever backdrop they are set against in the same way...

Exactly. It's a fairly loose description.
If you read how the final shot of each of the movies is described in the shooting scripts, they are precisely the kind of descriptions you would be unable to provide unless you actually had the shooting scripts (or had seen the finished shots). If MSW is piecing together concept art, call sheets and firsthand accounts, it is unlikely a description of "what happens at the end of the movie" is going to read exactly like a script would read or "exactly" how it will play out in the finished film...

You know - "They all get given medals in the Rebel temple"... "Luke get's his hand fixed, and Lando and Chewie fly off in the Falcon"... "The Ewoks sing a song and everybody parties"

As for people saying MSW is part of a misinformation campaign. That just doesn't stack up.
As David Lynch would say, "you are looking at the hole, you are supposed to be looking at the doughnut".
The volume of stuff MSW has shared which has been corroborated by other sources - including sites which have been leaking SW stuff for more than a decade - is the important thing here, not the handful of things which maybe appear to conflict, on the surface...

 

Jason Ward strongly intimates in his post that the movie ends the moment Rey puts the lightsaber in Luke's hand. It's possible that they pose and look off into the distance after doing this. However, why would Ward note something as subtle as Chewbacca ruffling Rey's hair but not Rey and Luke striking the customary "ending pose"? Something is not right about what he's saying, and there's something not right about the idea of relegating Luke to a cameo. Rey and Finn will have plenty of time to shine in the next two movies; just about everybody wants to see Luke save the day one last time in this one.

 

I'm sure everyone wanted to see Indiana Jones save the day one last time too, but then they got Crystal Skull.
Personally, I'm more concerned with seeing a good movie - and that doesn't hinge on seeing Luke Skywalker swing a lightsaber around again...
I'm not saying it can't include that and be a good film either, just it isn't a deal-breaker, therefore it doesn't immediately make this report false. Which it might well be, I'm not saying it isn't.
If pissing off existing fans was ever a factor in writing scripts, then I'm pretty sure 90% of the movies made in the past 20-odd years would never have been made at all.
They are remaking Ghostbusters, FFS...

As far as I can recall, when the prequel stuff was leaking, there were plenty of people who didn't like what they were hearing and simply refused to accept the leaks were true.

I'm really surprised how little official content Disney/LucasFilm are offering up here, I think they are really missing a trick on that front. The whole script or novelisation transcript could drop at any moment and so far all they have done is give us a teaser trailer, a handful of cryptic tweets, and some official character stills/names sourced from the trailer.

 

Disney is not in the business of pissing off the fans. They just invested billions to revitalize a divided fan base (prequel haters, prequel lovers). I can't imagine a script getting past Kathleen Kennedy or Bob Iger that only had Luke in it for a parting cameo.

 

Just my opinion, of course, but I would like to think it would if it was a really good script.
Isn't the flipside of that coin that Kennedy and Iger might reject a really good, interesting script and demand they just shovel more Luke in, to "please the fans"?

Because isn't the whole "Yay, more lightsabers. Yay, more aliens. Yay, Yoda whipping out his saber and flipping all over the place" attitude what divided the fanbase in the first place?
If they are just sticking Luke in there to "please the fans" rather than serve the script, then it seems like more of the same to me.
Again, please note, I am not saying there isn't a good script out there with Luke at the centre of it, it just may not be the one they are making here...

 

Then don't parade Mark Hamill around. Don't have the original cast. Do something original. Surprise us with a cameo. Don't build up hype and pull the rug out.

 

But I think a script not including Luke would ipso facto be a bad one. This film is the "curtain call," if you will, for the original cast; and once we're done with this movie, we can give the new people more responsibilities in the next two movies. This movie is supposed to help us get used to the Star Wars universe again, and the old guys are supposed to be our "training wheels" for getting accustomed to the new guys. We don't have emotional connections with the new people yet, but by the time the next movie comes around, that hopefully will have changed.

We also have to consider all of Viral Hide's objections to the rumor. Particularly consider how it has been pointed out by several people already that stunt doubles were involved in the Skellig Michael shoot, a suggestion which wouldn't comport at all with Ward's latest claim.

My guess right now is that if Ward is getting his information from call sheets, he's missing some of them and he's reporting on a scene out of context. The production is reputed to be highly compartmentalized.

 

Totally agree.
I think the problem here is there are two discussions to be had.

1) Is this MSW description of "a scene" which might be the final scene of the movie accurate.
2) Is Luke really only in this film for one shot.

My gut instinct at this point is that Hamill has been involved in more than what is being described - therefore will be in more scenes.
But I see no reason to disregard this as a description of the final scene.
The bone of contention is MSW's suggestion that this is ALL Luke does in the movie. I suppose you've got to be careful with the language he uses.
Because it seems to me there is a bit of a void between him saying "this is a scene I can describe, provided by whatever sources..." etc, and then saying "I haven't seen anything else with Luke in it, and from piecing together what I do know I am PRESUMING there is nothing else for Luke to do in this movie" - which is just speculation on his part.

From what we do know so far, I agree with his speculation in a way - I do find it hard to see where Luke fits in. But then, there are huge gaps in what we know.
But then that is balanced out with we the fact we know how much Hamill could have been involved in the shoot.

I guess the only point I am trying to make is, I'm not that bothered if it turns out this is Hamill's only scene, and I'm not that bothered if it isn't, so long as it is a good Star Wars movie. Hell, or just a good movie period.

 

Cool-- then I'm going to go with the theory of the evil and crazy cyborg Luke is locked in his castle with the super weapon--while the real Luke just shows up at the end to check out the lightsaber and fix Rey's hair....if you just look at the whole donut, it makes sense ;')

 

But we have to remember first and foremost that this is episode 7, it's not a brand new story. This is a continuation of the story. Star Wars is a huge novel and each film/episode is a chapter of this novel. A film with no Luke would make for a bad script in my eyes because there would be no logic in that. And would go against Luke's character and everything we learned about him.
Also we need to look at the evidence of Hamill being on set. He was in England for six months. Was he was allowed to leave from time to time to film other interviews or events. But so was every other actor including Mayhew, Fisher, Driver. Driver was on set week on week off to film girls in between filming of star wars. Key thing is Hamill was assigned a trainer to get fit. Why go through all that to film one 30 second scene where he's just sitting wearing robes I'm sure. That make sense to you.
Just because we don't know much about Lukes adventures in this film is not evidence he's only in one scene.
We don't know much about a lot of characters like Fisher, the droids, Serkis etc etc. On Poe all we really know or think we know is the opening scenes. That doesn't mean that's all he does in the film.
There's more to Luke than just one scene. I don't buy this rumor.

 

This is his language: "The documentation we have seen only states Hamill has this one sequence and they’re the final scenes in the film for sure."

 

Is there nobody else out there that has "sources" that can confirm or deny what Jason Ward is saying? I can't imagine he's the only guy on the planet people are willing to share information with.

 

Luke is not going to be the main character of this trilogy.