Episode IX Speculation and Discussion

[Reverend]

How cynical.

I still don't get why death of the actor=death of the character.

It depends on the circumstances. Some characters are so inexorably associated with the actor that plays them that to try and directly replace them is just a *really* bad idea. In this case, Leia is a major cultural icon of that last four decades and Carrie Fisher has been her face (if not always her voice) the whole way through.

Had Fisher passed *after* finishing the trilogy, there would have been the slight possibility of seeing the character played by someone else--in some capacity--somewhere down the line. But since she died before her story was complete, forcing the film makers to somehow fashion a graceful exit out of existing footage, it's just not appropriate for anyone else to take up the role anytime soon. It'd feel like desecrating a memorial.

 

[DigificWriter]

The original decision by Lucasfilm was that using CGI o recreate Carrie's likeness or use "archive footage" to include her in E9 would be disrespectful to her memory, despite the fact that both Todd Fisher and Billie Lourd had given them permission to do so.

Something ended up changing the company's collective mind on this, and I'd love to know what that "something" is.

 

[JD]

I never heard/read anything about them saying no unused footage, just no CGI.

Luke can comeback. Not a biggie. With Leia/Carrie Fisher, I mentioned how I felt about it already with other examples of actors dying. It's only Star Wars that resurrects these people from the dead to have them in their movie

Not just Star Wars, Sky Captain and The World of Tomorrow used manipulated footage to recreate Laurence Olivier, and the current Hawaii 5-0 had a pretty cheesy CGI recreation of Jack Lord in an episode.

Olivier in Sky Captain

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

Lord in Hawaii 5-0

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

I think there have been others, but those are the only two I can think of right now.

 

[WarpFactorZ]

The original decision by Lucasfilm was that using CGI o recreate Carrie's likeness or use "archive footage" to include her in E9 would be disrespectful to her memory, despite the fact that both Todd Fisher and Billie Lourd had given them permission to do so.

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that either:

(a) JJ said "Goddamnit! I am NOT to$$ing away the great bookend $tory I had in mind for Ep IX, e$pecially when we have the family's permission to use Carrie's likeness. Kathleen, help me!"

(b) Kathleen Kennedy said ""Goddamnit! I am NOT to$$ing away JJ'$ great bookend $tory for Ep IX, e$pecially when we have the family's permission to use Carrie's likeness. . JJ -- snap to it!"

 

[mos6507]

Something ended up changing the company's collective mind on this, and I'd love to know what that "something" is.

When I was in film school one of the projects I was given was to cut together some trash found-footage. I remember some of it had Carmen Miranda in it. I don't remember what I did with it, but you'd be surprised what creative editing can do. It's not going to be immediately apparent, though. You don't really write a screenplay and then use the footage to fit it. You work with the footage and tailor the screenplay to what you've got. It's like a jigsaw puzzle.

Of course, the other end of the coin are the comparisons people are making to Bela Lugosi's footage in Plan 9 from Outer Space. But the talent being invested in salvaging Episode IX is a little greater than Ed Wood.

 

[mos6507]

I think there have been others, but those are the only two I can think of right now.

Brando in Superman Returns.

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

 

[DigificWriter]

I never heard/read anything about them saying no unused footage, just no CGI.

http://www.ign.com/articles/2017/04/14/leias-carrie-fisher-is-not-in-star-wars-episode-9

 

[JD]

Oh, thanks for sharing that. I wonder what made them change their minds?

Brando in Superman Returns.

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

I actually did see that in theaters, but completely forgot about Brando.

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

An interesting, and spoilerish, theory on who Richard E. Grant might be playing

 

[Tuskin38]

https://twitter.com/jjabrams/status/1024717847958892545/photo/1?

Bittersweet starting this next chapter without Carrie, but thanks to an extraordinary cast and crew, we are ready to go. Grateful for @rianjohnson and special thanks to George Lucas for creating this incredible world and beginning a story of which we are lucky to be a part. #IX

RJ's response (it's just a gif)
https://twitter.com/rianjohnson/status/1024719910654500864

 

[mos6507]

https://twitter.com/jjabrams/status/1024717847958892545/photo/1?
RJ's response (it's just a gif)
https://twitter.com/rianjohnson/status/1024719910654500864

He should have tweeted this:

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

 

[Campe]

So, the pic looks like it’s Finn, Chewie and perhaps(?) Poe on the Falcon. It would make more sense if it were Rey (just based on her history with the ship) but that might be why they’re masking the face.

 

[JD]

It looks like Finn is wearing a light vest and dark shirt, which is the opposite of Han's trademark dark vest and light shirt.

 

[WarpFactorZ]

So, the pic looks like it’s Finn, Chewie and perhaps(?) Poe on the Falcon. It would make more sense if it were Rey (just based on her history with the ship) but that might be why they’re masking the face.

You're missing the biggest hint in the photo -- the camera has a "VII IX" sign. "7 9"... "7 OF 9!!" Clearly the Borg will be in the next film. .

 

[Campe]

You're missing the biggest hint in the photo -- the camera has a "VII IX" sign. "7 9"... "7 OF 9!!" Clearly the Borg will be in the next film. .

Clearly.

 

[Qonundrum]

The original decision by Lucasfilm was that using CGI o recreate Carrie's likeness or use "archive footage" to include her in E9 would be disrespectful to her memory, despite the fact that both Todd Fisher and Billie Lourd had given them permission to do so.

Something ended up changing the company's collective mind on this, and I'd love to know what that "something" is.

I'm a bit behind the times, what about Peter Cushing's relatives and letting him be re-made as a CGI piece but they decided not to respect him?

All seems a bit silly, especially in this day and age. Tell a good story - that does Leia and Fisher real justice. As much as Cushing and Tarkin had since the charatcer was one of the few compelling spots from "Rogue One", and they could have had some guy with a photo of Cushing taped to a hat on his head with same voiceover dub and it would have worked just as well.

https://twitter.com/jjabrams/status/1024717847958892545/photo/1?



RJ's response (it's just a gif)
https://twitter.com/rianjohnson/status/1024719910654500864

Looking at the thumbnail i nthe quote, I thought the camera with "IX" had a picture of Hilly from "Red Dwarf"...

Who's the target audience?

Kryten once told me of an old android phrase or two, one of which goes something like this:

0100011001101001011011100110111000100000011010010111001100100000011010010110111000100000011000010010000001100111011100100110010101100101011011100010110101101100011010010111010000100000011100110111000001100001011000110110010101110011011010000110100101110000001000000110000101101110011001000010000001101100011011110110111101101011011100110010000001100001011011000110110000100000011000100110110001110101011100100111001001111001001011000010000001101100011001010110000101110110011010010110111001100111001000000110111101101110011011000111100100100000011101000110100001100101001000000110001101100001011011010110010101110010011000010010000001110111011010010111010001101000001000000110000101101110011110010010000001100101011011010111000001101000011000010111001101101001011100110010111000100000

And this:

0101011101101000011011110010000001100011011000010111001001100101011100110010000001100001011000100110111101110101011101000010000001100010011001010110100101101110011001110010000001110000011000010111010001110010011011110110111001101001011110100110010101100100001000000111001101101111001000000110110001100001011011010110010101101100011110010010000001101100011010010110101101100101001000000111010001101000011000010111010000111111

And to summarize,

0100010001101111001000000111010001101000011001010111100100100000011010000110000101110110011001010010000001100001011011100111100101110100011010000110100101101110011001110010000001110010011001010110000101101100001000000111010001101111001000000111001101101000011011110111011100111111

And, yes, I'm rather a fan of "The Last Jedi". Usually you'd find such commentary from people disliking the previous installment. Just hope there isn't a new Starkiller II base that's in pieces but otherwise fully functional.

 

[JD]

According to Carrie Fisher's brother Todd Episode IX will also include unused footage of her from The Last Jedi along with the footage from The Force Awakens.
It makes sense they'd use TLJ footage since it is probably more closely related to the IX than TFA would be.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

what about Peter Cushing's relatives and letting him be re-made as a CGI piece but they decided not to respect him?

From day one, the Cushing family were all in favor of re-creating Peter. Not only did they all give their blessings to the project, but they also assisted the producers in tweaking the CGI of Tarkin so as to make it more accurate.

 

[Tuskin38]

IIRC there was also a mould of his face from a movie he did decades ago that they used for reference.

 

[DigificWriter]

From day one, the Cushing family were all in favor of re-creating Peter. Not only did they all give their blessings to the project, but they also assisted the producers in tweaking the CGI of Tarkin so as to make it more accurate.

Billie and Todd gave Lucasfilm their permission and blessing to use either CGI or archive footage to include Carrie in Episode IX, but, as I noted, the company initially ruled out using either of those options. Something changed their minds, and I'd like to know what that "something" was.