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Celebrity Cameos in Star Wars: The Last Jedi

The Official Star Wars: The Last Jedi Official Poster

It is sort commonplace now for celebrities to have secret cameos in Star Wars films. J.J. Abrams put Daniel Craig in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, and Gareth Edwards put Jordan Stephens (from Rizzle Kicks fame) in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.

Rian Johnson has decided to up the ante with Star Wars: The Last Jedi. This film contains numerous celebrity cameos, including some actors playing multiple roles.

SPOILERS BELOW!!!

Gareth Edwards – Speaking of Star Wars directors, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story director Gareth Edwards gets his 3 seconds of fame as a Resistance soldier on Crait. He was featured in the scene where the Resistance fighters hunker down in a trench prepared to battle the First Order. The soldier beside him puts a finger in the salt on the ground, and tastes it.

Gareth Edwards on the set of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

Edgar Wright – Director Edgar Wright appeared in the film, along with a few of his friends and family. He recently posted a picture of himself on set in his Resistance garb on the planet of Crait.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bc2VpErFKSG/

Prince William and Prince Harry – John Boyega has claimed that William and Harry’s cameos were cut, though his reps have since denied that. It’s been widely reported that they were either the executioner Stormtroopers or were in a scrapped elevator scene alongside Take That singer Gary Barlow.

Could this be Prince William and Prince Harry?

Mark Hamill – Okay yeah, he is Luke Skywalker! He also voiced another character as well! He played the role of Dobbu Scay, a character named after Lucasfilm editor Bob Ducsay. Don’t remember him? Well you aren’t alone. The thought is, he was the character filling BB-8 with coins on Canto Bight.

Luke Skywalker from Star Wars: The Last Jedi

Joseph Gordon-LevittWe reported this one a while back, but Gordon-Levitt voiced a character on Canto Bight. Specifically the alien that reported Finn and Rose to the authorities. This should come as no surprise due to the fact the he is a long time Rian Johnson collaborator.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt in The Dark Knight Rises
Joseph Gordon-Levitt in The Dark Knight Rises

Nathan, Griffin, and Chelsea Hamill – All three of the Mark’s children make cameo appearances in Star Wars: The Last Jedi as Resistance Fighters on Crait, who are being ordered around by Poe Dameron.

Ellie Goulding – Goulding is a pop singer with hit songs from things like 50 Shades of Grey. She is one of the Resistance fighters in the film and can be spotted during the battle on Crait.

Ellie Goulding

Sam Witwer – Sam’s contributions to the Star Wars saga are legendary. While you haven’t seen him in a film, you did hear his voice in Star Wars: The Force Awakens. He also voiced Darth Maul for The Clone Wars and Rebels, as well as The Emperor for Star Wars Rebels. He is also known as Starkiller in the fantastic Star Wars: The Force Unleashed video game series. Sam voices several “additional voices” throughout the film.

Sam Witwer from Being Human

Noah Segan – Another long time collaborator of Rian Johnson’s, Segan was a no-brainer for appearing in the movie. He was seen a few times on the main Resistance ship, before the bridge was blown up by Kylo Ren’s TIE-Fighter partners.

Noah Segan

Gary Fisher – The coolest cameo by far is that of Gary Fisher! Gary was Carrie Fisher’s beloved French Bulldog. He can be seen on Canto Bight as the pet of a gambler.

Gary Fisher and Carrie Fisher

If you spot other cameo’s, then by all means let us know. What other celebrities are lurking throughout the film?

About Star Wars: The Last Jedi:

Star Wars: The Last Jedi hits North American theaters on December 15, 2017. Directed by Rian Johnson and starring Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, John Boyega, Daisy Ridley, Oscar Isaac, Benicio del Toro, Laura Dern, Jimmy Vee, and more! Music will be composed by John Williams.

Gareth Edwards Talks about Deleted Scenes from Rogue One

Deleted Scenes from Rogue One

It seems that we are getting more news now about Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, than we get before the movie debuted in theaters last December.  Now Fandango is getting in on the interview action with Gareth Edwards, and spoke with him, concerning fan’s expectations of deleted scenes from Rogue One included on the film’s upcoming Blu-ray release.

When asked about deleted scenes in the film, Gareth had this to say:

“There’s not an individual scene that you can drag and drop and put on a Blu-ray,” he said. “There are little things that would come and go during the process of post-production, but they’re not scenes. They’re more moments within the scenes, or a single shot. So it’s impossible to be able to do that, and that’s why the decision was made.”

“The stuff people talk about, like what they saw in the trailer, they’re not scenes you can just put on a DVD. They’re moments within scenes and threads, and you pull a thread and it all changes. It was changing the whole time. It’s not like there was one version and then there was this other version — it was like this thing that incrementally  evolved constantly through all of post-production and didn’t stop until there was a gun at our heads and we were forced to release the movie.”

When asked about the iconic shot from the trailer with the TIE Fighter raising up in the clouds to confront Jyn, the Rogue One director gave reasons for that scene to not be included:

“Yeah, it’s going to have to remain a myth because it’s sort of the thing where you’re trying ideas out to find the right version of the movie, and at the same time marketing is getting excited about certain shots and moments. Eventually you’ll see something presented to you and you’ll be like, wait a minute, this shot is no longer in the film.”

Remember that scene from the trailer with Jyn and Cassian running across a beach with the Death Star plans?  Gareth discusses the chances of seeing that one as well:

Edwards added that we’ll never see an alternate version of that Scarif battle for a pretty simple reason: “The visual effects were never finished on it,” he said. “It’s not like there’s something sitting somewhere. I feel like making a film is like a sport where someone blows a whistle and that’s it — the score is what it is. And the goal is to win. If I could go back and do the film knowing what I know now, the final film would be completely different. I’d probably be willing to make Star Wars for the next ten years and never let go of it — constantly trying to finesse and find new ideas. But at some point it stops, and it is the movie. The film that got released, I feel like that is the film, and everything else is just the process of making it.”

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story In-Home Trailer (Official)

Experience Rogue One: A Star Wars Story again — and go behind the scenes with a galaxy of bonus features — when the thrilling tale of rebellion comes home on Digital HD (March 24) and Blu-ray 3D, Blu-ray, DVD, and On-Demand (April 4).

How Did Gareth Edwards Come Up With the Name Scarif?

Scarif

What exactly goes into the naming of a planet?  THR recently caught up with Rogue One: A Star Wars Story director Gareth Edwards, to get his take on the matter.  You might think, that it took months of deliberation, deciding just the right use of letters to create something iconic.  Well you would be wrong.  Apparently naming a planet could be just a matter of misspelling a name…

It was a trip to Tunisia to visit the site of Tatooine in the original Star Wars — complete with a visit to Obi-Wan Kenobi’s home and a glass of blue milk at Luke Skywalker’s house — that inspired Edwards to make a commitment to directing. His first feature-length film was Monsters, which premiered at SXSW in 2010 and helped put him on Hollywood’s radar. Edwards recalled meeting with then-Legendary CEO Thomas Tull, who told him that the studio wanted to work with him. “I just started crying,” he said. “It was really embarrassing.”

Now, Edwards is just coming off Rogue One, which despite being plagued by stories of reshoots made just over $1 billion worldwide. Edwards shared a few stories from the making of the film, including that the name of the planet Scarif from the film was the result of a misspelling of his name on a coffee cup. “I must have said, ‘It’s Gareth,’ and they wrote ‘Scarif,’” he said to laughs.

About Rogue One:

From Lucasfilm comes the first of the Star Wars standalone films, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, an all-new epic adventure. In a time of conflict, a group of unlikely heroes band together on a mission to steal the plans to the Death Star, the Empire’s ultimate weapon of destruction. This key event in the Star Wars timeline brings together ordinary people who choose to do extraordinary things, and in doing so, become part of something greater than themselves.

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is directed by Gareth Edwards and stars Felicity Jones, Diego Luna, Ben Mendelsohn, Donnie Yen, Mads Mikkelsen, Alan Tudyk, Riz Ahmed, with Jiang Wen and Forest Whitaker. Kathleen Kennedy, Allison Shearmur and Simon Emanuel are producing, with John Knoll and Jason McGatlin serving as executive producers. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story opened in U.S. theaters on December 16, 2016.

Your First Taste of the Rogue One Score

Rogue One Score

Back in September Rogue One was still set to be scored by Alexandre Desplat and we were still rolling along thinking everything was okay.  Then news broke that Desplat had been replaced at the last minute with Michael Giacchino.  This had fans cautiously optimistic, due to the fact that Giacchino is basically a John Williams disciple.

A Star Wars film without Williams is a scary proposition, but after this latest video was revealed, I believe fans have nothing to worry about.  The following video was released to give us a taste of some of the music created for the film, and I must say I am impressed…

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story "Scoring Highlights"

What are your thoughts?  Of course as always, leave them in the comment section below.  I look forward to getting a feel of what other Star Wars fans think.

About Rogue One:

From Lucasfilm comes the first of the Star Wars standalone films, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, an all-new epic adventure. In a time of conflict, a group of unlikely heroes band together on a mission to steal the plans to the Death Star, the Empire’s ultimate weapon of destruction. This key event in the Star Wars timeline brings together ordinary people who choose to do extraordinary things, and in doing so, become part of something greater than themselves.

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is directed by Gareth Edwards and stars Felicity Jones, Diego Luna, Ben Mendelsohn, Donnie Yen, Mads Mikkelsen, Alan Tudyk, Riz Ahmed, with Jiang Wen and Forest Whitaker. Kathleen Kennedy, Allison Shearmur and Simon Emanuel are producing, with John Knoll and Jason McGatlin serving as executive producers. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story opens in U.S. theaters on December 16, 2016.

Gareth Edwards Breaks Down Rogue One Blu-ray, Deleted Scenes, and More…

Rogue One Blu-ray

Collider caught up with Rogue One director Gareth Edwards at a recent press junket for the film, and got to talk with him about the Rogue One Blu-ray, deleted scenes a possible extended cut, and filming in a war zone.

Check out the full video below.

Order Star Wars Rogue One Scarif Stormtrooper ArtFX+ Statue 2-Pack from Entertainment Earth!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GA-r8E4eAac

With Rogue One set to hit theaters in less than two weeks, Disney is holding a huge press junket for the film in San Francisco this weekend. Unlike Star Wars: The Force Awakens where they had us conduct interviews with the cast without seeing anything but the trailers, since Rogue One involves new characters and takes place before the events of Star Wars: A New Hope, Disney showed us almost thirty minutes of the film last night at Skywalker Ranch so reporters could learn more about the story and characters. Like I said on Twitter and during a Facebook Live chat, the footage was fantastic and left all of us wanting more.

About Rogue One:

From Lucasfilm comes the first of the Star Wars standalone films, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, an all-new epic adventure. In a time of conflict, a group of unlikely heroes band together on a mission to steal the plans to the Death Star, the Empire’s ultimate weapon of destruction. This key event in the Star Wars timeline brings together ordinary people who choose to do extraordinary things, and in doing so, become part of something greater than themselves.

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is directed by Gareth Edwards and stars Felicity Jones, Diego Luna, Ben Mendelsohn, Donnie Yen, Mads Mikkelsen, Alan Tudyk, Riz Ahmed, with Jiang Wen and Forest Whitaker. Kathleen Kennedy, Allison Shearmur and Simon Emanuel are producing, with John Knoll and Jason McGatlin serving as executive producers. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story opens in U.S. theaters on December 16, 2016.

Gareth Edwards Says Rogue One “Doesn’t Play Out Like You Think”

Gareth Edwards Talks Rogue One

Anticipation is gearing up higher and higher for this December’s Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.  As we get closer, it gets harder and harder to ignore press releases, interviews, and other spoilery material coming from the film.  While talking with USA Today, Gareth Edwards said that the film will not play out exactly as you may think it would.

Everybody in the motley crew has reasons to take on the Empire, but Jones’ Jyn Erso for sure is a reluctant hero, Edwards says. “Events take place that just shatter her life and send her off to basically be raised as a soldier in the midst of a war. She ends up not the person she was supposed to be.” Her journey is also a very Star Wars-y one: to redeem the sins of the father. “Even though we’re not telling the story of Luke Skywalker, it was important to me that we capture the same themes and emotion,” Edwards says. “But the film doesn’t unfold how you think. It’s not the same path as Star Wars.”

Pre-order the Rogue One: A Star Wars Story Soundtrack today from Amazon!

Let the speculation begin.  What do you think he means by these comments?  As always, leave your thoughts in the comment section below!

About Rogue One:

From Lucasfilm comes the first of the Star Wars standalone films, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, an all-new epic adventure. In a time of conflict, a group of unlikely heroes band together on a mission to steal the plans to the Death Star, the Empire’s ultimate weapon of destruction. This key event in the Star Wars timeline brings together ordinary people who choose to do extraordinary things, and in doing so, become part of something greater than themselves.

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is directed by Gareth Edwards and stars Felicity Jones, Diego Luna, Ben Mendelsohn, Donnie Yen, Mads Mikkelsen, Alan Tudyk, Riz Ahmed, with Jiang Wen and Forest Whitaker. Kathleen Kennedy, Allison Shearmur and Simon Emanuel are producing, with John Knoll and Jason McGatlin serving as executive producers. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story opens in U.S. theaters on December 16, 2016.