Vanity Fair goes behind-the-scenes of The Last Jedi

Fresh from publishing four variant covers to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Star Wars this week. Vanity Fair goes behind-the-scenes of Star Wars: The Last Jedi with exclusive photos, taken by Annie Leibovitz, and a video.



Fans get their first glimpse of Laura Dern and Benicio Del Toro, playing Vice Admiral Holdo and DJ respectively, in The Last Jedi.

Dern strikes an imperious pose, in stark contrast to her character's link to the Resistance, that evokes the opulent prequels. She recently attended a scoring session for The Last Jedi reuniting the Jurassic Park actress with composer John Williams.



Del Toro is channelling a Replicant from Ridley Scott's Blade Runner.



Director Rian Johnson gives an insight into his approach to the Star Wars sequel, saying, “I started by writing the names of each of the characters, and thinking, ‘What’s the hardest thing they could be faced with?'”

On the subject of Rey’s training parallelling Luke's on Dagobah, Johnson teases, “There’s a training element to it, but it’s not exactly what you would expect.”

It's heartbreaking when Kathleen Kennedy suggests Carrie Fisher may have had a bigger role in Episode IX, which closes the Star Wars sequel trilogy. “The minute she finished, she grabbed me and said, ‘I’d better be at the forefront of IX!’” Kennedy remembers. “Because Harrison was front and center on VII, and Mark is front and center on VIII. She thought IX would be her movie. And it would have been.”

Be sure to visit Vanity Fair for the full story here.

Star Wars: The Last Jedi is released in cinemas on 15th December.