BAFTA interviews JJ Abrams on making of Star Wars

BAFTA recently talked to Star Wars directors JJ Abrams (The Force Awakens, Episode IX), Gareth Edwards (Rogue One: A Star Wars Story) and actress Felicity Jones who played Jyn Erso in Rogue One.



In a related clip, actress Keira Knightley discusses her role as Padme's (Natalie Portman) decoy in Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace.

Forest Whitaker at Star Wars Celebration

Forest Whitaker, who plays Saw Gerrera in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and Star Wars Rebels, returns to Star Wars Celebration.

Whitaker will be making his second Star Wars Celebration appearance, and will also stop by the Star Wars Show LIVE stage with Rogue One co-star Felicity Jones, on Saturday, for a one-on-one chat.

Star Wars Celebration Orlando begins 13th April, celebrating the 40th anniversary of Star Wars' US release and rumoured to premiere the first teaser trailer for The Last Jedi.

Rogue One is coming home this March

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is coming home only months after its cinematic release.

The first Star Wars spin-off, directed by Gareth Edwards, will be released digitally in the US on 24th March. However, UK fans will have to wait until 10th April to see Jyn Erso and her rebel band steal the Death Star plans.

Alas, deleted scenes are not included in this inaugural home release, and the summer reshoots may not be addressed. But, that won't dissuade fans (myself included) from buying the Blu-ray release and there's Easter Eggs galore:

A Rogue Idea – Hear how ILM’s John Knoll came up with the movie’s concept – and why it’s the right film to launch the Star Wars stand-alone films.
Jyn: The Rebel – Get to know Rogue One’s defiant, resourceful survivor, and hear what it was like for Felicity Jones to bring her to life onscreen.
Cassian: The Spy – Diego Luna shares insights into his complex, driven character, who becomes a hero through selflessness, perseverance and passion.
K-2SO: The Droid – Explore the development of this reprogrammed Imperial droid, from initial pitch and character design through Alan Tudyk’s performance.
Baze & Chirrut: Guardians of the Whills – Go deeper into the relationship between these two very different characters, with Chinese superstars Jiang Wen and Donnie Yen.
Bodhi & Saw: The Pilot & The Revolutionary – Forest Whitaker and Riz Ahmed reflect on Saw Gerrera, the broken Rebel leader, and Bodhi Rook, the Imperial pilot who defects.
The Empire – Meet a dangerous new Imperial adversary… and cross paths once more with the most iconic villain of all time.
Visions of Hope: The Look of “Rogue One” – The filmmakers describe the challenges and thrills of developing a bold new look for the movie that can fit within the world of the original trilogy.
The Princess & The Governor – See what it took to bring the vibrant young princess of Star Wars: A New Hope – as well as one of her most memorable foes­ – back to the screen.
Epilogue: The Story Continues – Filmmakers and cast celebrate Rogue One’s premiere and look forward into the future, to the Star Wars stories yet to be told.
Rogue Connections – Uncover Easter eggs and film facts hidden throughout the movie that connect Rogue One to the Star Wars universe.

I stand by my assertion Rogue One is the best Star Wars movie since the original trilogy. Seriously, I can't wait to watch Rogue One and A New Hope back-to-back this spring.

Looking forward. Star Wars Celebration Orlando is the most likely venue for a teaser trailer for director Rian Johnson's The Last Jedi.

Rogue One is available for pre-order from Amazon.

Felicity Jones at Star Wars Celebration Orlando

Felicity Jones, who played Jyn Erso in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, will be among cast members appearing at Star Wars Celebration Orlando this April.

“Having Felicity Jones at Star Wars Celebration to meet all the amazing Star Wars fans is important to us,” said David Leiner General Manager and Vice President of Topps North American Sports and Entertainment. “She’s become an integral part of the Star Wars universe and was immediately loved by fans around the world. We are proud to have her in our first group of announced guests.”

Jones appeared at a Rogue One panel, for Star Wars Celebration Europe, last July. She'll be signing autographs alongside iconic villains at the Star Wars Celebration Autograph Hall. Ian McDiarmid (Emperor Palpatine) and Jeremy Bulloch (Boba Fett) will be representing the Empire.

Will you be attending Star Wars Celebration Orlando? If so, and you'd like to cover the event, please email.

Fans flock to see Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

The experiment worked! The first Star Wars standalone movie is a critical and commercial success.

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story took $155 million at the US box office in its opening weekend, but falls short of The Force Awakens' $248 million domestic debut. Worldwide takings are $290.5 million and, with the festive season fully underway, that's only going to increase as more fans and cinema goers flock to multiplexes around the world.

Director Gareth Edwards' instalment is a dark chapter in the franchise and there's a high body count. Paul Dergarabedian, an analyst with comScore, said the film lived up to expectations.

Based on the success of Rogue One and The Force Awakens, he said: "The next film in the Star Wars saga has the potential to claim the title as the biggest movie of all time."

Star Wars will be an annual festive tradition for years to come. Well, until at least 2020.

May I wish all my readers a fantastic festive period, whatever you may be doing, and all the best for the New Year! Thank you for all your comments. I'm off to see Rogue One, again, and hope you all find Star Wars goodies under the Christmas tree.

See you in 2017 for the 40th Anniversary of Star Wars' release in the US and Rian Johnson's Episode VIII.

Rogue One is the Star Wars prequel you're looking for

Director Gareth Edwards' Star Wars spin-off movie is about the Death Star and by the end I'd concluded Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is the best Star Wars movie since the original trilogy.

Not too shabby in the wake of JJ Abrams' joyous reboot: The Force Awakens. But, this is the expanded Star Wars universe I always imagined between episodes of the original trilogy, and in the pages of Dark Horse Comics in the 1990s...

Spoilers ahoy and I urge fellow fans to see the movie first. Otherwise it's tantamount to opening your presents before Christmas.

This film is for the fans from a fan and it's dark; The Empire Strikes Back dark. Edwards and cohorts put the war into Star Wars and assemble a brutal, heartbreaking, adventure with no happy ending for the adorable misfits lead by Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones). A generation of children will be as traumatised as I was watching the final episode of Blake's 7 in 1981.

Felicity Jones is an engaging lead and Jyn Erso's story arc mirrors Ellen Ripley and Sarah Connor. And I knew we were in for something sinister with Rogue One when Cassian Andor (Diego Luna) shot a Rebel informant in the back. These Rebels operate in world of grey.

K-2SO (Alan Tudyk) deserves special mention. The last time I wept over a machine's demise was Terminator 2: Judgment Day. Alan Tudyk delivers a tour de force erasing all memories of Jar Jar Binks in George Lucas' prequels.

The late Peter Cushing is digitally resurrected as Grand Moff Tarkin. The uncanny valley takes no prisoners. However, Tarkin had to be a commanding presence and the miracle workers at ILM came close to accomplishing the impossible and surpassed young Tony Stark in Captain America: Civil War.

Then there's the return of Darth Vader. Magisterial and menacing. The first shot of Mustafar's lava flows sent chills down my spine and the Sith Lord's introduction, submerged in a bacta tank, was nightmarish and chillingly foreshadows the horrors unleashed at the movie's audacious and claustrophobic climax in the wake of the best space battle since the original trilogy: a fitting epitaph to the late conceptual artist Ralph McQuarrie.

The first hour or so gives no indication of the spectacular third act to come and there's a cohesive vision that belies the extensive summer reshoots. It's as if Edwards ripped up the Hollywood rule book and his movie takes Star Wars to the nth degree and into A New Hope.

This maybe the closest we'll ever get to a Steven Spielberg directed franchise instalment. Edwards deftly mixes The Dirty Dozen, Saving Private Ryan and Apocalypse Now. In fact Rogue One is replete with filmic references to delight all cinephiles.

The nod to the Journal of the Whills and countless Easter Eggs will give diehard fans a frisson of excitement lacking in the prequels. Hollywood composer Michael Giacchino, parachuted late into the production when Alexandre Desplat had to back out, interweaves John Williams' iconic soundtrack with his usual aplomb.

Kyber crystals power the Death Star's reactors and lightsabers. So, I couldn't help recalling Splinter of the Mind's Eye, a novelisation written by Alan Dean Foster, which shares Rogue One's genesis as a story originally intended for a live-action Star Wars television series.

Connected universes are de rigeur and Star Wars surpasses stablemate Marvel in this regard. The Clone Wars' Saw Gerrera (Forest Whitaker), who shaped Jyn Erso's formative years after her father, Galen Erso (Mads Mikkelsen), was forced to serve the Empire, against his will, by an overreaching Director Krennic (Ben Mendelsohn), will appear in the current season of Star Wars Rebels. The Disney XD series predates events in Rogue One.

The only fly in the ointment was the lack of an opening crawl. Rogue One, whilst boasting the most beautiful reveal in the saga's history, deserved more and I hope Disney rethinks this strategy for the upcoming Han Solo spin-off and beyond.

The Force is strong with this one and it bodes well for future Star Wars spin-offs.

Rogue One Chinese trailer focuses on Baze and Chirrut

Lucasfilm has unleashed a new official trailer for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. Directly aimed at the Chinese market and focussing on new characters Baze Malbus and Chirrut Îmwe.

“I’ve been recruiting for the Rebellion,” Diego Luna’s Rebel officer Cassian Andor says in a voiceover. “Spies, saboteurs, assassins,” before cutting to a scene of a platoon of stormtroopers surrounding Chirrut on Jedha. “He’s blind,” says one of them before they’re all taken out by the Force-loving monk with a little help from his big gun-toting friend.

“You almost shot me!” Chirrut says. “You’re welcome,” Baze responds.



The Force Awakens met with a lukewarm reception in China. So, Disney will be keen to garner greater success in the Chinese market with Rogue One.

The upcoming Star Wars spin-off, released next week, follows the Rebellion as it embarks on a perilous mission to steal the Death Star plans.

Lucasfilm screens 28 minutes of Rogue One

With less than two weeks to go until Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is released in theatres. Journalists (alas, not me) were invited to a press junket at Lucasfilm.

Disney didn't impose an embargo. The journalists' spoiler-free reactions on social media, to the 28 minutes of screened footage, have been positive with praise given to the action, scope and K-S2O. Many dismissed the incessant focus on summer reshoots citing Rogue One looks spectacular and opens with a breathtaking jolt.

Someone, who has purportedly seen an edit of Rogue One, said the Star Wars spin-off was their third favourite entry in the blockbusting franchise, following The Empire Strikes Back and A New Hope. If that's the widespread reaction after 14th December...

Be sure to subscribe for more coverage of Star Wars and Rogue One.

Rogue One tickets go on sale with 'Dream' TV Spot

Despite a lifelong passion for film, I'm not one to bother with booking cinema tickets at midnight. However, the Star Wars franchise is a very rare exception to that rule and, as with The Force Awakens last December, I've booked tickets for a matinee showing on Friday 16th December.

Booking tickets for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story at midnight was, inevitably, an adventure unto itself. Vue cinemas' website strained under the power of the Force, as avid fans tried to get into the virtual queue early. However, a kindly soul, on Twitter, suggested using Quick Book, and tickets were safely secured.

As per last year, I'll be enforcing a social media blackout from 14th December until after seeing Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones), with the aid of her rebel friends, steal the Death Star plans in Disney's prequel to the original Star Wars trilogy. Yes, the spin-off movie directly dovetails into A New Hope.

To coincide with the sale of tickets, Lucasfilm has dropped a new TV Spot. Director Gareth Edwards' movie has a gritty tone and desperate dynamism. An allegory for these times.

Eddie Redmayne wants to play Doctor Who

Eddie Redmayne told BBC Radio 1 that he'd be open to taking on the role of Doctor Who amidst speculation Peter Capaldi would exit the popular television drama, alongside series showrunner Steven Moffat, in 2017.

“Would I do it? Yeah! It’s a great show", he said. "I do see the resemblance. I see the scarf, I see the coat, I see the bow tie. [...] I’m also a huge fan of those actors, I love Matt Smith. I suppose the briefcase [in Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them] has a TARDIS vibe to it – so yeah!”

Redmayne did add a caveat: “It looks like a lot of work. I’ve spoken to Matt [Smith] and those schedules are pretty rigorous. Maybe when I’m 73!”

Eddie Redmayne's co-star in The Theory of Everything, Felicity Jones, has already appeared in Doctor Who as Robina Redmond in the David Tennant serial The Unicorn and the Wasp.

Do you think Eddie Redmayne looks the part? Let me know in the comments below.

Rebellions are built on hope in trailer for Rogue One

Lucasfilm unveiled the official theatrical poster for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story ahead of today's new trailer. The one sheet spectacularly harkens back to the original trilogy and the iconic art of Drew Struzan.

Director Gareth Edwards makes an appearance on The Star Wars Show to reveal the poster and announce the anticipated new trailer.



Actress Felicity Jones, who plays Jyn Erso, addressed the controversy surrounding summer reshoots in an interview with THR.

"Obviously when you come to the edit, you see the film come together and you think, 'Actually, we could do this better, and this would make more sense if we did this.' I've done it so many times," Jones says. "I mean, you wouldn't just give your first draft on this story, would you?"

Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy was never concerned. "I'm sure if you picked up the phone and called every single large, technical movie and said, 'You ever gone in and done reshoots?' they'd all say, 'Oh God, yes. So why has it turned into a big story? Because it's Star Wars, and they put a spotlight and scrutinize every single thing that gets done," she says. "But it was always planned and nothing unusual."

Kennedy's latest comments echo those made by the movie's director, Gareth Edwards, who assured Entertainment Weekly in July, "It was always part of the plan to do reshoots. We always knew we were coming back somewhere to do stuff. We just didn't know what it would be until we started sculpting the film in the edit."

This is the Rogue One trailer you're looking for. Disney may have its prequel.



Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is released in theatres on 16th December. The queue starts here.

New images and character names from Rogue One

The striking image of Darth Vader, taken from a 10-page preview of the official visual guide, confirms the Sith Lord's appearance in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.

Here is the official book synopsis:

The official companion book to fall’s most anticipated release of Star Wars Rogue One. Never-before-seen interviews, images and teasers from this major motion picture. Detailed, in-depth character profiles, iconic vehicles, weaponry and droids. Lucasfilm proudly presents the official companion book to this fall’s most anticipated release of Star Wars Rogue One. Featuring never-before-seen interviews, images and teasers from this major motion picture. Experience all the thrills with detailed, in-depth character profiles, iconic vehicles, weaponry and droids you’ve been looking for. Featuring 160 pages of action-packed photos and content, this official Lucasfilm collector’s book is a must-have for every Star Wars fan.



Aside from tantalising images (not final). Several character names are revealed, too.

*Felicity Jones is Jyn Erso, a highly skilled soldier and warrior
*Diego Luna is Captain Cassian Andor, an officer in the Rebel Alliance
*Jiang Wen is Baze, a freelance assassin
*Alan Tudyk is K-250, an enforcer droid who teams up with the Rebels
*Riz Ahmed is Bodhi, a rebel soldier
*Donnie Yen is Chirrut, a spiritual warrior
*Ben Mendelsohn is Director Krennic, the military director of the Empire

The new book is released on 24th January and is available for pre-order on Amazon.

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is shaping up to be Disney's prequel to the original trilogy this December.

Win a Stormtrooper helmet with Force For Change

Oscar-nominee Felicity Jones, who plays Jyn Erso in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, reveals this week's prize for the top donor to Force For Change. A wearable Death Squad Stormtrooper helmet signed by the cast of Rogue One.



Best of all, fans are helping charitable causes. Fans have until May the 4th, Star Wars Day, to donate here.

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story teaser trailer

The first teaser trailer for director Gareth Edwards' upcoming Rogue One: A Star Wars Story was released today and distills a dark, gritty prequel to A New Hope. Oscar-nominee Felicity Jones (The Theory of Everything) plays Jyn Erso and is described as "reckless, aggressive and undisciplined".



The spin-off movie chronicles the rising Rebellion's mission to steal the Death Star plans and I'm even more convinced Darth Vader will make an appearance following Star Wars Rebels. What do you think? Let me know in the comments below.

First look at Star Wars: Rogue One

Rogue One, the inaugural Star Wars anthology movie, has begun principal photography and Lucasfilm released a first look photo of the cast during D23.

Gareth Edwards (Godzilla) is directing the story that follows resistance fighters who have united to steal the plans to the Empire's dreaded Death Star.

“Rogue One takes place before the events of Star Wars: A New Hope and will be a departure from the saga films but have elements that are familiar to the Star Wars universe,” says Kathleen Kennedy. “It goes into new territory, exploring the galactic struggle from a ground-war perspective while maintaining that essential Star Wars feel that fans have come to know. Gareth is such an innovative director and I’m so excited to be working with him and the extraordinary ensemble cast he’s selected for ‘Rogue One.’”

Felicity Jones (The Theory of Everything) leads the ensemble. Alexandre Desplat is the composer, but John Williams' familiar themes are bound to be referenced.

Rogue One is due in cinemas December 2016.

Felicity Jones cast in standalone Star Wars: Rogue One

Disney CEO Bob Iger announced, during an investors meeting, the title of the first Star Wars standalone movie. Star Wars: Rogue One directed by Gareth Edwards (Godzilla).

Oscar-nominated actress Felicity Jones (The Theory of Everything) has a leading role. Tatiana Maslany (Orphan Black) and siblings Kate and Rooney Mara were previously linked to the first Star Wars spin-off movie.

Iger also revealed Star Wars: Episode VIII, written and directed by Rian Johnson (Looper), opens May 2017! This coincides with the 40th anniversary of Star Wars' premiere in the US.

Evidently Disney is reprising its Marvel Cinematic Universe transmedia tale with spin-off movies and a new trilogy, which begins with JJ Abrams' The Force Awakens. This strategy began with Star Wars Rebels on Disney XD and continues in Marvel comics.

Journey to Star Wars: The Force Awakens, an all-new Marvel comics event series, begins this September.

Star Wars: Rogue One starts shooting this summer in London and is due for release on December 16th, 2016.

What does the title mean? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below.