RogueLeader

Yeah, he kind of makes you realize that there are a quite a few deleted scenes for all the movies that we still haven’t seen, or even know about.

One scene I recently learned about was one between Padme and Obi-Wan in Revenge of the Sith. They talk briefly about Anakin and Obi reveals that he knows they have feelings for each other, but promises to keep their secret.

You can actually read the script for that scene (and several other scenes) here: http://starwars.rossiters.com/rots_uf91-100.html

There’s also the scene in AOTC (Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, haha) where Padme puts 3PO’s rusty-looking plating on him. Speaking of which, that same blog post that mentioned the Episode 3 Padme scene shot during Episode 2 mentions that Padme was digitally inserted into the Lars dinner table scene, where they talk about what happened to Anakin’s mother. He mentions he doesn’t know why she had to be digitally inserted, since she was there for filming. But that is something I never even noticed before.

EDIT: Another thing that comes to mind is seeing Dooku using two sabers against Yoda during their duel in AOTC in some BTS footage!

I don’t know if I should put my trust in JJ, but especially after the ANH similarities being a major criticism of TFA, I like to think that JJ wants to have another go at the franchise in order to do something more original.

Regardless of what anybody thinks about why reused a lot of imagery from the OT and the purpose it served, it will be nice to get more new ideas into the franchise. I"m fairly optimistic about that regarding the future of the movies and shows.
If I just had to guess, I have a feeling that The Mandalorian will be the first big thing that will start bringing both sides of the divisive fan base back together.

They would probably just build Mos Eisley or similar sets in LA, then travel out to places like Death Valley for other stuff.

I have never seen those pictures before, either! Thanks for sharing.

So they did film the ending for the eventual “Episode III” during AOTC’s production, but they didn’t use it and just reshot it in-studio during ROTS’ production? Is that correct?

SilverWook said:

Interesting find! Padme never returns to Naboo alive in Episode III, so what could this scene be? Was Padme’s death originally going to be a hoax to help protect Luke and Leia? Maybe someone should ask Natalie Portman about it.

See, this is what I am wondering, too. The only other known scene shot for Episode III during AOTC’s production was meant to be the ending for ROTS, which apparently Lucas’ had in his mind for a while. So, is it possible that this is something similar? Was she originally going to survive and go into hiding?

I’m probably going to try and reach out to the twitter user who posted that picture and see if he knows the source of that image. I might also go back and look at The Secret History of Star Wars and see if there is ever any mention of Padme’s fate changing during the writing process, although I do not recall anything like that at the moment. Maybe some insight could be gleamed from the Rinzler books, which I don’t have at the moment.

If it is what I think it is, it is possible Lucas originally planned to have Padme survive for a few more years offscreen (which ROTJ implies), but while writing ROTS or just further developing it, he realized that having Padme die would be a stronger ending, despite the continuity error.

Then again, I kind of want more proof that this is what he says it is, first, and that it is not just some other deleted scene for AOTC.

While I was doing a bit of research for something, I stumbled upon this website that has a long list of Padme-related trivia.

One interesting thing that’s included is this little tidbit of information…

Natalie Portman allegedly filmed a scene for Episode III during Episode II photography at Lake Como, but it was never used. This behind-the-scenes image is the only evidence:

I have never heard about this before. From what I recall, parts of the final scene of Revenge of the Sith, with Owen and Beru, were also filmed during Episode II’s production with intent of later use for Episode III, so that wouldn’t be completely unheard of. I don’t have a source to back that up, just what I’ve heard in the past.

Does anyone have anymore information about this “unused” scene?

I probably would just cut the shots with unfinished effects, although you have to wonder why Shaak-Ti is not sensing the massacre at all!

I always felt that is exactly what Palpatine was thinking, he’s just not expositing like this edit has it.

Also, did you know that the voice of Palpatine there is Sam Witwer, the same guy who played Starkiller and Darth Maul in Clone Wars/Rebels?

I really like those kind of insights in the Rinzler books. Harrison always came off as being pretty carefree when it came to a lot of stuff, but he clearly paid attention to little details like that.

That’s one of my favorite things Ady fixed for ESB:R. The change is really seamless too, with the smoke rolling in front of it in the foreground and everything.

That is pretty solid, Nev!

I know it isn’t meant to be perfect, but I did notice a few little audio burps here and there. I’ve always found this scene hard to cut. Ironically, I think the “dark chanting” music makes cuts more noticeable.

I like how you kind of see that conversation as being able to be interpreted in multiple ways. I think “He means nothing to me” on its own. Really, it helps make it feel like we’re listening in on a conversation and slowly learning things through context, rather than the original line about Han Solo almost being fourth wall breaking. Like, why did he have to word it that way, you know?

It makes me think of Once Upon a Time in the West. When Harmonica shows up at the train station and stands off against the henchmen, all he asks is, “And Frank?”
At that point, we don’t know who Frank is, but not knowing makes it more interesting by not spelling it out and letting the audience discover its significance.

Well, Solo’s budget was estimated to be around $275-300 million, so it didn’t even make that back with the domestic box office alone.
According to here, its worldwide box office was $390 million, combined with its project home release sales, you get a total of around $445 million.

Even Rogue One broke 1 billion at the box office alone. So Solo did not really perform well, not even close to the other anthology film.

Its performance definitely requires Disney/Lucasfilm to consider a few things. Did Solo underperform based on scheduling alone? Would it have gotten closer to that $1 billion if they had just pushed it to December, or was the story just not that much of a draw? If it was the latter, they will probably be more careful about which films they want to make theatrically. Apparently they were working on a “Tales from Mos Eisley” kind of film, but if Han Solo wasn’t enough of a draw, they need to figure out what attracts audience to a Star Wars project.

That’s why I personally think the success or failure of the Mandalorian is going to be crucial to Lucasfilm’s future. I think the tech Jon Favreau is using is pioneering. It could lower the cost of production for these visual effects heavy projects, paving the way for future Star Wars projects.

I’ve heard it described this way, but we could think of this coming winter season as the end of Phase 1. Once Episode IX is released, Star Wars will be moving on to brand new stories, and the Mandalorian will be the first of many such stories that have fewer ties to the Original Trilogy, which I think is necessary for the franchise’s growth.

I think fans want to see new stories. Saying that, despite Solo’s weak box office performance, it seems critically it has done fairly well, so those characters could still have a future on Disney+ as a series, which I would be interested in. Maybe it would do better there.

Yeah, while obviously a big portion of it did have to do with how they marketed it, it goes to show just how big of a fault it was to not it back. Even if there hadn’t been reshoots, it still would have flopped because that was always the intended release schedule. And from what I understand, they didn’t hold back on marketing because of the reshoots, but because they didn’t want it to overlap with The Last Jedi home video release advertising.

Now that we’ve talked about it, it makes me want to make a fan trailer just to try to illustrate what I mean by an unclear thesis statement for the film’s marketing. Maybe it can be the trailer for an eventual fan edit I might do, too.

You know, as I was typing that out I figured you probably did something clever like that!

Regarding BB-8 repairing Poe’s X-Wing, I agree that having dozens of little sauters or whatever sticking out is a bit too goofy, but if you just have him come down and stop just one, it sorta just feels like, “Oh. That’s it?”

I feel like if you could somehow keep the first gag with the two or three sparks, but somehow cut the second scene to where you don’t see the multiple mandibles, we just see the arm retracting and then him smashing his head into the motherboard to temporarily reestablish the connection. Sure, it is a little silly, but don’t you think you gotta keep some of BB-8’s levity? It’s partially what makes him endearing.

I mean in TFA, the few times I saw it in theaters, at almost every screening, when BB-8’s head goes back and forth between Rey and Finn, and then when he gives the little lighter thumbs up, I could literally feel the audience collectively fall in love with that little droid.

Just my opinion, though. My SO isn’t really a Star Wars person, but she loves BB-8, so I guess for me I wouldn’t want to cut out too much of him because I see how other people might like those funnier moments that we find too funny.

If you’ll allow me to go off topic for a second, it kind of reminds me of something I learned early on when I started fan editing. One of the first things I did was a personal edit of Return of the Jedi. After I “finished” it, I showed it to my uncle and my younger cousins. During the Sarlaac battle, we got to the part where Han sends Boba flying, and I had cut Han saying, “Boba Fett? Boba Fett?? Where?!”

They immediately noticed that cut, because that line became sort of a inside joke for them. Anytime one of them would mention Boba in conversation, one of them would quickly respond with “Boba Fett? Boba Fett? Where?!” and just laugh and laugh.

It was at that point that I realized that even if you make what you think are sensible cuts, you also might be losing something from the film that is a little harder to explain. Maybe it’s charm. Or maybe it what Lawrence Kasdan once said in an interview about Star Wars: that it’s goofy, but goofy in the best way.

EDIT: Regarding Holdo stuff, I did make a [post] the other day with some ideas on that whole subplot. Maybe that could sparks some thoughts on it.

I don’t have much to say! Definitely an improvement from the previous version. The only note I might have is that now that this First Order motif is used three times in the movie, I worry about it being too much, but I could be wrong. Is it three times? Poe’s interrogation, the Takodana attack, and this, right? If I had to choose a place to cut I would say the interrogation, but maybe it isn’t too much, not sure.

Nev, those are some good points. I especially like how you highlight Luke’s idealism as somewhat of both a flaw and a strength.

I think merely them having more altruistic qualities is something both Luke and Rey have in common. They both do want to help people. Rey wants to help BB-8 and the Resistance. Luke wants to help Obi-Wan and the Princess.

And like you said, Rey’s major characterization revolves around her own sense of belonging and identity.
Personally, I think having Rey join Kylo would have been a really big mistake. I don’t think it was a coincidence that this was the same scene that made Rey come face-to-face with her origins and what they mean for her sense of self-worth. Yes, Rey is looking for belonging, but really in that scene she was presented with a choice between belonging with Kylo or belonging with the Resistance.

I think in her mind, she realized that if Kylo is still willing to kill others when he doesn’t have to, then he hasn’t really changed, but he is just more of the same.
And you have to remember that Rey doesn’t know Finn is aboard the Supremacy, and although she has come to understand Ben more during the film, her one main friend is Finn, and for all she knows he is on those transports. Her letting Kylo keep destroying the rest of the transports would have been out-of-character for Rey.

I think I saw this suggested somewhere, but I can really only picture the moving going two other ways:
One, Holdo could have rammed the Supremacy as Rey was reaching out for his hand, as if she was going to join him, but the following explosion snapped her out of it and made her flee. You probably re-edit this and people could just assume the saber somehow got messed up in the explosion.

Two, Rey could have told Kylo that she would join him if he stopped firing on the transports. He could have said fine, but we are still capturing them. They go down to Crait, Rey would be standing alongside Kylo, seeing him slowly lose his cool. And when Luke shows up, they both go out to meet him, and Luke apologizes to both Rey and Kylo, and he convinces Rey to go run back to the Resistance and help them escape, while he has his confrontation with Kylo Ren.

But, even though I might write up these alternatives, I don’t necessarily agree with them. I still think Rey’s decision to not join Kylo was belonging-driven, but in that moment she realized that Finn and the Resistance could be her belonging rather than Kylo. But I think that choice comes from a healthy place, like, Rey at that moment realized that it didn’t matter if she was nothing, that she could create her own identity, and in that moment she chose that is not what she wanted to be.

I can’t express it really well, but I thought another intentional touch on that scene was for Kylo to keep the glove on his hand, rather than when he took his glove off when he and Rey touched hands earlier in the film. In that moment, I think Kylo was showing something very personal and honest of himself to Rey. But in the Throne Room, it wasn’t the same thing. If he wasn’t intentionally doing it, Kylo is trying to manipulate Rey’s own self-doubt, and I think Rey catches on to this.

That is a really good point.

Though I honestly feel a stronger marketing campaign could have done a better job at selling the film to general audiences. Not only was the marketing WAY too short, but I think a more targeted approach could have helped people got on board with the idea of Alden as Han. Possibly they could have shown more brief clips of him playing Han, maybe a trailer with a different angle, per se. We need to sell people on this new kid as Han, so let’s make a trailer that shows off a little more Han. Or even something as simple as having Alden on more talk shows to allow people to get to like Alden as a person. Can’t you picture him playing a party game with Jimmy Fallon?

I also think he would’ve been a great person to host SNL. They had Donald Glover host around the same time (not only to promote Solo, but also his own show and music, since “This is America” dropped the same night. But honestly people already like Donald Glover a lot. Alden has shown he has the comedy chops with his brief appearance in *Hail, Caesar!”, and if the film had been pushed back to allow more time for this kind of promotion, I think the film performance would have improved.

EDIT: This might not make sense, but one thing that comes to mind is that the trailers didn’t tally present us with any stakes, or a hook to make us find out what is going to happen.

They sort of didn’t need that for TFA, honestly. People were going to see it regardless. The Last Jedi trailer teased Rey possibly turning to the dark side. Rogue One set the stakes up with this band of ragtag rebels going against the odds to save the galaxy against this weapon of mass destruction. What about Solo?

All we knew was that Han got a job with a big time gangster. I wonder if the trailer has hinted at the threat Dryden Vos and Crimson Dawn presented, that if they failed they could be killed, people would’ve been more interesting in seeing what would happen. Obviously we know Han won’t die, but it still works with James Bond, Ethan Hunt and Indiana Jones.

Another trailer could’ve done a better job at teasing Han and Qi’ra’s relationship, which is personally one of my favorite aspects of the whole film. Teasing a nice star-crossed romance could’ve also helped sell the movie to certain female audiences who might be less interested in the action, but would be interested in another love story with Emilia Clarke (who has established herself in Game of Thrones and Me Before You). Anyway, just some thoughts.

poppasketti said:

As for force ghost Yoda training Rey: I think that would be gold!

I think I actually said Force ghost Luke training Rey, but it’d be cool to see Yoda training her too!

And regarding Rey’s ability to fly the Falcon, Rey has already flown ships, just not the Falcon. But, it seems like she helped Unkar Plutt do repairs and modifications, since she is familiar with what Plutt has done to it. So even though she hasn’t flown it off the ground, she’s already intimate with its mechanics, and it wouldn’t surprise me if Rey has spent some time in the cockpit, studying all the controls and possibly even imagine flying away on it, before.

Though she probably would have preferred flying away in the Quad-Jumper because the Falcon is garbage!

I wonder if she just felt it just looked like a piece of junk, like Luke did, or if Unkar’s bad modifications made Rey feel like it made that ship worse.

I’m confused by the way you worded that description. Do you think her speech wasn’t meant to make the audience laugh?

What a great argument, Poppa!

I think it is a good point to break down what actually Luke’s training was all about, too. Not only were Luke’s lessons with Yoda more about mindset, even Luke’s brief lesson from Obi-Wan on the Falcon in ANH, although it involved a lightsaber, involved about “letting go” and letting the Force guide your actions, which fits in well with how Rey managed to beat Kylo at the end of TFA.

With Yoda’s dialogue, when he says, “That library contained nothing the girl Rey does not already possess.” I think he, again, is referring primarily to something fundamental within Rey’s character. Maybe that she has the goodness that it takes to be a Jedi. But while it works figuratively, he is also being literal since he knows Rey took the books with her when she left.

I agree though that this line does work better better after we know she has refused Kylo Ren’s offer to turn. On the other hand, Yoda follows up with, “Lost Ben Solo you did, lose Rey we must not.” Which might not work as well knowing she didn’t turn, but it could refer to losing her as in abandoning the call of the Force in general. Not sure.

Also, it is unfortunate that what exactly Carrie’s scenes will be limited as far as what they can have her too, but that scene with Yoda does seem to hint that Luke will train Rey as a Force ghost, since Yoda is still trying to tell him to pass on what he’s learned even after she already left.

And I wanted to add that I’ve heard complaints about how Rey didn’t even convince Luke to come back, and that it was Yoda instead. But Rey was the one who encouraged Luke to reconnect to the Force, and Yoda wouldn’t have been able to give Luke that pep talk without that.

MalàStrana said:

RogueLeader said:

if the rumored McGuffin of the film is Jedi/Force related

You mean like in every single Episode ?

Well, the MacGuffin of ANH was the Death Star plans.

Here was Jason’s post about the MacGuffin.
https://makingstarwars.net/2019/02/what-is-star-wars-episode-ixs-macguffin/

It is described by his sources as being “delightful, but somewhat controversial”

If that’s true, that makes me think it will be something fans might already be familiar with. And it is something that could have big implications on the story.

Having it be the Journal of the Whills would be a deep cut into Star Wars history. We also know that George’s Original ST treatments may have something to do regarding the Whills, so it would be a cool way to tie the story back into his original ideas. And knowing George, their relevance probably would’ve been controversial.

https://nerdist.com/article/george-lucas-star-wars-sequel-trilogy-whills/

Also, since TLJ ended with Rey having some light reading material, it is possible she has learned about its existence and will want to go scavenge it for her collection. And Rogue One established Jedha as a place closely related to the Whills, with Jedha City being built around a Temple of the Whills, and natives like Baze and Chirrut being Guardians of the Whills.

We might not actually encounter the Whills, that might be too Lucasy, but they could have a prescence in the film through the existence of the Journal itself.

Another rumor mentions a possible threat from the Beyond, whatever that means. Could it be possible that the Journal could contain some crucial information regarding this threat?

https://makingstarwars.net/2019/02/rumors-speculation-star-wars-episode-ix-and-the-threat-of-the-knights-of-ren/

Whatever the MacGuffin is, it definitely seems Force-related if both Rey and Kylo Ren are after it. It’s also possible that the MacGuffin could be some sort of device, like a Holocron or something brand new. So it might not be the Journal of the Whills, but if it was it would be a nice “bookend” to the story.

EDIT: I’ve also read a theory that the MacGuffin could be Kylo Ren himself. Maybe he gets betrayed by the Knights of Ren and the First Order and goes on the run, and both the Resistance and the First Order are after him. I could see that happening too.

Yeah, Luke and Leia went to Jedha in the new Marvel comics, so it’s not completely uninhabitable.

Here were the set photos taken back in October.

https://makingstarwars.net/2018/10/photos-of-wadi-rum-set-from-star-wars-episode-ix/

Jason Ward actually mentions how Jakku was originally going to be filmed in Jordan before Abu Dhabi gave them a better deal. But then after that didn’t work out, Rogue One shot there for Jedha.

Ward speculated that they might go back to Jordan to film it as maybe a different part of Jakku since JJ originally conceived the planet looking like Jordan. Although I wonder that since the Jordan landscape was established with Jedha already, that he would go back and use it for Jakku too.

The poster does mention seeing a lot of tents and speeder bikes that look similar to Rey’s speeder. So the tech might seem to point more toward Jakku. Though the alien cut outs standing out in the desert also gives me a pilgrim vibe. Though the fact we’ve never seen this kind of alien before makes me think it could just be a new world.

Then again, we really don’t know how much Jedha might have changed in the past 30+ years. But to me, the landscape definitely feels more like Jedha than anything else. I could see then going back if the rumored McGuffin of the film is Jedi/Force related. What if the McGuffin was the Journal of the Whills?

Definitely fun to speculate about!

Why do you want to cut the Lady Proxima scene?

Also, there is no music in the alternate version of Qi’ra’s intro, so maybe you could look at trying to use that if you can’t get the current version to work.

That’s very true. Hell, Kylo could’ve just pulled a Qui-Gon Jinn a burned a whole through the door with his lightsaber.

“He’s still coming through!”

That is true. I love that there is a whole new group of female Star Wars fans. Also, a lot of the female fans, either on reddit, podcasts or Tumblr, also tend to have some really great analyses on the movies and characters.