Ahoy, squirts! Quint here with some really juicy stuff for all my fellow Star Wars nerds. Vanity Fair has been killing it with their first real dive into Rian Johnson's The Last Jedi and today's release of their cover story is chock full of great writing (from David Kamp) that gives us some real info on the movie.
I recommend reading the full story. It's well worth your time. But if you just a quick skim of the info and purty Annie Leibovitz photos, then I got you covered on that below.
First off, out of all the amazing first-looks at new characters and creatures, my absolute favorite image to come out of Vanity Fair's coverage is this one. Luke and Leia together again.
Not only does it beautifully capture their onscreen characters, but you get a sense of the warmth between Mark and Carrie. It also evokes a lot of their OT photo promos as well.
Another favorite image from the set is this black and white shot of Kathleen Kennedy, Rian Johnson, Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher and even Gary Fisher and Millie Hamill hanging out on the set.
Then there's this gorgeous shot of Daisy Ridley training on Ahch-To that's destined to be the new computer backgrounds for many a Star Wars fan.
Another Ahch-To shot, a wider version of the cover image we saw yesterday that shows off one of the already iconic huts on the planet. Johnson said that these huts were built by Ahch-To's indigenous population, who Luke lives among. He wouldn't say who or what these things are, but he did say they're not Ewoks.
Rey and Chewie at home in the cockpit of the Millennium Falcon. Notice Han's lucky gold plated dice still hang from the top there.
We got two major first looks out of this story. Let's start with Benicio Del Toro's character, who Johnson calls “DJ” although that's not the character's real name. The only thing we know about this DJ guy is he's a “shadowy character.” Definitely looks the type, doesn't he?
And then there's Laura Dern who looks flat out awesome as Vice Admiral Amilyn Holdo, a key player in the Resistance and one hell of a snappy dresser.
Speaking of snappy dressers, one of the key new locations seen in The Last Jedi is a big casino, which is supposed to be a high end Mos Eisely. This is called the Canto Bight casino and it is filled with a bunch of “rich assholes,” says Johnson. The idea is that there's a part of this galaxy where the rich have been able to set up their own little ecosystem, not dependent on the larger system of government. Love all the practical creatures on display here:
Since we're getting darker, why not get a new look at Kylo. Seems the lad still has some anger issues...
And a wider, differently framed shot of Hux, Kylo and Phasma. Adam Driver was quoted in the story as saying “I don't think patricide is all that it's cracked up to be” and that Kylo's exterior scar from the event could very well mirror an internal one as well.
And then there's Anthony Daniels back in his C-3PO suit, surrounded by his droid friends, BB-8 and R2D2 (and, you know, the folks who bring them to life).
Finally, there was a BTS video of Leibovitz's shoot that shows a lot of great material not even seen in the photos. Take a look:
So much great stuff. There's an elegance to everything here that really gets my even more excited than I was before, if you can believe it. Little things are starting to come together. Notice Luke's rather unique leather glove? Seems to match what we see perusing that Journal of the Whills-looking book in the trailer, does it not?
Shit's getting real, you guys. We're less than 7 months away!
-Eric Vespe
”Quint”
quint@aintitcool.com
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