Your first official look at characters from Empire’s End, what it’s like to hang out
on the Death Star and we find out what a Co-Producer actually does!
It’s mostly like I think cashing checks…
This week, on The Star Wars Show!
Andi sits down with the co-producer of Rogue One, John Swartz!
Another episode of Pablo Hidalgo’s Rogue Reports and much, much more.
Now from the Lucasfilm Headquarters it’s The Star Wars Show!
You know normally we’re not allowed to goof around like this on camera
But, given what happened this week it’s now totally relevant!
Let’s find out why in the news!
Nope, mine hah!
Young Han Solo director Chris Miller tweeted out a picture that said a whole lot without really saying
anything at all
The tweet, simply said, “Han first shot” and revealed the code name, “Red Cup”
which the project is being shot under.
The untitled young Han Solo movie will be released in 2018.
You know there were like 9 layers of pun in that tweet and I loved it.
Barnes and Noble will be offering two official posters for the upcoming novel Empire’s
End.
The first features Nora Wexley, standing with the new republic and flying to victory, whereas
the other depicts Grand Admiral Rae Sloane standing with the Empire.
Both posters will be available exclusively at Barnes & Noble, and the book written
by Chuck Wendig will be available in stores Feburary 21st.
And while we’re on the subject of books, two new titles were announced that dive deeper
into the backstories of the characters from Rogue One.
Rebel Rising follows Jyn Erso during her time with Saw Gerrera and how it shaped her into
the woman we saw on the screen.
Guardians of the Whills tells the story of Chirrut and Baze during the Empire’s takeover
of Jedha and the arrival of Saw Gerrera.
Both books are available for pre-order now.
And I need everybody to go and pre-order these books because I need 15 books about Chirrut
and Baze.
I need a gigantic series about the adventures of Chirrut and Baze, everybody pre-order these
books.
Finally, last week we started our ongoing series, Rogue Reports that follows the
Lucasfilm Story Groups Pablo Hidalgo’s adventures on the set of Rogue One.
This week he’s showing off what it took to recreate sets that haven’t been seen
on film in nearly 40 years.
There is no Chirrut and Baze in this one though.
I am about to enter the bridge of a Star Destroyer set, and it’s pretty amazing.
I’m wearing these ridiculous blue shoes but you have to because it’s Imperial protocol.
What you don’t want to do is scuff up the bridge of an Imperial Star Destroyer.
Apology accepted, Captain.
Today I’m joined here by Doug Chiang.
This is a very intimidating set, you cannot help but be aware of how precarious we are
right now.
In terms of no handrails Right?
You know, that’s the funny thing.
Its one of those iconic things that George wanted to establish in the Star Wars locale,
that there’s no health and safety.
It’s this crazy thing where the minute you take away handrails or anything like that,
it really kind of puts it in the Star Wars world.
Every time I come on here I get goosebumps because everything is so graphic and everything
is so memorable.
And it’s been what, 30, 40 years since and it still works in the modern audience.
Well I know the behind the scenes of say The Empire Strikes Back, there wasn’t this much
built.
They only built one side of it right?
Yeah exactly and not even the ceiling.
That was a Ralph McQuarrie matte painting.
Gareth as a filmmaker really likes to play with the camera and kind of discover the shots.
We wanted to give him a rich enough and a big enough playground so that he could actually
do that.
I’m here with Alex Baily and we’re standing in one of the iconic recreation sets that
have been constructed for this movie.
Yeah this is what we call a legacy set; this is the Death Star control room.
It’s my understanding that this set got kind of a blessing from the best possible
source.
It did.
We had a visit from George Lucas and he saw it in sort of an unfinished state but it still
sparked a few anecdotes for him really.
So this is if you’re an evil person looking to control the universe.
This is quite the heck of a view here.
This is where you’d fire your super laser from.
We built a LED display right across the whole screen and then we had our motion graphics
guys come up with all the graphics to tell the story points and there was no visual effects involved.
Fire!
Commence primary ignition.
The captain says you are a friend.
I will not kill you.
All right guys, this week we are joined on the couch by the co-producer of Star Wars:
The Force Awakens and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, John Swartz.
How’s it going?
It’s going very well, thank you for having me.
What exactly does a Co-Producer do?
It’s incredibly complicated to explain and that’s what makes it so much fun.
One of the things I love about my job is that as a producer you are kind of dropped into
the middle of a lot of the business side of it, the creative side and everyday at work
is completely different.
It takes a different skill set and different problems everyday and on every movie, which.
I love it.
So things have probably slow down a bit for you since December
Yeah it’s been a little bit bizarre.
We were running full tilt on Rogue for so long and then suddenly the movie is out
How does it change for you as somebody who worked so incredibly closely on all these
little details and different shots, to watch the film with fans?
It’s great!
I can kind of disappear into that ground and enjoy it with them which is so much fun
One of the things I love about my job is that so many people working on the movie and every
part of the process are fans.
And they all want it to be so good that they work so hard and they never stop working hard
all the way through.
And its really amazing to be a part of that where everyone that is a part of it so desperately
wants it to be everything the fans want it to be.
And that makes all these experiences so special.
What was it like travelling around the world for Rogue One?
I mean there were so many beautiful locations.
Obviously you were in Pinewood in London, but where else did you have to go?
We started production in Jordan.
I think we had about 8 days there including our travel and then we went off to London
and we were already starting some of our Imperial scenes and jumping back and forth between
our Scarify exterior scenes that we were doing there as well.
And we did a little bit in Iceland for the homestead in the prologue and then we went
to the Maldives at the very end of the shoot, which was amazing.
Oh that’s nice, you ended up in paradise.
We ended in paradise.
After being in Iceland.
It was Gareth’s wish to go to all these real places to set the tone for the movie
and make it feel real and we had a lot of set builds too.
We were at Pinewood a lot but to do all these establishing moments and these great, epic,
real locations, makes it feel like a real story that’s happening in real places, which
I think, is really smart.
Do you have any favorite days from set?
I loved being a part of the X-Wing work because everybody who got in the cockpit didn’t
want to get out.
Our first day with Darth Vader on set was amazing.
Everybody kind of like takes a deep breath when he walks on set and it’s really intimidating
to see Darth Vader strolling on the set.
And every actor’s first day on set was so much fun because how excited each of the actors
were to be a part of this process.
Made those days really special.
Tell me about your cameo.
I am the Rebel Sentry in the bucket on Gavin.
Who’s clocking the ships as they come in and
That’s so cool.
And I have a voice cameo too.
That’s awesome, are you a Stormtrooper?
I’m a Stormtrooper in the courtyard when K2, Cassian and Jyn and run in.
I say, “Where are you taking these prisoners?”
That’s me That’s one of the best parts of the whole
movie!
They didn’t have any other Americans to record it in the UK so I did a temp recording
for the Stormtrooper and it stuck.
And yeah I’m still in the movie!
Awesome, that was super fun.
Thank you so much for coming by and talking Rogue it was a good time.
Absolutely.
More Star Wars Show, in just a second.
What’s up, I’m Taylor Gray.
I play Ezra Bridger I’m easily distracted
What’s up I play…
Oh my God What’s up I’m Taylor Gray, I voice Ezra
Bridger on Star Wars Rebels and you’re watching The Star Wars Show.
And you’re going to need an updated version of this, need some scissors.
Well that’s our show this we- Right under your toes.
Looks like Cheeze is getting hyped for the new Han Solo movie.
And with the announcement of the start of shooting The untitled Han Solo
movie, we thought it would be a perfect opportunity to see your Solo.
Phrasing.
It could be a Han collection, Fan Art, or Cosplay.
Anything Han, we want to see it.
Send it to us using the hashtag Show Us Your Solo and we’ll feature our favorites
here next week.
Family show.
And as always remember to like the video, subscribe to the channel, like us on
Facebook, follow us on Twitter and Instagram, download the app and always be
reading StarWars.com.
Thanks for watching and may the force be with you.
That’s just like a quarter of the stuff he has on his desk by the way.
Yeah, he’s a big fan.
He’s a huge fan.