If the recent images of Star Wars Land weren’t exciting enough, the developers behind the new film trilogy have just released more than four minutes of behind the scenes footage from Star Wars: The Last Jedi and it genuinely looks very exciting. It only provides the most fleeting of lances glances of action from the film, but they’re more than enough to build the hype that little bit more for episode eight.
The snippets include some massive explosions, including one within a rebel alliance base with pilots diving for cover and ships getting destroyed, along with the monumental moment when Rey hands Luke Skywalker his lightsaber. There are landcruisers, weird new Storm Trooper weapons, epic flips, a long fall, a grand banquet and a lot of dramatic close ups.
Star Wars: The Last Jedi behind-the-scenes video:
Our favourite scene from the video is the shot of the Millennuum Falcon with Chewie next to a little fire, but there are plenty of exciting snippets to take in. The back story to that setup is going to be key for the film, considering the heartache he had to suffer as a result of the events in the previous movie.
One of the coolest elements of the trailer is the focus on the creatures that will be introduced in Star Wars: The Last Jedi and from the look of the behind-the-scenes message they going to be some of the best yet. The CGI and puppet work is sublime from the look of things and it’s going to be interesting to see what part they play in the film. There’s a good variety in the video alone, with both new races like the little turtle-like dudes in the suits and animals like the long-eared giant snub-nosed lama and the crystal fox we get a fleeting glimpse of.
However, the most important point the stars from the film are keen to hammer home is that you’re going to need to suspend your expectations a little before the release date at the end of the year. If what they say is true then this is going to be a very challenging and surprise/shock heavy Star Wars film, although, with Han Solo’s death and his son being the new enforcer for the Dark Side, The Force Awakens wasn’t without its sideswipes.
You get to see a lot of the characters I one way or another in the footage, ranging from a very serious Domhnall Gleeson (The Revenant) as General Hux to Oscar Isaac (The Promise) going for something a bit more heroic as Poe Dameron. There’s plenty to see of Daisy Ridley (Murder On The Orient Express) as Rey, John Boyega (Woyzeck) as Finn, Adam Driver (Paterson) as Kylo Ren and Gwendoline Christie (The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2) as Captain Phasma.
Equally, the old guard of Mark Hamil as Luke Skywalker and Cary Fisher as General Leia feature heavily, both on camera and behind the scenes. There are some great snippets of them together, which only adds to sadness of Cary Fisher’s death earlier in 2017. Her line at the end of the video about the film being about family does a lot to set things up for the follow up to The Force Awakens, which continued that theme from the original trilogy.
It’s also to see the mini interview with Anthony Daniels talking about his eighth big screen performance as C-3PO. There are plenty of shots of the crew jocking around off-camera that are worth picking up on and even a short-lived glimpse of Benicio Del Toro (Avengers: Infinity Wars), who makes his Star Wars debut in The Last Jedi.
The only thing missing for us is Andy Serkis (War For The Planet Of The Apes), but considering his role as Supreme Leader Noak, it’s kind of understable that director and writer Rian Johnson is keen to keep that part of the film under wraps. He’s promising “real, shocking… honest”, and we’re expecting the new galactic super baddy to be the puppet-master to it all.
