dex14

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hea...-future-960849

bunkaroo

They need to figure out a way to complete the trilogy without Leia being a huge part of it. I'm not interested in watching a film with a CGI Leia as a lead. Doing that would do more harm to the Star Wars name than the prequels did IMO.

Bandit03

I'm hoping against the CGI Leia as well. Maybe they can explain Leia's absence in the opening crawl of IX? With that route, they'll have an excuse to write another book/cartoon/comic telling that part of the story and therefore more $$$

joe_b

The late Carrie Fisher will appear in 'Star Wars: Episode IX', says brother Todd Fisher

http://www.nydailynews.com/entertain...icle-1.3030154

Paul_SD

B roll footage... Alternate takes...using her primarily for reaction shots as other characters dispense exposition, and then shifting some of her heavy duty story functions over to other characters- with any gaps remaining paved over with some discretely applied CGI.

it'll be more work than they anticipated or initially budgeted for, but it's doable.

TGM

I'm glad.

Mabuse

The bottom line is we simply don't know what's going on. They could delete her scenes from episode 8 and save them for use in episode 9.

milo bloom

This is what I figured all along. They'll find some extra footage from TFA and ep 8 and work around it for 9.

But I'm still flabbergasted that they didn't film all three movies simultaneously for this very reason.

TheMovieman

Not sure they would anticipate her dying. I know she wasn't exactly healthy, still was only 60. If she were in her 80s (maybe even 70s), then I'd agree.

TGM

and didn't Trevorrow just finish ep9 script? ...

Josh-da-man

That was my initial thought of how they could handle it. Pull half of her scenes from 8 and put them in 9, though it really depends on what the storylines are.

For example, if she had two major scenes scriptedand filmedfor 8, such a reunion with Luke and confronting Kylo Ren, then one could be held back for 9. I just hope that whatever they do doesn't disrupt the story flow or damage the structure of the trilogy.

Josh-da-man

I hope they tread very carefully here; when The Sopranos did this with Livia after Nancy Marchand passed away the result was awful.

Paul_SD

Haven't seen Soprano's, but if that occurred unexpectedly in mid season, that would have been tough with a series' shooting schedule.

And that was well before we were anywhere close to cg'ing human beings, in medium shots, in a live action movie.

When the talk was originally that they weren't going to resort to CG at all, I had the same thought as you guys- try to split her in-the-can scenes up and carry some of them over to the IX if the story timeline permitted it.

The goal would be to have her presence in that last film in any capacity. But she would still need some kind of send off scene- even if that were just a lingering CU such as when she watched Fetts ship take off from the Cloud City ramp in Empire. Something like that could be preceded by a "good luck on your mission" scene, and it would at least put a punctuation point at the end of her story duties. Even if it were just a period and not an exclamation point.

If the plan for the end of IX was to throw a big party or award ceremony and she wouldn't be available to be in scene in any significant fashion, I'd say "GOOD!" . It would force them to come up with something fresh and original for a satisfying curtain close to the trilogy. Maybe some (most?) fans think that kind of shot is necessary to be a SW movie, but Empire whittled that down to be tonally in keeping with it's films tenor, so the precedent is there.
And I really get the feeling that the filmmakers and producers won't be satisfied to simply ape ROTJ as a trilogy close. I honestly think they are going to want to try to better that and go with Lucas's original intent which is a bittersweet ending.

That's not to say that Leia has to die, simply that we don't need to see the full cast present and celebratory for the last shot before we iris out. The focus could be down to one lone protagonist who, in the course of battle was victorious, but is now is far afield of his/her comrades and needs to embark on a long solitary journey alone to get back to them. A silent close up on him/her as we read a progression of emotions that finally ends with a look of cheerful determination would likely be just fine as a send off.

I know there are some people that hate this kind of speculation, but I find this situation to be more fascinating than the actual story content here.
I really don't care who Snoke is or what Rey's mysterious parentage is.
or who is going to *surprise* flip to being bad and who will flip to being good.
But trying to work around a serious limitation like the unavailability of a pivotal character? That kind of puzzle and problem solving gets my brain spinning and juices flowing.

Those avenues available will obviously become clearer after people see Last Jedi. But it's a challenge good artists can rise to- just the way people like Lubistch and Wilder rose to the challenge of presenting sexually sophisticated material in the middle of a draconian production code.

It's do-able. And it's the kind of challenge that separate the truly thoughtful artisans from the paycheck cashing hacks.

lopper

I'm actually rewatching The Sopranos now, and just watched that episode last week. I remembered the effect being off putting when I first saw it, but seeing it today just boggles the mind, it's so bad. Can't believe they decided that was the best way to address the situation.

mcnabb

I'm still surprised they decided to give her such a big role in Episode 8 & 9 after what they gave her in TFA.

I'm a big fan of TFA, but I thought Leia was the weak link of the movie. Part of it was she just came off as stilted (I don't know if I blame JJ's direction or that Fisher was rusty)? All she essentially did in the movie was sit in the Resistance Headquarters and say a few lines that they could have had anyone say.

I know she is the mother of Kylo Ren, but the fact she is a freakin Jedi and sends Han off to talk to him still puzzles me. At that point, just keep her as a ceremonial role in Episode 8 & 9 with a few parts (a reunion with Luke) and keep her as a minor character.

Obi-Wanma

Leia is force sensitive, but she is not a Jedi.

Rob V

Agreed... every scene she was in took me out of the movie. It's as if her lips didn't want to move.

DVD Josh

I would think you would know this given your user name, but yes, she sure as shit was a Jedi Knight in the New Order.

The movies, at least so far, seem to be ret-conning this.

milo bloom

Even without considering the ages of the actors, I'm thinking more of how the Lord of the Rings movies were filmed together. I know there were later pickups, but the idea was to get the bulk of the movie filmed in one go. Disney/LFL knew they were making a trilogy, it's not like they were waiting to see if EP 7 would do well at the box office, I just can't fathom them not doing it as one big project.

Obi-Wanma

The old EU is no longer canon, and never really was in the first place. The EU is glorified fan fiction.

Jay G.

Doing it as a massive project would've meant pushing back the release of TFA, since there would've been no way to have written all the scripts and shot the footage for all three films in time for TFA to have been released when it was.

It's clear from the timing from when Disney purchased Lucasfilm to when they announced TFA, and the initial release date they announced, that they wanted a new Star Wars film out as fast as possible.

Besides, as evidenced by The Hobbit, it's not like shooting 3 films together creates better movies, and there's never a guarantee that an actor won't die mid-shoot during a months-long filming process. In fact, it may be worse if an actor dies during a combined shoot, since it's likely the footage is being shot for all 3 films out of sequence, so the actor may have already shot for all 3 films, but still be missing critical scenes in even the first film.

The old EU was never "canon," in that Lucas never felt beholden to it for the films or TV shows, although he would sometimes borrow certain material from it if he felt like it. The only real change was that Disney/Lucasfilm rebooted the EU, so now the new EU isn't beholden to the old EU.

joe_b

Maybe not big in terms of actual screen time, but I'm sure her reunion with Luke and possible confrontation with her son would have been crucial scenes that carried a lot of emotional weight for the audience.

As little screentime as she had, I suspect most of it still had to be reshot after principal photography. If you watch the behind the scenes footage on the blu-ray, you can see General Leia originally had a big ponytail draped over her shoulder. I might be wrong, but I suspect the scene where she and Han embrace for the last time was reshot against greenscreen and inserted into the background footage they shot on location.

Also, the scene where she talks to Han about Kylo Ren in the Resistance base appears to have been pieced together from separate shoots. It plays out in back and forth over the shoulder close-ups of the two actors, with Carrie's shots changing angles and framing constantly. They even switch from a medium shot to a close-up of her during the same line: "You think I want to forget him? I want him back.". She may have been rusty on set, but it seems the editors did their best to make it all work.

DVD Josh

Can we say the same thing about the prequels?

Michael Corvin

What prequels?

Jay G.

Not sure. Maybe they're referring to Rogue One and the upcoming Han Solo film?