'Star Wars: Episode IX' Director Wants to Shoot on Film, Not Digital — and in Outer Space



Star Wars: Episode IX will be shot on film, not digital, said Colin Trevorrow. But will it be shot in outer space?

The director of the upcoming installment stated his case on Thursday during a Sundance Film Festival panel called "Power of Story: The Art of Film" alongside Christopher Nolan and Rachel Morrison, and moderated by Alex Ross Perry.

"The only place where I tend to not be able to attach myself entirely to something shot digitally is when it's a period film. There's something in my brain that goes, 'Well, they didn't have video cameras then,'" he said. "[Film] tends to remind us of our memories, of our childhoods, the way we used to see films."

Trevorrow — who shot Jurassic World on film because "this can't look like two computers fighting, that's what we kept repeating to ourselves" — humorously noted that signing on to helm Star Wars: Episode IX "gets back to my issue of shooting digital for period films. I could never shoot Star Wars on anything but [film] because it's a period film: It happened a long time ago!"

Star Wars: Episode VII — The Force Awakens was shot on film, and Episode VIII will also be on film. The franchise's upcoming spinoff Rogue One is a digital shoot. Trevorrow said he is aiming for "scope 35 or 65" for Episode IX.

Trevorrow also said he has also asked to shoot the movie "on location" — that is, in outer space. "I asked the question, 'Is it possible for us to shoot IMAX film plates in actual space for Star Wars, and I haven't gotten an answer yet, but they've shot IMAX in space!"

"Funny enough, we had that conversation with Interstellar," said Nolan with understanding. "There's incredible footage from space now."

Nolan, a major advocate of the preservation of film, called to dissolve "this artificial industrial distinction that's been made that shooting on video is of the future and practical and is the way forward; shooting on film is impractical and of the past. It's simply not the case. … You just have to say they're different."

Trevorrow then stressed the importance of accessibility for young directors to film — "It gives you a respect for the shot and for the edit" — and called on film schools to take responsibility to do so.

"They've all dropped the ball on us," agreed Nolan. "They have to be shamed back into it. The idea that you charge what you charge in tuition, … A camera you could buy for half of a semester's tuition."

"You're not teaching that this is one of the choices, and you're not teaching the discipline that the entire film industry is based on, because we still mix in reels, we still count in frames, even if we're shooting digital. You have to understand how an Avid works," Nolan continued. "To understand how all the latest technology applied to film works, you're much better off as part of your education if you understand how film works, because that's where it comes from. The film schools really need to gear up with that."

Nolan recalled how he had to argue for the use of film since his Memento days, when he was told there would be no printing of dailies, until a line producer rearranged the numbers. He called studios' application of consumer economics to large-scale productions "facile," "absurd" and "completely untrue;" though using a Super 8 camera is more expensive than doing so with a digital camera, film's use in a theatrical release can be done in an economically efficient way.

The Interstellar filmmaker also again applauded Quentin Tarantino's ask to screen The Hateful Eight in 70mm, and defended him on its early tech glitches. "I spoke to a couple people at the screening who said, 'Yeah, the DCP didn't even look as good as the slightly wrong projection, the 70mm print beforehand," he said. "This is a filmmaker who has struggled very hard, worked very hard to really push something out there in the world to entertain people, to give them the best possible experience, and should be celebrated for that. But as soon as there's some technical hitch, it's as if it's his fault, like he built the projector.

"I had the same experience myself on one of the IMAX films I've made: there had been a press screening and the digital sound had gone out of sync with the picture. Then people asked me about it. I'm like, 'I'm the director, I'm on the projectionist. These things happen," he continued. "There's a culture around wanting to kill film where by any little hitch like that — which happens all the time in the digital world — is pointed to as some kind of proof of something."

Watch the full panel above.

'Star Wars: Episode IX' Sets Summer 2019 Release Date

Disney and Lucasfilm have booked a date in theaters for Colin Trevorrow's Star Wars: Episode IX — May 24, 2019.

The studio announced a slew of other high-profile release dates. Disney is pushing back the release of the next Indiana Jones movie by a full year, from July 19, 2019 to July 10, 2020, in order to make way for the studio's live-action The Lion King, which gets the July 19 date, while Frozen 2 will hit theaters Nov. 27, 2019.

Little is known about Episode IX, which has a script being written by Trevorrow and Derek Connolly. Earlier this month, Lucasfilm head Kathleen Kennedy said that the late Carrie Fisher would not appear in IX as Leia.

Both Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Rogue One: A Star Wars story opened in mid-December, as will Star Wars: The Last Jedi (Dec. 15, 2017). Disney and Lucasfilm now want to test the summer corridor (prior to Force Awakens and Rogue One, all the Star Wars films opened in summer.) Before announcing the date for Episode IX, Disney had already dated the untitled Hans Solo spin-off for May 25, 2018.

The good news for geeks: There will be less of a gap between The Last Jedi, which is technically Episode VIII, and Episode IX, than there will be between Force Awakens and Last Jedi, or two years.

'Star Wars: Episode IX' Gets a New Writer

Star Wars: Episode IX is getting a rewrite.

Jack Thorne, the British scribe who wrote the upcoming Julia Roberts-Jacob Tremblay movie Wonder, has been tapped to work on the Star Wars installment that is to be directed by Colin Trevorrow.

Trevorrow and his writing partner Derek Connolly wrote the most recent draft of the script and were working off a treatment by Rian Johnson, who wrote and directed Star Wars: The Last Jedi, the eighth installment of the sci-fi fantasy that opens December 15.

Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Adam Driver and Oscar Isaac are expected to return – but you never know who a Star Wars movie may kill off so don’t get too comfortable – with the installment eyeing a production start in January 2018.

The movie has a release date of May 24, 2019.

Thorne is the creator or co-creator of several British television shows, dramas and thrillers, including The Fades, The Cast-Offs, The Last Panthers and National Treasure.

While those don’t sound like the Star Wars wheelhouse, writing on these two more recent programs bring him closer: His Dark Materials, BBC’s adaptation of the fantasy by Philip Pullman, and Philip K. Dick’s Electric Sheep for Channel 4.

He is repped by UTA.

Colin Trevorrow Out as 'Star Wars: Episode IX' Director

Colin Trevorrow is no longer directing Star Wars: Episode IX, Lucasfilm said Tuesday.

"Lucasfilm and Colin Trevorrow have mutually chosen to part ways on Star Wars: Episode IX. Colin has been a wonderful collaborator throughout the development process, but we have all come to the conclusion that our visions for the project differ. We wish Colin the best and will be sharing more information about the film soon," read a Lucasfilm statement.

Rumors of Trevorrow’s departure have dogged the project since early June, weeks before the opening of The Book of Henry, his thriller that was panned by critics and failed at the box office.

Sources tell The Hollywood Reporter that script issues have continued to be a sore spot throughout Episode IX’s development, with Trevorrow having repeated stabs at multiple drafts. In August, Jack Thorne, the British scribe who wrote the upcoming Julia Roberts-Jacob Tremblay movie Wonder, was tapped to work on the script.

Sources say that the working relationship between Trevorrow and Lucasfilm head Kathleen Kennedy became unmanageable. Kennedy, who had already been through one director firing/replacement on the Han Solo spinoff movie, was not eager for a sequel and tried to avoid this decision.

In June, Phil Lord and Chris Miller were fired from the Han Solo stand-alone with only a few weeks left in principal photography. The two were later replaced by Ron Howard, who is finishing out production in London.

Rumors are already circulating as to possible replacements for Trevorrow. Rian Johnson, who is in post for The Last Jedi (Episode VIII), has been mentioned as a possibility, returning to the franchise. J.J. Abrams, who successfully helmed Star Wars: The Force Awakens, has also emerged as a top contender.

Trevorrow's departure now marks the fourth time directors have been replaced on a Star Wars project. Tony Gilroy took over from Gareth Edwards for massive reshoots on 2016's Rogue One. And Josh Trank was taken off of a Star Wars anthology film after reports arose about the helmer's disturbing behavior on the set of Fox's Fantastic Four reboot. Like Trank, Trevorrow's exit occurred before the movie started shooting.

Trevorrow first made waves with Sundance hit Safety Not Guaranteed. The indie sci-fi dramedy caught the attention of Steven Spielberg and Universal, who put Trevorrow at the helm of the Jurassic Park reboot, Jurassic World. The movie went on to gross a mammoth $1.6 billion at the global box office. After that success, the director was tapped to write and direct Episode IX, the supposed end to the Skywalker saga that would follow Johnson's The Last Jedi (due out Dec. 15).

Trevorrow has several projects in various stages of development, including a Jurassic World follow-up, which he co-wrote and executive produced. Prior to getting Episode IX, Trevorrow was attached to direct Intelligent Life, a sci-fi thriller set up at Spielberg's Amblin Entertainment that he wrote with writing partner Derek Connolly. (Rebecca Thomas has since taken over as director.)

Back in July, THR spoke to Trevorrow at the Ischia Global Film and Music Fest and asked about the then-recent Lord and Miller exit from the Han Solo film. "Movies are very personal, and art is very personal, and for people to try to turn that into something that is salacious or something that will get clicks is frustrating and sad for me because I know that [movies] mean a lot to everyone involved," he said. "And everybody involved in that movie is passionate about it and worked on it very hard and continues to work on it very hard."

J.J. Abrams, who launched a new era of Star Wars with The Force Awakens in 2015, is returning to complete the sequel trilogy as writer and director of Star Wars: Episode IX. Abrams will co-write the film with Chris Terrio. Star Wars: Episode IX will be produced by Kathleen Kennedy, Michelle Rejwan, Abrams, Bad Robot, and Lucasfilm.

“With The Force Awakens, J.J. delivered everything we could have possibly hoped for, and I am so excited that he is coming back to close out this trilogy,” said Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy.

'Star Wars' Director Drama: How J.J. Abrams Jilted Paramount for 'Episode IX'



If there is one thing Paramount chairman and CEO Jim Gianopulos could use right now, it's the hope of a few hit movies. He inherited a pretty bare cupboard when he took over the studio in April, and the crushing failure of Darren Aronofsky's mother! over the Sept. 15 weekend did not help in terms of revenue or perception.

One promising thing Gianopulos found waiting for him at the studio was the prospect of a movie directed by J.J. Abrams. The filmmaker has made his home at Paramount since 2006 with a deal now said to be worth a hefty $10 million a year in overhead and development. It is very possibly the last, richest deal of its kind. But if Gianopulos hoped that pact soon would bear fruit in the form of an Abrams-directed project — which Paramount hasn't had since Star Trek Into Darkness in 2013 — he soon learned that it was not to be.

His predecessor, Brad Grey, had tried to ensure that such a film was next on Abrams' dance card. Grey was known to be furious when Abrams, in January 2013, signed on to direct Star Wars: The Force Awakens for Lucasfilm and Disney. He didn't understand how Abrams' generous deal with his studio could allow the director to take the job. So once Abrams finished his duties on Force Awakens, which was released in December 2015, Grey entered into a renegotiation obligating Abrams to direct his next movie for Paramount.

Jump forward in hyperspace to Sept. 5, when Lucasfilm parted ways with Jurassic World director Colin Trevorrow, who was supposed to write and direct Star Wars: Episode IX. With the movie scheduled for a May 2019 release, Lucasfilm needed a replacement fast. "The question was, who can drop into this world and get it done?" observes one source with knowledge of the situation. There also were the optics, with Ron Howard having just been brought in to take over the young Han Solo spinoff after Phil Lord and Chris Miller were fired. Lucasfilm did not need a prolonged who-is-going-to-direct-this-movie debate on the internet.

The solution was Abrams, 51, and though the release date was pushed to December 2019, the pressure remains. With the script still unwritten, Abrams is going to be occupied for the next two years. (His deal at Paramount runs through summer 2018, long before he finishes his work in a galaxy far, far away.) The director declined comment, but a source in his camp says he was enticed by a "once-now-a-twice-in-a-lifetime opportunity," and all parties understand that.

As for Gianopulos, the exec accommodated the move even if he was not happy, say sources. Paramount declined comment, but the studio chief is said to be irked to see Abrams get poached again — this time despite a specifically negotiated obligation. But fighting Abrams would have meant alienating the filmmaker and taking on major adversaries: Lucasfilm, Disney and possibly even Steven Spielberg, who isn't involved with Star Wars but has a long-term association with Lucasfilm chief Kathleen Kennedy and has taken credit for luring Abrams to helm The Force Awakens in the first place. And then there are Abrams' reps at CAA. With Paramount in need of all the support it can get, Gianopulos had to be realistic.

In these circumstances, sources say he did the best he could by extracting some money from Disney for maintaining Abrams in the style to which he has become accustomed. But the payment is said to be a one-time shot of less than seven figures, which isn't much to cover a two-year absence. And obviously, given a choice between taking that negligible payment or having a film that could make money and boost Paramount's prestige, Gianopulos would have jumped at the latter.

But even if Gianopulos had been willing to take on the forces arrayed against him, one former studio chief says there's no point in trying to force a person to direct a film. "Saying, 'You're going to do something for us' and handing them millions of dollars for that project, you're putting yourself in great peril," he says. When it comes to rich deals, he adds, "How to enforce them is as complicated as the deals themselves."

So what has Paramount gotten from Abrams in his 11 years at the studio? As a director, three films: Two Star Trek movies and Super 8, which grossed $260 million worldwide in 2011. Abrams also has been a producer on several films, including three Mission: Impossibles, a third Star Trek, two Cloverfield films and a third set for release in February. Throughout his career, Abrams' films, directed or produced, have grossed more than $5.7 billion.

Still, Abrams has not fulfilled the hope that the late Grey had when he hired him to direct his first film, Mission: Impossible III, back in 2006. "We think J.J. is the next Steven Spielberg," said Grey at the time. Maybe it's more accurate to say Abrams is a Spielberg for the 21st century. His commercial instincts, his gift for salesmanship and his skill with reboots have kept him in a rich movie deal at Paramount as well as a very rewarding TV deal at Warner Bros., even if neither studio is getting as much of his attention as they would like.

Abrams is "operating a machinery, an enterprise," says one producer of his string of hit movies. And if Paramount didn't want to accommodate Abrams, someone else would snap him up "in a New York minute."

Paramount likely will attempt to renew Abrams' deal; he's valuable enough that two years is not too long to wait for his services. "You might not put him in the pantheon [alongside Spielberg]," says one studio insider, "but he's a writer, producer and director. There aren't too many of those guys." With Star Wars again beckoning, says this person, "You can't be an asshole and say no. You do the right thing, and hopefully people repay that."

John Williams says he's scoring Star Wars: Episode IX for J.J. Abrams

Now that Star Wars: The Last Jedi has been released, it's time to start thinking about the franchise's future, particularly where it will go in the next installment, Episode IX, in 2019. The Force Awakens director J.J. Abrams is returning to close out the trilogy, but he's not the only behind-the-camera alum to do so. In a recent interview with Variety, legendary composer John Williams confirmed that he will return to write and compose the music for the next movie, with the trade reporting that Williams told Abrams that he's onboard.

“I would very much like to complete that,” said Williams, who has done the music for every Star Wars movie since 1977, excluding The Clone Wars (Kevin Kiner) and Rogue One (Michael Giacchino). Nevertheless, his iconic themes have been featured in some way, shape, or form in every film in the franchise. He'll even write the main cue for Solo: A Star Wars Story while John Powell handles the rest of the score. To put it another way, the Star Wars movies are nothing without the incomparable tunes of Williams.

While discussing The Last Jedi, he elaborated on placing all the themes in their proper places. “When we see Rey, we want to hear Rey’s theme,” Williams said. “And when the Force is referred to or felt, we want to hear the Force theme, and so on. We hope that these references make sense to the fans and make the aural connections that we want them to have.”

According to The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson, the 85-year-old composer had the most fun on the Canto Bight casino scenes, which feature an island-like companion piece to his "Cantina Band" theme from A New Hope. “There were guys pulling out plastic trumpets and dog-chew toys to be used as plungers,” said Johnson. “John was like a little kid that day.”

'Star Wars: Episode IX' Enlists 'Blade Runner 2049' Art Director

J.J. Abrams is assembling his next Star Wars team, and he has enlisted veteran art director Paul Inglis to take a trip to a galaxy far, far away.

Inglis will serve as supervising art director for Star Wars: Episode IX, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed.

The film website Omega Underground first reported the news.

Inglis has plenty of experience with world building, with credits including the first season of HBO's Game of Thrones, Ridley Scott's Prometheus and last year's Blade Runner 2049. This will be his first Star Wars film.

Abrams is penning the script with Chris Terrio and is directing the movie, which has a planned June start date. Disney and Lucasfilm have slated Episode IX for a Dec. 20, 2019, release.

John Williams Ready to Quit Scoring 'Star Wars' Films

John Williams has no doubt that Star Wars films will go on indefinitely now that the franchise is owned by Disney, but it sounds like he's over scoring them.

The iconic 86-year-old composer recently told radio station KUSC that he planned to score the upcoming Episode IX, but then he wants to be done.

"We know J.J. Abrams is preparing one now for next year that I will hopefully do for him, and I look forward to it," Williams said. "It will round out a series of nine and be quite enough for me."

The Oscar-winning living legend said when he scored A New Hope in 1977, he had no idea there would be more films, "so it's developed in the most amazing way."

Williams also revealed that his new favorite character is Rey, played by Daisy Ridley. And when he was asked to score The Last Jedi, the first question he had for producer Kathleen Kennedy was whether would Ridley return.

"She said yes, so I said yes," Williams said.

With a career spanning more than six decades, Williams has composed some of the most popular and recognizable scores in film history, including the Star Wars series, Indiana Jones series, Harry Potter series, JFK, Jaws, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Superman and E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, among many more.

Keri Russell in Talks to Join 'Star Wars: Episode IX'

Keri Russell is going from the Cold War to Star Wars.

Russell, who is coming off the series finale of The Americans, is in talks to join the cast of Star Wars: Episode IX, the next Star Wars installment from Lucasfilm, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed.

J.J. Abrams, who helmed Star Wars: The Force Awakens, is directing the movie, which may wrap up the main Star Wars saga featuring the Skywalker bloodline. Abrams co-wrote the script.

The movie, which begins shooting in London this month, reunites Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, and Adam Driver, among others.

It is unclear what Russell’s role will be.

The actress previously worked with Abrams in Mission: Impossible III. More notably, the two worked together on Felicity, the seminal turn-of-the-century WB drama that made Russell a household name.

Since 2013, the actress has been starring in FX’s 1980s-set Americans, which centered on a husband and wife who are Russian sleeper agents in the United States.

Disney, the parent company of Lucasfilm, had no comment on the casting.