Gareth Edwards’ Standalone Star Wars Film Adds This Behind The Scenes Piece
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Given that it’s deep into production, and that it will come out first, the bulk of Star Wars movie news revolves around J.J. Abrams’ Episode VII. We haven’t heard much about standalone spinoffs lately, but the first one is busy rustling up the primary players. We know Godzilla director Gareth Edwards will take the helm, and we just learned that his already acute visual sense is going to get an assist from cinematographer Greig Fraser.
Both Edwards and Fraser are relatively young up and comers in their respective fields. Edwards came to the public’s attention in 2010 with his low-to-no budget creature feature Monsters. This unique take on the genre was what landed him the Godzilla job, and when that hit, and hit big this past summer, Lucasfilm was like, “Hey guy, want to direct your very own Star Wars movie,” and he was all, “Yes, yes I do.”
Fraser is similarly on the rise, though up to this point he’s generally worked on smaller films. He’s lensed two of this year’s more talked about dramas, The Gambler and Foxcatcher, and shot movies like Zero Dark Thirty, Let Me In, and Killing Them Softly. His one foray into this kind of big action spectacle was Snow White and the Huntsman. While not much of a movie, it was pretty to look at and shows that he can handle working on a massive scale, which will surely come in handy in that far, far away galaxy.
Talking to In Contention, he reveals that his reasons for jumping on this project are very similar to many of those involved with the new Star Wars expansion, and primarily revolve around nostalgic feelings for the franchise. Fraser says, “[I]t’s never been my goal to do ‘big’ films because a big film in itself is not very interesting to me. I don’t love big films for the sake of big films. It’s not been a career drive to get to that point. But it’s really exciting purely just because it’s such a big part of my childhood. And also, too, dude, if I fuck it up then I fuck up my childhood. So, you know, the pressure’s on!”
As you probably guessed, he’s more in the loop as far as things like title and plot are involved, but, like everyone else involved (at least those not constantly leaking spoilers), he’s not saying anything, wary of the repercussions. He says, “I can’t tell you what it’s about. I think I signed my left kidney to Disney and my right kidney to George Lucas. So I’d hate to be talking to you next time when I’m on dialysis.”
Hopefully Fraser will get to keep all of his internal organs intact and in place, and we’ll get to see the results of his collaboration with Edwards on December 16, 2016. A Rian Johnson-directed Episode VIII will follow in 2017, and another standalone film, directed by Josh Trank, will show up on our doorsteps in 2018.
