First up: Jedi News is reporting that Brian Muir, the sculptor for Darth Vader’s helmet and the stormtrooper armour on the original Star Wars, has announced that he is working on Episode VII:
Muir is a legend of the Golden Age of science fiction and fantasy filmmaking. Check out this resumé:
- Alien
- Clash of the Titans (1981)
- The Dark Crystal
- Dragonslayer
- Excalibur
- The original Indiana Jones trilogy
- Krull
- Little Shop of Horrors
- The Princess Bride
- Return to Oz
- Star Wars: A New Hope
- Superman: The Movie
- Willow
- Young Sherlock Holmes
Of course, he’s been steadily working since, but if that list of films basically sums up half my childhood. Episode VII is shaping up to be a real continuation of that era of filmmaking.
Speaking of which, it’s well-known that J.J. Abrams is shooting Episode VII on traditional 35mm filmstock. Well, today Bad Robot tweeted the following:
Pajiba had an article (which appears to have been removed) where they reveal that part of Episode VII is being filmed in the 2D 65mm IMAX format, with the movie being post-converted to 3D, following the pattern of Abrams’ Star Trek Into Darkness. Put another way, this will be a film shot as a traditional 2D movie with some key scenes in IMAX. I know I’ll be buying the 2D Blu-ray in 2016.