Star Wars Bits: Celebration Art, Standalone Rumors, Skywalker Sound And George Lucas

There's a nice cornucopia of Star Wars news in this edition of Star Wars Bits. Below, read about the following:

  • More details about the Gary Whitta exit/Simon Kinberg entrance on the 2016 Star Wars standalone movie.
  • Several pieces of Star Wars Celebration art by Craig Drake have been revealed.
  • Oscar Isaac talks about keeping himself grounded while filming Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
  • Skywalker Sound is now on Twitter.
  • There was a Star Wars ad in a Japanese newspaper.
  • George Lucas pops up in a nuclear waste documentary.
  • Star Wars.com has a bunch of content about Star Wars #1.
  • Earlier this week, /Film reported that Simon Kinberg has taken over for Gary Whitta as the primary writer on Gareth Edwards' 2016 Star Wars standalone movie. Now, Cinelinx has some more details. According to their report, Whitta was always scheduled to leave after completing a satisfactory first draft, so that's why the split was amicable. Also, his script was apparently going to be too expensive to film, so one of Kinberg's tasks is to shave a bit off the top and make it more manageable. This is all hearsay at the moment, but our reports do synch up.

    Star Wars Celebration is just a few short months and the official Star Wars website revealed some art from the event. Like the official poster, it was all designed by Craig Drake. Below, look at several of his Celebration poster concepts that didn't happen, see some of the badges from the event, as then a Star Wars Rebels variant that'll be available in Anaheim come April.

    In an interview with DuJour, via Star Wars 7 News, Oscar Isaac had some very insightful thoughts about acting in Star Wars: The Force Awakens:

    Not only are there these iconic props, but the sets, vehicles, droids and all these characters—you're interacting with the characters that have been a part of everyone's life for such a long time," he says of Star Wars, for which he plays X-Wing fighter Poe Dameron. "Sometimes I pinch myself because it's actually happening; it's wild! But it's funny, because you still have to do the same job you're hired to do, which is between 'action' and 'cut' to be alive, be truthful and tell the story.

    It hasn't been widely publicized yet but, twitter.com/skywalkersound is an official Twitter account for Skywalker Sound for the legendary sound studio.

    In Japan, they're starting to advertise that 2015 is the year of Star Wars. We recently saw a subway banner and now, JediNews was alerted to this ad in a newspaper.

    Star Wars Japanese ad

    This is so funny. Making Star Wars was alerted to a short video documeantary about Nuclear Waste. It was shot around Chicago in 2013 and, at one point, none other than George Lucas just walks through the middle. It's pretty funny. it's at 13:39.

    Last up, Star Wars #1 is on newsstands today and the official website has a recap of interviews, images from the interior and more. Check them out.