I just returned home from a whirlwind adventure to San Francisco for the Rogue One press event. Check out my visit to Skywalker Ranch and Lucasfilm tour.
The trip featured a visit to Skywalker Ranch to screen extended scenes from Rogue One and an evening reception, plus interviews with the cast and a fun tour of Lucasfilm headquarters in San Francisco.
Skywalker Ranch Visit
The purpose of our visit to Skywalker Ranch was to screen extended footage from Rogue One. We weren’t allowed to watch the whole movie but everyone was dying to after seeing 28 minutes of it!
The movie is going to be awesome! Here’s one of the longer trailers, to help hold you over until December 16th!
We watched the clips in George Lucas’s Stag Theater located in the Technology Building. Obviously, security was tight and there were no cameras or phones allowed in the theater.
The director of Rogue One, Gareth Edwards spoke briefly before our preview, he even had a few goofy jokes ready for us. He came across as very excited about the film and also very nice. My opinion was confirmed when we interviewed him the next day at Lucasfilm Headquarters.
After watching the 28 minutes of footage, we headed out to the Rogue One reception in the lobby. The coolest part of the reception was the Rogue One costumes on display.
A photo opp with Stormtroopers is always pretty cool too. 😉 Because our event was after dark, there was no tour of the main house or the rest of the property. Head over to my first visit for pictures of my Skywalker Ranch Tour. And check out my short video below for more of our experience at Skywalker ranch this time.
Lucasfilm Tour
The following morning we headed out to Lucasfilm Headquarters located at the Letterman Digital and New Media Arts Center in San Francisco’s Historic Presidio National Park. The most recognizable symbol from the outside is the famous Yoda fountain statute!
Although the Nissan Rogue One concept cars in the parking lot were hard to miss.
There was lots of fun Star Wars artifacts inside the lobby to see! Including this Ashley Eckstein LEGO dress inspired by Ahsoka Tano.
By the way, the public is welcome to visit the Yoda fountain and head into the lobby of Lucasfilm to check out the Star Wars artifacts.
Getting beyond the lobby requires a business or personal connection with Lucasfilm. So if you have an old friend from high school or 2nd cousin once removed that works at Lucasfilm, hit them up and ask for a full tour. 😉
And of course, we previewed lots of awesome new Rogue One merchandise. Including LEGO set and adorable costumes – my two favorites from the holiday collection!
After multiple interviews with the cast and director of Rogue One, we had time to tour Lucasfilm! Check back starting tomorrow for the interview posts!
LucasFilm Movie Memorabilia
There was so much amazing movie memorabilia and artifacts at Lucasfilm Headquarters. It was hard to pick which images to share but here are a few of my favorites!
Is it silly that Vigo is my favorite picture from the tour? I was so happy to find this picture, I couldn’t quite mimic his mean scowl.
We also checked out the motion capture room to see how they brought K2SO come to life on screen. The technology was super cool to watch in action! This is how Alan Tudyk brought the droid to life in Rogue One!
ROGUE ONE: A STAR WARS STORY arrives in theaters on December 16th. Have you bought your tickets yet?
Rogue One Interviews
- Gareth Edwards director of Rogue One interview
- Diego Luna interview
- Felicity Jones interview
- Riz Ahmed Rogue One interview
- Ben Mendelsohn Rogue One interview
- Donnie Yen Star Wars interview
- Alan Tudyk & Mads Mikkelsen Rogue One interviews
This post was originally published December 7, 2016.
Brittany says
Ahh looks so much fun! 🙂