LOCATION NEWS

12/18/97 - NEW ZEALAND UPDATE - After researching the New Zealand scouting report (see below), we received a brief written response from New Zealand's TV ONE, and from the researcher who apparently worked on the story.

Don't take this as gospel. Lucas has recced many areas including New Zealand and there is no confirmation that NZ has been selected.

Cheers

Priscilla
Good Morning Researcher

Thanks Priscilla for getting back to us so promptly, with that clarification! Another response came from Cynthia from the New Zealand Film Connection;

Hi Brian,

Unfortunately I am unable to either confirm or deny. LucasFilm have spent
a lot of time in New Zealand recently but I have not been informed of any
decision at this time.

Thanks for the inquiry.

Cynthia

Hopefully there will be some sort of official decision and announcement soon. NZ is certainly in the running! We'll be the first to know so stay tuned to TheForce.net!

12/17/97 - PREQUEL SCOUTING LOCATIONS - NEW ZEALAND SELECT AS SHOOTING LOCATION FOR EPISODES II & III? - TheForce.net received a report this morning from Clarke Millar regarding New Zealand being selected as a shooting location for portions of Episodes II & III. Although we've not yet been able to confirm that New Zealand has been selected, we did verify the report. In response to Clarke's tip, TheForce.net contacted the New Zealand television network TV One. After speaking with someone from the studio we can confirm that this news was reported by Scott Taylor on the program Good Morning. No further information was available from the network at the time of our inquiry.

Thanks to Brian Malnati for a follow up tip this evening. Brian has a contact in NZ that reported, "Rick McCallum was recently spotted in New Zealand scouting areas for Episode II & III".

There is certainly something afoot ladies & gentleman. Stay tuned to TheForce.net!

9/14/97 - Wow! Some of our fellow sites really got some great scoops this weekend! Here's a few -

Chris Kivlehan's Prequel Page got some cool bootleg pics from the Tunisia set. Lots of pictures of the city, speeders, etc. Very cool. He also got some info on the character names and the scenes filmed there. If it comes from the same source as those pictures, then it is a good bet it is reliable.

The Star Wars Database also got some Tunisia pics. They are all different from Chris', and they show some other cool stuff. While some of the film did not turn out, one cool note is a picture of a ship under a tarp with blue tiger stripes on it. It looks very similar to some 'pod' ships that Harry Knowles' has been talking about.

That's it for now. Go give these guys the hits they deserve and come back here for more news.

8/23/97 - I moved all the Tunisia Pics to the Spoilers section. In my rush to post them, I didn't think that it might be a major plot spoiler! Sorry!

6/25/97 - This comes from The Official Star Wars Homepage:

"June 24, 1997: Two Episode I filming locations have now been decided. The production will be returning to Tunisia, and will travel for the first time to Naples, Italy as part of the creation of a new environment for the Star Wars galaxy."

But you already knew this, right? :)

6/20/97 - Found this in the mailbox today from Marco Marocco:

"The online version of one of the most serious newspaper in Italy has announced that Lucasfilm has reached an official agreement with Italian autorithies to film in a palace in Italy, which is a National Museum. The palace is called "La Reggia di Caserta" (Caserta is a town near Naples, so the rumor as Naples as a possible location was true) and it is a architectonical masterpiece by the artist of the 17th century Luigi Vanvitelli. Lucas has the use of the palace from 22 to 27 July. At the moment Lucas has chosen to film inside the palance but he can also film in the exterior park, which is very similar to Verasailles in France. In the request to Italian autorithy to use the interior of the "Reggia" Lucasfilm refers to a scene in which an incoronation will take place (Maybe the incoronation of the Queen?). Lucasfilm will pay 2700$ each day of filming to italian autorithy. You can check this article at Here, Unfortunately it is only in Italian."

Garmug translated the article for us, but he found out that Marco interpreted it pretty good. Here's Garmug's summary:

--Lucas plans to use the "sumptious internal staircase and upper vestibule" which does not exclude him from also using the beautiful park outside (described as being green and cascading, like the one at Verasailles).

--It mentions that the content (of the scenes to be shot) is still top secret, but will document "the struggles of Anakin Skywalker as he passes to the dark side of the force"

--Production assistants are already at the location preparing things; Lucas will only arrive the moment the scene is to be directed is at hand."

If you'd like to read more about the Palace, in English, visit The Royal Palace at Casaerta Homepage. It's got tons of pictures and an extensive history of the palace. This was brought to our attention by Aaron Monk!

5/20/97 - This comes from a Hollywood Reporter article today (Sent by Brent Lynch). Naples, Italy will be the site of a location shoot for the first film.

The above picture and news was sent to us by Brent Lynch and Jedipilot. Apparently, about 6 months ago, Lucasfilm reps came to the Nebraska Sand Hills in Halsey, Nebraska scouting for prequel locations. We have not confirmed this, but that's what they say. But one interesting note: those of you who own THE ILLUSTRATED STAR WARS UNIVERSE should look up the Ralph McQuarrie pictures of Alderaan. Do they look similar to the above pictures? Yeah, I thought so too. Maybe this will be a background plate for some Alderaan CGI effects? Who knows! You'll find out in '99!

©

The above pic shows prequel producer Rick McCallum scouting for Tatooine locations in Tunisia. This location, known as a ksar, is likely to be seen in the new films. (From SW Insider #29)

-Locations have been scouted in Morocco, Portugal, Australia, and Tunisia. Tunisia was the location that Tatooine was filmed, so it is safe to say we'll see Tatooine again.

Tatooine Locations (On location in Tunisia)

The following pictures come from the SW Insider #29. The article, by Jon Bradley Snyder, details Rick McCallums scouting trip to Tunisia for places to shoot the prequels. The following pictures are very likely to be seen in the prequels as locations on Tatooine. (BTW, the structures are called ksars.)