Many of the palace scenes were filmed at the Caserta Palace near Naples, with some computer-generated elements to be added later. One of the important scenes filmed here, as revealed by LucasFilm at a press conference in Italy, was the coronation of a young queen. The palace is also the scene of an invasion, but you can read more about that in our other prequel sections. Here are some of our scoops about the Palace:
Here are some pictures of the palace:6/20/97 - This came in 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 authority. 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."
01/21/98 - The Bothan Spy checked in with an interesting report. Turns out that he has seen some rough edits of scenes. One of the ones he saw was of Theed, the capital city of Naboo. He also attached a custom photo of the scene he saw. Here's what he had to say:
"I recently had the good fortune to visit ILM and see some work in progress. The entire film is complete, in rough edit form and looks incredible. Watto doesn't float, by the way. Having seen him in a scene on Mos Espa with Liam Neeson, he flies. H e looks like a giant mosquito with a beak. As for the rough edit scene attached, it is completed and features Theed courtyard and hanger, overlooking a waterfall. It looks beautiful and I was hoping Roderick could render the scene from scratch and do hi s own version to see how it compares to the real one in 1999! I can then tell him how accurate to the real image it was, right down to the battle tanks firing YELLOW lasers at the YELLOW ships. (George appears to be going through a yellow phase right now.)"
If you'd like to see the rough layout shot the Bothan Spy sent of Theed, then click Here!
BOTHAN SPY - HEVER CASTLE LOCATION - 3/04/98
The Bothan Spy sent the following report in:"I have some very exciting pictures for you. I mentioned to you another call sheet I had (returned to Lucas I'm afraid) which had the Location "Hever Castle, Naboo Estuary - Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan jump off the submarine". Well, I have been reliably informed that the Naboo Estuary runs up to the outside of the Naboo Palace Courtyard (as seen in the other photo I sent you). Hever Castle will double for the *back* of the Naboo Courtyard. Liam and Ewan, after jumping off the sub, then walk through the Hever Castle door and into... the Naboo Palace Courtyard set at Leavesden! But of course it will all look like one location. You'll notice from the attached photos of Hever Castle, Kent, UK that it has a moat! So, you can safely assume that the moat and/or the lake will double as the Naboo Estuary. I assume it's the moat. The sub set-piece which I have seen was placed in the water for them to jump off. Finally, you'll notice the flowers around Hever Castle's walls, growing up the side? Well, compare them to the flowers growing up the walls on the Leavesden set and you'll see that they are meant to be the same building structure and style. They probably won't use the roof of the castle, but just the walls and door as an entrance to the courtyard. There is also a hanging garden at Hever Castle which *may* be used."
Now that's pretty interesting! I'm amazed they were able to use the castle without the public finding out about it. Anyway, you're probably wanting to see the pics. Here they are:
These pics apparently came from here and there's more pictures from Hever here!
Then, of course, there's the original picture of the courtyard set at Leavesden which the Bothan Spy mentioned. Check it out and compare:
The Bothan Spy wanted Roderick (from the Virtual Edition) to render that overhead shot of Theed, so here's Rod's handiwork. Very nice, if I do say so myself. Plus, he made the picture 600x800 so you can use it for your wallpaper if you so wish.
Spoilers follow, so highlight to read:
The Bothan Spy also confirmed the name "Theed", which seems to be used in reference to somewhere on Naboo, possibly the main city, as has been previously reported by Harry Knowles. There is a "Generator Room" there which may be the location of a showdown near the end of the movie.Markus Arelius sent us a nice photo of Hever Castle. Though not necessarily the portion of the castle used in filming, the vines on the wall are pretty nice. I believe you can see flowers and vines of the Official shots of the Queen's palace, too. View the shot here!
5/14/98 - SKYLINE OF CAPITAL CITY THEED REVEALED?
Roderick Vonh?gen 11:00 am EST
In an interview with George
Lucas in issue 35 of the Star Wars Insider, the creator of the Star Wars Universe said
this about the visual and aesthetic influences that have determined the look of Episode 1:
"There are a lot of different influences; each planet has its own influences ... I
was using a myriad of influences that would come from all over the place. A lot of art
nouveau, a lot of Victorian versions of Italian Renaissance."
Tatooine is a desert planet, Coruscant is a
Manhattan type environment with huge skyscrapers. The home planet of Padme, Naboo, will
have an architecture that will show a lot of medieval and Renaissance influences. Until
now, we've only seen some pictures of the interior of the Caserta palace, and some
pictures of the outside sets, with some 'unfinished' buildings that will be completed in
CG. However, the recently revamped official website of starwars.com might show us a
glimpse of the skyline of Theed, the capital city of Naboo. Take a look at this fragment
that you can see in the 'cast' and 'crew' section of the episode 1 part of starwars.com:
Do you see the white skyline in
front of the Coruscant skyscrapers? Notice the towers, the battlement like structures, the
things that look like big banners on top of some towers and the huge building on the right
side that looks like... a palace! This is definitely not Coruscant. Could this indeed be a
first glimpse of Padme's capital city?
Go to the prequel section of The Virtual Edition to see a Photoshop enhancement of this mysterious
skyline and some new pictures like this one:
Many pictures have appeared on the Official Star Wars Site of what we are told by our sources is a fighter hangar on Naboo. Many more pictures of this location can be found in our Ships & Vehicles section. This location was filmed on sets at Leavesden Studios. The Bothan Spy also sent us a description of an important scene which happens here, and you can read about it in our Spoilers section.
We have been told by sources close to the production of Episode 1 that there is a race of aliens called the "Gungans" which inhabit an underwater kingdom on Naboo. A recent informant at Harry Knowles' Ain't-it-Cool-News said that some divers were hired for underwater filming in the Mediterranean for some of these shots. The Gungans seem to be large and have strange, tentacled heads. According to Valorum, they appear to be bad at first....
Harry Knowles (Aint-it-Cool-News) also received this report from a British reader:
1/8/97 -- "My buddy is a member of a local Diving club. This is one of the best diving clubs in South England. (Some people he knew) were employed by Lucasfilm in November to supervise a team of divers & actors in the Mediterranean sea. (He/She/They) was/were gone for 3 weeks where he/she/they said "the entire time was spent filming an underwater battle for the new star wars film". They/She/He had two pictures, both were very crowded underwater scenes, containing men in futuristic underwater gear (his words!). He/She/They are/is being paid until June and was told She/He/They may be called back in that time."
5/1/98 - Reader Bill Thomas reported to us that IN SYNC magazine (motion-picture industry mag) had an ad for cameras used in Episode 1. The spokesperson confirms that Ewan McGregor and Liam Neeson were involved in underwater fx shots.
