Other Locations

5/29/98 - AUSTRALIA SCOUTING CONFIRMED
For those of you who have been following the stories posted here about Australia and New Zealand being scouted for the prequels. The latest Star Wars Insider magazine has producer Rick McCallum quoted as saying that the Lands Down Under have indeed been scouted as possible filming locations. Isn't that just a cracker! (Australian term) The McCallum interview was probably conducted five or six months ago, so they may very well have made a decision already. Hopefully we'll hear more soon!

5/20/98 - MORE AUSTRALIA CLUES?
Are part of Episode 2 and 3 going to be filmed in Australia? Hmmmm! Maybe! Little clues here and there are making it look more and more like a possibility. Nothing concrete, mind you, but enough to make it look like more than mere rumor. Steve Head pointed out to us the new web site for Fox Studios Australia! Pretty convenient for them to have studios over there, eh? Then Eliot "Sith" Fish found something else for us. He ran across a press release for the Dragonslayer, a production company that helps international productions film in Australia. The press release started out like this:

"GEORGE LUCAS FILMS, MICROSOFT, FOX STUDIOS, DIGITAL, IBM AND 20,000 OTHER INDIVIDUALS INVADE AUSTRALIAN FILM PRODUCTION COMPANY'S NEW WEB SITE"

What does that mean? That Lucasfilm stopped by their web site? That they have done business with them? What? We tried to contact Dragonslayer, but have had no word from them yet. We'll keep trying. More to come.....

5/18/98 - MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA FOR EPISODE 2?
Steve Head pointed us to the following letter to the editor which appeared in The Press Online: New Zealand on May 7th. The writer claims that the town of Christchurch, New Zealand was considered (as reported by TFN), but ruled out in favor of Melbourne, Australia.

1/30/98 - CHRISTCHURCH, NEW ZEALAND POSSIBLE FILM LOCATION
We got this report from Kerry Ferrand:

Hi, [In brief:] The front page, headline story on today's (Friday 30 Jan.) "Christchurch Star" (a free newspaper delivered to all homes here in Christchurch, New Zealand) is "Hollywood eyes city as movie location". It goes on to explain that the "producers of the Star Wars movies" discussed the possibilty of leasing a now disused military air base on the south west side of the city here. ..possibly for 12-18 months for both episode 2 and 3.

[Here's some of the article itself: (written by Lois Watson)]
Christchurch is being eyed by the producers of the Star Wars movies as a possible location for the latest in the series of blockbuster films. Scouts for the movie company visited Christchurch late last year to discuss the possibility of leasing Wigram Air Base for at least one of the planned new Star Wars movies. They also visited other locations around the South Island which could be used for some of the scenes.

Star Wars director George Lucas has worked in the SI before on the fantasy film "Willow". He fell in love with the area and is keen to return to film here. Mayor Viki Buck told the Star the company was interested in Wigram Air Base because of its wide open spaces and empty hangers. "Because they build all their own sets the hangers are really attractive to them," Ms. Buck said. If the company decided to film in Christchurch it would lease Wigram for a period of 12-18 months.

The mayor said the movie which producers were interested in filming in Christchurch revolved around the story of Darth Vader's childhood. It was one of 3 the company intended producing over the next few years. "It is possible that two of the three movies could be produced here, which means the company would be in Christchurch for up to three years," Ms Buck said. It would have enormous economic impact for the city and for the South Island film industry.

"What they pump into the local economy is incredible, because they use alot of local resources and talent. Obviously in a movie like Star wars you have big name actors but you'd also have a lot of local talent." Ms. Buck said the company would probably leave the sets intact once filming was completed. This opened up the chance for Christchurch to use the area as some sort of tourist attraction.

Canterbury Development Corporation chief executive Chris Pickrill through whom the initial approach to film in Christchurch was made, said the film company was casting its net wide and a huge amount of research still had to be done before before any decision on location was made. However, the fact that the company was even considering Christchurch was a major boost for the corporation's efforts to market the region as a 'film friendly' location. Mr Pickrill said the film company had indicated a preliminary decision on the location for the new Star Wars movie would be made within the next couple of months.

(next few paragraphs mention efforts to attract productions to the region and other films that have been made here - "Heavenly Creatures", "The Frighteners" etc)

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!

5/20/97 -

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!