Omega Underground has been keeping our ears to the ground for crew hirings for J.J. Abrams’ Star Wars: Episode IX aka Black Diamond. We’ve previously revealed a small handful of crew additions in the last couple of months as the film enters pre-production before it’s confirmed summer shoot (confirmed by Abrams at D23 Expo Japan).
The final installment in the new trilogy is expected to begin filming this June at Pinewood Studios UK.
Well, we’ve learned of another crew hiring and it’s someone that has never worked on a Star Wars film before. Paul Inglis has been hired as the lead supervising art director on the film and it will be his first crack at Star Wars.
His previous credits include Skyfall, Blade Runner 2049, Game of Thrones, Prometheus, Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation, and Children of Men.
Paul and his team of Lucasfilm artists, Abrams, and the production designer will come together to craft the overall look of the film. You can imagine after working on a labor-intensive production like Game of Thrones, Paul will bring something special to the table. Here is Paul speaking about his work on Thrones along with examples of the projects he’s previously worked on.
One of the expected shooting locales for Episode IX is said to be Argyll, Scotland (although, the source incorrectly assumed it was for a spinoff) and Ingis’ Skyfall happened to shoot most of the third act in Scotland using exterior locales such as Glen Coe and Argyll’s Gare Loch. This could help back up claims that Lucasfilm is indeed aiming to shoot in Argyll over the summer.
Disney previously shot Avengers: Infinity War in Edinburgh, Scotland last year and it helps that Scotland is only a stones-throw away from the Pinewood stages.
Having the Game of Thrones art director on board might help fuel speculation of the debut of the Knights of Ren. Scotland, is known for its rainy climate could this Knights of Ren shot from Force Awakens be previewing an altercation in Episode IX as Rey seems to be able to see into the future? It could also suggest a possible return to Vader’s Castle on Mustafar.
Inglis has also worked with creature effects lead Neal Scanlan on Prometheus. He isn’t the only Blade Runner alumni working on the film either as Episode IX’s costume designer Michael Kaplan worked on the original 1982 film.
Considering Paul’s extensive working relationship with Game of Thrones showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, I wouldn’t be terribly shocked if he also ended up working on their new string of Star Wars films (we have our fingers crossed these are set in The Old Republic era).
Star Wars: Episode IX is set for release on December 20th, 2019.
SOURCE: OMEGA UNDERGROUND