StarWarsDubrovnik

Dubrovnik weather in March and February is notoriously unpredictable. We’ve already warned about possibilities of heavy rains and freak thunderstorms, but one of the most frequent weather related problems in the area are those caused by heavy winds.

As reported by Zagreb.info this is one lesson the production crew of Star Wars Episode VIII working in Dubrovnik learnt this morning. It seems the filming or scene rehearsals on board a ship in Dubrovnik’s Old City Harbour had to be postponed because of heavy northern wind called Bura. The ship was able to sail out with a serious delay, but at least we’ve got to see another shot of the actors on board in what seems to be some sort of a formal event scene.

Waiting for the ship to leave the Harbour, photo Grgo Jelavic/PIXSELL

If you think Dubrovnik is bad, at least we’re not seeing winds as strong as they are currently experiencing on the northern part of Croatian coast. Seen here in a clip that’s going viral in Croatia this morning, YouTube user Aleksandar Gospic posted a video made on Pag Island Bridge, showing how strong Bura can get.

It seems Star Wars Episode VIII cast and crew are sick of the stressful movie business and have taken a liking to local customs in Dubrovnik where coffee drinking is one of the favourite weekend pastimes. We’re joking of course, the sets being set up right now on Dubrovnik’s Main Street are reminiscent of open air cafes which are vastly popular in Croatia with locals and foreign visitors alike.

I think the franchise is due for another café scene myself. The one is The Force Awakens hardly has the musical background catchy enough to rival the success of the famous “cantina scene” in A New Hope.

Star Wars Episode VIII filming in Dubrovnik has certainly been under plenty of scrutiny by the members of the press as well as numerous fans who found their way to Dubrovnik in the past week. This is the reason why we are seeing stunning photographs popping up all the time. This time the most interesting are of actors in costumes, two of which seem to be members of a different alien races, all taken around the sets in Dubrovnik. DailyMail reported on the crew working diligently and taking shelter from the rain which was a constant companion of the first days of filming.

Actors on the set in Dubrovnik, photo DailyMail

Actors on the set in Dubrovnik, photo DailyMail

Actors on the set in Dubrovnik, photo DailyMail

Actors on the set in Dubrovnik, photo DailyMail

Actors on the set in Dubrovnik, photo DailyMail

Actors on the set in Dubrovnik, photo DailyMail

The same source also released some photographs of other props as well as the landspeeder crash which is causing much interest in the past few weeks.

Plenty of props on Dubrovnik set, photo Daily Mail

Landspeeder crash, photo DailyMail

Landspeeder crash, photo DailyMail

We’re bringing you some fresh photographs of Dubrovnik Main Street set from this morning. Parts of the landspeeder are visible on the set as well as some other props including a tall figure or statue covered in green.

Apparently there were some shots of the set captured last night and were published by ukeuristarwars.net where props and costumes are visible as well, available on the following link.

As Star Wars filming in Dubrovnik goes on, we’re seeing more and more photographs of actors and extras in costumes, most of which are unlike any we’ve seen so far. Recent Instragram posts by Dubrovnik Times and user ivapiva86 show a clearer images of the black robes we’ve seen over the past two days on the set. They seem to be ceremonial robes of some sort, possibly funeral garments. Also visible are unidentified guards or other officials of some sort with black/grey suits and helmets.

No this is not some strange cult of the streets of Dubrovnik, these are extras from Star Wars VIII in the city Photo Niksa Duper #dubrovnik #europe #starwars #starearstheforceawakens #jedi #croatia

A post shared by The Dubrovnik Times (@dubrovnik_times) on Mar 12, 2016 at 8:29am PST

#StarWars scenes that were in middle of taping that we walked by!! The costumes were amazing!😊#Dubrovnik #StarWars8 where is Benicio??

A post shared by Iva Velickovic (@ivapiva86) on Mar 12, 2016 at 1:53am PST

Among the numerous videos and photographs of Dubrovnik sets of Star Wars Episode VIII, we bring you a recent one by YouTube channel Izuzetno.com showing plenty of images you may have already seen, but with a really nice attention to details of the sets. True fans will get a kick out of trying to decipher which parts of Star Wars universe are going to be depicted in Dubrovnik using this video clip.

As reported by Dnevnik.hr Rian Johnson, the director of Star Wars Episode VIII has arrived to Dubrovnik today!

Rian Johnson at Dubrovnik Airport, photo Paula Klaic Saulacic

He was photographed at the Dubrovnik airport along with his team shortly after landing. This evening the director is going to be present at the filming for the first time since the arrival of the production team. It is safe to say, things are kicking into top gear on the ground in Dubrovnik.

Also in the media today, we take another look at the stunt rehearsal we reported on yesterday, this time with a much clearer shot published by theDubrovnikTimes.com

      

Dubrovnik City Walls complex, the main landmark of the city was announced as one of the filming locations, but so far there was a consensus the production only reserved the walls in order to prevent the people from filming of photographing locations within the Old City centre.

Thanks to our watchful eye, we came into possession of photographs proving filming is going to be done on the City Walls themselves as well. We can see the film crew setting up operations as well as a big green screen at the base of Minceta Fortress, the biggest fortification on Dubrovnik City Walls

Film crew on top of Dubrovnik City Walls, photo starwarsdubrovnik.com

Film crew on top of Dubrovnik City Walls, photo starwarsdubrovnik.com

This is what the location looks like from up on the City Walls

Dubrovnik City Walls, photo Insider Holidays

Dubrovnik City Walls, photo Insider Holidays

Star Wars Episode VIII filming in Dubrovnik goes on with new additions to the sets emerging on regular basis. Main Street, one of the most important locations in the city is still open to the public during the morning and early afternoon, whether this will continue throughout the filming we don’t know.

In the meantime, fans from all over the world and all over Croatia are flocking to the city to be a part of the fantasy for a day at least. We are in contact with many of them and some are nice enough to send us their photos to use.

The ones we got just a moment ago were sent in by a fan from Croatian city of Pozega, and they show a landspeeder that’s probably going to be crashed into one of the prop wall pillars. Pillars with various degrees of damage were set up along the Main Street and now we know why.

Crashed landspeeder on Dubrovnik Main Street, photo Domagoj Pandzic

Crashed landspeeder on Dubrovnik Main Street, photo Domagoj Pandzic

Crashed landspeeder on Dubrovnik Main Street, photo Domagoj Pandzic

Also seen this morning is a huge green screen at the western end of the Main Street which will probably serve to make the setting even more grandiose. Looking forward to it. Nice fan photos.

Impressive green screens next to Onofrio’s fountain, photo Domagoj Pandzic

Impressive green screens next to Onofrio’s fountain, photo Domagoj Pandzic

Fan theories concerning Star Wars Episode VIII are dime a dozen in the past few weeks, but some of them can be quite compelling. For example, one of the users of theforce.net forums under the screen name of JediAce1 brought forth a very interesting photo published originally on Carrie Fisher’s Twitter showing Star Wars costume designer Mr. Michael Kaplan holding a draft for a funeral costume for the actress.

Michael Kaplan with designs for a funeral shroud

If compared to the shots of the filming we saw yesterday, we could very well be looking at a funeral scene that Princess Leia (she’s always going to be a princess in my book) will be appearing in.

Photograph taken during Dubrovnik filming, photo DuList

Now, that’s a tasty theory. We’re keeping our eyes open (and fingers crossed) for Carrie Fisher in Dubrovnik.