'Kenobi' Actor Teases These Starship Scenes In Series
As if the floodgate has opened, we are seeing more and more news about the upcoming series, Obi-Wan Kenobi. It has been confirmed that the principal photography for the Disney+ show was completed back in August 2021. Leaked concept arts hint at possible scenes. Actors are teasing details in numerous interviews while keeping information about their particular role mostly a secret. Fans grab on to whatever information they can get and run with it, speculating on what every word and every picture could mean. Does Hayden Christiansen wearing a stunt team hat mean that Darth Vader will have action scenes? Does Sung Kang wielding a lightsaber means that he will be an Inquisitor in the series? The latest tease is from comedian Kumail Nanjiani.
While Kumail Nanjiani is known for his role in Silicon Valley, we will soon be seeing him in futuristic roles. Nanjiani will portray the Eternal, Kingo, in Marvel’s Eternals, which will premiere on November 5, 2021. On the other hand, his role in Obi-Wan Kenobi has not yet been revealed. Fans were able to glean some information from his recent interview with Rolling Stone where he expressed his excitement at being in the galaxy far, far away, and talking to Obi-Wan.
"I’d heard Ewan [McGregor] was super nice. And then we got to know each other a little bit, just hanging out and talking. Then there was this weird moment where I’m talking to Ewan and they yell 'Action,' and he’d started talking to me, and I was like, 'Oh, I’m talking to Obi-Wan right now. This is not Ewan McGregor. This is Obi-Wan Kenobi that I’m talking to.' My character is supposed to be a little bit intimidated by him, and I was a little bit intimidated. You know, it’s [redacted] Obi-Wan, what are you gonna do?"
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It must have been a surreal experience for a fan of the franchise like Nanjiani to be talking to the legendary Obi-Wan Kenobi. After all, it is every Star Wars fan’s dream to live and breathe in the galaxy far, far away. This experience is facilitated by the Volume display technology, which was used previously in the production of The Mandalorian. Many actors, especially those from the prequel trilogy, have described feeling disconnected from their character when they have to work in front of the green/blue screens. On the other hand, the Volume display technology creates three dimensional visual representation of the scene, allowing actors to see and interact with the scene without having to imagine what would later appear on the green/blue screens in post-production. Nanjiani tells us how he appreciates this:
"I love shooting like that, because you don’t have to pretend that you’re on a spaceship flying through space. It really feels like you’re in a spaceship flying through space. And it’s amazing to be inside the world of 'Star Wars', the world that I’ve been watching since I was born. I’ve been a fan as long as I can remember.”
Having fewer green/blue screens in the principal photography of Obi-Wan Kenobi means that a fan like Nanjiani can feel like he is actually there in the galaxy far, far away, and not back on Earth in some soundstage.
"You really feel like you’re there. The first scene we shot, it was 'Star Wars' outside the windows, with aliens walking around and ships flying by and all this stuff, but the rest of it just looked like a warehouse. So I did a couple of takes and then Ewan was like, 'You know, none of this is real.' I knew the windows weren’t real, but the walls weren’t either! I looked and I was like, 'Wow, the walls are projected.' The only thing that was real in the whole room was the desk I was sitting at. It was wild. It was really, really exciting."
While we share similar sentiments as Nanjiani being right there in the Star Wars universe, there are few details that we can glean from his words. He mentioned “ships flying by” as he looked out the projected window. Could his character perhaps be in a busy spaceport on Coruscant or Corellia? Does this rule out his character being on Tatooine?
Furthermore, he pointed out that he was sitting behind a desk in this particular scene with Obi-Wan. Does this mean his character is not a diner owner like Dexter Jettster from Attack of the Clones? Does this put his character in some sort of an administrative role?
When Nanjiani talked about being in a spaceship flying through space, does this mean he and Obi-Wan will be traveling together somewhere in a spaceship? Does this mean Obi-Wan is indeed leaving Tatooine during the course of the series? Are we just thinking too much into this?
There is currently no official release date for Obi-Wan Kenobi. The series is set to premiere on Disney+ some time in 2022.
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Source: The Direct