John Boyega in ‘Pacific Rim: Uprising’ (Photo: Universal Pictures)
At New York Comic-Con last week, Pacific Rim: Uprising announced itself as a giant-sized 2018 blockbuster after premiering an all-new trailer that brought the crowd to its feet by spotlighting plenty of Jaeger vs. Kaiju action. Chatting with Yahoo Entertainment backstage after the NYCC panel, Uprising star and producer John Boyega revealed that several drafts of the trailer were required before arriving at the one that got the audience so pumped. “We had so many versions,” he explains. “It was always about deciding, ‘What is the appeal?’ ‘What do the fans want to see?’ It was a long way to get to what we ended up doing.”
It’s worth noting that Boyega’s “producer” credit on Pacific Rim: Uprising — which is set 10 years after the original 2013 film, directed by Guillermo del Toro — is no mere vanity label. The British actor is playing an active role in every step of the creative process, up to and including the sequel’s marketing roll-out. Fortunately, he’s had plenty of schooling in that department thanks to his role in the relaunched Star Wars franchise. From The Force Awakens to Rogue One to The Last Jedi, the current keepers of George Lucas’s space saga — including Kathleen Kennedy and J.J. Abrams — have proven remarkably adept at selling fresh episodes to the public. It’s no accident, for example, that the new trailer for The Last Jedi has topped 120 million views and inspired countless dissections since premiering Oct. 9.
Boyega confirms without hesitation that he consciously used Star Wars as a reference point in building the best possible trailer for Pacific Rim. “Oh, 100 percent. The strategy in marking has always been important for me, because I find that in the age of social media where people can respond and react [immediately], you have to make sure you describe as much of the experience as possible in the trailer. That’s why people pay for a ticket.”
With that goal in mind, Boyega and the Universal marketing team cut a variety of trailers that chased a variety of tones. The actor says that some of those earlier versions were more character-centric, with one them emphasizing the role of Mako Mori (Rinko Kikuchi), the breakout fan favorite of the first film who serves as the generational bridge to this one. Ultimately, the decision was made to keep that character in reserve for subsequent teasers, which explains why she’s only glimpsed in two shots of the finished trailer. “We wanted to keep her involvement secret,” says Boyega. “But we knew she had to come back. We felt we owed it to the fans to explain what is to come, emphasize that this movie is fun, and give them details how the two movies connect.”
(Photo: Universal Pictures)
It took an early screening of film to set the trailer on the path to becoming the one shown at NYCC. Uprising helmer Steve S. DeKnight remembers showing his unfinished director’s cut to the Universal marketing team, trying to keep his nerves under control as they watched the action play out without completed effects. “They came out of that screening with a lightbulb moment,” he says, breathing a sigh of relief. “Three or four weeks later, they showed me a new pass that for all intents and purposes was this trailer. It really reflects what the movie is, which is fun and exciting. I remember going, ‘Yes, I think that will do quite well!‘”
Yahoo Entertainment was present for the trailer’s NYCC premiere, and can confirm that it did indeed go over quite well. One moment that proved particularly popular was a shot of Boyega’s character, Jake Pentecost — the son of Idris Elba’s apocalypse-canceling General Pentecost from the previous film — busting out his Jaeger’s signature weapon: a plasma sword. Asked which energy-based blade is more fun to yield, a plasma sword or a lightsaber, the actor lets loose a hearty laugh. “I can’t believe that I’ve done both! The plasma sword is big; when you swing that, it’s not just your strength coming out, it’s also the robot’s. And if you’ve seen the trailer, you’ll notice we’ve got two of those babies. When I saw the first film, I was like, ‘Why don’t they put in another one?‘” Behold the power that comes with being a producer.
Pacific Rim: Uprising stomps into theaters on March 23, 2018.
@nightsofreylo plus Finn isn’t wearing gloves. Look at his fight with Phasma, no gloves.
You can’t see if Finn’s wearing gloves but whatever. I don’t want any interaction with r*ylo shippers on my blog. Can y’all leave properly tagged posts alone?
He is wearing a glove on his right hand in the Phasma duel. In fact he HAS to be wearing a magnetized glove in order for the baton to be glowing like that, it’s how those weapons are activated.
Is it just me, but is Poe’s line from the trailer–”We have (we are?) the spark that will light the fire that will burn the First Order down”–kind of cheap and overblown for just about any situation except a Stormtrooper uprising? I’ve seen gifsets going around imposing these words on Finn, Poe, and Rey, and to me it’s a bad fit for the latter two.
Poe is of the Resistance, which is a fire that’s been going for years now fighting the First Order. It’s not a spark that needs to be kindled and brought to life. Rey is going to be a Jedi, which, I’ll grant, is down to barely an ember after being almost completely destroyed. The Jedi in whatever form are going to be a formidable enemy if resurrected, and Supreme Sneezer Smokes has a good reason to wet his humongous pants just thinking about the possibility. But calling it the spark that will “burn the First Order down” seems… out of proportion? Doesn’t quite fit? Like the Resistance, the Jedi will be a formidable enemy. But the image of burning doesn’t quite fit; the Jedi will hopefully bring justice, yes, but the sense of righteous anger, of searing rage from personal injustice, isn’t something I associate with the Jedi. The same goes for the Resistance, really. Both organizations are fearsome enemies that will certainly help bring the First Order down. But the image of a fragile spark growing to a fire to burn a mighty edifice down doesn’t exactly fit on multiple levels, not without some presumption.
A possible Stormtrooper uprising, on the other hand? That one fits the line in every singlle sense. An uprising will be a fragile thing in the beginning, a spark in the minds of beings like Finn who could no longer bear and commit the injustices the First Order forced on them. As these flickers of conscience come together they become one in unity and stronger together, forming the fires of rebellion. It will burn with the righteousness of its cause, a conflagration of spirits pushed beyond limits but still fighting. Fire, though destructive, is a natural force. It is a consequence of known conditions, much like a large mass of people rising up against their oppressors. You can’t keep pushing people forever without expecting pushback, that’s just how it is.
Especially if you’ve abducted, enslaved, molded, and tried to brainwash and break these people for the express purpose of becoming the most skilled soldiers in the history of the galaxy.
Something about the imagery and Poe’s delivery bring to mind that sense of justified anger, of offended justice that’s more personal than the act of fighting evil. For me it calls forth a house on fire from within, destroyed by the very force it sought to tame and use.
The human spirit, like fire, has its own laws that cannot be broken. It runs wild, can break free. It can devour the arrogant, and it will.
ok time to put the sw tin foil hats on gays!! after the trailer i truly believe finn starts a stormtrooper uprising in the fo based on 3 shots so here we go
so in the trailer we have 3 main shots of finn and phasma fighting! they look rad as fuck but after closer examination™ i noticed the stormtroopers in the background, but they weren’t rushing to join phasma’s side, even tho they can clearly see them fighting
what’s also puzzling is why they aren’t at least one of them aiming their guns at finn?
from that gif it’s obvious they’re fighting on a fo base/ship, with the at-st and tie fighters being destroyed from explosions all around them. but what are the troopers shooting at? there isn’t any resistance fighters visible in that shot so?? are they just stupid and shooting at the fire???
even w this gif there’s a trooper on an at-st walking away from their battle…
this makes me believe finn and rose infiltrate the fo and somehow reverse the reconditioning on a squadron of troopers.
earlier this year sw stated that there will be the first slicer (hacker) in this movie, which makes me believe rose is the hacker. if rose could hack the system the fo uses to recondition troopers, it would make sense why she would have such a new and prominent role in this movie.
at this point i’m grasping straws but i think if they were to reverse the conditioning on a squadron it would be the squadron finn was apart of.
it would be a powerful scene – a group of troopers being able to think and decided for themselves, and finn letting them have a choice of staying or fighting, like finn has in tfa (bc finn would never force them to fight).
so basically what i’m saying is that finn leaves a rogue squadron to fight their abuser, and while finn faces phasma rose and the other troopers place explosives and ward off other troopers to come help phasma. thank you for coming to my ted talk
Okay, but I need to add something re: reconditioning.
Now the comic doesn’t actually use the word reconditioning for this process, but it makes a lot of sense if it is.
And it literally turns the people who undergoes it into human droids – think Lobot like – that are programmable. Programs that we in a later Poe comic see can be over written and maybe even reverse or the implant used for the control removed.
Remember, Rose is a mechanic and – and here’s an interesting thing – she and Finn goes hunting for “DJ” who’s a slicer. Now he would be able to reverse those programs if anyone are. Or its a joint effort between the two, idk.
And yeah, some of the Stormtroopers who have undergone reconditioning might be like Terrex, but there’ll be quite a few “Finns” in there too. Liberating them, giving them a choice to fight back, that would be an epic arc and scene indeed.
I love this! While the Stormtroopers might not all be reconditioned, the ones who were are likely to be the ones who had the most independent ideas (whether moral or amoral, as exemplified by Finn and Terex) but were too valuable, that is skilled, to lose. And they would have some Grade A beef against the First Order if they didn’t before. They would make an excellent and motivated core fighting force for the uprising that the others could rally around.
I’m super fucking stoked by Finn’s appearances in the trailer. Maybe it’s my theory goggles that Finn is going to start a Stormtrooper uprising, but it seems to me Poe’s line that “We have a spark that will light the fire that will burn the First Order down” is a direct reference to Finn and the possible Stormtrooper rebellion. What’s more, Finn shows up directly after that line, surrounded by, hmmmm, FIRE as he duels Phasma.
Poe seems to be speaking with repressed anger or sorrow (my God Oscar
Isaac’s delivery help me Obi Juan whoever the fuck you are), indicating
that this was spoken in a moment of conflict whether within himself or
someone else.
Could Poe’s clashes with Leia have to do with how to respond to the possible uprising? Did Finn convince Poe into letting himself and Rose to go on a rogue mission and into possible death, a choice Poe is himself conflicted about? Is that why Leia slaps him, when she finds out what he’s done?
Finn, by the way, is not carrying a lightsaber but some kind of energy pike weapon that seems to work similarly to the baton FN-2199 used against him in the battle on Takodana. It not only looks freaking badass, it has a great reach, versatility and can stand up to lightsabers, too.
Also the all-black ensemble with a glowy energy weapon…. is anyone going to comment on the similarities with Luke in ROTJ? As I said in my reply to @diversehighfantasy, I see parallels with Luke in my TLJ speculation for Finn, too, particularly my wildly speculative ending.
Furthermore, when Snoke starts saying “Fulfill your destiny” the first shot is directly on Finn, although I think the line itself is said to Rey or Kylo. Is this a sideways reference to Finn’s liberating Stormtroopers being his destiny?
Is it too late for you to write The Last Jedi? I want this so much!!!
Just waiting for Kathy Kennedy to call… any minute now…
Honestly put the fucking “ship” war aside and enjoy FUCKING the trailer
For once why can’t we fucking agree that we all need to collectively loose our shit TOGETHER. Whether it’s Kylo, Finn, Poe or Rey related we shouldn’t be arguing with each other. “Oh character A suck balls” “Character B is fucking dead to me if they join the dark side” like no get over your fucking self and enjoy this master piece of a trailer. For once let’s enjoy this together. If you don’t like it then don’t fucking bash on others. I’m tired of all this fucking arguing. If you wanna argue with me bring it the fuck on I’m not going to back down. This is supposed to be a good day for all of US in the Star Wars fandom why are we fighting over a ships that may or may NOT happen.
(•_•)/
Imagine feeling so entitled you tell other people how to feel.
L.J.'s Obsessions 