'Star Wars: The Last Jedi' director kept script safe from leaking with 'air-gapped' MacBoo...
Rian Johnson, the writer and director of "Star Wars: the Last Jedi," has explained how he protected the screenplay for the latest film in the blockbuster franchise from being leaked online: by using a MacBook Air that had been kept from accessing the Internet.
The director took multiple precautions to keep the screenplay out of eager fans of the movie series, advising of the use of a MacBook Air in the Wall Street Journal's My Tech Essentials column. According to Johnson, the MacBook Air was the only device used for the initial production of the script, with considerable efforts made to keep it a secret.
For security it was 'air-gapped,' never connected to the Internet, said Johnson. In security circles, air-gapping a device prevents any software updates or other unwanted items from being installed onto the computer, effectively blocking any data from leaving the device, as well as stopping the installation of any software or malware that could force open a connection and allowing any data to leak out to third parties.
"I carried it around and used it for nothing except writing the script," the director notes, adding that it was kept in a safe within Pinewood Studios when not in use. "I think my producer was constantly horrified I would leave it in a coffee shop."
While on set, Johnson took a considerable number of photos, but in a way that made it harder for images to be uploaded to the Internet. He used a Leica M6 35mm film camera from the '80s as well as a ton of very high-speed, black-and-white film, which he kept on his shoulder and photographed with every day, ending the shoot with a couple thousand film stills.
Johnson is not averse to technology, confessing that he had wracked up significant time with 'Desert Golfing' on my iPhone X. Calling it "a lovely little app" and "so stupid," the director claims not to remember which "horrible friend" recommended it to him, but wished to "punch that person in the face" after playing more than 1,500 holes in the game.
Other picks on the list include a 1960s-era Omega Speedmaster Pro watch, Moleskine A4-size soft cover sketchbooks used for storyboards, and episodes of The History of Rome podcast.
The director took multiple precautions to keep the screenplay out of eager fans of the movie series, advising of the use of a MacBook Air in the Wall Street Journal's My Tech Essentials column. According to Johnson, the MacBook Air was the only device used for the initial production of the script, with considerable efforts made to keep it a secret.
For security it was 'air-gapped,' never connected to the Internet, said Johnson. In security circles, air-gapping a device prevents any software updates or other unwanted items from being installed onto the computer, effectively blocking any data from leaving the device, as well as stopping the installation of any software or malware that could force open a connection and allowing any data to leak out to third parties.
"I carried it around and used it for nothing except writing the script," the director notes, adding that it was kept in a safe within Pinewood Studios when not in use. "I think my producer was constantly horrified I would leave it in a coffee shop."
While on set, Johnson took a considerable number of photos, but in a way that made it harder for images to be uploaded to the Internet. He used a Leica M6 35mm film camera from the '80s as well as a ton of very high-speed, black-and-white film, which he kept on his shoulder and photographed with every day, ending the shoot with a couple thousand film stills.
Johnson is not averse to technology, confessing that he had wracked up significant time with 'Desert Golfing' on my iPhone X. Calling it "a lovely little app" and "so stupid," the director claims not to remember which "horrible friend" recommended it to him, but wished to "punch that person in the face" after playing more than 1,500 holes in the game.
Other picks on the list include a 1960s-era Omega Speedmaster Pro watch, Moleskine A4-size soft cover sketchbooks used for storyboards, and episodes of The History of Rome podcast.
Comments
Those of us who've been using Macs for a while started off using Time Machine with plugged in hard drives before WiFi became ubiquitous. I always remember the first time I plugged a huge hard drive into my Mac and it came up with an alert along the lines of " That's a huge hard drive you've got there - Would you like me to do a Time Machine backup on it?"
Personally, I've had 3 or 4 significant data losses over the years (decades) that were mitigated (or not!) by good backups. Even so, until I started doing wireless backups, I could never maintain a consistent backup strategy.
But but but but “empowered” purple-haired woman = good storytelling!
I mean… you just know that if Rey hadn’t been there with him that Luke would have sucked the milk straight from the source.
An air-gapped computer or digital wallet is also recommended for keeping cryptocurrencies.
I haven’t seen the new film yet but frankly from what I’ve seen of the previous two new movies I think I’ll like this.
I have to admit I’m not a Star Wars fan like most fans and Star Trek bores the hell out of me (although I really enjoyed the new movies) so I’m not actually the best person to comment here.
I frankly don’t see why people get so up in arms over a movie franchise like the Star Wars nerds. Luke Skywalker wasn’t that great of a hero and Darth Vader was never really a scary villain. In fact the only people who made the movies bearable were Han Solo and Cheebacca and they were only really comic relief. People complain about Jar Jar Binks but completely miss that the most annoying character in the series is C3PO and don’t even get me started on R2D2. Princess Leia? No one cared about her until Return of the Jedi when she was half naked you dirty perverts. Frankly Carrie Fisher was way more entertaining in Blues Brothers.
There, I think I’ve annoyed Star Wars fans enough Mwahahahahahahaha
But, I'm not your average geek.
The plots for TFA and TLJ are horrible.