David Goyer's Darth Vader VR Experience Will Make You Cry

Over the past weekend at the ILMxLab panel at Star Wars Celebration Europe in London, it was announced that screenwriter David Goyer (The Dark Knight Trilogy) is working on developing a Darth Vader virtual reality project with Industrial Light & Magic's ILMxLab. Goyer explained:

"When we looked at all the characters, places, and worlds in theStar Warsuniverse available to us, we asked ourselves, ‘What haven't we seen before? Who are we curious about?' Darth Vader is the perfect ambassador to usher us into theStar WarsVR universe."

/Film reported that during the ILMxLab panel, Pablo Hidalgo revealed that the new ILMxLab experience will be emotional. He says that it will make you cry. Hidalgo says:

Goyer explains the Darth Vader project is not a game and talked about what the focus of the experience will be:

"What we're working on right now, is a way to get in your hands an original Star Wars story that can only be told through Virtual Reality. And it will be exclusive and cinematic in that realm."

"I've worked in games, in first person shooters, and [with this] no, you're not a player. This is not a game. This thing we're working on, you're not a player. You are the visitor in this story, happening in and around you, which to a certain extent, you may have some affect on.

"We're doing these builds, these proof of concepts. And the difference between cinema, television and VR especially at the fidelity that this team is doing it, is you really feel like you're there. The sense of presence, and its not just a buzz-word, when you guys get to experience it you will feel like you're there."

That sounds like an exciting and immersive experience that could help us see the story more deeply from a unique perspective. Goyer went on to talk about how the project will play with our fear and sadness:

"It's surprisingly very emotional. It can make you sad. It can make you lean in and feel for a character in a way you haven't before. In a way you really can't do in any other medium, in books, in film… And it can scare you, trust me, in a way you've never been scared before. It's experiential storytelling and there's the plot but its surprising how much you feel and how emotional it is. Even as we're experimenting with it, there is stuff that makes you tear up and cry, and its really phenomenal."

Now I'm curious what the story of the Darth Vader project will be about. I'm excite to give it a try, and I hope that it will be as wildly successful as Pokemon Go.