Star Wars with occasional sarcasm
John Boyega talks to Vogue UK, and he tells them that the Episode VIII script is “great” but “much darker” than The Force Awakens, and that his part in the new film “will be much more physical.”
Meanwhile, Episode IX director Colin Trevorrow talked to Entertainment Tonight about “working closely” with VII director Rian Johnson, as well as the petition to have him replaced by George Lucas.
J.J. Abrams discusses The Force Awakens with The Hollywood Reporter, including the criticisms that the film is too similar to A New Hope, and why it was important “to go backwards to go forwards.”
Today, Abrams was at TCA for Hulu’s 11.22.63, where he told Entertainment Weekly not to expect an extended edition of The Force Awakens and addressed the lack of Rey toys.
→ At Studio Daily, ILM VFX Supervisor Roger Guyett talks about the film’s visual effects, including the Falcon on Jakku.
→ The Force Awakens has opened strong in China with a record $33M Saturday opening. Meanwhile, here in the U.S., there’s some real box office competition this weekend thanks to The Revenant. Who wins? Either way, Domhnall Gleeson.
→ Speaking of actors, The Force Awakens has let Harrison Ford reclaim the title of highest grossing actor of all time from fellow Star Wars alumni Samuel L. Jackson.
→ Business Insider profiles Joonas Suotamo, who doubled for Peter Mayhew as Chewbacca.
→ Award watch: John Boyega is a nominee for the BAFTA’s Rising Star award. TFA itself is up for BAFTAs in production design, sound, music and visual effects. The film is also up for a Costume Designers Guild Award.
There’s a new name in the mix for the unknown new female character in Episode VIII: Diary of a Teenage Girl’s Bel Powley. Previous names related to the role are Gugu Mbatha-Raw (who’s apparently out?) Gina Rodriguez and Olivia Cooke.
There was an earlier rumor that there were two new roles for the Rian Johnson directed film drawing from the same shortlist, but that’s yet to be collaborated beyond the initial report.
Powley is getting a lot of good buzz for Girl, and also appears as the young Princess Margaret in A Royal Night Out.
As always, remember these are only rumors, and they are anything but solid. Episode VIII is due to begin shooting this month, so hopefully we’ll hear something solid on any newcomers soon.
Finn/Poe may be the internet’s favorite The Force Awakens ‘ship, but it seems at least one of the actors involved isn’t quite on board. John Boyega told ShortList Magazine’s Chris Mandle that the (possible) romance is “all in Oscar’s head.”
Oscar Isaac admitted to “playing romance” on a pre-release interview on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, though he declined to specify with who. He earlier remarked about how his only romance in the film was with “those two little balls” – aka BB-8. (But who doesn’t the man have chemistry with?)
Mandle’s Boyega interview – and any additional context – will be published later this month. Mandle has a post up, including Boyega’s full comment, where he calls the relationship between Fin and Poe “a brotherly love, a bromance.”
But in any case, when does something like this actually stop the ‘shippers? Remember kids, it’s all for fun – no matter where the canon ends up.
There’s a lot of The Force Awakens stuff I never covered, both because of the sheer amount of things happening and because I don’t make a habit of linking to deeply stupid stuff. (YMMV, natch.) But on Facebook, from a hero called Matty Granger, there is a delightful rip of one of the absolute dumbest pieces to come out in the wake of the film, and I entreat you to read it.
Oh, and the best part by far:
29. Who trained Rey to fight with a staff as effectively as she does, given that (a) she is an orphan with no friends or family, and (b) she has never been in a battle, but is, rather, merely a scrap-metal scavenger?
Dude. Wander down to the poorest part of whatever town you’re in and pick a fight with a mangy little mutt of a guy. The smaller the better. Once you’re out of the hospital, you’ll realize that people who are forced to survive in the harshest environments don’t train to fight. They learn the hard way and they get really, really good at it.
Now, I don’t necessarily agree with all of Granger’s assumptions/theories, but it’s always nice to see stupidity brought low.
StarWars.com has the details today on the baton-spinning First Order stormtrooper that the internet has adopted as one of The Force Awakens‘ most prevalent memes.
Though he’s been dubbed TR-8R, his real name (‘name’) is FN-2199, aka Nines. As often speculated, he’s one of Finn’s former squadmates, and we first met him in Greg Rucka’s Before the Awakening, which details some of Finn’s pre-Jakku life and training.
The character was voiced by Skywalker Sound’s David Acord, and played by stunt performer Liang Yang.
We knew it was coming, and now it’s nearly official: At some point today, The Force Awakens outearned James Cameron’s Avatar as the high-grossing film in North America. (Official numbers will come tomorrow, but StarWars.com is already thanking fans.)
Avatar made $760.5 million domestically in 2009, but it still remains the global earning champ. The Force Awakens is currently in 4th place there, and while it has an excellent chance of beating out Jurassic World for third, it’ll need to top both Titanic and Avatar to make it to #1.
The Force Awakens will be having its pay-cable debut on Starz. It’s the last film in the premium cable network’s deal with Disney, which will be taking their future films to Netflix.
There were earlier rumors that Netflix may have tried to buy out Starz in order to debut all seven Star Wars at once, but they came to nothing. (Unless you happen to be in Canada, where Netflix will stream The Force Awakens – but no word on the rest of Star Wars, which is currently only available digitally for purchase.)
We still await word on when the older Star Wars films will return to basic cable – Spike TV’s previous deal is either already up or expires very soon, and in any case they haven’t aired the movies in a couple of years. My money is on Disney taking them to ABC Family/Freeform, which loves them a Harry Potter or Hunger Games marathon, but time will tell.
So if there’s one thing I’ve learned the past few months, it’s that it is really, really hard for me to get excited or inspired about Rogue One when there are actual Episodes in play. Well, to be specific, sequel Episodes, because the prequel apathy has always been strong with me. I may, however, be in the minority on this: The next Star Wars film – which is, technically, a prequel to A New Hope – is the most anticipated movie of 2016, according to Fandango.
On the other hand, The Hollywood Reporter’s Graeme McMillan wonders if the film is too early a detour, a sentiment I can’t help but agree with.
In any case, today’s big Rogue One rumor, per Star Wars Time, is that the trailer will be attached to May’s Captain America: Civil War. That seems less like a rumor and more like plain old common sense, as we’re certainly going to see it drop in the spring, if not before.
If you’re looking for some heavier rumors, Making Star Wars is back in the mix with some (possible) details on the characters played by Mads Mikkelsen and Felicity Jones, and a set description from Pinewood.
Rogue One is due out December 16, 2016.
It came out as an eBook way back on December 18th, but Tuesday sees the release of The Force Awakens novelization in hardcover.
On Wednesday, the Vader Down storyline wraps up in Star Wars #14 and Darth Vader #15. There’s also the second Darth Vader collection, Shadows and Secrets, in trade… And although it shipped last week, Obi-wan & Anakin #1 was actually supposed to go out this week, so if your comic shop got the memo you may not have been able to find it on sale.
In other book release news, Del Rey officially announced today that Claudia Gray’s New Republic: Bloodlines and Chuck Wendig’s Aftermath: Life Debt have both been pushed back two months each. (Something that’s been reflected on our book release schedule for a while now.) Bloodlines is now due out May 3, and Life Debt on July 19. They’re our next two new novels, though there are a handful of paperback rereleases in the meantime, including the first Aftermath on March 29.