Category: sequel trilogy

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Mark Hamill on Episode VII secrecy, ‘drones’ and hating the beard

hamill-beard-gotgWe got two new Mark Hamill interviews today, as he continues to promote Elf: Buddy’s Musical Christmas, and it’s not like The Force Awakens just isn’t going to not come up. With the Chicago Sun-Times, he talks about secrecy measures of the internet age:

“It’s the first time I’ve ever been on a movie set where if you go from your trailer to a soundstage, you have to put on an enormous robe with a hood that hangs down over your head. I asked one of the production assistants, ‘What’s this all about.’ They told me, ‘Oh, it’s because of the drones,’ flying overhead, taking photographs of people walking to the soundstage.

“Really, it’s come to that? In the old days, the studio was like a sanctuary. You were protected from the outside world. You could relax. Not anymore!”

He told Entertainment Weekly that he and the other old-timers knew in advance they weren’t going to be featured in the teaser.

And of course, lots about the beard.

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Today in The Force Awakens: Mark Hamill talks beard, reveals BB-8 is a real prop

TFA trading card: BB-8→ #BEARDWATCH LIVES. Well, sort of. Mark Hamill talks about his Episode VII beard at Yahoo: “…face foliage is almost a part of the costume. And it does bring a gravitas, perhaps unearned, but nevertheless, it makes a statement that they wanted to make, and I’m more than happy to oblige them.” He also reveals that BB-8 is an actual prop, not CGI.

And I wasn’t able to get to this yesterday before the big news dropped, but Hamill also talked to IGN about the trailer, with lots of praise for the new kids.

→ It will surprise absolutely no one that today brings a report that Star Tours is going to get a new mission related to the new films. My only real question: When will it be added? Because wouldn’t that be a nice perk for Celebration Anaheim?

→ In less sure thing rumors, we’ve got another report of where (and why) Luke Skywalker is during the film, and why. Plus some speculation on Sith shrines.

→ Here you go, math nerds: How fast is BB-8?

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The Force Awakens character names revealed!

Lucasfilm and Entertainment Weekly have paired up to give us character names from The Force Awakens – in trading card form. Daisy Ridley is Rey, John Boyega is Finn and Oscar Isaac plays Poe Dameron. The ball droid is BB-8 (which I’m guessing is pronounced/abbreviated as ‘Bebe,’) and our mysterious villain is Kylo Ren. The card numbers have some significance as well – a mystery to chew on… In addition to Finn and Rey’s last names.

This also puts to bed a popular theory that Gwendoline Christie could be playing the character we now know as Kylo Ren, referring to “his lightsaber.”

UPDATE: One fan has already done the matchwork: Rey, Poe and BB line up nicely, Kylo not so much… Unless… Threepio?!?

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The Force Awakens: George Lucas hasn’t seen the trailer

HONEY BADGER DON'T CARE.→ George Lucas hasn’t seen The Force Awakens trailer yet, Page Six reports this morning. “I don’t know anything about it. I haven’t seen it yet,” he said. “Because it’s not in the movie theater. I like going to the movies and watching the whole thing there.”

→ On the other hand… “I got really excited when I saw the trailer the other week,” Domhnall Gleeson said recently. “I am a fan. I saw the prequels before I saw the first ones. I am very excited about it.”

→ Did J.J. Abrams start a trend? The first picture from the new James Bond film sure looks familiar. (This is where some film geek comes in the comments and tells me every film that’s tweeted a clapper picture since 2008, right?)

→ And in rumors, Making Star Wars talks about a new kind of walker.

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Today in The Force Awakens: 3D print your own broadsaber

3Dbroadsaber→ Now you can 3D print your own collapsible broadsaber, because of course you can. (via)

→ In addition to this morning’s Andy Serkis rumor, we have Da7e at Latino Review looking at the 4chan stuff, and pulling stuff out of them that he actually thinks are true/interesting. (I get a strong whiff of too much endless-message-board-debate about his lightsaber opinions, though.)

→ For the Tumblr folks, I put together a Star Wars Stylebook entry on how stormtroopers aren’t clones, since there’s been a lot of confusion on that front lately.

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The Force Awakens evening report: Oscar Isaac praises Star Wars experience, fans

sw-xwing327→ We heard from him briefly the other day, but Oscar Isaac talks more about The Force Awakens over at IGN, including advice from Harrison Ford, working with practical effects, the “emotional aspect,” the broadsaber and even the racist backlash to co-star John Boyega:

“What’s great about it is, it’s like, ‘Are you a racist? Here’s a perfect way of revealing that to everyone!’ [Laughs] What I loved about the trailer too is, like, the giant middle finger of the first thing you see, right off the bat: John’s face — BAM! So it is, yeah, ‘Just deal with it.'”

Adding, “ultimately, it’s not even about race at all. It’s about a story, and it’s about these characters. [Boyega’s] a great actor, and he’s so good in this movie. And, you know, why not? But what’s great about it too, even more so, is that the huge majority have come out so vocally, the people that are real, true fans in support. [Laughs] They come out and defend it and make themselves heard. They really drowned out that negativity pretty quickly. I think that was really wonderful, to see that.”

How much dumb luck do you think it was that he happened to be on the publicity circuit for A Most Violent Year just as the trailer hit?

→ Andy Serkis calls the reaction to the trailer “extraordinary.”

→ Did The Force Awakens trailer inspire George R.R. Martin? Will The Winds of Winter really be out in 2015? Who actually expects a gossip blog to have a ‘source’ on George R.R. Martin in the first place? What times we live in.

→ Still running with The Force Awakens on Tumblr, including tons of fan art.

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The Force Awakens morning report: Roger Christian says “there has to be a reason” for the broadsaber

tfa-promo1-broadsaber800→ ANH set decorator Roger Christian, who came up with the first lightsaber, thinks the broadsaber is “an older laser sword.” He says that while it doesn’t seem to be practical, “there has to be a reason,” and that J.J. Abrams “would have considered every visual in this first teaser.” I think it’s just as well that we’re seeing it so early – it gives fandom time to get used to the idea. (Though of course, complainers are going to complain regardless.)

→ The Force Awakens got a ton of attention on Facebook – 16.7 million from 8.4 million unique users. Even a stopped clock is right twice a day.

→ Rumor Time: Brandon Rhea at Fanpedia has a bit on Han and Leia’s roles in the film.

→ And finally, the 4chan/Reddit “Spoiler Man” is back with a third and presumably final installment. Here’s a non-spoilery tidbit: “Han does not have any Force-sensitivity.” Really. (Are they rumoring from 1981? Is Han “the another?!?”) There are also “script” pages with dialogue that makes “I don’t like sand” look like Shakespeare, though to their credit even Reddit is calling BS on them.