Star Wars with occasional sarcasm
I’ve got a ton of stuff to gather up today, but for the moment, please enjoy these two video recreations of The Force Awakens teaser trailer. Above, a crude but sweet LEGO take that came out shockingly fast – less than 24 hours after the actual trailer!
And from today, the laugh-out-loud funny “George Lucas’ Special Edition” version.
The Force Awakens star John Boyega took to Instagram today to thank fans “for all the love and support,” and promising the film “will be worth the wait.” He also indirectly addressed some of the less joyful reactions, telling them to “get used to it.”
Also, an important reminder:
@BM_HAVOK @Thick44Official They weren't clones during the Original Trilogy. Clonetroopers were phased out after the Clone Wars.
— Star Wars (@starwars) November 28, 2014
It’s live! It’s also now up on the official Youtube, as seen above.
Want to dig deeper? I recommend the shot-for-shot posts from io9, Making Star Wars and /Film. They all discuss some of the rumors we’ve heard, and how they apply to what’s been revealed today. And there’s some immediate reaction over at Eleven-ThirtyEight and Tosche Station.
The biggest – or at least most questioned mystery of the the teaser – who’s that in the voiceover? Popular theories thrown out today include Andy Serkis, Max von Sydow, and the rumor that refuses to die: Benedict Cumberbatch. According Drew McWeeney at Hitfix, it is indeed Serkis, who is “playing a pivotal role in the film, although he will not have a lot of screen time.”
Tomorrow brings us the first teaser trailer for Episode VII. It’s exciting, yes! Let’s review.
What: Our first teaser trailer for The Force Awakens, aka Episode VII. It will be 88 seconds long and give us our first glimpse at the galaxy after Return of the Jedi.
Where, how: Trailers.apple.com, the iOS Trailers app, and all day long before every film playing at 30 theaters in the U.S. and Canada.
When: Friday, yes, but what time will it be online? Midnight, maybe – I’ll be staying up just in case. But if I was a betting woman, I’d say around 10 a.m. EST/7 a.m. PST – about the same time the first showings begin Friday morning. In fact, the President of Disney France apparently tweeted earlier that it would be out at 4:15 p.m. there, which lines up with 10:15/7:15 a.m. here in the states.
Why: /Film has a nice article today about why The Force Awakens teaser is so special.
No, you haven’t seen it online already. I promise. There are at least three fanmade versions floating around, repurposed as impostors. (The one that looks like it was filmed in a theater is the fakest one of all – pretty much all the action scenes are from video games.) The other two are admitted fan efforts, not intended to fool innocent fans. The real thing has not leaked. (Amazingly.)
Are you ready?
Rumor: A few more actors playing (presumably) minor roles in The Force Awakens, as discovered by BBC’s Lizo Mzimba.
Thank you, Lucasfilm! And contrary to some of the rumors floating around, this will be the same 88-second trailer that’ll be in theaters.
If you’re on iOS, you’ll want to download the iTunes Movie Trailer app now.
→ UPDATE: Nope. It’ll be on iTunes Friday, which is at least online. Jedi News is saying that we can expect “an official modified version” of The Force Awakens trailer that’ll be in theaters beginning Friday will be online Monday, December 1st. Whoo. Bootlegs ahoy.
→ No, really? The Force Awakens will need Millennials, Variety reports.
→ Over at Making Star Wars, Jason explains how the film’s new droid works.
→ Eddie Redmayne talks about his disastrous Episode VII audition.
Rumor: Jessica Henwick has a role in The Force Awakens, says the BBC’s Lizo Mzimba. The actress is also playing Nymeria Sand in the upcoming season of Game of Thrones.
Episode VIII has a production designer. Rick Heinrichs (Captain America: The First Avenger) has been booked for the film.
→ /Film today says that plans are already in the works for a post-Rebels series set during the sequel era and starring all-new characters. Not a tough call, though I am rather suprised that they’d skip right over the thirty years between Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens, which is what I called for the next cartoon right after we learned about Rebels. (Not to mention that Reclamation thing that popped up back in 2013.) Still, we don’t know what the new movies will bring – or maybe they’ll leave the gap era to books and comics, for old time’s sake? Something to chew on, in any case.
→ Making Star Wars describes how we meet Daisy Ridley’s character, and what she’s wearing.
→ /Film also has a pair of fan-made trailers for The Force Awakens.
→ And on that note Furious Fanboys has viewing tips for the inevitable trailer bootlegs this weekend. Still hoping it won’t come to that, but…