Star Wars with occasional sarcasm
A new behind the scenes video from The Force Awakens debuted at Comic-Con Brazil. See John Boyega in awe as he sees the Falcon! See Harrison Ford sign a giant action figure! See Oscar Isaac boggle!
Speaking of Oscar Isaac, Poe Dameron finally got a character poster today.
Today’s must-read was an article from Meredith Woerner at the Los Angeles Times about the women of The Force Awakens. In addition to the characters (it’s revealed that Captain Phasma will be returning for VIII,) Kathleen Kennedy also talks about the importance of having women behind the scenes, and how that helped the movie.
→ On that note, agent Adriana Alberghetti told the LAT that she’s gotten meetings for four female directors and three female writers for Star Wars films. She doesn’t name names, but Newsarama notes that her clients include Orange Is The New Black director S.J. Clarkson and Buffy the Vampire Slayer writer Marti Noxon.
→ George Lucas has seen The Force Awakens and, Kathleen Kennedy tells The Hollywood Reporter, “he really liked it.”
→ Carrie Fisher was on Good Morning America this morning, and not only was she amazing, but she was full of praise for the film.
→ More The Force Awakens ornaments are coming to Hallmark… Next year. Kylo Ren and Captain Phasma are available now.
J.J. Abrams, Kathleen Kennedy, and several of The Force Awakens’ stars were on hand today for #TwitterAwakens, a live Q&A via the @starwars Twitter. It was a crazy whirlwind, and yes, Harrison Ford dropped what may be a major spoiler – if you haven’t been paying attention. (It’s the spoiler – it’s not about Luke or anyone’s parentage, though he did spell Kylo as ‘Kilo,’ which is hilarious.)
Also, Mark Hamill trolled, and Daisy Ridley and Oscar Isaac sang a (brief) duet.
I’ve collected most of the tweets, but to see the actual questions you have to read it on Twitter. If you want to avoid Harrison’s spoiler, skim over everything from the Lupita picture (or Carrie’s “Good, I was jealous.”) until you see Harrison’s own mug (above center.)
The Force Awakens – or rather, R2-D2 and BB-8 – are on the cover of the Dec. 14, 2015 issue of Time magazine, but they’re not the only ones Marco Grob snapped. Head to Time to check out the photos of (most) of the primary cast, plus J.J. Abrams and Kathleen Kennedy.
Meanwhile, Lev Grossman is another writer allowed into the edit bay (and a whole bunch of other places) for his cover story. It gives us an actual line of dialogue.
Today’s must read is Lawrence Kasdan at the Los Angeles Times. He talks about coming back to Star Wars, working with J.J. Abrams, canon (pure gold here), and the inate goofiness of the original trilogy. Just some great stuff.
Plus, on Rian Johnson’s Episode VIII: “He’s going to make some weird thing.”
(The LAT also headed to Abu Dhabi.)
→ Carrie Fisher was on Live! with Kelly and Michael this morning, where she dubs her poster hairstyle “the baboon ass.” She’s in the Wall Street Journal as well.
→ The Fiat Chrysler Star Wars commercials are surprisingly clever (particularly given how weird their Hunger Games ones are) and one even has today’s MVP, Mark Hamill! (Okay, he’s just narrating.)
→ On the talk shows last night, we had Lupita Nyong’o and Adam Driver.
→ J.J. Abrams’ assistant Morgan Dameron on having a character named after her.
→ J.J. Abrams and John Boyega are firmly on Team Han Shot First. Sorry, George.
→ Chat alerts: There’s a cast Q&A tomorrow on Twitter, while John Boyega and Oscar Isaac will be answering questions via Complex Magazine on Tumblr.
Del Rey and StarWars.com introduced the final cover for Chuck Wendig’s second Aftermath novel, Life Debt, today.
The book is the first of two sequels to November’s Aftermath, the first post-Return of the Jedi novel in the new canon. It proved to be somewhat controversial due to a delightful variety of factors. Wendig has particularly come under fire for his willingness to address people angry about the book having gay characters.
Still, for that that, Aftermath debuted at #4 on the New York Times bestseller list, and I dug it.
Having the Millennium Falcon on the cover doubles down on the assumption that this book will expand on and continue the Han Solo and Chewbacca interlude from Aftermath. Wendig has confirmed that trilogy will continue to follow the first book’s main characters.
Life Debt is due out May 31, 2016. The third novel in the trilogy, Empire’s End, is expected to drop in 2017.
Friday, December 4 is the sixth annual Wear Star Wars Share Star Wars Day. Started as a way to rally support for Katie Goldman, who was bullied in school because she was a girl who liked Star Wars, the movement is a way to show geek pride, take a stand against bullying and state that Star Wars is for everyone.
So here’s how you can mark the day:
Get more information about Wear Star Wars Share Star Wars 2015 on their Facebook event.
Luke Skywalker is found! Or his earthly avatar Mark Hamill is, anyway. The actor suits up as a First Order stormtrooper and heads out to Hollywood Blvd. in the latest Force for Change video.
It’s the least mysterious Inquisitor plotline yet in ‘The Future of the Force’. Plus, Pablo Hidalgo, Henry Gilroy and Dave Filoni discuss Ahsoka’s lightsaber skills. (And promise more swordfights.) Plus a question about timekeeping in the GFFA.
Rolling Stone has a great article going behind-the-scenes on The Force Awakens with J.J. Abrams. They talk to several cast members, and reveal three great new stills as well.
