Star Wars with occasional sarcasm
Disney’s own convention, D23 Expo, began today in Anaheim, and George Lucas was inducted as an official Disney Legend. (Bonus: Be sure to check your Star Wars app for a George emoji.)
Of course, The Force Awakens has a sizable presence on the con floor, where the highlight may very well be Captain Phasma’s armor.
At least she is today: We can certainly expect something from the live-action panel tomorrow. Our own Mandy will be there! 
Entertainment Weekly dropped their last 3 Fall Movie Preview stories today. First up, the reveal of Simon Pegg’s role… Sort of. It’s not so much who he’s playing (“he won’t be recognizable,” J.J. Abrams says) but what he was doing behind the scenes.
“He was a sounding board,” Abrams says. “He would drop by the set because he wanted to, and when he could, he would help… We could talk about things, and he was a perfect combination of incredibly smart screenwriter, fan of the series, critical fan of the series, and friend of mine – but not just blindly supportive. He was an honest, critical friend. And he wasn’t so close to it that he became immune to things. He would come in with fresh eyes and very smart ideas. He’s one of a handful of people along the way that has been really priceless.”
→ EW asks who the film’s “Ralph McQuarrie” is. Abrams points not only to the actual Ralph McQuarrie and his work for the original trilogy, but production designer Rick Carter.
→ Abrams adresses the fandom, keeping secrets, Ben Burtt, Andy Serkis and fear. He confirms that some of the things they’ve already put out are red herrings.
Could Tom Baker, who played the Fourth Doctor on Doctor Who, be the second (official) Doctor to come to Star Wars? “I’m going to be in this new Star Wars thing, you know,” he told fans at a recent convention, per Sci-Fi Fantasy Network. “I’m going down to recording some voices for this new character they’ve created for me, very soon.”
The article references The Clone Wars, but a voice part makes me think the mostly likely answer is Rebels. Or, if you want to go a little further, he could be lending his voice to a character in Rogue One.
One of Baker’s Doctor Who successors, Tenth Doctor David Tennant, voiced a droid on The Clone Wars in 2012.
A picture of Mark Hamill in costume as Luke Skywalker for The Force Awakens has been C&Ded all over the place – including the source – so it’s likely legit, but I’m not going to post it myself. The internet being the internet, chances are you’ll have no trouble finding it, even if you don’t want to find it.
If you can’t resist, sites still running it (as of post time) include Indie Revolver and Heroic Hollywood. And it’s been posted multiple times in the Luke Skywalker tag on Tumblr, a trend which will no doubt continue. Catch them while you can!
Han’s prequel won’t go back quite as far into his past as The Phantom Menace did with Anakin Skywalker. Han will “definitely be probably in the high teens, low 20s,” Kathleen Kennedy told Entertainment Weekly. “We’re not introducing you to a 10-year-old Han Solo.” She also hints as to the tone of the film, but as for plot? What should remain a mystery?
“Those are exactly the questions we’re asking,” Kennedy says. “There’s got to be a reason for [the stand-alone film] to be. And obviously the thing that Star Wars has always done so well is it doesn’t spend a lot of time [explaining] the stories that have come before. We don’t want to do that either. We don’t want to spend time going back and answering a lot of questions that, quite frankly, I don’t think people want answered.”
The film was one of several ideas floating around, and it appealed to was Lawrence Kasdan:
“They said, ‘Here are the things that we’d like to make movies about,’ and I said, ‘Oh, well, Han Solo. I would write a movie about Han Solo. He’s always been my favorite.’ And that’s the job that I took,” Kasdan says.
As for the now-third Anthology movie, the one developed by Simon Kinberg, it’s still in the mix. (And rumored to be about Boba Fett, but isn’t everything?) They haven’t hired a new director to replace Josh Trank yet, but it will likely come out in 2020.
And there’ll be yet more Star Wars out of EW tomorrow…
Today’s first The Force Awakens story from Entertainment Weekly’s Fall Preview is all about Han Solo. Err, Harrison Ford’s return to the role. It’s a nice piece – the bit about Ford’s reunion with Peter Mayhew is very sweet – and there’s at least one laugh-out-loud transition, but the news here is slim. (At least, if you watched the SDCC panel.)
But later, we’re getting something on the Han Anthology film… Though Lawrence Kasdan does talk about the script like it’s already done!
Lucasfilm and Disney will have some big names to help them market The Force Awakens: Subway, General Mills, Verizon, FCA, CoverGirl and Max Factor among them.
CoverGirl we’ve known about since some product packaging was leaked a few months ago; Max Factor is a surprise, though. The two brands are working together, with Max Factor selling the products internationally. Allure has our first official look at the collection, which will be on the shelves in mid-September.
My foray into nail polish aside, I’ve never been much for makeup, but I do have to say I’m rather disappointed in the products on offer. The nail polishes are bland – even for a mainstream collection – and it seems odd that there’s more variety in the lipstick. Not that the lipstick colors would be revolutionary polishes, but no one expects ‘revolutionary’ from a brand like CoverGirl. Still, that’s it? No eyeshadows? Eye liners? Will there be a second wave?
Still, the campaign looks – droid and stormtrooper – are certainly striking, and I can’t hate on something that gets Star Wars makeup in stores across the country.
As for the other licensees – Subway we’ve been expecting, and HP is already in the mix. But I’m most intrigued by FCA’s involvement. (Don’t follow auto news? That’s Fiat Chrysler Automobiles.) Will we be seeing Star Wars-themed car commercials? Special edition cars? But this is Woodward Dream Cruise weekend here in the D, so I’m not shocked that FCA themselves are mum.
This morning we learned that not only is Kylo Ren the cover boy for Entertainment Weekly’s Fall Movie Preview, but a couple of things about the character himself. And, amazingly? That’s not all. We’ll get to Kylo in a few, but first, the generalities…
→ How did Kathleen Kennedy get Abrams on the hook to direct Episode VII? She asked him, “Who is Luke Skywalker?’” And for a movie that’s shied away from talking about Luke much at all, his presence is certainly felt in EW’s cover story. How have things changed for the classic trio, and how haven’t they? We don’t get many details, but you can certainly read a lot into Lawrence Kasdan’s comments:
“I thought, ‘Wow, okay, these people have lived — they’re in a different place in their lives, Han and Leia and so on. They’ve lived the same 30 years I have. What would that be like? How would you see things differently?’” Kasdan says. “And I was trying to figure out how I saw things differently, and one of the surprises is that you don’t learn all that much. You haven’t become much wiser than you were, and things are not clearer to you, and the world is just as confusing as it always was — and that’s a kind of lovely thing to get to write about again. Age does not necessarily bring wisdom; it just brings experience.”
→ As widely assumed, the lightsaber we see in the second trailer is indeed the one Luke had and lost at Cloud City.
→ There have been rumors that Abrams might return to close out the trilogy, but he shoots those down pretty conclusively: “No, I’m not going to direct Episode IX, as much as I am deeply envious of anyone who gets to work with this group of people on the future movies.”
→ We get a look at several new pictures – some that we’ve seen fuzzy from the conventions (General Hux!) but a couple that are brand new.
→ There’s also a story on the origins of some of the character names – fitting, since Entertainment Weekly was the first to reveal many of them back in December. We get nothing for Finn and Rey – of course their lack of last names are “completely intentional” – though we do get a name for the new alien (played by Kiran Shah) and his ride: Teedo and his luggabeast. Fear not: Poe Dameron, BB-8, General Hux, and Captain Phasma get more details.
→ Now, finally, let’s unpack a few details about our villain. He may or may not be the Darth Vader fanboy we’ve been speculating about, but he is “well aware of what’s come before, and that’s very much a part of the story of the film,” J.J. Abrams told EW. The helmet’s origins will be explained in the film, but it’s left unclear if the nod to Vader is intentional on the part of the character or just the design team. Abrams also confirmed something that’s been long-suspected: The broadsaber was his own creation. It’s “something that he built himself, and is as dangerous and as fierce and as ragged as the character,” Abrams said.
→ Here’s another key quote from Abrams: “As you see in the best of storytelling, and no doubt the best of Star Wars, these are tales in which an everyperson has to step up. And I think that what makes Ren so unique is that he isn’t as fully formed as when we meet a character such as Darth Vader,” Abrams says. “And I think that there are two sides to the Force. Both sides, arguably, would see themselves as the hero of their story, and I think that applies here.”
→ A few more hints, this time from Lawrence Kasdan: “I’ve written four Star Wars movies now, and there’s never been a character quite like the one that Adam plays. I think you’re going to see something that’s brand new to the saga.” How so?
He’s full of emotion. No matter how we express ourselves in the world, whether we hide it and act very calm or whether we’re very out there and demonstrative, everybody’s roiling with emotion. And you want your characters to be that way, too. Then they have to deal with their emotions as best they can, with what they are.
→ Our biggest tangible clue? We now know a little something about the name… The “Ren” part comes from a group called “the Knights of Ren.” Is Kylo his title? How many more Rens are there? (For our spoiler readers: Seven, perhaps?)
Tomorrow, EW will bust out Han Solo… Stay tuned!
In official official news, Lucasfilm has teamed with HP for a fan art competition, Art Awakens. Tumblr has been training for this!
→ With Entertainment Weekly, J.J. Abrams reiterated that we won’t get a new The Force Awakens trailer at D23, or at all until fall. There’ll be no TFA footage at all, “behind the scenes or otherwise,” he said. Of course, that doesn’t mean we won’t get something, like another character reveal or a new poster. (Not to mention things regarding the Parks…) And I’d bet actual money is still that we’ll get something for Rogue One.
→ The Force Awakens scoring sessions are “beyond anything I have experienced musically in my life,” a source tells the John Williams Fan Network.
→ More juice for the theory/hope that Episode VIII will return to film on Skellig Michael at The Star.
→ I won’t be tracking every TFA merchandise leak this month, but here are a few interesting ones: A Micro Machines Millennium Falcon playset, Black Series Finn, Chewbacca and < href="https://twitter.com/Sompeetalay/status/630494610574458880">Kylo Ren and Funko Pop Vinyl figures. My favorite, though, is a lunch bag with some new-to-us Captain Phasma art, which I love because even though she is 100% in armor, the way she’s standing is badass yet makes it absolutely clear that the character is a woman. Men don’t stand like that!
The official Star Wars app got it’s first substantial update last week, bringing a full set of the emoji characters that delighted fans during Celebration Anaheim and San Diego Comic-Con. They’re the work of artist Truck Torrence, aka 100% Soft. Torrence spoke about the project at io9, Disney Insider, and more.
These aren’t formal emoji that you can nab straight from the keyboard, but if you have the app they act just like regular images.
They say they’re not sure if there’ll be more, but seeing as we’re lacking Rey, Finn and Poe images (among others,) I’d say it’s a sure thing there’ll be more by the time December rolls in.