Star Wars with occasional sarcasm
J.J. Abrams and the cast of The Force Awakens talk about the new Omaze initiative today. It launched with help from Harrison Ford last week, but a key cast member is missing from this one. However, it does end with a ‘to be continued…’
For more information on the charities selected by the cast, head to StarWars.com.
To celebrate the 30 day marker, Phil Noto cooked up a new The Force Awakens piece.
→ Wired has an interview with Lawrence Kasdan and, in the U.K. version for some reason, costume designer Michael Kaplan with a straight from the set armor gallery.
→ George Lucas tells Vanity Fair why he’s done directing mainstream movies.
→ Daisy Ridley and Lupita Nyong’o aren’t the only new cast members fashion magazining it up: Domhnall Gleeson is chilling with model Gigi Hadid in Portugal for Vogue.
In today’s first Entertainment Weekly feature, J.J. Abrams and Domhnall Gleeson discussing the First Order’s Starkiller Base and General Hux – and EW’s first spoiler warning.
Above that, however, Abrams describes Starkiller:
“It is very much — and it’s acknowledged as such in the movie — apparently another Death Star,” Abrams says. “But what it’s capable of, how it works, and what the threat is, is far greater than what the Death Star could have done. Starkiller Base is another step forward, technologically speaking, in terms of power.”
As for Hux, Gleeson reiterates that the character is ruthless
“You don’t get that high up in your life that quickly unless you’re pretty ruthless,” says Gleeson, who’s 32. “You have to put a few people down on the way to get there.” The actor also says Hux doesn’t carry a signature weapon: he has other people to do such dirty work.
What’s the appeal of the First Order to Hux? “It’s in the title: order,” Gleeson says. “It’s a desire to lump everything in its place and just have power. The desire for power is hugely motivating for a lot of people and normally the people who want all the power are not the ones who should have it.”
On his relationship with Kylo Ren, EW goes for “frenemies:”
“He’s kind of opposite Kylo Ren,” Gleeson says. “They have their own relationship, which is individual and unusual. One of them is strong in different ways than the other. They’re both vying for power.”
The ‘spoilery’ stuff is mainly speculation, but it’s not hard to connect the dots.
There’s a rumor that Gina Rodriguez (Jane the Virgin) got one of those (rumored) Episode VIII roles, but it’s based on Rian Johnson and John Boyega following her on Twitter, which, okay. To be fair, plenty of us read a random Rian Johnson tweet as a hint towards Gugu Mbatha-Raw, so maybe there’s something to it after all. Verdict: Maybe!
There’s another rumor going around regarding Finn’s last name. I won’t even link anyone who’s running it because it’s based on an unofficial description from a third-party Amazon listing, and shockingly, that is nowhere near a sound source. Verdict: Ha ha, no.
→ Daisy Ridley and John Boyega are adorable for ASOS; On Entertainment Tonight, Boyega geeks out of John Williams and getting to hear his own theme.
→ Also: An interview with Kathleen Kennedy, and a short Millennium Falcon-centric write-up of an article that appears in the members-only Disney 23 magazine. And hey, Domhnall Gleeson!
Jason at Making Star Wars discusses Rey’s staff. There are some spoilers in the piece, but since there is no way this is the case anyway, let’s put this out: It’s not Darth Plagueis’ staff. It was never going to be Darth Plagueis’ staff. I don’t know where this speculation originated, and I don’t really care, but save it for your fanfics.
→ Scott Mendelson at Forbes considers possible ratings for The Force Awakens.
→ At Yahoo, Domhnall Gleeson talks about how Harry Potter prepped him for Star Wars, and reveals that the ‘Starkiller Base’ slip up… Wasn’t actually a slip.
→ Looking ahead: Director Rian Johnson actually tweeted a photo of his Episode VIII script last night. (Just a cover page, spoilerphobes.) Here’s the story of how it happened.
→ Also, will Star Wars return to Skellig Michael for a third round of filming in 2016?
In a new interview with Total Film (via gamesradar,) Domhnall Gleeson says that J.J. Abrams described General Hux as “merciless” – or did he?
“Yeah, I mean you look at him and you realise he’s not a good guy! He’s got an English accent so he can’t be good.” He said. Gleeson went on to add that Abrams described Hux as “merciless”, before getting worried he was giving too much away, “Is that what he said?”.
You might think that the chance to be a part of the new Star Wars film would be a dream come true, but although Gleeson is definitely excited, he explained that’s not why he took the part. “Yeah, it’s fun to do different things. I hadn’t played anybody like that before. Star Wars is amazing, J.J. Abrams is amazing, but the thing to do was play something different. That’s what got me really excited.”
The full interview will be in Total Film’s November issue, which is supposedly on sale now.
I’m sure almost all you watched the video of the panel this weekend, but for those who didn’t, here are a few highlights. Nothing here about the behind-the-scenes video, though – that’s an entirely different post.
Continue reading “What we learned about The Force Awakens at SDCC’s big panel”
If you’re not up to watch the entire The Force Awakens panel from last night, catch the highlights above. And the full backstage interviews are below the cut!
Continue reading “SDCC video: The Force Awakens highlights, backstage interviews with cast and crew”
Sure enough, there was no trailer for The Force Awakens at SDCC, but we did get this sweet behind-the-scenes video, which includes our first look at Carrie Fisher as Leia.
The panel consisted of J.J. Abrams, Kathleen Kennedy, Lawrence Kasdan, John Boyega, Daisy Ridley, Oscar Isaac, Adam Driver, Domhnall Gleeson, Gwendoline Christie, Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill, and even Harrison Ford, who joked about his leg.
We got new pictures of Kylo Ren (Driver) and Captain Phasma (Christie,) but the big reveal was General Hux, Gleeson’s character. “He’s British, so yeah,” Gleeson said when asked how evil his character was. (Driver was far more shady about it.) Gleeson also let slip that the First Order has a ‘Starkiller Base.’ Oh, and the turkey-thing from the first Force for Change video showed up, and his name is Bobbajo. (The spelling is straight from Pablo!)
Ford was the final guest to come out, sounding happy and proud about the film. Harrison Ford! Happy! (Hitfix has the quotes!)
Oh and, hey, let’s see how long this stays up:
All the folks in Hall H were treated to a free concert featuring music from the films and a fireworks finale. I’m not even jealous, because the video is so amazing and the first thing about this movie that has made me cry. I am a Star War, too.
If it’s leaked images from The Force Awakens that you crave, well, this may be your lucky day, because we’ve seen several today that may be real. (And one really obvious fake.)
Continue reading “Spoilerphobes beware: The Force Awakens image leaks and the return of #beardwatch”