Star Wars with occasional sarcasm
A two-part press conference with The Force Awakens notables was held this afternoon in Los Angeles. It was moderated by (surprise!) Mindy Kaling, and here are a few things we learned. (Thanks to Entertainment Weekly and ComicBook liveblogs, plus all the live-tweeters.)
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.
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.
Carrie Fisher is on the cover of Good Housekeeping, or at least the U.K. edition, for January. (That’s December in magazine world.) Most of the soundbites pulled out of the interview have been about being older in Hollywood and having to lose weight for The Force Awakens, but it does look like there may be more to the interview. Lifestyle magazines, go figure! Other new Star Wars covers include Lupita Nyong’o for Elle UK (you can find her on Essence in the U.S.) and Daisy Ridley for Glamour UK. Daisy’s December cover for Elle US is on shelves now. People also has a The Force Awakens ‘collector’s edition’ coming to newsstands December 9.
→ On Good Morning America, Harrison Ford revealed he’s seen The Force Awakens and declines to reveal Han Solo’s relationship status. Howard Stern had Adam Driver on, and I definitely recommend giving it a listen. (Driver revealed – accidentally? – he’s signed for 3.) And going back to yesterday’s J.J. Abrams interview on Sirius XM, he talks about that first cast photo.
→ New features from the Disney Channel on Finn and BB-8. And in his second explainer video, Entertainment Weekly’s Anthony Breznican talks about Rey’s speeder.
→ If you feel like you’ve been seeing a lot of Star Wars commercials lately, that’s because Disney has claimed the top spot in movie ad spending for The Force Awakens.
→ Of course Abu Dhabi (aka Jakku) will be hosting the film’s Middle Eastern premiere. It’ll be December 16th at the Dubai International Film Festival. Meanwhile, the movie will open on January 9th in China.
The big news out of J.J. Abrams’ appearance on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon was that he collaborated with Hamilton’s Lin-Manuel Miranda on the music for The Force Awakens’ Cantina equivalent. (Maz Kanata’s place, no doubt.)
Hamilton probably needs no introduction (but here’s one from PBS,) since it’s the rare Broadway show that the internet can’t shut up about. You can listen to the original cast recording on Spotify.
Miranda confirmed, in case anyone doubts Abrams:
We did.
Worked on it between 6pm & 7:30 on 2 show days for the past 2 months.
JJ is the best.
Can't wait to see.
https://t.co/pPYu8nRsxI
— Lin-Manuel Miranda (@Lin_Manuel) December 1, 2015
Gwendoline Christie herself models the Giles Deacon dress inspired by Captain Phasma.
→ No one got too much out of J.J. Abrams today, but he showed up on Good Morning America, Howard Stern and shared some interesting tidbits about Adam Driver and General Leia on Sirius XM.
→ Steven Spielberg thinks The Force Awakens could be “the biggest movie ever.”
→ Retailers aren’t stocking enough Rey (or Phasma) merchandise. Imagine that.
It’s going to be a busy week for our DVRs. Good Morning America will have J.J. Abrams on Monday, Harrison Ford on Tuesday, and John Boyega and Daisy Ridley on Wednesday. Carrie Fisher will be on Live with Michael and Kelly on Thursday.
Abrams and Ford will also be on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon on Monday and Tuesday. Then, Lupita Nyong’o will be on The Daily Show with Trevor Noah on Wednesday, while Fallon will host Adam Driver. Daisy Ridley will be on Fallon Thursday night.
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.