Star Wars with occasional sarcasm
He’s the biggest new actor associated with the sequels so far, but Ryan Gosling is not pursuing a role in Episode VII, the actor’s representatives tell The Huffington Post. They also point out that the actor has recently said he’d like to take a break from acting.
And no, they haven’t heard back from Zac Efron’s people yet.
Of course, at this point a denial doesn’t mean much… And remember, J.J. Abrams denied, too!
Is it April Fools already? Latino Review’s Kellvin Chavez is reporting that Ryan Gosling and Zac Efron are up for roles in Episode VII – and that Leonardo DiCaprio has already passed.
Chavez doesn’t know what role Efron could be up for, but apparently Gosling auditioned for the role of Luke’s son.
Gosling is among the hottest actors in Hollywood right now, and while I wouldn’t count on him – yes, he’s probably big enough these days to turn down Star Wars if the mood strikes – I also don’t entirely hate the idea. After all, how many people do you hear referencing his time as a Mouseketeer these days, as opposed to his meme? He’d be a pretty big get for any franchise.
Efron, on the other hand, has the opposite problem – he’s hard-wired to his Disney tweener past, namely as one of the stars of the High School Musical ‘franchise.’ Will the world ever be able to take this guy seriously? (On the other hand, he didn’t suck in Hairspray.) He was one of the Disney folks you saw photoshopped into every other Star Wars image a few months past. It was eye-rolling then – but expect to see those images a lot more as this rumor disperses out through the internet. With additional Gosling. Whoo.
I, as always, remain skeptical.
UPDATE: Lucasfilm has denied the report. “There is no truth to the rumor,” a company spokesman told TheForce.Net. “JJ is having a great time working on the script and is looking forward to going into production next year.” Our original post is below.
Badass Digest is reporting that J.J. Abrams may be dropping out of Episode VII. They write:
…Why is it that I keep hearing tons of rumors that JJ Abrams is on the verge of dropping out of Star Wars? This has been something I’ve heard for a while now, and from multiple insiders. I know that he didn’t want to shoot the movie in England and was overruled, but that happened a while ago. This weekend at Comic Con I continued to hear these whispers. No director for Trek 3 has been found yet – might Abrams end up coming back after all, leaving Star Wars to someone else?
Big Shiny Robot is doubtful and so am I… After all, wouldn’t arrangements to film in England have already been in the works when he was signing on? Wouldn’t it have been a topic of discussion before he signed on the dotted line?
This could be nothing more than runaway fanboy paranoia at work, and it would be a big, public hit for Bad Robot, whether last week’s red scripts are Star Wars or not. But I do agree we should wait and see what comes out of Celebration Europe.
In The Hollywood Reporter’s article on Star Wars at the D23 Expo, they have “insiders” claiming that “some Star Wars actors – presumably familiar faces – may appear at D23 to confirm their involvement in Episode VII. (via)
Disney announced yesterday that Star Wars would be featured at the Expo.
Of course, several of the rumored alumni will be appearing at Celebration Europe. Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher and Anthony Daniels, plus Lucasfilm head honcho Kathleen Kennedy, will all be in Germany, so any confirmations or announcements may come out of that convention first. But, either way, it seems likely that D23 will see some Episode VII action as well.
Will Star Wars be gaining an ex-hobbit for Episode VII? Bleeding Cool thinks they might be. They point to some potentially suspicious behavior from Dominic Monaghan at The Lone Ranger premiere, and note he could be a good fit for the thirtysomething intellectual role in last week’s casting call.
Naturally he’s a big Star Wars fan (who isn’t?) but Monaghan may have an in with the Bad Robot team from his days playing Charlie Pace, one of the original castaways on Lost. He’s also known for playing Merry in Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings.
It’s only speculation, of course, but I can see where they’re coming from… Particularly if the role turns out to be a supporting one. Look, I generally hate this kind of thing, but the idea of Monaghan in Star Wars does not make me immediately say ‘nope,’ and that a rare thing.
As for other actors who’d like a go at Episode VII, Totalfilm has released a third edition of their video series.
Screen Daily today says that Episode VII production is already moving into Pinewood Studios.
They corroborate an earlier report that Episode VII would be filmed at the studio. It was confirmed in May that the movie would film in the U.K.
With casting underway now, Episode VII is expected to start filming in the new year.
The date was also part of an earlier rumor, but Cosmic Book News claims that a second source has collaborated the date.
A May 29 release does put a few weeks time between the release of Episode VII and The Avengers 2, which is currently set for May 1 that year. And other studios are certainly planning like that’s the case, although a May release date for a Star Wars movie is always a pretty safe assumption.
While we’re on the topic of The Avengers sequels, Marvel confirmed yesterday that Robert Downey Jr. will be back as Tony Stark for The Avengers 2 and 3, and they took a page from Lucasfilm’s book to do it.
Bleeding Cool follows up their Episode VII casting scoop with a Rebels tidbit: The cartoon will also feature a mainly teenaged cast:
Not only is the show about the formation of the Rebel Alliance, taking place in the narrative space between Episodes III and IV, the title also riffs on the main characters. I’ve learned that most of them are teenagers. Rebellious teenagers? Well, that’s the reference, at least.
Does this mean we’ll see Leia in the Senate? A young Wedge Antilles? It’ll probably be an all-new slate, but who knows who might show up?
We’ve heard this one before, but from the friend-of-a-Redditor-who-talked-to-a-guy hotline, here’s a report that Darth Vader – or at least his suit – will be back for Episode VII. And that there will be children of Han and Leia involved. Alrighty then.
It’s not an entirely awful idea, and would open up some interesting possibilities. (Like the whole issue of Luke, Leia, their parentage and the public knowledge/perception of it, which the EU left almost completely unexplored.) I can certainly see ‘who’s in the suit’ as J.J.’s Star Wars answer to Star Trek Into Darkness’ ‘who is Benedict Cumberbatch playing.’ I’m sure it would sell a hell of a lot of toys, too. But possibilities aside, I’m not going to stop being cynical now.
Schmoes Know claims to have a source who’s seen the casting breakdown from J.J. Abrams. They claim the storyline involves the training of Jaina and Jacen Solo by Luke Skywalker – and that the below is directly cut and pasted from the casting breakdown:
Storyline: Two 17 year old twins, a girl and a boy, are trained by their uncle Luke to be the greatest Jedi’s in the galaxy. Problems arise when the male twin turns to the dark side.
Jaina Solo – Female, 17 years old, lead. – Jacen’s twin sister, one of the greatest Jedi’s in the galaxy, trained by her uncle Luke Skywalker
Jacen Solo – Male, 17 years old, lead – Jaina’s twin brother, one of the greatest Jedi’s in the world. A loner who is constantly struggling with the idea of what’s right and what’s wrong. Starts to turn to the dark side. Full of conviction that what he is doing is the “right thing”. Will eventually become Darth Caedus.
Of course, I’m deeply skeptical, and not just because this supposed ‘breakdown’ uses the term ‘Jedi’s.’ (Though that helps, it’s not out of the question – I doubt Pablo and co are personally copy-editing every production document, and we’ve seen Lucas do as he wills with in-universe grammar and pronunciation for years.)
But this is pretty straight from the novels, right down to Caedus, and that gives me pause. It’s far too easy to believe that someone who spent an hour or two at Wookieepedia threw this together. It could be their source messing around, it could be the Bad Robot folks testing for leaks – and, yeah, it could be true. But I wouldn’t start betting just yet
UPDATE #1: Bryan over at Big Shiny Robot has more reasons why this is probably false.
UPDATE #2: Collider has heard, independently of the first report, that Episode VII is looking to cast a son of Han Solo, though they’re also doubtful of the full Schmoes Know ‘scoop.’
UPDATE #3: HitFix’s Drew McWeeny is pretty adamant that this is fabricated as well, and that the chances of any EU making it to the screen are extremely slim. He does say that ILM has already begun work on what may be “the most elaborate physical build they’ve done for the effects team since Return Of The Jedi.”