the force awakens – Page 75

April 29, 2014May 1, 2014

Episode VII cast confirmed: Hamill, Ford, Fisher joined by Boyega, Driver, Isaac, Serkis and more

StarWars.com has announced the official cast for Episode VII. Star Wars alumni Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill, Anthony Daniels, Peter Mayhew, and Kenny Baker will be joined by John Boyega, Daisy Ridley, Adam Driver, Oscar Isaac, Andy Serkis, Domhnall Gleeson, and Max von Sydow.

That is… A lot of guys. Sigh. The Wrap has a bit more on our new lady, Daisy Ridley, while The Hollywood Reporter has a breakdown of all the new-to-us folks.

And that second new female role? They may still be looking, says The Hollywood Reporter.

April 29, 2014May 11, 2014

Rumors: Is Andy Serkis in the Episode VII cast?

We now have photographic proof that Carrie Fisher is in London, thanks to the Daily Mail. Meanwhile, The List is reporting that several cast members met with J.J. Abrams for a top secret ” bonding session” at a London restaurant. In addition to naming expected alumni Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher and Peter Mayhew (no Hamill? Daniels?) they also namedropped Adam Driver and… Andy Serkis? The Lord of the Rings actor hasn’t figured into any rumors, but stranger things have happened, and he is Hollywood’s #1 mo-cap guy. (Of course, he could also just be there to offer advice… I doubt we’re going to see a Star Wars film in the post-Gollum age that includes exactly zero motion capture.)

In any case, if yesterday’s table read rumors are true, they can’t expect to keep things secret that much longer…

April 25, 2014April 29, 2014

Ford, Fisher and Hamill spotted in London

Carrie Fisher and Harrison Ford have both been spotted in London in recent days. And on Sunday, Peter Serafinowicz tweeted a photo of himself with Mark Hamill, saying “Met up with @HamillHimself in London today. I wonder why he’s here.”

Hamill also appears to be growing out a beard.

WHAT COULD IT MEAN? I kid, we totally know what it (probably) means.

Hamill hasn’t tweeted since the 18th, but Fisher poked fun at the rumor on Saturday: “So my do dog Gary has been spotted in London, but apparently without me. Who has he been seeing? Let me know if you have any clues.”

UPDATE: I guess she found him, and the Daily Mail caught her out and about with Graham Norton.

April 22, 2014April 23, 2014

Disney’s Alan Horn: Second unit shooting for Episode VII is happening in Abu Dhabi, future films may return to May

At a press event this morning (at least Variety and Bloomberg were there) Disney’s Alan Horn dropped us a few bits of Episode VII news. He clarified his earlier remarks, confirming that second unit work has happened in Abu Dhabi, though principal photography has not yet started. (Note that we still don’t know if The National pics are actually a Star Wars set.)

Horn reiterated that the film’s budget could be as much as $200M, and that George Lucas is acting as a consultant. He also said that the franchise may revert back to May release dates for future films, depending on the scripts, and that he’s flying to London this week to go over the Episode VII script with J.J. Abrams.

An announcement on casting will be coming “very shortly,” though per usual, we’ll believe that when we see it.

April 15, 2014January 31, 2015

Rumor: Is this our first photo of an Episode VII set?

The National, a newspaper in Abu Dhabi, claims it has the first image of the Star Wars set in the desert there:

The photos, taken on Tuesday morning in the dunes near Qasr Al Sarab resort, reveal a large encampment of tents with four to five workers moving around what appear to be parts of a filmset.

It is one piece of equipment in particular, however, that is the most suggestive: a giant, round, grey disc, which bears a striking resemblance to parts of an escape pod on which C3P0 and R2D2 crash-landed on Tatooine in the original, 1977, Star Wars: A New Hope film.

They go to say that according to ‘sources,’ “crew members have already been hired for the Abu Dhabi leg of the secret production.”

Are you convinced? An Abu Dhabi location shoot has been rumored, but is not confirmed by Lucasfilm or Disney. And honestly it looks like it could easily be part of a water main to me.

In other Episode VII ‘news’ today, a pair of random actors (Ansel Elgort and Beau Mirchoff) say they auditioned for Episode VII. Alrighty then!

UPDATE: More details from The National’s investigation, which involves, I kid you not, the dating app Tinder.

April 12, 2014

Benedict Cumberbatch in Star Wars “won’t happen, sadly”

Benedict Cumberbatch in Star Wars “won’t happen, sadly,” he told a con audience in Australia. Color me shocked.

April 10, 2014

Rumor: Episode VII to head to Abu Dhabi?

The Hollywood Reporter is on a roll. Tonight, they say Episode VII will film in Abu Dhabi for four weeks beginning in mid-May – something Jedi News was reporting (along with Cairo) last week.

THR thinks it may be home to the ‘new’ Tatooine – but there’s also plenty of modern architecture in Abu Dhabi that could be put to good use as well.

April 10, 2014December 16, 2014

Rumor: Oxford-educated actress up for Episode VII role

Last night, The Hollywood Reporter claimed that Maisie Richardson-Sellers, a young Oxford-educated actress, is “in line to nab an undisclosed and possibly major role” in Episode VII.

THR believes that role may be the one described (according to them in January) as a descendent of Obi-wan Kenobi, a report that was met with some skepticism.

Richardson-Sellers recently starred in the play They Will Be Red at the Burton Taylor Studio Theatre.

April 9, 2014April 9, 2014

Rumor: Episode VII to return to Tatooine?

Tatooine again? The Hollywood Reporter is now claiming a source has told them that “an extensive re-creation of Tatooine” is in the cards for “a Morocco-like environment.”

Given the political situation in Tunisia and the various rumors of other desert locations, there could be some truth to this… Or it’s all just a little old-fashioned misdirection. In any case: Rumor.

April 8, 2014April 25, 2014

Big Moon Rising: Why I don’t mind if the Star Wars sequels mean the end of the Expanded Universe

I’ve been a Star Wars fan since I was barely 13, and became an Expanded Universe fan only days later. My entire experience of falling in love with Star Wars was prompted and is because of the Expanded Universe; I ‘first’ saw the movies on VHS over Christmas break in 1991. And we wouldn’t have even had those copies in the house if not for the release of Heir to the Empire in the spring of that year.

I owe my entire fandom to Heir to the Empire and the Thrawn trilogy. The Expanded Universe, which was pretty much all there was back in those days, formed the nucleus of my fandom. They hooked me, and they hooked me well enough that I sit here, 22 years later, running a fairly popular blog devoted to the franchise, with those same worn copies of Heir, Dark Force Rising and The Last Command not four feet away.

I love the Expanded Universe. It’s a weird kind of love that you get with this sort of fandom; I kept with it through some of the absolute worst fiction I have ever read, and many books that could I barely bring myself to call mediocre and, yes, even those rare gems that make it all worth it.

But I’m also okay with letting it go.

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