In addition to today’s poster ambush, we also got Daisy Ridley and John Boyega each get their own cover for The Hollywood Reporter’s ‘Next Gen’ issue. They both get pretty lengthy interviews. Be sure to watch the videos: The origin of ‘peanut’ is revealed, and who stole Harrison Ford’s golf cart?
Boyega reveals the full extent of his fandom:
I’ve always been a fan, especially of the extended universe, like the comic books, the games. I had watched all the movies before being cast. I was fully aware of what Star Wars was. I didn’t have to get an update.
On Finn and why he was drawn to him:
What has always interested me, and what has interested a lot of people, are the characters that are unlikely. The characters that don’t necessarily fit or match the status quo. Finn isn’t a guy you would expect to be involved in this story. The fact that he’s a Stormtrooper. We don’t [usually] go into [Stormtroopers’] pasts or lives much: how the dynamics work for them, how they were recruited — we don’t ever really see much about the past there. It was interesting to me to have that kind of character.
On the racist reaction and boycott claims:
The biggest movement so far is the fact that Star Wars probably beat Hunger Games in presales eight times over. So my question is, how is that little other agenda doing?
He also reveals that he has six lightsabers, at the moment. There’s another lengthy interview with him at C|net, too.
We learn that Ridley does know who Rey’s parents are, and that “the main question will be answered” in The Force Awakens.
On keeping the initial casting secret:
I got home and told my mum and dad and sister, but then I couldn’t tell anyone for three months, knowing that something monumental had happened in my life. The day before they were going to do the announcement, I was talking to my mum, and I said, “I’ve wanted to tell everyone for ages and now I don’t want to.” And she said it was like being pregnant, when you’re desperate for the baby to come out and then the baby’s there and you’re like, “Go away, go away. I can’t handle it.” Once everyone knew it was a whole other thing.
On Rey, and her similarities with the character:
She faces a lot of challenges throughout the film, and the way she reacts to things I think is kind of the way anyone would. That’s why I think she’s so universal and brilliant: She’s frightened but she faces up to what she needs to. And she’s brave and smart, and you see an entire emotional spectrum of her throughout the film. She’s not a superhero. She’s a normal girl thrust into extraordinary circumstances, so it’s very relatable. It’s an emotional story about a girl on a journey, but the story is a lot more than that.
On the secrecy now:
Me and John had to do something the other day, and we were allowed to talk about things that we haven’t been able to talk about, and I felt really funny about that. I’m not going to get in huge trouble, but it’s just that everyone has worked so hard on it. The minute you think about all the other thousands of people who are keeping this a secret, it didn’t feel like such a burden anymore. Even if I were to describe in the best detail possible everything that happens in the film, I could never do it justice because it’s a story told in film. So the secrecy doesn’t feel difficult. It feels like the right thing. There were rumors here and there, and some things are true and some are totally not.