Star Wars Day Greeting from J.J. Abrams and Lawrence Kasdan. Casting Announcements Continue!

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Straight from London, Star Wars Episode VII director and writer, J.J. Abrams along with writer Lawrence Kasdan have a quick video message for Star Wars fans this May the 4th…


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Founder of SWNN, MNN and The Cantina forums.

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Founder of SWNN, MNN and The Cantina forums.Born on April 24, 1980.

145 thoughts on “Star Wars Day Greeting from J.J. Abrams and Lawrence Kasdan. Casting Announcements Continue!

  • May 4, 2014 at 7:33 pm
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    “Casting continues.”

    YES. That was a very very VERY decent thing for Abrams and Kasten to do. Taking the time to address fan concerns about the incomplete-feel of the cast. This makes me very happy. Thank you JJ for updating us on this unofficial Star Wars holiday.

    • May 4, 2014 at 8:00 pm
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      lmao well no it’s not like he’s suddenly panicing and adapting the script to add a new character lol. He’s been casting for ages. This isn’t a last minute thing because of tuesday’s cast announcement.

    • May 4, 2014 at 8:13 pm
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      Maybe the reason why final cast members haven’t been announced yet is that the actor/s are unavailable at present. Actors have commitments and contracts to abide by.

    • May 4, 2014 at 10:33 pm
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      Yes I think that’s the most likely explanation. I don’t think they’d be up for making drastic changes to the script last minute as shooting is about to start in 10 days or whatever.

  • May 4, 2014 at 7:43 pm
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    More female cast members please!!!

    • May 5, 2014 at 12:21 am
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      why?

    • May 5, 2014 at 3:16 am
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      Because I am a woman and I want to see more characters that I can relate to? Or is that a crime, Anon @ 1:21?

      I think that’s a good enough answer.

    • May 5, 2014 at 6:06 am
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      if it fits in the story, then yes. othervise no.
      I would prefer a cast full of monkeys if that fits the story, rather than have some political issues dictates the cast.

    • May 5, 2014 at 8:32 am
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      I’m a man, and I would be pleased too to see more female characters in Ep VII. The SW universe is men-centred like lots of other ones. Improve the female presence can maybe bring some variety – and I hope so much the main character will be a she-Jedi…

      Anyway… you said: “if it fits in the story”. I think so: why asking for more women characters must be justified by some other reasons than the female presence itself? And: don’t you believe that a story about a young woman trying to save her brother from the dark side can be more exciting (and more interesting) than other 6 hours of love-based stuff?

    • May 5, 2014 at 8:58 am
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      I agree with Michael, the fact that women still make feministic advances on things that come clearly from a different age and time (like the SW franchise- there were nof female nerds in the 70’s-80’s) ends up demonstrating the exact opposite thing of what their claims want to achieve: They lose so much in seriousness and look like having sense of the world we live in. The fact is that not only the world has taken many gigantic steps towards the rebalance of the sexes but also that women (who by the way do not recognise that fact) now pretty much own the larger part of the entertainment industry unlike men.

      If we were to talk this out with the oldest the social sciences theory, feminism (that’s right its an oudated theory that hurts more than it helps people) then again there is no way a woman should be bothered (in a feministic kind of way) with any choices SW casting makes. Here is why:

      I for one never bothered making an advance of that sort against say the Twilight Saga, even though it clearly speaks more profoundly to the female part of the audience. Why? BECAUSE I RESPECT the fact that it is a product of our modern entertainment industry and its perfectly ok by all standards for such movies to exist and that it was made so that women could easily relate to it- not men.

      That is the essence of todays’ world: everyone is welcome and has their respective fairr share of the entertainmen industry as long as they respect each other’s boundaries. Sorry anonymous but you have tresspassed into my geek boundaries of SW being an majorly manly man man movie- not because it is anti-feministic but because that’s how it works best for the audience. The women in those kinds of movies can play MAJOR roles without having to exist in large numbers. If you ever happen to watch the first trilogy (which I rather doubt you have more than one time) you will see that characters like Leia Organa have their fair share of screen time- a breakthrough for that day and time for most countries outside the US.

      Laberinto you spoke about variety- again, I, as a SW fan want to see variety as well: Alien variety, CGI chars variety, lightsabers variety, armor variety, choreographic saberfights variety, suffering and pain variety, force powers’ destructive power variety. Get it how this works? This is a movie about science fiction and its rather old in its ways and ethics and it should remain as such because then it would lose everthing that makes its core so great.

      I NEVER asked for men or women variety. WHY? BECAUSE these movies are not about WHO but HOW one can save the galaxy.

      As Michael said: only if it fits the story. I am not hiding behind this technicallity, because believe me it’s not a technicallity.

    • May 5, 2014 at 12:40 pm
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      “these movies are not about WHO but HOW one can save the galaxy.”
      No no no no these movies were about the characters. Vader, Han, Leia, Luke, Yoda, Obi-wan. These were 100% about WHO saved the galaxy. It was about the characters. You have no idea what you are talking about. So I guess if it “doesn’t matter who it’s about”, then that means you wouldn’t care if it was 15 females and 0 men??

    • May 5, 2014 at 4:26 pm
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      YOU ARE RIGHT . STAR WARS DOESNT INCLUDE MANY FEMALE CHARACTERS . NO MORE SEXISM

    • May 5, 2014 at 6:30 pm
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      Please just STOP. THIS STUPID. DEBATE.ON. EVERY. ARTICLE. We get it.

    • May 5, 2014 at 10:31 pm
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      Oh god… I just said that I would be pleased to see a female lead character. Just this. Why makes you so angry?

      And let me say: WHO, in old movies, is more important than HOW. Don’t forget that Eps 4-5-6 tell the story of a boy discovering to be the villain’s son and trying to keep him safe from his evil nature. Explosions and CG are secondary things. the strongest part of old trilogy is the script, the same thing that sucks in prequels.

  • May 4, 2014 at 7:45 pm
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    Can’t wait to see more of the cast! Thank you JJ Abrams. You’re our only hope.

  • May 4, 2014 at 8:08 pm
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    Domhall Gleeson was cast the day before the table read, so anything is possible. To me, it is all done except for the final female lead.

    • May 5, 2014 at 3:17 am
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      hooray! hooray!

  • May 4, 2014 at 8:10 pm
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    Jeez. I don’t mind a diverse cast but this discussion has taken over E7 dialogue. I’m looking for a good movie here, not a checklist of genders and ethnicities. This bizarre obsession with making sure every Earthly cultural group is somehow represented in a story that does not even take place in our galaxy is quickly getting old. It’s popular politics. Leave it out of fiction unless it has a direct bearing on the storytelling.

    • May 4, 2014 at 8:19 pm
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      Drama Queen…

      Star Wars is for everyone. We don’t all look like white men.

    • May 4, 2014 at 8:26 pm
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      that original post is so dumb I’m actually going to have an epileptic fit due to the stupidity can somebody call an ambulance k thanks

    • May 4, 2014 at 9:18 pm
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      Is there anything bizarre about women being represented as about 50% of the characters? Because that just seems like common sense. Clone Wars did a good job of that, so why can’t the movies?

    • May 4, 2014 at 9:59 pm
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      OP, you hit the fucking nail right on fucking head. ENOUGH ALREADY with this “diversity” shit!! Every ethnic group has to be in/a part of the story just for it’s own sake?!? And don’t give any attention to those dummies who replied before me THAT DON’T SEEM TO UNDERSTAND THE MAIN THRUST OF YOUR POINT. Well said, Sir. Well said.

    • May 4, 2014 at 10:20 pm
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      If this movie has an ethnically diverse cast, great. If not, that’s cool too. I could care less. I’m a guy though, so I would appreciate more eye candy. Up vote for more leading chicks 😀

      On a side note, the idea of a bad ass samurai-esque asian jedi would be pretty cool. Maybe in one of the spin-offs…

    • May 5, 2014 at 12:23 am
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      Indeed sir.

    • May 5, 2014 at 12:28 am
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      So i am a man and because the lead in Aliens was a woman i cant enjoy it. And women cannot enjoy star wars if there arents 50% women in goddam i hate feminists.

      How about we make the new lead in E7 a black muslim homosexual and he adopts a mexican and a klingon while he is married to Admiral Akbar.
      Only if its diverse enough i can enjoy star wars HURR DURRRR

      Make the new sith a black or a woman and then they will be complaining that they dont want them to be the bad guys hurr durrrrrr

    • May 5, 2014 at 12:48 am
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      If there is nothing wrong with a 50/50 gender/race cast, then there is nothing wrong with a 25/75 or 75/25 cast…

    • May 5, 2014 at 1:28 am
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      “If this movie has an ethnically diverse cast, great. If not, that’s cool too. I could care less. I’m a guy though, so I would appreciate more eye candy. Up vote for more leading chicks 😀

      On a side note, the idea of a bad ass samurai-esque asian jedi would be pretty cool. Maybe in one of the spin-offs…”

      Women = eye candy
      Asians = samurai
      Are you 12?

    • May 5, 2014 at 3:13 am
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      ^don’t be harsh by saying “Are you 12?”

      There are many people who honestly don’t know the importance of gender equality. I have a feeling many such individuals are commenting on this message board.

    • May 5, 2014 at 3:19 am
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      There are more women than men. From a business standpoint (are you listening Disney?) it would be wise to cast more women. You don’t want to diss the majority, and yes, women are the majority now.

    • May 5, 2014 at 4:22 am
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      Please don’t let the black guy be a sith…I can just imagine how many people we be in an uproar over that!

    • May 5, 2014 at 4:27 am
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      We don’t even know the rest of the cast and already people are demanding equality! Go make you own damn movie OR don’t watch. In fact, boycott it so there are more seats for the rest of us that watch it for what it is.

    • May 5, 2014 at 4:30 am
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      Did you all complain to J.J. about Star Trek’s equality? Yeah, I didn’t think so.

    • May 5, 2014 at 4:35 am
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      @anon 5:30 Someone on this site said JJ hates women because he had Spock’s mom die in the first movie…. Yeah

  • May 4, 2014 at 8:21 pm
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    “Casting announcements continue” is a bit different to “casting continues”. Casting has probably been finalised by now.

    • May 4, 2014 at 9:22 pm
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      Then why didn’t they announce the complete cast this week? They’re just milking it for publicity by leaking the cast out bit by bit?

    • May 5, 2014 at 3:30 am
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      a wise choice, from a business and PR standpoint. I just hope when the announcements come in, at least on cast member has 2 X chromosomes.

  • May 4, 2014 at 8:22 pm
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    These are different times. It’s no longer valid for movies to have women in them just for cosmetic reasons. That’s why SW needs a strong young female lead. Not just any actress though, but one that can bring the character to life and hold the audiences’ unwavering attention throughout.

    • May 4, 2014 at 8:27 pm
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      I second that.

    • May 4, 2014 at 9:26 pm
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      So this movie HAS to have a female lead cos its “different times”?
      Should every movie have a female lead and a perfectly 1:1 male 2 female ratio?

    • May 4, 2014 at 10:09 pm
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      No but it would be friggin awesome if that were the case. Does this movie HAVE to have a MALE lead? No. It does not.

    • May 4, 2014 at 10:12 pm
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      It’s not about ratios. It’s about what is relevant to today’s much more discerning movie goer.

    • May 4, 2014 at 10:36 pm
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      Dudes, if there is a female lead it will make it just that much easier to drag our girlfriends to see the films 😉

    • May 5, 2014 at 1:26 am
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      “Should every movie have a female lead and a perfectly 1:1 male 2 female ratio?”

      Nobody’s saying anything about mandated writing/casting practices, or mythical checklists that the movie must follow. But what exactly is ridiculous about a roughly 1:1 male:female ratio?

      “The basics are that for every one female-speaking character in family-rated films (G, PG and PG-13), there are roughly three male characters; that crowd and group scenes in these films — live-action and animated — contain only 17 percent female characters; and that the ratio of male-female characters has been exactly the same since 1946.”

      Now THAT is ridiculous.

    • May 5, 2014 at 3:10 am
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      “Should every movie have a female lead and a perfectly 1:1 male 2 female ratio?”

      In short, of course. Will that happen? Not for a long time.

      In order to reach this dream, however, it would be nice to stop the 6:1 male:female ratio. In order to do that, filmmakers must start casting more women. The best place to start? That’s right, STAR WARS, the greatest film franchise in history. That’s what it’s about guys. It’s not about making OT fans mad.

  • May 4, 2014 at 8:23 pm
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    To anonymous at 9:10. Let me guess, you’re a white dude. Of course you don’t care about this issue because most movies are about white dudes so you don’t feel unrepresented. Regardless of whether you are a white dude, please have some empathy for the fact that there aren’t very many movies with female or person of color protagonists or high quality secondary characters.

    • May 4, 2014 at 8:30 pm
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      First off, “More casting announcements coming soon”, it’s too early to complain about this stuff. It’s also extremely rude to indirectly accuse JJ Abrams or anyone else at this point of sexism.

      Second, John Boyega, A BLACK MAN, got first billing in the announcement, making it very likely that he will be the lead. And some people are worried about that because even though he’s Black, he’s still male and they would rather have a female lead, even if she is white. I’m not making that up, people on THIS SITE have said as much.

    • May 4, 2014 at 8:40 pm
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      Also, Oscar Issac was born in Guatemala.

    • May 4, 2014 at 8:48 pm
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      The new trilogy already has 100% more female leads than the original trilogy, and those films are the reason we’re all here. How does a fan of this franchise suddenly make the ratio of women in the cast a deciding factor in how they’ll perceive the new movies? You got here with Leia (and Mon Mothma). Are you able to enjoy watching those movies or does the lack of diversity just drag the whole thing down? “White dudes” do not feel a closer kinship with films that have white dudes in them. The movie just has to be good.

    • May 4, 2014 at 9:25 pm
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      It will be weird if Boyega is the lead. He looks more like a Gamorrean Guard at Jabba’s palace than a leading man. He just needs green skin and some tusks.

    • May 4, 2014 at 9:45 pm
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      Darth Vader was black.

    • May 4, 2014 at 11:47 pm
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      Why not make Star Wars more accessible? Why not give girls more cosplay options from the films than Leia or Padme? And how many dark-skinned women have we seen in the films? Zero?

      The Star Wars fanbase has grown massively since the original trilogy, and it’s grown more diverse too. Why not represent the fanbase better? Why not encourage girls and others to get into sci-fi/fantasy? Why continue to portray Star Wars and sci-fi as something for ‘nerdy white guys’ when it hasn’t been that way for some time?

      There are tons of female and non-white actors who would love to be in these movies, but despite there being no history of sexism or racism in the Star Wars galaxy, it’s still white guys making up the majority of the cast. Where are the female fighter pilots and bounty hunters?

    • May 5, 2014 at 12:47 am
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      I can’t believe I have to say this for the umpteenth time, there’s still more casting announcements, we don’t know who else is in it, so don’t rush to judgement.

      Also, John Boyega got first billing.

    • May 5, 2014 at 12:52 am
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      Oh, not sure if this is canon anymore, but The Empire was racist, sexist, and most of all, anti-alien. This is alluded to in the Episode III novelization (much better than the movie btw).

    • May 5, 2014 at 1:22 am
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      Anti-alien or other species discrimination seems to be the main thing in the Star Wars universe. That and class discrimination (Han’s mocking/teasing of Princess Leia, for example, is more about her royal title than her gender).

      I am NOT trying to say that the Star Wars writers/directers/etc are racist or sexist. But, the galaxy is presumably 50% female, at least with regard to humans. We’ve seen in Knights of the Old Republic (non-canon) and The Clone Wars (canon) that females in the Star Wars universe can take on roles as soldiers, spies, pilots, smugglers, bounty hunters, Jedi/Sith, and all of the other archetypes we associate with Star Wars. And they can take on these roles without others in the galaxy expressing any doubt or judgment due to their gender. With this in mind, there’s no reason why ~40-60% of the human presence in the galaxy shouldn’t be female.

    • May 5, 2014 at 1:46 am
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      Ok, but still, JJ Abrams in the video said to expect more casting announcements, so it’s too early to say that there aren’t enough women in the movie.

      Also, I have no problems with multiple female roles, and I don’t think anyone does, it’s just that it’s too early to complain about this stuff.

    • May 5, 2014 at 3:24 am
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      Actually, Jake, from looking at the current cast, it is NOT too early to say there aren’t women. Just one look at the black and white photo tells me that much.

      I think you meant to say “it’s too early to blame JJ when more casting is coming, casting which may include women.”

      But still, I get your point, man.

    • May 5, 2014 at 3:40 am
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      Yes, that is what I meant actually.

      But what really gets me angry are people, ON THIS SITE, saying they would rather have Daisy be the lead than John, even though he is black, which would be historic in and of itself. I really don’t know what to think of that.

    • May 5, 2014 at 2:37 pm
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      This is not a rerun the Primaries. Star Wars is more important that politics! So, let’s just wait and see how it pans out.

    • May 5, 2014 at 4:23 pm
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      “Also, Oscar Issac was born in Guatemala.”

      So, is this whole diversity debate about race, gender or nationality?

      About a SW film, of all things . . . where at least a few main characters won’t even be human, in all likelihood . . .

      You Americans have all these things SO wrong (except for gender, perhaps) that you don’t even know what you’re arguing about anymore.

    • May 5, 2014 at 5:32 pm
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      What I meant was that people seem to think John Boyega is the only non-white guy in this cast, and I bet Oscar would beg to differ. Personally I don’t care about race in the movie as long as the movie is good, I’m just sick of all this complaining.

      And plus, you have no right to judge an entire nation like that.

    • May 5, 2014 at 7:06 pm
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      “And plus, you have no right to judge an entire nation like that.”

      The right was given to me by you Americans, precisely; who are not only passing judgment on nations, but entire regions and races as a whole.

      “I bet Oscar would beg to differ.”

      A bet you would lose. Because, being Latino will never mean “non-white”. Since I happen to be milky white AND born in Latin America, I am far better qualified to assess what a Latino person would agree/disagree with concerning our race/ethnicity than you could ever begin to be.

  • May 4, 2014 at 8:48 pm
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    First it was the Walker foot everybody was going ape about,and now the casting, are people so narrow minded that they think the few that have been announced are it ? It’s like people are taking every single thing about this new movie literally !!

    • May 5, 2014 at 4:26 pm
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      Most people is that narrow-minded, yes. Then again, that’s why they’re fans and not writers/filmmakers.

    • May 6, 2014 at 6:34 am
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      Obviously, we know they are not it, but this cast, overwhelmingly male and white, will drive the story.

  • May 4, 2014 at 8:53 pm
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    Let’s see the complete cast before we start passing judgement on the “quotas”, shall we? Also, we have no idea how prominent the various characters will be. For all we know, Daisy Ridley’s character could be onscreen 60 % of the movie and all those, well, MEN have to share whatever screentime is left.

    • May 5, 2014 at 3:06 am
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      Good point. IF that’s the case, then I will understand why there is only one new female character. very good point…

    • May 6, 2014 at 6:36 am
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      Protagonist or not, women should not have to settle for one or two roles per trilogy.

  • May 4, 2014 at 9:05 pm
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    Hey Guys! Let’s have some real equality here. What about the aliens? How about a seven-tailed Lorian from the water planet Uisce? Or a five-eyed tripod from the planet Theodolite? Why aren’t fans supporting aliens for a major role. After all it’s called SW for a reason.

    • May 5, 2014 at 3:05 am
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      Before we do that, let’s start with the basics, OK? Like representing 51% of the population, women. Why are people so harsh? We all have wives, sisters, daughters, mothers, etc. Why can’t they get more than two characters who look like them in an action movie?

    • May 5, 2014 at 3:51 am
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      Because many fans want to keep Star Wars a boy’s club with as few women as possible.

    • May 5, 2014 at 4:42 am
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      Anon 4:51 NO ONE here thinks that Star Wars should be a man’s club. They just find a lot of this complaining irritating, especially when more casting announcements are imminent, and might include more women. Please don’t put words in people’s mouths.

    • May 5, 2014 at 6:31 am
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      so , we are assuming all the aliens in all the films are men? bit sexist that , the Cantina could hae been full of females , but your sexist anti alien agenda casts them in your mind as male.all the jawas cold be female for all we know.

    • May 5, 2014 at 6:42 am
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      The Cantina was definitely not full of females.
      http://forums.thebothanspy.com/index.php?threads/mos-eisley-cantina-character-guide.17245/

      According to that, with info taken from the Star Wars Wikia, 13 of the 82 Cantina characters are listed as female. 15.8%

      “The basics are that for every one female-speaking character in family-rated films (G, PG and PG-13), there are roughly three male characters; that crowd and group scenes in these films — live-action and animated — contain only 17 percent female characters; and that the ratio of male-female characters has been exactly the same since 1946.”

      That’s pretty close to true here too!

    • May 5, 2014 at 5:40 pm
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      And you’re wrong again. Nice work.

    • May 6, 2014 at 6:40 am
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      Yes, it is, Jake. I’ve been arguing with some of them online for several days now. So many fanboys feel threatened by people wanting greater female representation in Star Wars. They would prefer to leave things as is with women get a token role while men get the lion’s share.

  • May 4, 2014 at 9:30 pm
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    I do think it is weird that none of the actors cast looks like a traditional leading man in the vein of Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Hayden Christensen, and Ewan McGregor, all of whom were considered “hot” in their prime. You know what I mean? Daisy is like Carrie and Natalie, clearly the female ingénue of the new series, but none of the guys in the cast have that traditional young matinee idol look to them.

  • May 4, 2014 at 9:37 pm
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    Mark Hamill was not in his prime or considered “hot”. Neither was Harrison Ford. That’s one of the many reasons that Alan Ladd Jr had to stick his neck out for GL so Fox didn’t shut the project down early due to GL’s casting decisions.

    • May 4, 2014 at 10:21 pm
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      Firstly, SW was mainly a guys movie. And secondly, women nowadays aren’t all
      about ‘Strippers’ type actors. You should give them more credit than that!

  • May 4, 2014 at 9:48 pm
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    Yeah, Wes, but they were a lot better looking than the new crop. Mark was at least considered adorable, and a lot of people would disagree with you about Harrison. A lot of women really loved him, hence Indiana Jones.

    • May 5, 2014 at 4:29 pm
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      Last I checked Yoda’s still one of the coolest, most badass characters in the history of cinema, and even as a puppet, that’s one ugly, old, withered, wrinkled character.

      If it’s looks you want, I suggest you stick to Victoria’s Secrets shows.

  • May 4, 2014 at 9:52 pm
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    Well, there are at least two prominent female characters, an improvement over the OT! Couldn’t give a fig about color or ‘looks’, lets give JJ & co a decent chance and wait for the movie before we pass judgment..

    • May 4, 2014 at 10:40 pm
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      Yeah I think there is a lot of jumping the gun on a lot of these posts, We don’t even know who’s playing what or whatever. Just some food for thought… what if some of the male actors are playing female aliens? Haha, I mean, it is a big galaxy right?

  • May 4, 2014 at 10:29 pm
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    This obsession with ethnically diverse casting is a little unsettling. Take a cue from the brits, who could care less about the issue and yet have a ton of diversity in their films and TV shows. Racism is such an american idiosyncrasy…

    • May 4, 2014 at 11:49 pm
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      Yeah, a ton of diversity. Like how Sherlock’s modern London is 90% white.

    • May 5, 2014 at 12:39 am
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      London is 90% white. Do you want Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss to fictionalize that margin?

    • May 5, 2014 at 3:26 am
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      LOL! That’s right, it is about 60% white. I’ve heard that it’s less in some statistics.

      Looks like Anon @ 12:49 has to eat his words.

    • May 5, 2014 at 3:43 am
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      You mean 1:39

    • May 5, 2014 at 4:31 pm
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      Hear, hear!

      And it’s not only the Brits. NOBODY outside the U.S. gives a flying fuck about actors’ nationalities or races anymore. As long as they can deliver, everything else is irrelevant.

  • May 4, 2014 at 10:44 pm
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    What’s wrong with you all people?
    The legend is coming back to town and you are still talking about stuff that do not have anything to do with the ‘spirit of SW’. Did any of you think that maybe one day you would be able to watch a new Sw movie with your kids? The odds were HOTH cold. And now here it is and I feel ONLY and ONLY the desire to be there on the first row of a theater waiting for that mind blowing notes of Williams.
    So just wait and be patient and don’t forget it’s just a one man’s imagination and we all believed that. Forget about the colours and genders. The FORCE is coming back!!!

    • May 5, 2014 at 3:01 am
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      If Star Wars was made now, it probably would have had more than one female protagonist. And that’s what it’s about, isn’t it? Fitting the film to the times we are living in. Star Wars should evolve in all aspects: special effects, cinematography, and yes, even gender portrayals.

    • May 5, 2014 at 4:24 am
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      Agreed. That being said, the most recent films were the prequels, and well they evolved the heck out of special effects, cinematography, and yes even gender roles more so than perhaps the OT…

      …due to special effects & cinematography befitting of those times George Lucas never made another Star Wars film again… and the fan response “broke his spirit”. The world & Lucas are still recovering from their collective shock. I think sometimes we put a tad too much pressure on the creative minds behind some of the greatest projects of all time, and perhaps, maybe we put too much weight on the idea of fitting the times that stories suffer because of it.

      Equality yay… forced equality through incessant bitching toward people who do not display any such gender prejudice… nay.

    • May 5, 2014 at 6:03 am
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      How did the PT evolve gender roles at all? They still only had one primary female character, and she wasn’t much different than Leia. That said, they’re both good examples of strong female characters, but I don’t think Padme is any more progressive than Leia.

      But what did the PT give? Shaak-ti and Aayla only became awesome in the Tartakovsky Clone Wars and The Clone Wars. Zam Wessell was kinda cool, as the first female bounty hunter we’d seen (though, technically, a shapeshifter). Jocasta Nu, the librarian, a tiny role. Shmi? Forgettable. Padme’s decoy, another tiny/forgettable role.

      So, really, just Padme. Compared to a ton of male characters who get plenty of time in front of the camera. They could have made Obi-Wan’s master a woman, but they didn’t. It wouldn’t have changed the plot at all. Ditto for Darth Maul or Count Dooku.

    • May 5, 2014 at 8:15 am
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      That’s the thing, though, you named quite a few female characters that were indeed a central aspect to the story. Zam Wesell had quite a role attempting to assassinate Padme, being the primary focus in a chase-down sequence with Obi-Wan & Anakin and introducing us to Jango Fett who did not have nearly as cool of a death scene as she did. Shmi was featured prominently throughout PM & AOTC & was central to the overall plot in more ways than one even when her character was killed off as Anakin had to deal with that moving forward throughout the course of the series. Padme was the story along with Anakin.

      Some other names with varying roles were Adi Gallia, Padme’s Handmaidens (one of which disguised herself as the Queen for a time), Barriss Offee, Shaak Ti, Luminara Unduli, Beru Lars, Depa Billaba, Yaddle, Aurra Sing, Queen Jamillia, Jamillia’s handmaidens, Orn Free Taa’s Twi’lek aide, George Lucas’ daughters Katie & Amanda played Amee (a child in Phantom Menace) & the voice of Tey How respectively (also Amanda played a red-haired woman in Phantom Menace seen in Jabba the Hutt’s box before the podrace begins) & there were quite a few female species in the crowd during said segment, in the outlander club in AOTC (Ayy Vida for example), etc. All of which served great purpose in the overall Star Wars lore.

      …but that is the thing about Star Wars… it just so happens that even the characters that only get a few seconds on screen turn out to be phenomena in their own right getting games, books, conventions, etc.

      Also, and I didn’t even know this until recently, but it turns out that Greedo and the Emperor (in Empire Strikes Back) were played by actresses, and so female presence in Star Wars goes pretty deep since the beginning. Very cool…

    • May 6, 2014 at 6:06 am
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      Anon @ 9:15 AM

      Geezus, you’re grasping at straws.

      The vast majority of the females in the Prequels stood in the background and said nothing. How many of them drove the story? How many of them were a part of the action? How many women look to these characters as heroes and role models?

      Star Wars shouldn’t be a boys’ club.

  • May 4, 2014 at 11:02 pm
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    More females PLEASEEEEEEEEEEEEE! Female sith pleaseeeeeeeee

    • May 5, 2014 at 3:27 am
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      any more females will do at this point.

    • May 5, 2014 at 12:42 pm
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      Tilda Swinton would be awesome

  • May 4, 2014 at 11:04 pm
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    ps I mean more HOT females.

  • May 4, 2014 at 11:08 pm
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    I’d like to see some female mandalorians in the film.

    • May 5, 2014 at 6:15 pm
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      i would not

  • May 5, 2014 at 12:39 am
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    Who the hell cares about a token Black or lack of woman – the big 3 are back ! that’s all I care about…..

    • May 5, 2014 at 12:53 am
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      Now this guy knows how it is

    • May 5, 2014 at 1:11 am
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      “Screw everybody else, I got what I want!”

    • May 5, 2014 at 3:47 am
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      Anon @ 2:11 AM

      You got it.

  • May 5, 2014 at 2:38 am
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    Please, lots of overweight, homely females!!! Also, how about some dogs, cats and farm animals!! We haven’t seen any of them in SW yet either. A sure sine of speciesism!!!

    • May 5, 2014 at 2:57 am
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      So you’re comparing women to dogs, cats, and farm animals?

      You sure are low. No wonder you can’t understand the issue here.

    • May 5, 2014 at 3:38 am
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      If there Are more females ….I hope Solo tells her “Go make me a sandwich”

    • May 5, 2014 at 12:44 pm
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      wow I’m really rather ashamed to be a star wars fan sometimes. A simple call out for more female characters and it’s resulted in sandwhich jokes. So pathetic.

    • May 5, 2014 at 2:47 pm
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      It’s not just the joke that’s bad, it’s also the ham that wrote it!

  • May 5, 2014 at 4:53 am
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    LEIA: Make it your damn self!

  • May 5, 2014 at 5:23 am
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    I’m hoping for a female sith/dark jedi/light-saber wielding villain, a Mara-Jade-esque character, and Lando, personally. Would be so great if Christina Hendricks gets the role, hubba hubba. But I know she won’t. 🙁

  • May 5, 2014 at 5:39 am
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    We need Eskimo’s…. if there are no Eskimo’s in this movie I will be appalled!

  • May 5, 2014 at 5:45 am
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    Quit telling the artists what the paint. They’ll tell the story they want to tell with the people they want to work with. Go make your own movie and cast your mom if you want.

    • May 5, 2014 at 5:50 am
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      We’re also their customers. This movie isn’t being made for them, it’s being made to make money. And it’s not like anybody here is threatening to boycott the film or anything, we’d just like to be heard.

    • May 5, 2014 at 2:50 pm
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      We can’t have Eskimos in SW7. Fans wouldn’t have igloo what is was about.

    • May 6, 2014 at 6:11 am
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      Waka waka!

  • May 5, 2014 at 5:59 am
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    Fanboy culture destroyed movies in general. I’ve had to sit through 15 years of comic book movies because of you knuckle heads. How many crappy spiderman movies will they make? Spiderman sucks…. yea I said it! Spiderman sucks…..If something isn’t done the way you want to see it you’re all up in arms. Go outside and and play ball.

  • May 5, 2014 at 6:30 am
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    I don’t know Spiderman 2 with Dr. Octopus was kinda cool, yeah all the other ones sucked though.

  • May 5, 2014 at 6:53 am
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    I know this is unrelated but on Episode VII IMDB there is a newly listen “stunt” actor for Harrison Ford…. looks like He’ll be seeing some action.

  • May 5, 2014 at 8:49 am
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    Maybe they need to cast a female to make the Tea and bow down to all the male actors every command…..Yea ok sarcasms great. Who gives a flying frac how many men or women are cast in this or what race/ethnic background or shoe size they have. As long as they are good actors and they ‘fit’ the character they need to portray who gives a damn.

  • May 5, 2014 at 9:54 am
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    “…working on the next Star Wars script.” I thought the script was finished?

    • May 5, 2014 at 10:24 am
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      All SW scripts are modified during filming, due to sudden inspiration and other circumstances.

    • May 5, 2014 at 2:11 pm
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      There is nothing wrong with modifications throughout the entire process. One of the most intense sequences in the original trilogy, Han Solo going into carbon freeze, was modified over and over with improvised lines and reshufling of details. They _really_ worked hard to milk the scene for all the narrative and emotional potential it held.

      And look at the result — it is one of the best, most moving sequences in the entire franchise!

      So if scripts and scenes are tweaked and improved until the last moment, it is only a good thing. It is not as they are still semi-clueless about what the heck this movie is going to be about!

  • May 5, 2014 at 12:11 pm
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    Look at us pathetic life forms lapping up scraps from JJ’s table.

    • May 5, 2014 at 12:27 pm
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      We’re not pathetic. It’s like in a good working S&M relationship. Fans love the franchise & the filmmaker, and vice versa. The latter has the dominant role, and we gladly submit. Abrams only has to learn to be better at it; the way he and his people did it with the Star Trek films wasn’t really that sexy. We in submission need to be teased in the right way, and I can imagine it’s not easy. Nobody wants a premature geekasm in this game. 😉

    • May 6, 2014 at 6:15 am
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      Jesus Christmas! 0_o

  • May 5, 2014 at 3:26 pm
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    JJ said “casting announcements” PLURAL. That means there are at least 2 more significant roles to fill. They probably have about 2 months to find them. Why? Because with the actors they already have, JJ can shoot a lot of scenes and get the ball rolling. Plus, I read that they will be shooting well into the Fall. Gonna be a long shoot apparently.

    I wonder how long the script is… Are we going to get a 2.5 or 3 hour SW movie? Could be pretty epic. Most of the old movies were about 2 hours. But to me, a long SW movie could be awesome!

  • May 5, 2014 at 5:20 pm
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    I don’t think it’s going to be Lupita. She was rumored a long time ago and was not signed.

  • May 5, 2014 at 10:03 pm
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    I personally am rooting for a Ventress type character. May not happen no biggie. I trust the filmmakers. Including Kathleen Kennedy. But using Every post to complain about gender ratio is kinda pathetic now. They heard you already. Do you think that Disney and lucasfilm have never sold…er I mean made a movie. They do listen. But they are still gonna make the movie as written by Abrams and Kasdan. What was the original point of this thread again?

  • May 5, 2014 at 10:23 pm
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    And perhaps a different s tactic could be adopted. How about rooting for or encouraging the female character instead of complaining about how the men are preventing them from occurring. The way to get what you want from men is not by complaining about them. Yes I’m a guy and you can let er rip on my post. But I should tell I am writing it with the interest of women at heart. Men are dense slow and stubborn often. But the director is a man.and let’s face it. When I was in school, a million years ago , if you were a Star wars nerd most girls didn’t want anything to do with you. My how times have changed.

  • May 6, 2014 at 1:07 am
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    I love that JJ is sweating a bit (figuratively.) He’s out of his comfort zone (in England) and that might benefit the movie in some positive way.

  • May 6, 2014 at 10:44 pm
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    The whole gender thing just upsets me, instead of being happy for the new series were worrying about who is or isn’t in the cast. Can we complain that their is not enough Asian Jedi, or that we didn’t have any woman clone or storm troopers…NO! It’s about a story not so much who is in the story. Since Lucas based a lot of this on Samurai and others warriors, its is clear that warriors don’t put woman as warriors. Lets end this stupid debate already and just pray for a good Star Wars story to begin with. ENOUGH!

  • May 11, 2014 at 6:54 am
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    Hey, everyone who is calling this movie out on its apparent “lack of diversity”- remember that Disney owns Marvel as well and the MCU really only has ONE female lead (if you can even call her a lead), and I don’t hear a single person bringing that up during these discussions. J.J. Abrams is not sexist, no one involved in the movie is. Blame Disney, not the filmmakers.

  • May 11, 2014 at 6:54 am
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    Hey, everyone who is calling this movie out on its apparent “lack of diversity”- remember that Disney owns Marvel as well and the MCU really only has ONE female lead (if you can even call her a lead), and I don’t hear a single person bringing that up during these discussions. J.J. Abrams is not sexist, no one involved in the movie is. Blame Disney, not the filmmakers.

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