Simon Pegg on Star Wars: Episode 7 and J.J. Abrams.

Star Wars


Yesterday we told you about the latest rumors suggesting that Simon Pegg could appear in Star Wars: Episode VII. Now the actor himself briefly talked about the upcoming movie and Abrams’ old school approach…



Huge amount of physical effects, puppets, masks… It really sounds like he knows this firsthand. I’m sure that he was on the Episode VII set. The question is: was he only visiting or doing a part?



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Founder of SWNN, MNN and The Cantina forums.

Born on April 24, 1980.

Val Trichkov (Viral Hide)

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

62 thoughts on “Simon Pegg on Star Wars: Episode 7 and J.J. Abrams.

  • June 13, 2014 at 7:40 pm
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    Couldn’t be more excited!!!

  • June 13, 2014 at 7:41 pm
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    Nice! Wish it was coming out next week!

  • June 13, 2014 at 7:41 pm
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    It’s Abrams, NOT Abrahams! I have heard this numerous times at it gets more and more annoying each time. It seems to be mostly a British oddity.

    • June 13, 2014 at 8:57 pm
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      I’m so glad there are people like you around, with nothing better to do then monitor forums and correct every typo or spelling error. Thank you so much Abrahams, I mean Anonymous.

    • June 14, 2014 at 12:32 am
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      He was just kidding when he said Abrahams wasn’t he??

    • June 14, 2014 at 5:51 am
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      Do what Pegg did; ignore it and stay focused on the topic at hand.

    • June 16, 2014 at 6:04 pm
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      Who can blame us brits? Americans shorten most words in our language!! Aluminum (Aluminium)

  • June 13, 2014 at 7:45 pm
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    Abrahams Lincolns

    • June 13, 2014 at 8:01 pm
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      JJ Abrahams Linclorians

      ok, this is getting ludicrousiously

    • June 14, 2014 at 12:00 am
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      Ludicrous speed!

  • June 13, 2014 at 7:45 pm
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    BEFORE ANYONE POSTS ANYTHING ABOUT “PT HATERS”:

    Can it. Digital movie-making will have its place in Star Wars in due time. Let Abrams pay homage to the OT fans with this next installment, then you’ll get your CGI-drenched Star Wars you love so dearly, once Disney takes the reins after the ST is filmed and released to the public.

    • June 13, 2014 at 8:00 pm
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      Who says that the people who like the look of the PT just want a CGI fest? There is a balance that can be had. And Abrams is the kind of person who knows how that can be done. There was a story reason as to why things were more shiny in the PT, yet some people just couldn’t stand that there wasn’t a lot of weathering. If the Prequels had had the same level of weathering as the OT, it wouldn’t have made sense. When Obi-Wan was reminiscing about what it was like before the Empire, do you really think he was picturing rusting hunks of junk? Sam Witwer said it best when he compared it to cars from the 40’s and 50’s vs the 80’s.

    • June 13, 2014 at 8:05 pm
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      Yes, I understand. Being a die-hard OT fan I wasn’t too fond of the prequels, but that’s not because of their general look. Lots of people complain about the lack of grittiness in the PT and I just dont really understand it. It seems pretty self explanitory that before the Empire, the galaxy thrived with the Republic and senate overseeing political affairs. It was always supposed to be a night-and-day difference. This next trilogy, however, has to explain for itself why the grittiness and weathering has stuck around for the passed 30 years since ROTJ ends in the chronology. Why hasn’t the galaxy returned to its prosperity since the Emperor was thwarted? I’m most interested…

    • June 13, 2014 at 8:40 pm
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      Why hasn’t the galaxy returned to its prosperity and shiny PT style look in 30 years?

      Simple short answer: because the OT die-hards like yourself don’t want it to.

    • June 13, 2014 at 8:48 pm
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      AnonymousJune 13, 2014 at 9:40 PM
      Short answer because you can’t think of a better one?
      Exhilarating…

    • June 13, 2014 at 8:54 pm
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      AnonymousJune 13, 2014 at 9:40 PM
      Is it so hard to have some real respect for the trilogy that gave you your precious prequels? Can’t we just get at least one more installment that pays homage to the original trilogy and its millions of fans without having sour-pusses like yourself whine about it?

    • June 13, 2014 at 8:59 pm
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      If the visual style was the only problem they had with the prequels then I don’t really care what they think.

      Sterile environments without a lot of people in them like the Phantom Menace… or the empty unreal feeling of the over use of CGI instead of sets. That I can get behind.

      Again though compared to the other major problems with the prequels… the visuals effects are low on the list.

    • June 13, 2014 at 9:29 pm
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      When compared to Cloud City I don’t think any other city environment we saw was any more clean and sterile then it was with the exception of Kamino which was a laboratory that you would expect to be spotless. As one who has criticized the visuals of the PT quite often, I think the CG criticism has gotten over blown to the point where a real prejudice has set in with many fans against anything CG just because it was crafted in a computer. This is unfortunate as CG has it’s place and has come a long way and is still improving. The real issue with CG in the PT was that Lucas over did it with the blue screen. There was no need to have all the clone troopers be faked or have so much blue forcing the actors to interact with nothing which most certainly hindered their performance. I do think Abrams will strike a good balance between real and effect. My concern is with who’s designing a lot this new stuff because it’s Doug Chiang.

    • June 13, 2014 at 10:20 pm
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      The CG is not a problem; the bad CG is. ILM, one of the best CG companies around, had to deal with 2000 digital shots for episode II, and it looks just like a tv show because it was impossible to do that with the amount of time they had and with George Lucas constantly changing mind. It went so hard as to the point of having to avoid John Williams Episode II score and having to use re-mixes from episode I. By the way, The Phantom Menace CG (including Jar Jar) looked pretty good, because they just had 750 digital shots.
      As far as Episode III is concerned, i just want to remind you the first web-doc they published in which the whole team was in pre-production working hard while Lucas had no script.

    • June 14, 2014 at 7:01 am
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      “Why hasn’t the galaxy returned to its prosperity and shiny PT style look in 30 years?”

      According to Lucas, the fall of the Galactic Republic and the rise of the Galactic Empire was inspired by the Roman Republic becoming the Roman Empire.

      What happened when the Roman Empire fell? There was a prolonged period of chaos and instability in Europe. The same thing could happen in the Star Wars universe when the Galactic Empire fell. The Rebel Alliance might not be able to maintain order in the galaxy, local warlords might arise, planets may decide to go it alone after the Republic/Empire experience, etc.

    • June 14, 2014 at 3:04 pm
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      People don’t dislike the PT simply because it’s too digital (although that certainly contributes). People dislike the PT films because they are poorly written, poorly acted (for the most part), lacking in real emotion or drama, etc. The fall of Anakin should have been Shakespearean – a story for the ages. It was a missed opportunity to deepen the role of the force, deepen our connection to the universe and lay a meaningful groundwork for the redemption of Anakin Skywalker. Instead, we get a whiny little baby who appears to suffer from Narcissistic Personality Disorder, can’t follow directions, etc. How are we supposed to root for someone like that? Why turn the greatest villain in the history of cinema into that? Do I really need to explain why the PT is terrible? It’s just bad story telling! Who’s the villain? Who’s the hero? (we don’t see Anakin as a real hero until episode 3 and that’s WAY too late) We have to care about the characters before they start acting like assholes. Storytelling 101. Where’s the influence of Joseph Campbell? Where’s the magic? What’s motivating the action? A trade dispute? Fucking hell. It’s so uninspired, it’s not funny. The list of problems is so long, it’s like trying to explain to a Republican that global warming is real.

    • June 14, 2014 at 5:52 pm
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      Amen to that brother! Evry time I watch anh now, vaders introduction no longer has the impact it once had!! You know what I mean, that sense of dread and terror has gone and replaced with an over excited kid shouting “yippee!”and a petulant tool pouting how evrything isn’t fair and how much he hates sand!??!

  • June 13, 2014 at 7:48 pm
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    I hope there is some sense that this is 30 years later other than an aging cast.
    People complain that the Prequels didn’t look gritty enough, but that was the whole point. We were seeing the Galaxy “before the dark times.” It was supposed to be more Flash Gordon. It would have been wrong to make it look too aged. The Galaxy was still living in a Renaissance. Also, it isn’t wholly true that there wasn’t weathering. There was weathering on the things that needed it.

    • June 13, 2014 at 7:50 pm
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      And I’m not talking about CGI either. That is a different discussion.

    • June 13, 2014 at 7:54 pm
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      AnonymousJune 13, 2014 at 8:48 PM
      I agree. Being a die-hard OT fan I wasn’t too fond of the prequels, but that’s not because of their general look. Lots of people complain about the lack of grittiness in the PT and I just dont really understand it. It seems pretty self explanitory that before the Empire, the galaxy thrived with the Republic and senate overseeing political affairs. It was always supposed to be a night-and-day difference. This next trilogy, however, has to explain for itself why the grittiness and weathering has stuck around for the passed 30 years since ROTJ ends in the chronology. Why hasn’t the galaxy returned to its prosperity since the Emperor was thwarted? I’m most interested…

    • June 13, 2014 at 11:15 pm
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      The things I’d like to see the ST move on from the PT is the sloppilly written story, the flawed acting/lack of chemistry between actors and actresses, the lack of craftsmanship, the rushed feeling that came with it, the inappropriately placed comic relief, the uninteresting characters, the cartoony space battles, etc. If they can just keep those aspects in mind when creating brand new installments, I’m sure I’m not the only fan that’d appreciate it.

    • June 13, 2014 at 8:16 pm
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      Forgot to mention the ballet-like saber duels.

    • June 13, 2014 at 8:42 pm
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      ^oh yeah, let’s go back to the stand-around-and-swing-your-arms-without- bending-your wrist-style fighting like Alec Guiness vs. Darth.

    • June 13, 2014 at 8:45 pm
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      I was referring to the Empire and Jedi battles…
      I understand that in the prequels the Jedi had a much better understanding of the force and saber battles than Luke in the OT, but did they really have to look noticably choreographed, like it took almost no effort to flip around while defending yourself against a fatally dangerous foe?

    • June 13, 2014 at 8:45 pm
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      yeah, guiness took like 10 seconds to do that “graceful” spin.

    • June 13, 2014 at 9:07 pm
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      Well actually golden era or not… a universe that expansive realistically wouldn’t’ reflect prosperity in most of the worlds. Only a few. Like Naboo would likely always look wealthy and elegant even during the empire. Just like run down dirty mining worlds or massive freight haulers would likely look worn down a gritty.

      As I’ve said before… the visual style of the PT trilogy is the least of my complaints.

      As for the lightsaber fights… I was ok with the acrobatics. I just wish the emotion behind the fights and the story leading up to them would have been as epic as the OT. Style without substance was a constant in the PT.

    • June 13, 2014 at 11:30 pm
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      For me, the problem with the saber duels in the PT was that the flashy choreography often superseded basic functionality. The bottom line with a lightsaber is, this is a weapon that can do an incredible amount of damage just by touching something – especially the human body.

      The OT duels always made it seem that the combatants were very much aware of the fact that one wrong move with that blade and one of their own limbs was probably coming off. I never felt that the OT fight choreography was tentative or anything, mostly just that it took the danger of the blades into account.

      Yes, the duel in ANH was stiff and movement was limited, particularly on Obi Wan’s part. Some of this was that Alec Guinness wasn’t exactly young and springy anymore. But I’m pretty sure that there was also a stylistic choice on Lucas’ part. I recall reading (probably in Alan Arnold’s journal on the making of ESB) that Lucas was initially irritated when he saw Vader wielding his saber one-handed during the Cloud City duel, because in his mind a lightsaber was too heavy for that.

      Whether or not that makes a lick of sense, I think it helps to show where Lucas’ mindset originally was about the lightsabers. They were heavy, and they were dangerous. And that carried over into the duels in ESB and ROTJ (though IMHO the sabers started being treated a little more like wiffle ball bats by the time ROTJ rolled around.)

      In the PT, by comparison, the blades appeared to weigh almost nothing, and nobody seemed particularly respectful of the damage they could do. It was all about looking flashy and being as twirly-flippy as possible.

      For me, the moment that encapsulated this for me was when Obi Wan and Anakin were in the control room on Mustafar in ROTS and suddenly – inexplicably – they go into this bizarre little baton-twirling contest. It had NOTHING to do with actual swordplay, and looked completely pointless and out of place. But it looked flashy, so there it is.

      There are a lot of things I hope the ST does better than the PT. Too much flash over substance is one thing I hope that they make a very concerted effort to avoid.

    • June 14, 2014 at 12:24 am
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      The argument for the prequels not being gritty enough is 100% valid. There is a bloody war going on and nobody seems to care. Everyone is just going about there business. You don’t feel like there is a war going on. It just seems like it’s happening some place else. Where? and why should we care? The OT had the empire and you had a sense that it was an actual problem because everything looked gritty and beaten up. A lot of the prequels were supposed to be dark times. There was a war. Yet everything looked sparkling and fine in ep 1, 2 and 3. There should have been a slow decay throughout each episode, yet if anything episode 3 actually looked the least gritty.

    • June 14, 2014 at 12:30 am
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      and as for the lightsaber duels, the over choreographed dancing in the prequels was often comical at times. It had no tension whatsoever. This idea that bigger and faster is better is insane. The old-ben vader duel is actually my favourite because it feels the most real. They really boosted up the volume of the lightsaber hum and you can see the fear and tension in Guiness’ face which translates to the tone of the fight. Tension. It never looked choreographed at all. Plus the stakes were huge. I mean imagine if old-ben had killed vader? The lightsaber fights in the OT were an event, not a dance rehearsal.

    • June 14, 2014 at 3:20 am
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      The Ben/Vader duel, like the other OT duels, deeply personal. Overly flashy fight choreography in any of the OT films would have run the risk of taking the edge off of the personal drama, as happened (IMHO) with the Obi Wan/Anakin duel in ROTS. That should have been one of the most intensely personal and dramatic duels of the entire saga, and though it had elements of that, the whole thing was broken up by cheesy fight choreography and way, WAY too much self-indulgent CGI nonsense.

  • June 13, 2014 at 8:39 pm
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    I am a big star wars fan I saw a new hope in 77 I was 17 years old I love episodes 1 2 and three I think jj abrams will do a great job making the film I hope ewan megroger will be in the new film im going to get all six movies on blue ray in a couple weeks thank u jj abrams

    • June 13, 2014 at 8:43 pm
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      I like the Anon 9:39 commenter. For once there’s a Star Wars fans that can appreciate all six films. I was starting to think I was the only one like this on this message board.

    • June 13, 2014 at 9:52 pm
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      i also like all six films & i grew up with the OT. actually ep.1 is a favourite (maybe it is because i have seen the originals sooo many times/probably tooo many times) 😀 & i don’t even find JarJar that annoying, but i look at the movies as one saga & not as individual films & i can’t wait to see where the story will end up in episode.9…

  • June 13, 2014 at 9:09 pm
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    Yeah, same situation with me! I LOVE all of the films and even 6th season of the Clone Wars..

    and yeah, it is strange that people who name themselves “fans” are talking so much about what they hate in star wars and just a bit about what the love in it…

    • June 13, 2014 at 9:36 pm
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      It’s not strange at all. If people didn’t care they wouldn’t say anything at all.

    • June 13, 2014 at 11:13 pm
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      i also love all six films (& clone wars) i grew up with the OT, so obviously they are closer to my heart, but there is one thing i find even BETTER in the prequels & that is the fantastic music of mr.John Williams, can’t wait to see what he will do to ep.VII – IX & also if they will dust off the live action tv series, what he would possibly do with them (Lucas said he hoped Williams would do indivudual scores to every episode, even though they had not talked with him) I am that kind of fan that will probably LOVE everything they produce & soooon it is time for Rebels ! 🙂 🙂 🙂

    • June 14, 2014 at 12:19 am
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      I can be a huge fan of an artist and love an album but I don’t have to love every song. I don’t like the star wars holiday special, does that mean I’m not a star wars fan now?

    • June 14, 2014 at 2:54 am
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      Who can honestly say they loved the holiday special

  • June 13, 2014 at 9:42 pm
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    wasn’t this posted before about Pegg talking about SW 7 and such?

  • June 14, 2014 at 3:33 am
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    I think all 3 trilogies was things we never seen before making what Star Wars is, terrific.
    The first trilogy ( OT) showed us new things and effect that made us say WOW and want more….
    The second trilogy ( PT ) showed us new things like CGI, etc but made many fans go wopty dooo…..
    The third trilogy im sure will have the same…. New things we never seen before, great special effects we have never seen…. how ever will it make us feel WOW again or will we feel really miserable…..DEC 15 eill be judgement time….from a long time ago that iz……

    • June 14, 2014 at 5:05 am
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      I don’t care about the “latest and greatest” in visual effects. I want VII to mostly return to the OT’s visuals and put the focus back on characters, dialogue and story.

  • June 14, 2014 at 5:53 am
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    Wonder if pegg is aware that they used more masks and models for the PT then OT.
    Anyways anyone who think they will use less CGI then they did in PT is fooling them self.
    As long as we dont get annoying characters like jarjar for 6 year olds i think we will do just fine.

  • June 14, 2014 at 7:57 am
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    To every presumably older OT fan on here complaining of the fact that the saber duels in the PT were too flashy and ridiculous looking….get over it. Think for a second in the fact that these Jedi knights had years upon years of “sword” and combat training. Oh and let’s not forget they are super in tune with the force. So if a combat trained sword fighter, also has the advantage of foresight in a fight, being able to pull off super “human” feats, YEARS of training in styles, and how to handle any situation….do you really expect them to stand around cutting and slashing like a 12 year old (or 80 year old in Alec’s case) with a play sword for the first time? And furthermore I’d also go as far to say that back when the OT was filmed, I’m sure stunt choreography wasn’t what it is today. Hell even when I was a child watching the OT I thought to myself “why does it look like they gave these awesome Jedi a fake sword and just said, have at it, do what seems natural”. One of the most redeeming parts of the ST, and those are few and far between, is finally getting a chance to see what Jedi could really do! It’s called imagination, oh and not forget it’s not only science fiction, Star Wars is a FANTASY in space. These men and women called Jedi, are not just humans that grew up on earth, limited to what we know…they are a fantasy fiction SUPER heroes of sorts that can do extraordinary things. Not to be buried down in realism and I highly doubt a light saber can weight that much. I’ve seen people spar with cumbersome, 5 pound blunted steel broad swords that made it look as easy as a five year old with a fake plastic light saber and still was like watching a work of art. Whether Lucas invisioned a light saber being heavy or not, a light saber can NOT weigh near as much as steel. It’s a damn beam of light. If JJ Abrams goes back to the snooze fest retirement home duel that was obiwan vs darth vader in ANH, just cause OT hacks complained so much about it…I’ll not rewatch that garbage. This is FANTASY and a MOVIE about a galaxy that doesn’t exist, so take your VHS tapes outta your butts and learn the ways of the force. I hope there’s a 40 minute lightsaber duel, with a flip every second, that’s choreographed for months, just to piss every old codger without an imagination off. That is all.

    • June 14, 2014 at 9:08 am
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      what bugs me with PT and the lightsaber duels is that you can see that the actor are fighting NOTHING. worst a the Geonosis Battle .
      the actors are just waving the lightsaber in empty air.

      that’s one ting I realy dislike with PT

    • June 14, 2014 at 4:50 pm
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      There is a reason for it. The Jedi in the story ARE fighting nothing. The separatists are puppets of the Chancellor. The war is a deadly and damaging illusion.

      Maybe Lucas’ method of depicting that reinforces the message.

  • June 14, 2014 at 9:07 am
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    Look. Let’s think about this logically. If your best mate was making SW7 and you were as big a SW fan as us and Simon Pegg, wouldn’t you nag him for a bit part, even as an extra in the background, just so that for the rest of your time on this world, you could say, “I was actually in one of the movies from my favourite saga in the entirety of cinematic history”? Of course you would. Whether that knowledge ever will get released to the general public, or whether it will for evermore remain a secret between JJ and Pegg, remains to be seen. I say good luck to him, I hope he manages to wangle it. Imagine having the ear of the director like that. Lucky guy! ^_^

    • June 15, 2014 at 8:14 am
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      The Star Wars films do have an established record of using known British actors in small bit parts: Dennis Lawson, Celia Imrie. And there were cameos in the background of the PT from Jon Cryer, N-Sync. Be cool if Pegg was in there for two or three comic lines….

  • June 14, 2014 at 10:22 am
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    Im a big OT original fan but i say the PT lightsaber fights was the best….the only problems i had is that i wish they would have had Darth Maul and Darth Vader fight for total supremacy with the sith lords.. a fight between Sidious and Dooku…. And even Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan fighting General Grevious instead of Maul….. but they didnt, it was made too phony for us but at least the Darth Maul duel was fun, even though he didnt last that long in episode 1…..lol

    • June 16, 2014 at 4:53 am
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      I prefer the OT fights, but Maul definitely should’ve lived until III to fight Vader.

  • June 14, 2014 at 12:13 pm
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    I just pooped myself.

  • June 14, 2014 at 2:30 pm
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    Hm, naturally I am excited about new starwars. Although I do not like Abrams (arrogant, mediocer, …), in fact I hate what he did to Startrek, I like the idea of going for less CGI. I also think he is better suited for Star Wars than for Startrek (which he allways said should bemore like SW, which is what he did to it and theirby ruined its purpose). To come to the point: I am not thrilled about moving to many Abrams-Startrek-People into the SW. So although Pegg is a British, and hence quite good actor, SW could do without him.

  • June 14, 2014 at 2:38 pm
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    What we saw sofar from the new SW was i.m.o. nice. Less CGI more Farscape puppets, models, … – sounds like a good idea. SW needs to be different to mainstream Scify. Now Abrams unfortunately turned Startrek (which was also different to mainstream Scify – essentially it was about moral conversations in capreted rubolifts) into a standard Ironman-like-action-movie (boxoff successful though it was), that just happend to have Trek in its title. I really had the impression that with Starwars he would pull it off and not make the same mistakes than with Trek. So pychologically I would not like Pegg in SW.

  • June 14, 2014 at 4:47 pm
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    The problem with reality in 2010 is that it doesn’t look gritty enough. I mean, there are two wars going on in the middle East but people just go on about their lives like nothing is happening.

    Maybe the style over substance in the PT means something. Maybe they reflect the Republic and the old Jedi Order. The Clone Wars does a better job than the PT of explaining the story, true. The story is a good one, though. As long as the nee movies don’t spit on and contradict the story I’m happy. The pt, ot, and st all tell different stories with different messages. To accomplish that, the tone and style of each SHOULD be different.

  • June 15, 2014 at 12:27 pm
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    People who want to know why these films will possible gritty and not Polished like PT..just maybe it hasn’t a easy road after the emperor was destroyed… if you read the EU thrawn kept up the fight and then Vong attacked and did way worse… could be a million reasons why the new republic hasn’t been fully restored to greatness like PT showed. I just happy this isn’t going to be a CGI flooded film. I would love to see real props and puppets over everything CGI and green screen…the art of making a movie should be traveling to different locations. Dealing with wind rain snow. Building stages and props. Making costumes. What’s in the avatar vaults a green screen and a computer…. just imagine going to the Lucas vaults..if you saw in the DICE battlefront trailer.

  • June 15, 2014 at 12:31 pm
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    People who want to know why these films will possible gritty and not Polished like PT..just maybe it hasn’t a easy road after the emperor was destroyed… if you read the EU thrawn kept up the fight and then Vong attacked and did way worse… could be a million reasons why the new republic hasn’t been fully restored to greatness like PT showed. I just happy this isn’t going to be a CGI flooded film. I would love to see real props and puppets over everything CGI and green screen…the art of making a movie should be traveling to different locations. Dealing with wind rain snow. Building stages and props. Making costumes. What’s in the avatar vaults a green screen and a computer…. just imagine going to the Lucas vaults..if you saw in the DICE battlefront trailer.

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