Adam Driver and Gwendoline Christie at the Venice Film Festival.
Two of the many actors who put the “star” in Star Wars: Episode VII were recently at the Venice Film Festival. Find out who grabbed an award after the jump . . .
The 71st Venice International Film Festival wrapped last night with the presentation of the awards ceremony. The week long gala in the similar style to the Cannes Film Festival saw our own Star Wars: Episode VII Adam Driver take home the Volpi Cup given to the best actor and actress. Driver, most known for his role on the TV show “Girls,” proved his acting chops on the international scene for his role in the Saverio Costanzo film Hungry Hearts. The Volpi honor now goes on his resume alongside his two Primetime Emmy nominations, thus further solidifying Driver as a legitimate star.
When asked about his role in Episode VII of course Driver spilled the beans all over the floor giving away HUGE spoilers much to the chagrin of director JJ Abrams and Disney – NOT – instead dutifully abiding his NDA by simply stating, “I will say this – it’s surreal.” That’s all he said. Sorry, spoiler-mongers! However, canada.com posted an article about Adam Driver with an interesting take from the actor albeit unclear as to when and where the quote was made:
“It’s all about stories and character, just like the originals.”
Another of our stars, Gwendoline Christie, was also seen at the Venice festival this week. And she was a bit more forthcoming about the top secret production saying, “There’s snipers trained on us right now.” Err, maybe not so forthcoming after all. Of course, I kid, as we all know that everyone associated with the production can’t say a word because if they did they’d have to kill us, at least everyone on the internets.
But Adam Driver isn’t the only Star Wars-related personality to be honored this week . . . sort of. Digital Spy revealed their list of the top 9 Most Influential Women in Hollywood and our own Kathleen Kennedy came in first place:
When George Lucas handed over the keys to his Lucasfilm kingdom he turned to Kathleen Kennedy, who began her Hollywood career as Steven Spielberg’s secretary and swiftly rose through the ranks to produce hits such as Raiders of the Lost Ark, Jurassic Park and The Sixth Sense.
Disney’s acquisition of Lucasfilm signaled an aggressive intent to relaunch Star Wars for a new generation – following on from Episode VII, we’ll get to see big-screen sequels and spinoffs, an animated TV show, fresh Star Wars comics, novels and video games in a huge cross-media tapestry weaving together George Lucas’s universe.
The pop cultural landscape over the next decade could get totally reshaped by Star Wars (and let’s not forget Lucasfilm could also revive Indiana Jones), and Kennedy is the one entrusted with steering the ship.
This is by no means an official honor but most certainly makes all the sense in the world. Right now each and every one of the talented people involved with Star Wars: Episode VII are supernova white hot. Once their roles in The Sequel Trilogy conclude they will be in high demand for many other projects such as Martin Scorsese’s Silence for Driver which is currently in pre-production.
The ‘stars’ are not telling, but the producers seem to be. Or are they? That cast photo is orchestrated so as to make us believe that certain actor/actresses are playing particular roles because of their seating positions. Very unlikely – more likely it’s disinformation! So, anything that comes along from ‘sources’ like Mizzlewump, et al, has to be taken with a large dose of salt.
Put the Star where? neither of these two are money makers neither are stars, when they can command 20 mill a pic you let me know that’s the mark of a STAR these are up and commers and he sucks as it is!
“It’s all about stories and character, just like the originals.”
*cue prequel fanboys somehow trying to make this out to be a bad thing*
ok smart ass, here’s how it’s a bad thing: it assumes that the prequels had no characters or story. The problem is that you OT fanboys think you are the only ones who know the definition of “entertaining movie.”
@ anon 23:09
even for a news story that has nothing to do with the movies, you original trilogy cult followers feel it necessary to insult episodes i-iii. I’m heading over to the forums to get away from this aggressive bias.
Well driver did specify the originals. And He’s not the only one.
Anon @ 05:01 AM
“Aggressive bias”? Oh please. They hardly said anything, and you’re already limping away with your tail between your legs. The ST does not bode well for fans like you.
Expect LOTS of unfavourable comparisons between these two trilogies in your future. Hell, the standalones will probably be more engaging than the crappy first half of the Original Saga.
Excuse me. When did I insult ep 1-3? Never. All I said was that I knew people were going to complain about this quote because it praised the OT. and you know something? I was absolutely right;
“ok smart ass, here’s how it’s a bad thing:”
But hey, you can make out that I’M being the one out of place if it really makes you happy..
Adam Driver’s hair is long eh? Definitely a 70’s vibe going there…
They can’t really have snipers aiming at their actors, can they? After all, they may need them for some pick-up shots later.
Of course, we may be talking about tranquilizer darts here …
The audience for any leaks could be humanely neuralyzed:
*FLASH* “Ladies and gentlemen, Gwendoline told you nothing whatsoever about the plot of Episode 7. She was just raving about what a great character Jar-Jar Binks is.”
if anyone could believably be a different species, based on looks, it is Driver.
Driver an alien villain?
i hope so
Having Driver as a dark villain would be flat casting, imo. I think that he would be much better utilized with his vulnerability and innocence. There is a dopiness about him that is very endearing and real.
I think that he will also have a love interest, since he is such a heartthrob to women. This makes it seem less likely that he is a villain.
Don’t underestimate the power of a sweeping love story being a central story in the new trilogy. I could see Driver being a focal point, and reluctant hero.
It’s fun to listen to the OT and PT fans argue. The PT didnt have bad ideas, it waz just that it waz too boring. Lucas could have put more action in the PT, but instead had too much drama with Padme and Anakin. Also, the OT fans got pissed off the most when Lucas waited until last 10 min of the whole dam PT to finally show Darth Vader.. How many fans at least would have wanted to see Vader early in episode 3 and kick some azz ?…. This is how the movie world works kids… You make the movies fun, the fans will love you. Piss the fans off with crap, they will let you know. After all, us fans are the ones paying 7 to 10 dam dollars to see these movies. We have the right to be pissed off or not….
The PT’s action bored me because the battle droids were uninteresting, mostly goofy and lacked being a real challenge for the Jedi, so adding more action and less drama wouldn’t have done much for me.
I didn’t care about seeing a suited Vader anywhere as much as seeing characters I deeply cared about. The PT’s characters were handled so poorly, I thought Vader being burned alive or later hollering “Nooooooo!” were friggin’ hilarious.
It needed MORE action!? What films did YOU watch!? It was like a video game with so much rubbish on the screen. I wanted more drama. The lack of drama, stakes, emotion, made the film completely tiresome to watch because it was impossible to get invested in such a lack of tension or drama, unless your brain has a drama threshold of a three year old.
That is a really terrible picture of Kathleen Kennedy! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nf0oXY4nDxE
Oh shut up. She’s 61 and looks great in that picture. She’s heading the new generation of star wars, you have nothing to do but kiss her feet.
7 – 10 dollars .Man you Americans get in cheap. Try £10 in England 🙂
Adam driver looks very much like that young character from the rebels tv series !