Christina Chong Talks Star Wars: Episode 7.
Actress and parkour-training Christina Chong, who recently wrapped her scenes for Star Wars: Episode VII, spoke with the Standard and shared some interesting bits about herself, and why joining Star Wars has been such an incredible adventure…
From Standard.co.uk
“My boyfriend is a huge Star Wars fan and kept saying I needed to watch it. I was busy doing my thing but got round to watching when I knew I was auditioning. I thought I was going to be watching this dated film but it’s brilliant and timeless. I absolutely loved it.”
This is Chong’s fourth film, after minor roles in Madonna’s W.E. and Johnny English Reborn. She is best known to Londoners for TV performances — she was Lorna Bucket in Doctor Who, CIA worker Mariana in 24, and in Line of Duty she gave a ruthless performance as hardboiled DS Nicola Rogerson. She makes a good female action hero and is also starring in Halo Nightfall, a YouTube series based on the computer game, which is one of the latest moves changing the way in which we watch television.
Those in charge of the Star Wars publicity juggernaut have told Chong she has to be careful and not divulge too much about her role until the hotly awaited film is out next year but she will be working with just about everyone, from Harrison Ford to Carrie Fisher and fellow Londoner Daisy Ridley. “Unfortunately, all I can say is it was incredible to be involved. It is probably the biggest film in cinema history and to be part of that is amazing. People are very fond of it.”
From the last sentence it appears that Chong’s role will not be very small as some people thought. Especially if she indeed had worked with all those actors.
For the full interview make sure to go to Standard.co.uk
Founder of SWNN, MNN and The Cantina forums.
Born on April 24, 1980.
Oh My! having chong with more screen time could be a good thing, we may see some action puddle slow motion freeze frame fancy foot work going on lol and besides, she is cute. Just saying!
“action puddle”. I know what you mean. I’m starting to think JJ will strike a balance between PT action/star killer force powers and OT low key force powers.
Luke making that jump away from the carbonite machine was like a WTF!!?! moment in Empire. Because it was rare it had more impact. The PT trilogy was a little too much and looked very fake at times.
Hopefully JJ gets it right. I would like to see a character take down an AT-AT or something big with the force alone by episode IX though. Maybe two characters throwing Star Destroyers at each other…JK that would suck ;P
Careful there lets not Dragon Ball Z-i-size star wars. Star destroyers are cool enough even if they just serve as remains on a battlefield… though I’m hoping to see them in action again… haha.
I think JJ will balance all that stuff out by making the jumps, falls, fighting, etc. MUCH more plausible. Hence, using parkour professionals and stunt people, like Chloe Bruce.
We probably won’t see characters fall 10+ stories and land on their feet without a scratch.
So what?..
“We probably won’t see characters fall 10+ stories and land on their feet without a scratch.”
Yeah, sure we would’nt want that, cause having people waving their hands and pull/throw small objects around or deflecting laser bullets with laser swords is so, so much more plausible, since these are in fact, actual, real, war drama movies and have nothing to do with FICTION!
Anon @ 21:55 PM
I’m fine with all those things because I recognize that Star Wars is Science Fantasy, but there comes a point with the Jedi and Sith’s movements where it crosses the line for me.
I want a certain degree of realism with these characters, not Force sensitives who are near-indestructable superheroes. Otherwise, a lot of tension is lost.
Pretty sure Yoda wasn’t left “without a scratch” when he fell several stories after his duel with Palpatine.
Otherwise, I agree with your post.
Did he break any bones or sustain any serious injuries from his fall? If not, then it’s basically the same thing.
“Luke making that jump away from the carbonite machine was like a WTF!!?! moment in Empire. Because it was rare it had more impact. The PT trilogy was a little too much and looked very fake at times.”
Sorry but you don’t seem to give any context to one era where Luke is the only active Jedi and still learning his powers compared to an era where there are thousands of Jedi and we are watching the best of the best in Yoda, Mace, Anakin and Obi-Wan not to mention the Sith all at the height of their powers.
I would say it never looked fake for one sec ond in that context. I think you are going to be very, very diappointed in these new films because JJ is not likely going to want to take things backwards visually from what has come before. Star Wars is about pushing the visuals forward not back.
It’s like you don’t like anything the PT did on principle no matter what they did and hide behind this idea of “fake” like somehow there is a “real” way to do it.
There isn’t.
In regards to fakenss I think there is some truth to how things look in the PT… the scenes that specifically come to mind are any of those where a Jedi or Sith loses a limb or two, very fake looking… like the actors don’t react to losing a limb very well. In most war movies when someone loses a limb they usually freak the hell out.
In the OT when someone loses a limb they sure do react like it… in ANH that bloody arm on the floor is as gruesome as it should be. When Luke’s hand gets chopped off he looks like someone that just lost their hand. Etc, etc.
Another scene… when Obi wan gets crushed under that platform in ROTS… that looked super fake.
I don’t mind the superhuman jedi stuff though, like the force running in Episode I looked cool.
I thought Anakin’s leap from one car to the other in Episode II intro was a little far fetched. I mean, we get it, he’s the best jedi… but that would be insanely difficult/ impossible to calculate if you could even survive the fall. If he could then Windu might actually have survived the fall after being electrocuted by Palpatine.
Luke’s fall from the platform after loosing his arm in Empire I was never too clear on… I was a small kid when I saw that for the first time… the impression I got was that he didn’t guide himself into that vent shaft… it looks more like he was sucked into it because the music implied he was falling & out of control. Any thoughts?
I think JJ’s work speaks for itself… we are going to get some pretty crazy action going on. I’d expect to see Jedi & Sith doing a lot of superhuman things and intense light saber fights/ acrobatics given the cast involved.
Into Darkness scene where Kirk & Khan fly from one ship to another, or when Kirk & the doctor jump from that cliff into the ocean & swim to the Enterprise… that’s some super human action going on. That’s what I’d expect to see… but I kind of like that stuff. I didn’t think it looked fake in the Star Treks.
I also think Luke was sucked up after his fall.
You misunderstood me. I mean the cgi used looked bad. I dont mind all the force powers as long as it doesnt look so obviously CGI. The first Matrix looked much better or “real” than the sequel reloaded, for example.
Also style is important. I think it has to be done right. Yoda jumping around was lame in my opinion. Too much. Maybe one jumping combo would have been fine but it was too much as it stands.
Aras Volodka is right about the Obi-Wan getting smashed scene in ROTS. It looked fake or CGI. You can’t argue that it could have been done better even back in 2004-05. It should have been along with many other PT scenes.
I know they say she is working with all cast members, but the fact that they specifically mention Ford, Fisher, and Ridley, makes me wonder if she is friend of Han/Leia’s daughter?
“From the last sentence it appears that Chong’s role will not be very small as some people thought.”
How so? The last sentence says nothing about how big her role will be.
She worked “with just about everyone”. Obviously she is not doing only a cameo.
Apparently:
She said something like “My manager doesn’t want me to tell you how much time I spent with Carrie Fisher and Harrisson Ford” in Londoner Standard TV programme, waiting for the interview getting published.
She sounds like a body guard to be working with those cast members.
Maybe Kira’s whilst she goes on a personal journey so Daisy could still be a Solo child.
I think she will be killed in the line of duty during VII though.
What makes you think she might be killed? Padme’s body guard in Episode I, played by Hugh Quarshie, wasn’t killed.
But was he seen in episodes 2 & 3? I don’t think so!!!
Not the character’s fault. Hugh wanted more money or whatever. My point is the body guard survived the film he was introduced in, so why are some people automatically speculating the death of Christina’s character in VII?
Hmmm at least she admits to never having seen Star Wars but that is a bit of a disgrace… every once in a while I encounter one of those people & I’m convinced they have no soul. Something is off!
I don’t get why her role would be small if she was working with all the actors.
I don’t know, female protagonist equivalent of Boba Fett? might work, might not…
thoughts?
(the quick comment message is a little buggy, am I being blocked??)
Nope, you aren’t being blocked. The comments section just acts up every now and again. Be sure to copy and paste your messages before posting them.
A lot of people haven’t seen Star Wars, its not a big deal.
I’m just being silly, well sort of. I do feel as though there is this bond between all Star Wars folk… despite all the time we spend arguing about effects, gender equality, George Lucas, the EU, & god only knows what else. But yeah, there is just something about Star Wars folk that makes me feel like there is some type of connection you can’t get with someone who hasn’t seen the films or has no interest in them.
@ Anon 17:01… no plz not this road again. We’ve already seen it in SW… the assassin in Episode II… female. I think the furthest thing from my mind when watching that sequence in Episode II was the fact that this sniper mutant has a vagina. I think I was a bit too in awe of seeing the chase scene through Coruscant @ night time.
I think it goes without saying there will be female leads in the films… I think it will be a good thing. When I look at the OT films & even many PT scenes, it is very strange how sparse the female population is.
The assassin’s creepy alien face kinda reminded me of a vagina, but only when I bothered to explore question “Why is her creepy face kinda turning me on?” ^_-
I mean, it wasn’t even a young vagina. That face has been on many missions before.
Maybe Leia needs a security detail
Rose Byrne and Keira Knightly became huge stars after landing minor roles in the PT. Should we expect the same for Chong?
it can simply be one short action scene that harrison/daisy/carrie are in. The fact that she is performing alongside all these people does not necessarily mean her part is large.
Re: the lack of female representation.
This goes back to Roman history, where all you see described are the exploits of men, the warriors.
Comic books do the same thing. And SW is male centric, too.
Daisy looks like the lead in this, and that’s good. There’s more to life than the Disney Princess for girls to look up to.
I would like to bring up one contention… there are a lot of female characters in comics… Xmen came to mind right away, which I think would pass the bechdel test. I can’t even think about how many examples there are because there’s just too many to count (teams of superheroes with multiple female memebers). Even in the Indy scene, there’s comics like Persopolis & Lynda Barry books.
I don’t think Lucas purposefully under-represented women in SW… I’m not even sure if it was something on his mind. Though I did just re-watch Indy temple of doom… holy ***t is that film sexist. But there’s a lot of un-pc things going on in Indy anyway (haha). Temple of doom was the most blatant. I know SW gets a bad rap for racial stereotyping, but I seriously think GL just doesn’t give it a lot of thought… He was just trying to draw from real life cultures in the same way Cameron did with Avatar & the native americ-… I mean the Navi or whatever they are called. I actually wish storytellers would try to think of other ways to present alien cultures, because there’s so many potential variables that I think would be far more interesting than mexicans or Jamaicans in space.
He’s not racist; he’s just Lucas! He knows not what he does…. ^_^
I know what you’re thinking… I’m not one of the mindless Lucas worshippers. But I do think he has some type of mental condition. I remember in the people vs. George Lucas, one of the folks interviewed had mentioned that Lucas actually did think his revisions in the specialized edition were good & that the PT is good. I think that opinion was verified by an excerpt I remember reading where Lucas had attended a screening of ANH unaltered… he showed physical signs of discomfort @ some of the scenes where he didn’t like the old special fx. It’s also a good explanation of why He’s so adamant for not re-releasing unaltered OT.
I seriously don’t think Lucas is purposefully racist or sexist. If you think about it our culture has changed a lot since the 80’s… a lot of things that would be shocking today were like “yeah, whatever” back then. I’d imagine that difference was 10 fold since Lucas’s youth… like he grew up when black people were still being lynched kind of thing.
I guess in another context it might be sort of like how current Bill Cosby fans who are white might think they aren’t racist when they agree with what he says about black culture even if it is racist. Does that make more sense?
NOPE!!!!! But I’m luvin’ it! 😀
She is hot. Glad she is in movie. Maybe she will be in Lei type outfit via ANH? Bring it. Her boyfriend is one lucky man; considering her physical abilities im willing to bet she “bends” into all kinds of positions……..
get your mind out of the gutter son
Ps…her name is Leia. And the sexy outfit wasnt in A New Hopem..it was in Return of the Jedi.
Always the same. The best, greatest movie ever. oh all are great, the atmosphere on the set is great, it was wonderful.
And I remember the atmosphere at dinner when I took you out that time. You said that you would pay next time but all you have done is ignore me.
We’ve changed something. Can someone tell me if you’re getting the “you’re posting too fast” error again?
I received that message again a moment ago. Thank you for taking the time to look into this! 😀
No… But that’s what my girlfriend keeps telling me.
Go back, refresh her vagina, and try again. That’s what I do.
Can confirm.
…maybe it`s always the same because that was what actually happened – you can just imagine how electric the atmosphere on set must have been,they were making the most eagerly awaited film ever:} – as JJ said at the start of filming,the whole world (or near enough) is waiting for this.
The bummer is that nothing is subtle in movies anymore. Even in a movie like Fast and Furious the characters have Jedi like abilities jumping from car to car. Being able to jump far and survive is something normal people do in movies nowadays. Whats a Jedi to do?
Umm, not be a boring, creepy, sexless asshole? Wait, they probably need stunt people for that.
https://vimeo.com/52009021
Her reel is very boring… How did she get this job?
Maybe they were more interested in her acting.
Yeah, it’s not about realism per se. It’s about believability. The fact that this is fantasy doesn’t decrease the need for things to feel convincing, it increases that need. Making the implausible feel believable is half the magic of high fantasy.
She Really looks like Daisy at first glance. every time today i come back to this page i think its her for a quick sec…
I’m going to put my neck out and say shes Daisy’s stunt double. That would certainly buy her a lot of screen time with most of the actors.
Remember your words. There may be some truth to it.
Still looks chinese Jeniffer Garner
The lightsaber choreography was much better in the OT. Way too much useless spinning in the PT. Warriors don’t spin blades in the middle of combat. At least smart human ones don’t.
I like the simplicity of the OT fights, they were emotional, not choreography dependent.
There was some useless spinning though,
Obi-wan should have died at 35 secs.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kpHK4YIwY4
That little twirl Alec Guinness did was priceless, no wonder he wanted Ben dead.
We always think that Daisy is Han and Leia’s daughter but, what if Christine and the other parkour guy are the Solo’s children? That will explain their skill habilities and they are two, same age and look.
Are there not other Force sensitives in the galaxy besides the SkySolos?