UPDATE 2! Entertainment Weekly’s Exclusive Look at Star Wars: The Force Awakens! Harrison Ford Interview. What title does Leia go by in TFA?
Entertainment Weekly will be releasing a special double issue this Friday dedicated to Star Wars: The Force Awakens. These collector editions feature four different covers: Han Solo, Rey, Finn, and R2-D2 and C-3PO. They also promised that they have some more interesting reveals coming up throughout the day…
Here are some snippets of what you’ll find inside:
Behind-the-scenes of The Force Awakens
From the origins of George Lucas handing off his saga to a new generation, to how the artists and storytellers unleashed their imaginations to come up with new creatures, locations, and characters. This story talks to the major players and reveals never-before-seen images from the film.
We go light on spoilers, but Abrams does tease a few character details, including background on Lupita Nyong’o’s alien pirate Maz Kanata, what name Princess Leia is known by now, and what we need to know about Starkiller Base, the planet-sized weapon glimpsed in the movie’s poster.
The Return of Han Solo
We venture into Harrison Ford’s airplane hangar in Santa Monica for an in-depth interview with the death-defying actor about surviving his real-life plane crash, surviving a Millennium Falcon door slamming on him during filming, and Han Solo surviving long enough for the actor to play him again.
Where Is Luke Skywalker?
We can’t answer that question. (That’s the movie’s job.) But Abrams and Mark Hamill explain how the last Jedi went from hero to intergalactic man of mystery. The galaxy’s memory of Skywalker may have faded, but don’t worry – the filmmakers have not forgotten him.
Finn and Rey
Daisy Ridley and John Boyega talk about breaking down racial and gender barriers in Star Wars, as well as finding friendship – in real life, and onscreen – through a desert scavenger and a runaway stormtrooper who have more in common than you’d expect.
Creatures and Vehicles
Secrets of BB-8 and the Jakku alien huckster known as Bobbajo, and tech specs from the production design team for Rey’s rust-flecked speeder and the refurbished Millennium Falcon.
Dressing the Galaxy
Molly Smith writes about the costumes and make-up of The Force Awakens and its predecessors, detailing the secrets of Kylo Ren’s mask, Han Solo’s jacket, and Rey’s desert gear – and some of the more iconic outfits from the original trilogy.
The 1-Minute Guide
Your go-to guide to each of the previous six Star Wars films. Kevin P. Sullivan’s wry rundown is for those who, you know, haven’t had time over the past 38 years to stay current.
Canon Fodder
Once there was the “expanded universe,” and then it shrunk. Darren Franich explores the known reaches of which stories make up the current Star Wars galaxy, from the comics, to games, novels, TV and film.
Stay tuned to Entertainment Weekly for some new images and information throughout the day.
Pick up Entertainment Weekly’s special Star Wars: The Force Awakens double issue on newsstands Friday.
UPDATE 1!
The first new story for the day is an interview with Harrison Ford:
Excerpt from Entertainment Weekly:
He repeatedly said he wished Solo had been killed off in Return of the Jedi to give the final film in the original trilogy emotional gravity. He told NBC’s Today back then, “I was glad to see that costume for the last time.”
The 73-year-old star has softened significantly now that the planet is beside itself awaiting his return in Star Wars: The Force Awakens. “I was glad that the character was still alive for me to play in this new iteration,” he says.
Ford does play favorites when it comes to his two most iconic characters. He has made no secret about preferring Indiana Jones to Han Solo, and he’s ready to put the fedora back on and jump into action for Indy 5 any time Steven Spielberg and the gang at Lucasfilm decide to get the ball rolling (so to speak.)
“Oh, yeah. Yeah, I’d love to do another Indiana Jones,” he says, sitting at a round picnic table in the back of the hangar. “A character that has a history and a potential, kind of a rollicking good movie ride for the audience, Steven Spielberg as a director — what’s not to like?”
Asked if he watched the Force Awakens trailer debut along with the rest of the world during halftime on Monday Night Football, he answers: “I was trying to watch the damn football game!” Only grudgingly does he admit that everything stopped for a moment at his home with Flockhart and their son while it aired. But just for a moment. “We were in the middle of preparing dinner and doing homework, and…” He shrugs. “Just watching it over our shoulder.”
“No, there’s not an abandoning of the character,” Ford says, more earnestly than you’d expect from Mr. I-Guess-We-Watched-The-Trailer. “He does not aspire to the position of Obi-‘Ben’ Kenobi, nor do I aspire to be some New Age Alec Guinness. His development is consistent with the character, and there are emotional elements which have occasioned his growth.”
Has Lucasfilm talked to you about their young Han Solo film slated for 2018?
Ford leans back and smiles. “I think they’re probably talking to the young Han Solo.”
What advice would you give to the actor they cast to help him get inside Solo’s head?
“I would say, ‘Talk to your director. Watch the movies. And welcome aboard. Make it your own.’”
How do you feel about someone else picking up the blaster?
“I never thought about it.”
For the full interview go to Entertainment Weekly.
UPDATE 2!
Leia is a princess no more. Mostly anyway. EW continues delivering the goods today with its piece on Leia. Including the fact that she no longer goes by Princess, but instead is referred to as General.
“She’s referred to as General,” says director and co-writer J.J. Abrams. “But … there’s a moment in the movie where a character sort of slips and calls her “Princess”.
Among the other information included in the piece, it is revealed that Leia is not going to be having much fun in this film.
Part of the reason it was a big adjustment is Leia is far from the movie’s comic relief. As Abrams said, her story is one of the heavier ones in the film. So how is the General handling things when we meet her again?
“Not easily,” Fisher says, describing Leia as, “solitary. Under a lot of pressure. Committed as ever to her cause, but I would imagine feeling somewhat defeated, tired, and pissed.”
The piece also has some comments from JJ Abrams and Fisher on her return to acting and the experience of the veteran cast members.
For the full piece check out EW.
Founder of SWNN, MNN and The Cantina forums.
Born on April 24, 1980.
“Starkiller Base, the planet-sized weapon glimpsed in the movie’s poster.”
So that’s confirmed.
Indeed. I’m afraid they’re starting to give away a lot during these last weeks.
I don’t think it’s that big a deal. We knew about the Death Star from the opening crawl in ’77.
We still don’t officially know the basic premise yet. There is a lot they can tell us that won’t spoil the movie.
Actually, we knew about it at least 6 months before the movie ever came out, as the novelization was out already back then. Thankfully, there was no internet to demolish people’s enjoyment of the movie back then. 😉
Its actually been here; http://www.starwars.com/databank/starkiller-base for months.
Exactly. Does no one but the two of us read starwars.com?
Three…
I was saying it was confirmed that the thing on the poster is SB, not what SB is. I know about the databank description. Some speculated, knowing what SB was described as, that the poster image was of a Resistance weapon and we were being thrown off on purpose by the similarities to the DS.
uh oh
Yeah that’s been confirmed for like months
Pretty sure it wasn’t officially confirmed that the thing on the poster was Starkiller Base. It fit the description, but some speculated that we were being thrown off and it was a Resistance weapon and not a planet.
They clearly showed the ice planet death star right on the movie poster.
Save the pictures and the file names are interesting. Must be a joke because Finn’s is Finn Calrissian.
Daisy’s Weapon looks more like a Vibrostaff than a Dual Blade Lightsaber
Why are people obsessed with the staff having to break off into being a lightsaber?
closure lool
I actually would like to see what a trained force user could do with only a staff.
“Daisy Ridley and John Boyega talk about breaking down racial and gender barriers in Star Wars”
LOL Is this for real? Have they not seen the other movies? The only barrier this movie breaking is the age barrier. So many old people! 😉
he has a point, women and black people are misrepresented all the time but now they are the leads of a big franchise
“Misrepresented”? I’m not even sure what that means. In any case, the “barrier” for women was broken in A New Hope & the “barrier” for blacks was broken in Empire Strikes Back, so I’m not sure what these 2 think they’re doing. Methinks this is just silly marketing nonsense to get demographics interested.
dude the black guys still dies first in most fucking movie, plus he always acts like a thug in most films, how isn’t that misrepresenting
None of that applies to Star Wars, or most movies in general. Nothing special or revolutionary is happening here.
It seems that overstating the importance of meaningless entertainment that is indistiguishable from entertainment from the 1970’s (except for the CGI) is the latest hollywood pitch. This casting would’ve been revolutionary in the 60’s, but today it’s mundane.
Pretty much. I’d say even as late as the 1980’s this type of casting would have been unique. Now it’s just the sign of the times. Diversity for diversity’s sake. Storytelling be damned. Don’t get me wrong though I suspect that this movie will be great despite the politics on display. I’ll just have to ignore all of it to enjoy the film.
How is diversity for diversity’s sake? They tested actors from many races, including White, from all over the world. John Boyega was the best and got the part.
Isn’t that how it should be, anyway?
Not really. Marvel has made several films and, although we are going to, we haven’t gotten one yet that its lead star isn’t a white man.
Aside Will Smith, not many Black men have lead huge blockbusters.
Star Wars is making a bet here with a woman and a person of colour as leads, but I think it will pay off, because it’s not about their gender or skin. They are just characters who happen to be that way.
Preach
thank you for writing that out loud. love Ridley and Boyega but this shit is just plain bs
What is BS about it? I mean yeah, there are LOADS of leading female characters. But tell me the black heroes and leads of sci-fi fantasy films. I’ll wait…
well tell me asian or indian or native american or spanish leads in sci-fi films. that’s not the point; its not 1955 anymore, 95% of racial barriers in entertainment business are long dead and gone, i refuse to believe that actors are casted in US or UK in 2015 based on their skin color rather than acting ability (hence that Boyega was auditioning for male lead in SW not black male lead; meaning any actor, regardless of his skin color could have Finn role, had he been better than John).
if anyone was tearing these barriers down it was Billy Dee and Carrie back in a day, we’re living in a different age now
Apart from Will Smith. Tell me the black LEADS in Sci Fi or Fantasy films.
Who cares.
It’s not an issue. Just stating facts. But I could care less about barrier breaking. Just give Finn the saber and let him fight
there are non, but like I said before, all other ethnicities than white are not there as well. its crucial to understand that this problem is not exclusively afro-american and it shouldn’t be looked at that way. we have 300+ years of colonial history and it impossible to reverse its effects in only 50 years.
once again, I believe it is really offensive to use John as some sort of slogan, cause in this way we are reducing him to his skin color which is the exact opposite of what it was all about in a first place.
Believe
Carrie – White, Luke – White, Han – White, Kylo – white, Rey – White, – Hux -white, Phasma – white, Poe – Latino (But really white) Finn – Black…… It’s noticeable, it will be brought up and if it’s being brought up in a positive light than who cares. Whites see themselves everywhere so it’s no big deal when they are in a movie like this. Minorities don’t so that’s why it’s a big deal. Once it becomes a normal thing when more minority actors not named Will Smith are leading blockbuster movies then it will stop being a big deal.
Vader was half-black … and all black on the outside!
Wesley Snipes – Blade?
That’s one.
If Blade counts then Spawn, Black Panther, and Luke Cage/Falcon who are rumored to have films in the works.
The current Captain America is black too so I can easily see him being recast seeing as how Evans is about done with the role.
Riddick.
Mixed race.
Obama is as well but in nearly every story about him it’s “America’s first black President” which is technically a half truth.
There was a shitty film called Supernova out a few years ago that had a black lead in it as well.
Ice Cube, Ice-T, Mark Wahlberg – wait, I’m not sure about Ice-T, he might be American Indian… Tupac, any of the Wayans brothers, Shaq, Michael Jordan, Carl Weathers… Laurence Fishburne, Michael Jackson, oh and of course SAMUEL L. JACKSON… double sheesh!
Lando was just a dude who was in charge of Cloud City. Not a hero, not one of with the force, just a guy. So….how was that barrier broken?
Just a dude who got the rebels out of Cloud City, helped rescue Luke Skywalker and Han Solo, became a General and destroyed the second Death Star. But definitely not a hero…
Did he have the force? Was he a jedi? I love Lando. But he was a side character and not one of the lead heroes.
You didn’t say anything about leads. You said he was “just a guy” and “not a hero” and I disagreed.
Yeah and Han is just a side character according to your reasoning… sheesh!
He is a side character and not a main. Has no saber, has no force powers
He wasn’t the lead of the film. Finn is. There is a difference.
Many shows have a supporting Black character. When Scandal had a Black lead character, it was different.
That wasn’t my argument. Read my second comment.
movie trivia fact, that many seem to forget:
Billy Dee portrayed Harvey Dent in the first Batman movie (1989) – a character exclusively depicted in comics and following movies and video games as white – now this is barrier breaking.
ONCE AGAIN, I think Boyega as an artist suffers tremendously because of this whole THE BLACK LEAD IN SW marketing. a caucasian actor would get the press as the new talent discovered by Abrams making his international debut, while John is reduced to some sort of racial breaking slogan
Well that’s another conversation. Unless Disney are morons. They would not just cast any person. So Boyega is not crap. BUT, it is something to talk about having a co-lead in a fantasy film that is not caucasian.
And Harvey Dent in that Batman film was a side character not a lead.
agreed, I did not list him as lead, I mentioned it as a real racial barrier breaking example I was refereeing to in one of my previous comments.
Nailed it. This whole “white man’s guilt” complex that the media has does nothing but belittle those they would presume to want to buoy up.
Bily Dee Williams was hardly in Batman the movie and they recast him as Tommy Lee Jones in Batman Forever, a white dude when the role was stepped up to the main villain. And now Billy Dee Williams race is irrelevant to the character of Lando after the movie came out. But If the internet was around back then I couldn’t imagine the types of comments he would get. I mean just go on youtube and look at all racist comments Boyega gets and get back to me. I’m sure after the movie comes out and hopefully Boyega performs well and everyone likes the movie then it will become a non issue. Just like when Will Smith and Denzel first became big stars leading movies people always brought up their race now to most people their are just Will and Denzel. Hopefuly John will enjoy the same success.
what about mace windu, he was the best fighter in the jedi order the only one who manage to beat the emperor … this is just silly there was no racial or gender thing in star wars at all …
Did you miss the high praise Han poured on Lando – he was clearly impressed (before he got stabbed in the back) AND did you skip ROTJ entirely?
Thanks for belittling Lando. Nice work.
Not belittling, but just telling the truth. Good character, GREAT work by Billy Dee. But he was secondary and not a primary focus. Just someone that helped them
You’re doing it again. Lando blows up the death star in RoTJ, while Han…opens a door for half the movie. The point is some people are implying that some sort of barrier existed that prevented Lando from being an “important” character, which is also false.
Yeah.. and all is well in the universe.. ho-hum.
It is rather silly how they’re acting like they’re doing something fantastically innovative by having a woman and a black man leading a film. It actually sounds kind of like how George Lucas talked about Red Tails being the game-changer for black youths having heroes.
Name the last woman or black man to lead a billion dollar franchise…. All I can think of is Hunger Games. Marvel still hasn’t had a woman superhero movie come out yet. Ms. Marvel is in 4 years. lol.
The reason why there hasn’t been any woman superhero by Marvel is the SAME reason why we are getting a female led Star Wars……Money!
Catwoman, Supergirl, Red Sonja, and Elektra all ate shit at the box office and were awful films to boot. From a businesses standpoint, You can see why they were afraid to invest money in a potential turkey.
But with Twilight, Hunger Games, Insurgent, Fifty Shades, etc. they are willing to give them another chance.
This has nothing to do with “progressivism” as it has to do with profit and pleasing their shareholders.
The only thing innovative is that they are having the first black Stormtrooper in it. People seem to forget all about Mace Windu who even in his 50’s/60’s looks more believable than Boyega does wielding the thing.
“Daisy Ridley and John Boyega talk about breaking down racial and gender barriers in Star Wars, as well as finding friendship – in real life, and onscreen – through a desert scavenger and a runaway stormtrooper who have more in common than you’d expect.” they both have the force
Nah….Boyega is a red-herring. His new name if Finn Misdirection.
loooool yeah he is only holding the lightsaber for rey because he is basically a human purse
HHAHAHAHAH! Almost spat out my food reading that. Even if he is in the film swinging the saber with the force….they will still say it’s a ruse. That Rey injected him with the force “temporarily” for this film only
What gender and racial barriers? I think there was a female lead in the original trilogy (but I could be wrong), and Lando looked anything but Caucasian in ESB and ROTJ… oh I see, those 2 droids were hiding something…
“You can type this shit, George, but you can’t say it”, said Ford to Lucas.
Hahahahha. Love the guy to the end.
I don’t want any more “reveals”!
So, what is Maz Kanata’s backstory according to EW ? And what name is Leia known by now ? Could you post the details ?
General Organa.
how about Something More Specific Organa
HBIC.
I don’t think they confirmed the Organa part. But that is what we know it is from the junior Leia novel.
Damn. Now I have to buy 4 copies of this? Well played EW. Well played indeed.
Seriously….??
It’s a “Completist” joke. Of course I’m not buying 4 copies. I’m not THAT daft.
nah it is just a staff, I dont know why everyone keeps saying it is a lightsaber, her staff is soooo long that if it was a lightsaber it would just be illogical and impractical
I thought about the impracticality of it at first also..but then I saw this pic and I was sold lol.
maybe she gets another lightsaber in the next film, but it does look like a staff to me
http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/overlord/images/9/91/Kazdan_Paratus_Concept_Art4.PNG/revision/latest?cb=20110811131243
we’ve seen something like this before.
but personaly I don’t think its lightsabre, the staff is staff. i think one of the main red herrings is John with lightsabre with and Daisy with regular weapon: its them trying to imply that it takes more than a weapon to be jedi and that one doesnt need one to be a force user
I don’t think it’s a lightsaber and I don’t think it needs to be.
Maybe she uses it as part of her Saber?
INDY5INDY5INDY5INDY5INDY5INDY5INDY5INDY5INDY5INDY5INDY5INDY5INDY5INDY5INDY5INDY5INDY5INDY5INDY5INDY5INDY5INDY5INDY5INDY5INDY5INDY5INDY5INDY5
MAKE IT HAPPEN
So: the new Death Star is called the Starkiller Base and NOT the fortress on Hoth 2?
Really would make sense the way they are selling it that both Finn and Rey are one with the force and Jedi fighting side by side. They would both need each other’s help.
yep, I can’t wait to see them both wielding lightsabers and kicking ass in episode 8
That would be soooooo badass….
So many of these interviews going on about race and gender politics. The “progressive” casting feels forced at this point.
I’m not sure it’s the casting but it definitely is a big part of the promotion. It makes no difference to me if the movie is good. And besides, why not open up Star Wars to women, people of color, etc?
More than anything I just want it to feel like Star Wars.
As a white male movie goer I enjoy the hero being someone I can relate to. I think that’s human nature. For instance Hunger Games attracts a larger than normal female audience because a female is the hero. Same goes for the Blade movies with black people. It’s human nature. I like Hunger Games and Blade, but I loved Star Wars because I could see myself as the hero.
I can dig it. I suspect there will be many heroes for us to identify with including one LUKE SKYWALKER, baby. (Sorry to shout but Luke is the one I’m most excited about.)
Also, to be honest, I’m excited about Finn. Boyega is a great actor and it looks like he had FUN on set, which I’m assuming will translate on screen.
I think there will still be plenty of space-honkeys for us Earth-honkeys to ‘identify with’ in the film. Also – why can’t we just identify with whoever we want to? I’m white as the driven snow and maybe I’ll identify with Finn. Or maybe I’ll identify with Rey. Who knows? The film’s not out yet! And I’ll say again – I like that Star Wars is becoming broader in scope and I think it’s great if people who aren’t honkeys like me find characters and situations that resonate with them. (You can see that I’m desperately trying to bring back the word ‘honkey.’)
I use the word honkey too. I’ll help you resurrect it.
The Honkey Awakens
Love it!!
Episode I: The Phantom Honkey
Episode II: Attack of the Honkeys
Episode III: Revenge of the Honkey
Episode IV: A New Honkey
Episode V: The Honkey Strikes Back
Episode VI: Return of the Honkey
I’d pay to watch a blaxplotation version of the saga.
The Emperor gets thrown down by Shaft, Luke takes a fall by Shaft, Maul gets dropped by Shaft… the amount of times Shaft pops up in SW I’m suprised the honkeys aren’t crying foul already…
We need Chop Suey Star Wars film series to balance out the explotation out too.
This is not a personal attack. Not that I object to what you’ve written, but that sort of thing gets you banned if said about another race/gender. It’s the double-standards that I object to. Either we have a standard or we don’t.
The standard we have at the moment from Feminism, Social-Justice-Warriors and Progressives is that it is okay to disparage one group. That group wil then be disenfranchised to some extent. That will then cause conflict.
Have all races and each gender shown in SW by all means, if it is achieved in an underhanded way, however, I can’t help but object. I just try to highlight what’s hiding in plain sight.
Honk away!
No deleting or banning here please.
What was the underhanded way? They blind-cast this film, tested actors of different races and went with the best.
I’m not sure why people are so mad. The majority of the cast is still white and male. Han Solo and Kylo Ren clearly have huge parts.
Thought somebody might misinterpret the underhanded bit. Not saying that there’s specifically such happening in this film. Rather that in relation of the general trend today. As in, women deserve 50% representation in eveything just because they are women, buttressing their calims by saying minority groups need more representation. That sounds fair to many peoples ear.
The people who are mad, are I think, because of the way it is achieved, not that it is achieved. Your’e right most of the cast will be white males – now. Look at the example of the all female Ghostbusters or Ocean’s Eleven. Also the new campaign to rewrite male parts for females in Holywood. Okay, let’s see the female paedophiles, rapists, baby-bashers and creeps. The campaign won’t relsult in that if it follows the wider trend in other areas of society: the perks and privilages will go to the women but not the true equality. You can see that when the gender and situation is reversed these same standards are not applied. I doubt that sort of thing will happen to SW, but it can if it follows the bigger trend.
When you see all that sort of thing it comes to show that, esentially, you are being played. Then on top of that if you criticise or comlain you’re labled sexist, racist or just a plain old mysoginist if you disagree on the way things are done. It shouldn’t be a surprise that a group treated this way will get mad.
Hope that gives you some idea of “why”. Tried not to rattle on too far but you seemed to want to understand.
The funny thing about the word honkey is that no one gets up-tight about the word or the use of it (or at least not to my knowledge). It’s not like a person who is non-caucasian has to refer to it as the ‘H’ word.
I understand what you are saying about a double standard, and I completely agree that all ethnic groups, races, genders, religious groups, etc. should be treated with equal respect and not made to feel any less human or worthy because of what group they were born into or choose to identify with.
The use of the word honkey is a social commentary (at least when I use it – I can’t and won’t assume that I can speak for Dr Francis B Gross or whomever uses the ‘H’ word, but if I did have to guess, I’m sure DFBG was not using the word to elicit a riot). By using the word honkey and saying it in a laughable way, hopefully others will laugh at it too and realize it is just a silly word, said by a silly person, who is in fact himself an equalist. I have friends and family from various walks of life, some who have skin colour A while others have skin colour B, some who are gay while others are straight, some who are Christian and others who are Jewish, etc., etc., etc.
Craig, I never thought your comment was a personal attack, but a comment that did need to be addressed none-the-less.
Hopefully the mods on here can laugh at the word honkey as well, but if they would prefer that I refrain from using the word, then by all means I welcome them to respond to me and I will not use the word on here any longer. It was never my intent to offend anyone and hopefully I have not. It was never my intent to create a double standard and hopefully I did not do that either.
oh grow up, I’m black and I can relate to star lord, spider-man and ironman I’m sure you can relate to finn at least a little bit plus you have Kylo ren who is white and Poe dameron
This. I never had problem to relate to Lando. Or an even better example, Captain Sisko on Star Trek – DS9, a true badass. I could always relate to him. And why shouldn’t I? Because I’m white? I’m not bald either, so what.
I could never relate to Lando … I always saw him as a 70’s pimp in a furry purple suit & hat.
I never related to Benjamin Sisko either – but that’s because I wasn’t a 40 year old with a brattish kid, plus my voice is too nasally and not panty-wetting smooth like his.
Lando is my second favourite character. Not even too sure who the favourite is these days; it always was Honkey Solo. We’ll see how he does in this movie.
Couldn’t stand DS9. At the time if felt like Star Trek trying to be more like SW – earthy, gritty.
But what is SW? To some people it will be only anything that happened in 4 thru 6.
Seriously. Where is the line then? If the white main character has blonde hair but you are a red head does that stop you relating to them? Just because harry potter has glasses does that stop you relating to him?
Personaly as long as someone is human. I can relate to their struggles. And then not always, wall e, finding nemo, district 9
Im an over privalaged white boy too, i think finn and rey are extremly exciting additions to the star wars experence. If they dont work out it will be because of acting and story.
Not gender and race.
And its not going to feel like star wars. It’s going to feel new and different. Hopefuly it will be weird and random too. For it to feel like star wars it would have to be 30 years old and the story would have to be warped by time and your changing experiences.
You are a privileged white boy? Is that how privileged white boys refer to themselves? Are they really as grammatically challenged as you?
Seriously though. My point is only that I hope this isn’t a marketing stunt gone awry. Those in charge at Disney know that the white male is going to see a new Star Wars movie, so to spark extra interest in other demographics they went on ahead and cast minority and female hero leads.. ugh. I hope that’s not the case.
I have sets of tickets to see it in IMAX back to back on opening night, I hope it’s good. Seeing JJ and others interview on and on about how rad it is that minorities and women are the leads has me feeling like marketing may trump story- in typical Disney fashion.
Yeah. Im dyslexic. Its a tough life. Anytime i see a character on tv spell something, Correctly or read back a phone number correctly im instantly done with the show. I just can’t realte to characters who dont share the same traits as me.
Heck. Star wars is huge in japan. and i havent seen any asians in star wars yet. (not counting rasist aliens). I wonder how all the Japanese boys and girls can get through the original films without a lead character that shares their zip code.
Consider this also, Children dont see race or gender in the same way adults do. Any 8 year old watching TFA for the first time in december be they black white male or female is going to have a great time. Making the lead character a white boy wouldn’t change that.
I dont know if its possible for me to be more excited for a return of the jedi sequel but when the first faces i saw in the 2014 teaser where female and black. My anticipation only went up.
This isnt a 70s Star Wars movie. Its 2015. The world has changed. Im positivly fizzing with excitement.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but wasn’t one of the B-Wing pilots in ROTJ Asian?
Get Jackie Chan in this universe, that would be fun.
The point people make about identifying with others, not of their race/gender, is a good one. That however defeats the justification for the inclusion of any race/gender. If its no trouble to identify with people of other types than yourself, then there’s no real need to change the representation. Its a big logic flaw in the argument. It does show that its just about excuses to preference approved groups.
Not arguing for no changes from the past, just poking holes in the wankery.
I’m fine with Boyega and Ridley in the lead roles … as long as Disney doesn’t “Force” a Transgender upon us in Episode VIII. We know they love the rainbow crowd, but I hope they can keep it to themselves.
Well I’m gay so unless Kylo likes men I’m through.
My first laugh of the day 🙂
Thanks.
Ready Ion Control… FIRE!
Whoa! That got him!
Good work Wedge!
Ah, Luke – I’m over here…
My empathy for a fictional character ( or any human being in real life ) is not limited to those who look like me. As a person of colour I can root equally as passionately for a white male, a black male, a female, etc. onscreen, dependant on the strength of the writing and story.
Your comments are quite hilarious.
So what’s wrong with a little black kid or a girl enjoying these new movies the way you enjoyed the previous films? Are you really so selfish that you prefer Star Wars to stay as white and male as possible just so you can continue to relate to it? The sandbox is just for you, huh?
Was there any backlash in Empire when Billy Dee Williams was cast as Lando? “How dare they put a black man in a white man’s movie” etc? I certainly don’t remember anyone complaining after the movie. I reckon it will be the same with John Boyega, after he puts in an epic performance.
So basically you want white males in everything so you can identify with them. People are people man. . You should be able to identify with them. I can see when your a kid thinking that way but not when your a fully functioning developed Adult. lol. Kylo’s white and rumor is he might turned to the light side by trilogies end so there is your white boy you can identify with. Rejoice.
The thing that made Star Wars Star Wars wasn’t people being white.
Either way, there are white men in The Force Awakens. Han Solo clearly has a huge role. We see him in all three planets the film mainly takes place.
By the way, I had no problem reading the Hunger Games books or watching the film adaptations. It’s a good story.
Fin, Rey, Dameron, Luke, Leia, Han, Genral Hux, Captain Phasma, Kylo Ren.
There are 4 white men out of the leads, you will have someone to relate to so calm down.
So you’d prefer Star Wars to be regressive, is that it?
Just because a film isn’t “progressive” doesn’t make it regressive. Anyway why does it have to be anything? Its Star Wars, I don’t want to see any agenda shoehorned into Star Wars. Decisions like this should be formed organically out of a creative capacity. I’ve no problem with women or black people or any people in Star Wars but in this case they’ve deliberately gone out of their way to do it because of a progressive agenda i.e. Disney. To be honest I was surprised when I found out John Boyega was cast out of all the potential actors they mentioned, and not because he was black, it was because some of the actors seemed better suited for the role, and again that could just be my opinion, but when I found out who they’d cast it just seemed like a cynical move. And y’know it’s unfair on him because it means that they haven’t cast him based on his acting abilities but on the colour of his skin, which is just another subtle form of racism surely.
The original call for casting on FN 2187 aka Finn was not for a man of color… It just so happened they hired a black man .
If so, that’s good. Gives me more confidence in him.
There was no agenda. Finn’s casting was colour blind and actors of different races, including white, tested. It was well-reported. John Boyega just happened to be the one they thought the best.
Of course there’s an agenda don’t be naive. They do it with everything nowadays. You think Disney is going to miss a chance to use their new prize pig as a means of getting social messages across unrelated to the story. I’d bet big money they looked at the short list of actors and just picked him because he was a different colour than white. Trust me I saw the shortlist of actors that went up for the role of Finn and he was not the best by a long shot but I wasn’t in the least surprised when he was picked. It’s so bloody obvious. I don’t care what colour the character is ultimately but do it for the right reasons.
They don’t pick actors out of short lists. They call these actors to several auditions and screen tests. Boyega auditioned for almost a year. Auditions you and me were did not attend. Other than the fact it annoys you that they picked a Black actor, who are we to say he was not the best for this part? He wasn’t even the only Black actor auditioning. They auditioned 2,000 people, overall, for this film.
If they wanted a Black actor and nothing else, they could have auditioned only Black actors. It’s not uncommon for casting calls have specific ethnicities. It’s the norm. Doing blind-casting is what is less common.
You clearly care what colour the character is because it’s bothering you a lot he is Black to the point you are telling me about conspiration theories.
But, either way, Finn is one character in the film and mostly everyone is white. So I have no idea why it is so irritating to you.
Lots of new pictures on:
http://www.ew.com/gallery/star-wars-force-awakens-exclusive-photos/2374793_all-crops-gallery-star-wars-force-awakens-2015-daisy-ridley?hootPostID=f0ddfd08eb89f79d55f20334f9e9970f
In what should not come as a shock to 99.9% of the population, that’s NOT Plagueis’s staff…
“I mean everyone is praying that it’s Darth Plagueis’s staff. But… it’s just a staff,” Ridley says. “She’s a young woman in a galaxy by herself. It’s not primarily a weapon, it’s useful as well. It does all sorts of things roamin’ around Jakku. She uses it to defend herself. That’s really as far as it goes, unfortunately.”
Wow, that may be the lamest spoiler of all time. I guess sometimes a stick is just a stick. I hope the rest of writing is more inventive than, “Rey carries around a big stick” or we’re all going to be begging Disney to bring George Lucas back.
Luke didn’t do alot with a lightsaber in New Hope. She may be mirroring his character in this movie a bit more. We do know that she uses a blaster….and who knows what’s going to happen when she meets Luke….
We don’t see her with the staff in the snowy forest or the regular forest. Maybe Kylo takes it from her? It seems weird to put a glorified cain all over all of the marketing material if it does nothing. Even if it doesn’t do anything I have no doubt it will be important in some regard. This sounds a lot to me like “He’s John Harrison.”
Interesting that she is standing in the shot with Finn facing Kylo. Maybe Kylo breaks her staff with his saber, and that’s the end of it.
Well in the full trailer she is firing a gun in the forest so something must have happened to it before then.
I don’t see this in the article? Where is the quote from?
Info regarding Luke, Snoke and Maz tomorrow. Hopefully not much more.
Hopefully a LOT more.
General Leia….. Awesome.
and more importantly…it is “General Organna” and not General Solo.
She might’ve been absent from the silver screen for some time, but I have a strong feeling that watching her flex her acting chops again as our beloved Princess-turned-General will be one of the highlights of this film.
Has anyone else noticed that the hilt of Kylo Ren’s lightsaber looks different??? I’m talking about the newly released picture on the snowy planet where he faces Finn and Rey …
Take a close look …
Different how?
It looks more typical in its blade as opposed to the firey instability we have seen previously, but I think that’s just this particular still image which might not even have finished effects. It will look how it does in the trailers
More curious as to why his helmet is off before he even attacks them.
Yes, this question is intriguing…
I’m betting he doesn’t just take it off himself in such cold weather either.
Maybe he got snow in it. Ever got snow in your hat? That’s cold!
Snow doesn’t exist in my region, Mate. Lol.
To reveal to Rey he is her brother.
I think at this point it would be more of a twist to have them not be related.
Hilt looks exactly the same to me
Hey about simon peggs anti george lucas rant:
enough is enough. everyone is allowed to have an opinion on something and yes, a large faction of the star wars community hate most/all of the prequels, but for a figure involved in the franchise publically and professionally to act this way continually is beyond disgraceful. The dude needs to be banned from future participation in star wars and have his cameo cut from VII.
https://www.change.org/p/kathleen-kennedy-bob-iger-lucasfilm-disney-get-simon-pegg-banned-from-participating-in-star-wars-permanently?recruiter=424325590&utm_source=share_for_starters&utm_medium=copyLink
amen to that.
You know, responding to pettiness with pettiness isn’t very smart…
Why do you insist on copying and pasting this on every article on this website like a jackass? nobody cares…you are like1 out of maybe 10 people on this site out of thousands who still have not come to grips with the reality of what the prequels were and are….garbage
Did anybody catch the details on Maz Kanada? I didn’t see anything.
I’m guessing this means no Leia as a Jedi which I’m okay with since it’s going to be hard enough as is to buy 60 something Mark as a master swordsman.
If they go the CG head swap route like in II/III, I just hope it’s better than the job they did on Lee/McDiarmid.
I like the idea though that Leia might use the force to “see” into the future.
Anyone’s guess and there’s nothing to disprove that till December 18th.
As I imagined, Leia feels defeated because her personal life is a mess (her children are either scarvengers or Darth enthusiasts and Han is also nowhere to be found) while her cause is been dragged into a slowly pacing war against new forces. The rebellion has lost morale as wars are meant to be swift in order to avoid more casualties. That is why there is no more Rebellion, most of the rebels simply gave up a few years after the Batlle of Jakku which seems to be a new imporant milstone in the saga (like the Clone Wars). Those who stayed reformed the Resistance, new alliance, new morale, new everything so there is no pessimism in the ranks.
Leia has decided to develop her strategic aspect and to abandon the Force completely and I have a pretty good idea why. The people of the Resistance need a leader not a Jedi Master.
Han on the other hand seems to be a changed man, eager to fix things. He must have been against Leia’s decisions concerning their children or he feels guilty because it is mostly his fault their situation is what it is. I think he has put a goal and a prohibition in front of him. He cannot face Leia again without one of their children beside him. But that is my take. Tell me what you think!
On the contrary, I doubt Leia’s life is the mess you imagine… more likely she has become exhausted from giving her life to the Republic… she has spent her whole life fighting and has never reached the end goal… makes me think that she probably never took the time to have children, and if she did it was immediately after ROTJ and then (upon realising the war was far from over) took leave to return to the front line…. this would readily explain her emotional state, better than having a “mess” of a life for the past 30 years… or you could be spot on an Leia is a reflection of Carrie’s personal life disaster….
THANK YOU!!!! I have been saying this all along…han and Leia in NO WAY..SHAPE OR FORM..would abandon their child on a sand planet. If kylo Ren is in fact her son, then she probably thinks he is dead.He was probably taken from Lukes temple by the knights of Ren and presumed dead.
She could have been kidnapped. Or they might have lost her or thought she was dead. There are ways around it.
Rey says she was abandoned which I can’t ever see Han or Leia doing. Luke either but it looks like she’s his the more you look at it.
I guess she is devastated because:
1) The First Order is gaining ground in the war and is about to take over the galaxy.
2) She and Han are no longer together.
3) She’s lost her child(ren), and may even assume they are not alive.
4) Luke is also missing.
Maybe not in this one but I’m sure he’ll at least use one in the next episode as fan service. Lucas seemed to change his mind about Sidious and Yoda not using ome but he’s no longer writing it anymore. Plus, Luke knows nothing of the old ways and will probably want to start his own traditions.
They also said he got in shape which I’m guessing means he needs to be fit enough to fight.
Probably a blaster or even a Force pike… just she doesn’t know how to use it yet?
I’m glad that they actually went a heavier route with Leia. It would have been too easy to just put her on the sidelines as the “grandma” character, so it’s good to hear Leia still has serious story duties.
On another note, anyone else having trouble seeing old Han Solo as Han Solo? For so long, Han Solo was just another cog in Harrison’s cinema package.
So now it’s a strange reversal that my mind hasn’t quite adjusted to. Luke is so different from Mark that I’m instantly into Old Luke and I haven’t even seen him – probably because I’m more visually familiar with Luke than I am Mark, so old Luke makes sense.
Whereas Harrison Ford more or less acts like an old version of Han Solo in real life, comparatively speaking, so making a clear actor/character distinction has been more difficult in Ford’s case for me.
So far I’m having a hard time seeing the man above as anything less than Harrison Ford. My brain hasn’t quite grasped “it’s Solo, just Han Solo, not Ford”. I forgot how much of my impression of Han Solo’s character is actually the character and how much is Ford’s real-life personality / post-star-wars persona. Maybe it’s just me who has this issue, idk…
You know what the funny thing is? After rewatching all of them, The Jedi are the ones who wind up attacking the Sith or drawing on them 9 times out of 10.
Saying that the Jedi sucked at their jobs…..is probably not that controversial at all lol
They are the DMV workers of the GFFA.
Jim Brown needs work. Just don’t let him near the female cast.
Thanks, Life is so much easier when viewed through such outdated ideas as logic and reason.
I bet Luke’s the one that calls Leia “Princess”. It would make sense if he hasn’t seen her in a long time