Peter Mayhew on Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Harrison Ford, John Boyega and Daisy Ridley!
The Australian magazine Bmag caught up with everybody’s favourite Wookie, who will appear at Supanova Pop Culture Expo at the Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre from 27-29 November, to talk about The Force Awakens, the old cast, the new young additions and more.
On The Force Awakens 2nd teaser shown at Celebration:
“When I saw it, I had 7,000 people around me. We were at Star Wars Celebration, and George said… no, JJ said, ‘Do you want to see a trailer?’ And everybody says, ‘Yes, please’. The lights go out in the hall, I’m looking up at the screen, and I’m thinking it’s just going to be the sand dunes and blah blah blah. But then Han and Chewie are there, and the line is, ‘Chewie, we’re home’. And everybody in the hall is crying, or laughing, or cheering, or whatever. And I just thought, ‘Wow. How can we not have a success when you get 7,000 people reacting like that?’
“Even the Lucasfilm people, even [producer] Kathleen Kennedy, she’d been up on stage all day, and she was crying. I was standing six or eight feet away from JJ, and he was just going, ‘Hmm… I like this’. It was terrific. It was a terrific thing that we were able to do, and it was such a good way of getting it out to all these people. It was marvellous. It was one of those moments… it gives you pride in what you’ve established.”
Peter Mayhew
On Harrison Ford:
“Harrison’s one of the guys,” he says. “We’ve been friends for a long time, and he’s always been about giving advice and talking things through. He’ll ask what you want to do, and he’ll tell you how he wants to do it, too. He’ll say, ‘No, let’s try [the scene] this way… don’t look over there, look over here’. Just little things. He’s got a really soft voice, but I know he’s very interested in what’s going on, not only as an actor, but almost as a director. And as a friend!
“There was a marvelous camaraderie on the set, right the way down to all the guys who were working as part of the crew. It couldn’t have been better.”
On John Boyega and Dasiy Ridley:
“John, I liked very, very much. He’s a great actor. We had several scenes together, and John is one of those guys who knows how to react to any situation. He’s got a marvelous face… he’s got a wonderful personality. He has an advantage because he has a comic’s sense of humour.
“Daisy… was a little bit solid. More like Natalie [Portman] on the other movies [the prequels]. But I think, once she gets to see everything going on, she’s going to enjoy it, because it’s going to relax her. She’s going to be one hell of an actress. She will tell you, she will say, ‘I never thought we could do this, but now I see it’.
“When we were at Star Wars Celebration, she was completely different to how she was on set… I think she got taken aside by her agent and told not to be too stiff. So we watched her blossom, from a quiet young lady, into the girl who was there at Star Wars Celebration. She had blossomed; she was beautiful and full of personality. I think she’s got a lot of personality still to come out, and if the right movies come along, she will do very, very well.”
Mayhew’s comments on Ford, Boyega and Ridley are particularly interesting, especially the parts where Ford was almost directing certain scenes, and the fact that Daisy Ridley was more nervous than Boyega on set during the shoot, which is absolutely understandable for a newcomer in such big franchise.
For Mayhew’s thoughts on why he didn’t get a medal at the end of A New Hope make sure to go to Bmag for the full interview.
Founder of SWNN, MNN and The Cantina forums.
Born on April 24, 1980.
SEE BOYEGA IS A GOOD ACTOR, SO STOP HATING
BOYEGA IS A GREAT ACTOR, I KNEW IT FAM
I want to know if the sequel trilogy will address if Chewie has a spouse or any living family members.
Ib think chewie is the last of his race
I don’t think so. The Wookiees are very plentiful in Rebels, and it’s mentioned that they’ve been enslaved in Lost Stars.
“Honey, we’re home.”
Second thought, lets not do that.
Chewie’s wife was brought back to the canon in Aftermath
Chewbacca hasn’t aged a day. I wonder who his groomer is…
Chewie’s agelessness must be down to ‘Just For Wookiees’.
Robot Chicken did a parody where Chewie introduces Han to his family and they are all wearing clothes. Han says to Chewie “So you have been naked all this time? “
I like the whole cast of all star wars movies except for Boyega, Lupita Noyong’o, Samuel Jackson, Billy Dee Williams and James Earl Jones. My favorites are Ford, Hamill, Liam Neeson and Ewan McGregor
ha stupid racist troll, too bad you can’t see this film cos one of the main characters is black
Mayhew mixing up JJ and George is interesting. Might indicate how similar they are in type and style, or just senility.
Finn looks to be the most interesting new character to me. The praise Peter gave Boyega reinforces that it may be why it seems so. Not seen it yet, but he’d be my new favourite for this film so far.
Ridley has potential if she handles it right. By what Mayhew said she may be struggling with that.
Yeah I’m anticipating finn the most
We are both Nigerian so I HAVE to support him.
I’m black british but I aint nigerian, I’m jamaican but I have a friend that lives right next to boyega’s family so I support him all the waaay
ha…nice. Yeah man, we’re all in the same boat, so we HAVE to support.
Interesting what he says about Finn….just need to see how Ridley comes across. But is expected. She hasn’t done much, and they wanted someone fresh with no pre-conceived notions to be the main hero. Hopefully it works out.
Sue me….I am rolling with my boy Finn.
Yeah I even bought Boyega’s black series action figure
Yep. I got one of them as well. Looks pretty good.
yeah it looks exactly like him
Finn seems like the most interesting character cos we are going to see the world of star wars through the eyes of a stormtrooper
And that is the angle they need to play off of. Never seen that before and that is what’s most interesting about the new film.
I agree, it’s clever and new. I only hope that he *IS* convincing in playing the “turncoat stormtrooper” because it will be awesome if he pulls it off successfully.
I’m sure he will, boyega is going places plus Robert Downey Jr is his mentor so I’m sure he is doing right
Well to be fair, Mark Hamill didn’t exactly do too well post-SW either for A LONG time. Luckily he’s an awesome voice-actor and loves his fan-base – but he ain’t exactly big box-office material like Harrison Ford – which isn’t a bad thing per se.
Star Wars has got to be one of the few places in the world where niche-market, low-brow can square off with oscar-bait and win — nothing more american than that!
I think that the emotion we’ve seen from Finn and Rey have been good. Much better than in the prequels at least.
But need to see them acting with dialogue. That’s the key
Yeah I think Finn is gonna be the best character in the film, he has the richest character arc
His character could either be really Good or a massive missed oprotunity.
If you just had to ask me based on the trailer, I’d say JB is looking to be the most interesting new character,
I’m all for the whole “street-urchin girl trying to make it in a harsh world” but IT HAS been done to death in cinema.
JB’s arc seems to be rather fresh. I got high hopes.
What does he mean by ““Daisy… was a little bit solid.” ?
like she is a bit of an introvert
Wow. Wouldn’t have known that from some of her Instagram posts! 😛
yeah lool she seems like a happy girl but I can relate, I’m an introvert myself but when I’m in public I try my best to act happy. Plus like me, I’m sure she has moments where she is generally having fun
It really doesn’t sound like he’s convinced that the most positive audience response to her performance will happen from this movie- but that he sees a ton of potential for her career going forward, including these SW movies.
“Daisy… was a little bit solid. More like Natalie [Portman] on the other movies [the prequels].”
Unless “Rey” is written this way (which, is questionable- not to mention- risque in the first place), this is not a good statement towards her performance.
“But I think, once she gets to see everything going on, she’s going to enjoy it, because it’s going to relax her…”
Again, this implies that she was truly like a “fish out of water” during the production and that this may or may not end up displaying her best performance.
“…She will tell you, she will say, ‘I never thought we could do this, but now I see it’…”
Sounds like something that would come from an actor doing most of his/her scenes on green/blue screen sets and not sure about having pulled it off.
In other words, he may actually be saying she doesn’t suck but she wasn’t great either.
I’m sure her performance will be passable- more than passable even, but not what a lot of folks would have hoped for or expected.
yeah I think she might be a bit unsure of herself judging from hi statement but this could be good cos her character sounds the same like her
I think that either Mayhew is getting senile, or he is really rude, That was a very unkind reference to a fellow actor with whom he is working right now.
OR… he has a somewhat less-than-finesse way of giving an unflattering-but-honest opinion….
edit: word choice
Eh? Rude for you to say it’s because he’s senile that he is saying those things. Maybe its just HIS honest assessment.
Probably true, but he could have been referring to her acting or her off-screen attitude,
for the time being, I’m not going to read too much into it until I’ve seen the film.
By all appearances, Rey looks rather well acted, we’ll see.
I think Mayhew was just being respectfully honest, he answered the question as best he could based on how he sees things – it’s not exactly the Geneva Convention, it’s just an opinion.
He also said she was quiet etc. Hard to be quiet if you have lines. I believe he was talking about her…around The set.
That’s the debate.
I did not take Mayhew’s comments to be about Daisy’s acting. I think he just meant her personality was a bit stiff during the filming. Totally understandable for a newbie to be a bit nervous when working in such a legendary franchise with legendary actors. That does not mean that her acting performance suffered. I think what we have seen of her acting thus far in the trailers has been pretty impressive.
Agreed. I think it will be perfect for her character (according to her fate) What i have seen in her is just amazing and her shots in teasers are absolutely brilliants. He will grow with her character. She is in SW for really good reasons.
This is excatley what he meant. Not sure what article some of these commenters read…lol
Let us all hope we share Mayhew’s assessment of Boyega and he’s not crap or under-par in the film.
I am HOPING he really BRINGS it.
Why is Boyega the one to worry about? Ridley is the one described as stiff.
Playing Devil’s Advocate. Not touching the Daisy thing…some sensitive people here. So will say nada.
Being stiff could be perfect for Rey. I think she will do an amazing job. Her images in teasers are so powerful.
No shock whatsoever. I’ve been saying since casting that John Boyega and Adam Driver were the two most talented actors in the film. Ofcourse Gleeson, Issacs and Ford go without mentioning, but the other two are going to explode in their careers. Star Wars will benefit Boyega and Driver the most.
Ya….it’s not such a big shock to me what he said.
Good lord you Boyega fanboys are annoying, Daisy Ridley is the Star of the Trilogy, get over it
Look I love Chewie but in all fareness Peter’s only experience is within the Star Wars franchise so how can he really be able to assess great actors?
I’m not going to read to read too much into what he said about Daisy. It is her first film and it happens to be the biggest film if the decade. Her being stiff and nervous on set is expected.
Now I am relieved to hear his comments on Boyega. Especially since he’s been unfairly discredited as an actor more than Ridley when he clearly has a more impressive resume ( I really hope it’s not for a particular reason). It seems that JJ and everybody who spoke on Boyega is very confident in his abilities.
Im really surprised at these comments by Mayhew. He really doesnt seem to like Daisy at all. He seems to insinuate she wasnt very good in the movie. Like she was wooden. Daisy’s own Father said she can be “very stubborn and hard to deal with, she likes to sometimes do her own thing regardless of what you think.”
Im even more interested to see her performance now!
Hey everyone its November! 10 months ago how many of us were saying “man why cant it just be November so I can start getting excited about THAT night!”
From what I have seen in the trailer, she seems to have all the feels down and working for her. She knows her stuff. I think Mayhew was talking more about her behavior at the set and not during the actual scenes. Don’t forget, this is a big thing for her. She will be asked about SW her entire life regardless of the movie’s success. That’s enough for anyone to feel pressured and stressed.
I’m sure he wasn’t talking about her performance “She’s going to be one hell of an actress.” But rather how she was on set..being part of her first huge film (I mean come on STAR WARS!) I’d be jittery as heck. Especially since I’m on set amongst legends! I wouldn’t even know what to say half the time lol I’d too star struck to even think properly.
You mean too Star Wars struck 🙂
Lol YES!
Don’t mean to be rude, but as long as Boyega FULLY BRINGS IT….I’m all good. Not going to see the movie for Rey but for my boy John. Again, not wanting to be rude, just truthful. So Peter if you are wrong….I WILL FIND YOU BEFORE LIAM NEESON DOES.
It almost feels like he just Said Rey’s character is gonna suck. Like Ridley wasn’t gonna do well.
She looks like the one who rocks it.
I’ve heard other people use the word “solid” in the same way Peter did. It’s used to describe someone who is overly serious or professional. That’s all he was saying… That Daisy was hard for him to get to know due to how serious she was. Given her background in television and this being her first major film role, that’s not at all surprising. On television productions, you don’t have the opportunity to play around and you often don’t get multiple takes. You’re expected to do it right every time and you have to be all business most of the time.
Still though, Peter should have been more diplomatic when talking about someone who was filming her first major film role. His coments could be(and judging from some of what I’ve read here, have been) taken the wrong way. All he meant was that Daisy needed to relax and not be so serious on set all the time.