Star Wars - Episode VII

[Mara]

[Figured I'd split off from the Disney buying Lucasfilm announcement so we can focus more on just the film itself and have some general discussion...]



And I shall start off with the big news today: Cast Announcement!

-link to pics of new cast members-



Let's discuss! That, or anything else related to the upcoming film -- in theaters December 18, 2015.

[Ysmir]

Well, the member I'm most excited about is Andy Serkis. I haven't the slightest clue who he'll be playing but I imagine it'll be significant. Also, I looked up some pictures of Mark Hamill in recent days and he's slimmed down considerably to come back and play Luke.

[Fromikeable]

Well I can certainly appreciate them grabbing so many people from the original trilogy. With that said, I have no idea who any of the new blood is, and according to IMBd, nobody else does either; they don't have much under their belt yet. That said, I think we can all agree that quite a bit is expected of them, and I hope they rise to the challenge. Abrams has done a decent job with lores in the past, though I'm particularly interested to see what he does with Star Wars. I don't think he's enough of a fanboy/fan-servicer to make anything ridiculous/hackneyed on us, but I find that prophesying is a very unreliable job.

Bottom line though? If movies 7 - 9 take place in an alternate universe because someone went back in time to the day of Luke's birth, I think I may just have to hunt these people down.

One.

By.

One.

[Dutch]

[Mara]

Apr 29, 2014 18:57:17 GMT -5 Ysmir said:

Well, the member I'm most excited about is Andy Serkis. I haven't the slightest clue who he'll be playing but I imagine it'll be significant.

My thought is whether he'll just be himself, or if he'll be in some sort of special CGI suit, so they can turn him into a different species/alien (like they did to make him into Gollum for LOTR).

Apr 29, 2014 21:10:13 GMT -5 Fromikeable said:

Well I can certainly appreciate them grabbing so many people from the original trilogy. With that said, I have no idea who any of the new blood is, and according to IMBd, nobody else does either; they don't have much under their belt yet. That said, I think we can all agree that quite a bit is expected of them, and I hope they rise to the challenge.

If you look at the other six films, there's already sort of a tradition to people the cast with relative unknowns (at the time), supported by a few veteran actors. Seems like they're doing this once again with Ep. 7.

Apr 29, 2014 21:10:13 GMT -5 Fromikeable said:

Bottom line though? If movies 7 - 9 take place in an alternate universe because someone went back in time to the day of Luke's birth, I think I may just have to hunt these people down.

One.

By.

One.

Well, considering it's already been reported that it'll be 35 years post-ROTJ, that could only happen in a flashback.

[Mara]

Here's a bit more info on the new (mostly unknown) cast members:


John Boyega, 22 year old British actor best known for Attack the Block.
Adam Driver, best known as Adam Sackler from HBO's Girls.
Oscar Isaac, 35 year old American actor and singer.
Andy Serkis, who famously portrayed Gollum in The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogies.
Domhnall Gleeson, the Irish actor who played Bill Weasley in the Harry Potter series.
Daisy Ridley, a fairly unknown young actress who has appeared in several British television shows, one of which is Mr Selfridge.
Max von Sydow, a Swedish actor with a film career stretching back to the 1940s, including the Exorcist.

[Faeruy]

6 Dudes. 1 Chick. Really? I know it's too much to ask for a cast that's equal... but 1:6 ratio (which holds true even when taking into account that Carrie Fisher is returning - but so are a bunch of the guys)? In 2014?

[Mara]

Well, if you believe a casting sheet that had gotten leaked as the real deal, they may still be looking for a second female lead character. -link- As Daisy is probably one of them, and the other is still up in the air.




In the meantime, here's a handy little -link- so you can see what everyone looks like, as far as the newcomers to the saga are concerned.

[The Conman]

Hate to break it too you guys, but it's going to be a generic action movie called Star Wars...not a Star Wars Movie, if you get the difference. Same thing's happened to 'Trek, James Bond, and are going to happen to Terminator and Star Wars. They need regular, normal people who want to see an action movie, not a bunch of Star Wars fans. Disney spent 4 billion on Lucasarts, they HAVE TO make it back.

Expect "The Expendables", but in space and with lightsabers.

[Meira]

I generally dislike the whole purist mindset. As someone who cared absolutely nothing for Star Trek or James Bond movies before, the so called "generic" newer versions have brought me into those universes and made me a fan. You don't make a billion dollars back by cranking out crappy movies. Sure, they might be geared for a more general audience, but that alone doesn't make a bad movie. There's nothing wrong with wanting to market to the widest audience possible. Disney is good at making good movies. Have a little faith!

[sparrow]

Expect "The Expendables", but in space and with lightsabers.

If it means Jet Li with a lightsaber, then I'm for it.

[The Conman]

That would be FREAKING AWESOME.

[Mara]

TMZ leaks pictures from the set <- link


Also, two more confirmed cast members <-link
Lupita N'yongo from 12 Years a Slave, who was rumored to be part of the project months ago, and Gwedoline Christie from Game of Thrones.

[Meira]

I'm super excited about these two! Really hoping for some strong female characters in this one.

[Gallifreyman]

But Luke...

[Dutch]

Omg omg omg Gwendoline Christie?

*fanboysqueals*

[Mara]

Hamill's looked bad since his car accident before ESB, lol.




Anyway, more set photos... and this time you can see what can only be an under-construction Millennium Falcon... and an X-wing... and the hog thing from the first set of pics.
The Falcon! <-link

[Apillis]

Here's some leaked concept art: imgur.com/a/DUEwA

From the seems of it (judging by the concept art) Daisy Ridley's character is going to be the lead character. Of course, I'm only guessing, but sense much of the concept artwork centers around her and she's the one wielding a lightsaber; and in a couple cases facing off with the unnamed villain who is labelled in the concept artwork as either Dark Knight or Grave Robber. Labelled the latter because you'll see in some of the concept work he's holding Darth Vader's burnt up helmet/mask in a kinda' contemplative Halmet-esque fashion.

But an interesting reveal within that concept art work are "Knight Troopers" may make an appearance, which if I had to guess I think the "Knight Troopers" are actually "Imperial Knights", Force adepts who swore allegiance to the Emperor, though were not Sith nor used the dark side. Personally, never really cared for them within SW lore (if these "Knight Troopers" really are them like I'm supposing, or something like them), but we'll see how they hand them.

Remember, though, a lot of that is just my own supposition from just looking at the concept artwork, so I'll likely be way off some shiz. But then again, concept artwork is literally my job. RAWRZ.

[Apillis]

D-Double post.

Well, it seems some of my suspicions from observations from the leaked concept artwork were proven correct previously early last month via an article on some leaked plot details. The lead of Star Wars VII is Daisy Ridley's character, and I'll say no more than that. If you want to learn more, here's the article:

www.hngn.com/articles/41566/20140905/star-wars-episode-7-plot-details-reveal-new-information-about-luke-skywalker-main-characters-antagonists-and-more-spoilers.htm
WARNING POSSIBLE SPOILERS!!! YOU ARE BEING WARNED FOR SPOILERS!!! IF YOU MISSED THIS WARNING ABOUT SPOILERS, THEN YOU ARE DUMB AND HAVE NO RIGHT TO LIVE!!! IF YOU DO NOT CARE ABOUT SPOILERS CLICK THE LINK AT YOUR LEISURE!!!

[Mara]

The official title announcement was yesterday...

Episode VII is titled: The Force Awakens.

I like it.

---

Also, a few days ago, Anthony Daniels had tweeted that he thinks Ep. 7 is better than Empire, almost universally regarded as the best SW film.

Obviously he'd praise anything he worked on--that's his job--but I'm kind of inclined to believe him at least a little bit, because of the comparison he made. It wasn't just a "I believe it's awesome!" tidbit.

And really, Larry Kasdan wrote Empire... and he co-wrote 7 with J.J. So if anyone can top Larry, it's Larry.