Star Wars: The Force Awakens [** SPOILERS FROM POST 4472 ONWARD **]

Falthyron

Here we go...

http://starwars.com/news/star-wars-episode-7-cast-announced.html

The Star Wars team is thrilled to announce the cast of Star Wars: Episode VII.

Actors John Boyega, Daisy Ridley, Adam Driver, Oscar Isaac, Andy Serkis, Domhnall Gleeson, and Max von Sydow will join the original stars of the saga, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill, Anthony Daniels, Peter Mayhew, and Kenny Baker in the new film.

Director J.J. Abrams says, "We are so excited to finally share the cast of Star Wars: Episode VII. It is both thrilling and surreal to watch the beloved original cast and these brilliant new performers come together to bring this world to life, once again. We start shooting in a couple of weeks, and everyone is doing their best to make the fans proud."

Star Wars: Episode VII is being directed by J.J. Abrams from a screenplay by Lawrence Kasdan and Abrams. Kathleen Kennedy, J.J. Abrams, and Bryan Burk are producing, and John Williams returns as the composer. The movie opens worldwide on December 18, 2015.

Agent Coulson

Domhnall Gleeson good for him.

CatInABox

Nice to see Domhnall Gleeson doing well at least. Some interesting choices in there.

Kerplunk124

If this messes up JJ will forever be known as Jar Jar Abrams

Agent Coulson

Max von Sydow has to be the bad guy

micar

Congrats to Domhnall Gleeson.

This going to make him a huge star.

Agent Coulson

Andy Serkis I hope he is not playing a CGI Jar Jar type.. but I have a feeling he might be .

When was the last time he was on screen as himself in a big buget movie.

norrie rugger

king kong?

Agent Coulson

The first new cast read through?

Falthyron

Does this mean we can assume Billy Dee Williams won't be in the film?

Have to say Daisy Ridley looks very similar to a young Carrie Fisher, so I would guess that she will play Han and Leia's daughter. Max von Sydow will be a fantastic Sith (hopefully!) - the gravelly voice and his presence always keeps viewers glued when he is in the scene. Hoping Domhnall will be Han and Leia's son. He has similar facial features to Harrison Ford and he can play the loveable, roguish character, but also retain a sense of determination.

Cautiously optimistic

pixelburp

Domhnall Gleeson's star has certainly risen quite a bit in the last wee while. Usually in these instances the cynic in me assumes the actor simply switched agents, but in Gleeson's case he has put together some decent performances, and it's nice to see the Gleeson family doing so well in Hollywood. I hope Brendan's proud of his lad.

I also hope Andy Serkis has a live-action part for a change, though to be fair his physical performances are what have made his career (he even founded a studio in London dedicated to motion capture). I always consider it something of a shame Serkis' performance as Gollum wasn't recognised during awards season, given how much of himself he put into the character.

Looking at the cast overall, they seem older than the first drafts suggested the younger characters might be; although this being Hollywood, where 30year old Andrew Garfield can play 18year old Peter Parker, it's possible Gleeson & co. will be playing younger parts.

Either way, good to finally see some definitive news on this thing, the endless rumour was getting tiresome. To counter the aforementioned cynic, I hope this new triology's a good one because like the Simpsons, for the longest time it feels like this franchise has been muck; the Disney acquisition's a chance to set things straight again.

Spoonman75

Agent Coulson wrote: »

Andy Serkis I hope he is not playing a CGI Jar Jar type.. but I have a feeling he might be .

When was the last time he was on screen as himself in a big buget movie.

Not necessarily a bad thing. His performance as Caesar and Gollum were incredible. Although if he is playing that type of character, I'd love to see WETA Digital create his performance. Is ILM up to the task?

The last time he was on screen in a big budget movie was King Kong, I think.

norrie rugger

Tipsy McSwagger wrote: »

Best thing about the prequels is Duel of the Fates

Love that piece of music

Adamantium

Agent Coulson wrote: »

The first new cast read through?

That's one class photo!

That's an interesting cast, hmm

Anyone betting doesn't that Luke doesn't have a son?

Agent Coulson

Adamantium wrote: »

Anyone betting doesn't that Luke doesn't have a son?

I have a feeling his son could be Irish as well.

Adamantium

Meta Plot: R2-D2 on the run after downloading security files from the NSA, the star wars 7 script read in particular.

In all seriousness though it's wonderful not to see a child actor in sight.
And frankly I like the look of them





Plus Kasdan, Abrams, Williams and Ardnt (sort of).

Alright that's it, I'm offline to December 2015.




God help me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8pmEHUaLMg

Soft Falling Rain

Interesting mix. Boyega, Issac, Ridley and Gleeson the new good guys? Von Sydow, Driver and Serkis the bad guys?

thegreengoblin

Falthyron wrote: »

Does this mean we can assume Billy Dee Williams won't be in the film?

Yodasnews.com ‏@Yodasnews 4h
@realbdw - Mr.Williams can you let us know if you declined @starwars EP7 or if you were not asked? Thanks for the time Billy.

Billy Dee Williams ‏@realbdw 4h
@Yodasnews @starwars I would never decline #starwars.

Presumably he wasn't asked. What a shame.

johnny_ultimate

Ooh Max Von Sydow - that man is actually a natural fit as some sort of mysterious elder, which Star Wars has never had any shortage of! Assuming it'll be a smallish role though - he'd be into his 90s by the time Episode IX would wrap :eek:

I'm more and more cautiously optimistic about this, TBH, certainly given my gag reflex when the news of further films was first announced. Abrams is IMO the best director of pure, simple, exciting and energetic blockbuster entertainment working in Hollywood the moment, and Star Wars is a perfect fit for him. Lens flair aside, he has a fantastically vivid visual eye and flair (hoho) for spectacle, and that should translate well here. Add to that acting talent old and new (a little bit of a sausagefest, alas), and this could well be the adrenaline shot needed after three limp and pointless films effectively left an iconic series for dead. I've long since outgrown even the original series, but I'm game for this, which is a serious change from my petty cynicism earlier in this thread.

Adamantium

It gladdens to me think me he won't have Orci and Kurtzman to drag him down. I don't know why he'd associate with them two, considering he seems holding up one side of that equation. Having a Abrams/Kasdan writing and Ardnt screenplay is infinitely better pairing than anybody he has done work with in the past.

(Save LOST pilot, which was excellent)

A lot like Spielberg working Lucas in that respect.

krudler

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

Ooh Max Von Sydow - that man is actually a natural fit as some sort of mysterious elder, which Star Wars has never had any shortage of! Assuming it'll be a smallish role though - he'd be into his 90s by the time Episode IX would wrap :eek:

I'm more and more cautiously optimistic about this, TBH, certainly given my gag reflex when the news of further films was first announced. Abrams is IMO the best director of pure, simple, exciting and energetic blockbuster entertainment working in Hollywood the moment, and Star Wars is a perfect fit for him. Lens flair aside, he has a fantastically vivid visual eye and flair (hoho) for spectacle, and that should translate well here. Add to that acting talent old and new (a little bit of a sausagefest, alas), and this could well be the adrenaline shot needed after three limp and pointless films effectively left an iconic series for dead. I've long since outgrown even the original series, but I'm game for this, which is a serious change from my petty cynicism earlier in this thread.

I hope Abrams calms down on the lens flare, I agree he can brilliantly shoot a blockbuster though, the Star Trek movies for any script faults or what have you looked stunning in places and had an energy throughout the both of them that other big action blockbusters lack.

Long as the veteran cast members aren't constantly griping about being too old for stuff and they don't take complete centre stage over the newer characters this could actually be good, even great. Does Lucas have any input at all in the creative process?

This might be sacrilicious but I would have prefered if Michael Giacchino was composing instead of John Williams. I know Williams' music is an iconic part of the series and I love the guy's work but it would have been really interesting to hear Giacchino's take on the themes.

Adamantium

krudler wrote: »

Long as the veteran cast members aren't constantly griping about being too old for stuff and they don't take complete centre stage over the newer characters this could actually be good, even great. Does Lucas have any input at all in the creative process?

Lucas isn't really "consulting"

In fact, the last meeting that anyone seems to know of, was Lucas meeting with Abrams and Kennedy to talk about Abrams' decision to chuck the Arndt draft and large parts of the original outline. Reportedly, Lucas was like "well, that's not what I would have done, but you guys bought it, so if you believe in it, go for it."

I mean, they DID check with him first. But I believe that meeting is going to be about the extent of his consultation going forward.

Having Kasdan means they can almost certainly do the darker/tone storyline that he intended for VI and onwards (regarding Luke becoming a warrior monk romaing the desert badass, that he intially wanted the OT to end on. Lucas vetoed)

Empire Strikes Back happens to Abrams favourite one as well. (He would say that of course)
I really they don't go for the whole cyclical, "we must kill the older characters, in order for this film to have meaning", for the sake of it, mirroring Obi Wan being cut down.Have a good reason for it. Make it more naturalistic than that. I want to be untethered by what happened before.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxU2eqZtYmc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KseqzmcqQBQ

Say what you like about the prequels but they introduced good,bold and brave concepts (badly executed, that really messed up what we knew and was better left to the imagination in a lot of respects), Lucas has a brass neck/gumption, that may not have happened if they were made by Disney.

Also for as for "The sausage fest", Why are there so many women in... I don't know... something like legally blonde? The cast is ridiculously lopsided. Couldn't they give us 1-2 more men protagonists? They only threw in men in there to be the love interests. So disappointing.

See how ridiculous that sounds?

As a man, if i see a chick flick, I see it hell, I might actually enjoy it. But do I expect them to make art just to accomodate me, would I want to infringe their movies? **** no, I'd go make my own.

Who say a woman can't relate to an inspiring male lead, and vice versa?
It's bloody predjucie to erect barriers in the mind!
Would it not be far braver of writers to ask a female audience to understand the mind of the male lead, and therefore greater communication between both genders.

Tired of the male shaming in movies, and delighted writers haven't pandered to demographics on this one (if they were even thinking about gender in the firsr place). They can make the movie they want want been forced into "equality", under gunpoint, which ain't freedom at all.

Two men write a movie and there are fewer women characters than male, that's to be expected. They choose the characters by merit, not by omission of gender.

Different things deserve to exist, not ALL the time, EVERYWHERE. That's true diversity.

This is a GREAT video and the guy has amazing ideas for the upcoming trilogy in terms of the whole saga (Balance of the Force):

johnny_ultimate

Adamantium wrote:

delighted writers haven't pandered to demographics on this one

Pandering to what demographics exactly? As a twenty-something straight male, I am simply expressing some disappointment of a mere two women present in that principal cast announcement, especially since women have always played an important role in wider Star Wars mythology. It's not about arbitrary diversity or 'pandering', it's about basic representational balance. It doesn't take a militantly feminist commentator to observe that.

Of course there will always be films with male leads and female leads, and there's no problem whatsoever with that. I'm not saying Episode VII should have a female lead just because, end of (and who knows, Ridley might even be our protagonist). Even with a male lead, though, it would be nice to see a wider range of female characters, and this announcement - even though I'd say there's a few yet to be confirmed actors - doesn't exactly fill me with confidence that there'll be more balance in the force this time around. It's still crazy that Hollywood almost completely fails to offer a diverse range of blockbuster heroes, with the likes of The Hunger Games seemingly exceptions. Look at the Marvel films - a dozen films in, and not a single female lead (The Avengers arguably aside, but even then Black Widow is just one of many). Abrams and co. have a good opportunity to kick things off afresh here, and breaking away from a 'boys club' mentality would IMO simply be a welcome step forward - can't say definitively that they have or have not, though, until more information becomes available.

As an aside, I continue to harbour a strong belief that 99% of films specifically and aggressively targeted at a single gender are complete and other crap. Great film is universal and widely accommodating regardless of the gender, race, nationality, religion, sexuality etc... of the protagonist / filmmakers or the broad genre of the film, pretty much without exception.

conorhal

Von Sydow!

So Ming the Merciless is the big bad in this right?

pixelburp

Funny that we all assume Von Sydow will be playing someone evil, that’s typecasting for you! But if he is to be a bad guy, he has the baring and authority to play someone pretty high-up the food chain.

Frankly, I hope he’s not a Darth, because I’m sick to death of Star Wars being focused on the Jedi to the exclusivity of other, more interesting stories, settings & characters. The Jedi are DULL. Boring. Yes the lightsabers are cool but I’ve always found Star Wars least interesting when it focused on that collection of condescending personality vacuums. Their simplistic approach to morality and emotions also stunts any ability to tell captivating, emotional stories and undermines the rest of the universe. The Force was cool when it was a background concept, raw and intangible against the larger reality of this universe.

Personally I want Episode VII to be about adventures in the farthest reaches of space. Pop our heads around the door of the Skywalker Institute for Gifted Children and then lets blast off to the more dangerous corners of the galaxy. In that vein, Hopefully VonSydow plays someone a little more interesting than a Dark Jedi: a rogue Remnant general perhaps, out to restore the Empire. Grand Moff Tarkin perhaps? How do we know he died at the end of New Hope?

Sad Professor

Yeah, if Von Sydow is playing a villain, it would make more sense for him to be a leftover general from the Empire than a Sith lord. The Sith were supposedly wiped out at the end of Jedi. Any new ones should be young guys.

Roar

Sad Professor wrote: »

The Sith were supposedly wiped out at the end of Jedi.

Or WERE they??

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8Kyi0WNg40

Kiith

pixelburp wrote: »

In that vein, Hopefully VonSydow plays someone a little more interesting than a Dark Jedi: a rogue Remnant general perhaps, out to restore the Empire. Grand Moff Tarkin perhaps? How do we know he died at the end of New Hope?

I'd like to see it be the Empire (or remnant) as the bad guy, rather than just the Sith as well. Have a Sith (or two) in there somewhere, but it shouldn't be focused on the Jedi/Sith conflict. Although, the original trilogy were like that as well, i suppose.

As for Tarkin, i'm pretty sure he's dead. Even the craziness of the expanded universe couldn't bring him back.

Radiosonde

Nice looking cast (assuming they don't CGI Jar Jar in later.) Saw Driver for the first time in Tracks the other night: though his role didn't give much clue to how he'd handle a villian, seems a good actor. C3PO, R2D2, and Chewbacca are tainted by the prequels but inevitable the first two at least would be involved. Hopefully Boba Fett won't appear.

On another note, some talk as if Michael Arndt was still a co-writer on this? His script was probably largely binned, if not entirely.

Tony EH

pixelburp wrote: »

Funny that we all assume Von Sydow will be playing someone evil, that’s typecasting for you! But if he is to be a bad guy, he has the baring and authority to play someone pretty high-up the food chain.

Frankly, I hope he’s not a Darth, because I’m sick to death of Star Wars being focused on the Jedi to the exclusivity of other, more interesting stories, settings & characters. The Jedi are DULL. Boring. Yes the lightsabers are cool but I’ve always found Star Wars least interesting when it focused on that collection of condescending personality vacuums. Their simplistic approach to morality and emotions also stunts any ability to tell captivating, emotional stories and undermines the rest of the universe. The Force was cool when it was a background concept, raw and intangible against the larger reality of this universe.

Personally I want Episode VII to be about adventures in the farthest reaches of space. Pop our heads around the door of the Skywalker Institute for Gifted Children and then lets blast off to the more dangerous corners of the galaxy. In that vein, Hopefully VonSydow plays someone a little more interesting than a Dark Jedi: a rogue Remnant general perhaps, out to restore the Empire. Grand Moff Tarkin perhaps? How do we know he died at the end of New Hope?

Yeh, good luck with that.

It'll be more lightside/darkside nonsense. Childish and stupid.

Star Wars is at its best when the Jedi are a sideline and not the main issue.

Part of the reason why I cannot stand the prequels is that it focuses far too much those boring feckers.

They're soooooo tedious.