STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS Cast and Crew Talk About Making The Movie
Update: Video of the event has emerged, so you can watch that at the very bottom of this post.
Yesterday, Disney and Lucasfilm held a press junket for Star Wars: The Force Awakens in Los Angeles. I was lucky enough to attend the event, which was moderated by J.J. Abrams' friend Mindy Kaling, and I transcribed all of the important bits of information that were revealed. I've written about a couple of them this morning already, but this article is going to include a bulk of the conversation from panelists Abrams, writer Lawrence Kasdan, Lucasfilm head Kathleen Kennedy, and actors Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Gwendoline Christie, Lupita Nyong'o, and Adam Driver.
First up, I'll single out a few little tidbits about the movie you might be interested in knowing about. Abrams said there is NOT a post-credits scene on this film, and there are no Ewoks in the movie at all. Kathleen Kennedy also promised that Jar Jar Binks is not in the movie, so that debunks at least one fan theory that's been floating around.
The studio was filming the entire press conference, and they're supposed to be releasing that video to the press hopefully sometime today. When that becomes available, I'll embed the full thing for you here. In the meantime, you can read my transcript of the best moments below, in order of what I found the most interesting down to the least:
On Maz Kanata's relationship with Yoda:
Abrams: I do believe that Maz and Yoda, at one point, have crossed paths. But that isn’t something that, of course — due to the events of past movies [Yoda's death] — happens in this one.
Was Gwendoline Christie prepared for Captain Phasma to become an instant sensation among fans, and whether or not she'd be interested in playing Captain Marvel if Marvel Studios offered her the role:
Christie: I was very surprised and heartened at the overwhelming response to the character of Captain Phasma. I really felt what Kathleen and J.J. and everyone has created at Star Wars — I think J.J.’s been open about the fact that he wanted to respect the origins of the films and celebrate them but bring them into the modern day. Confirmation of that seemed to be, to me, in this amazing character of Captain Phasma, who is Star Wars’ first on-screen female villain. More than that, this is a character who, so far, we have related to due to her choices, due to her character, and not due to the way she has been made in flesh. Conventionally, that is how we have related to female characters. This, to me, felt very progressive, and the response from the audience and the fans has been so celebratory, it makes me think that this it the kind of thing people want to see. People want to see a more diverse reflection of society, and I feel incredibly privileged to play that part. If anyone else wants to offer me any work, then I am very grateful and willing to listen.
What does John Boyega think about the black Stormtrooper controversy, and what themes does he hope people take away from the final movie?
Boyega: For me, I’ve gotta be honest — I really don’t care about the black Stormtrooper stuff. I couldn’t care less. This is a movie about human beings, about Wookiees, spaceships, and TIE Fighters. It has an undertone and message of courage and a message of friendship and loyalty. I think that’s something that’s ultimately important. I watched the movie with Kathy just last week, and I really relate to Rey more than any of the characters. To be in a circumstance where you have to find something bigger than who you are within yourself is something that’s inspirational to me, and I think that people will take that away. In terms of the kids, all they’re going to be concentrating on is BB-8!
Is the new trilogy (Episodes VIII, VIII, and IX) completely mapped out, and how are the directors working with each other to move forward? [Very small spoilers ahead.]
Kennedy: We haven’t mapped out every single detail yet, but obviously everybody’s talking to one another and working together, and that collaboration I think is what is going to guarantee that everybody’s got a say in how we move forward with this. So far, it’s going great. J.J. and Rian [Johnson] have already talked at length because Rian is about to start shooting Episode 8. These guys are getting ready to head over in January, and then Colin [Trevorrow] will start working with Rian and spending a lot of time on set with us.
The most interesting part of that response for me was when Kennedy singled out "these guys" — which, at that point, were Oscar Isaac, Gwendoline Christie, and John Boyega sitting on the couch next to her — and said they were prepping to go shoot with Johnson on Episode 8. We knew Captain Phasma was going to be in Episode 8, but that's the first official confirmation that Poe and Finn are going to make it through the events of The Force Awakens and live on in another film. She must not consider that a spoiler if she openly admitted it to us like that.
Describing Kylo Ren:
Driver: (Joking) He makes a lot of videos for his mom. He’s a great cook. He’s a Scorpio. (Serious) I think he’s very unpolished and unfinished. I think what J.J. and Larry did, keeping all the vocabulary that everyone’s familiar with in Star Wars, and the Dark Side, and keeping that very much in tact but also adding a kind of recklessness or something that’s un-neat about it that people don’t normally associate with the Dark Side, being very organized and very in control and calm and in command.
Abrams: One of our thoughts was to try to do something a little different with that.
Kasdan: That’s why we were so excited about Adam playing this part, because there’s never been a character like Kylo in the saga. He hasn’t got his shit all together. Adam acts it so beautifully, because what you’re looking at, you’re expecting, ‘Oh, this is some evil genius,’ but what you’re getting is all of the contradictions and conflict that any one of us can feel at any moment. That’s what unique.
(Adam Driver was asked about contributing to the history of great antagonists in the Star Wars saga)
Driver: I feel like I was so aware of the movies and I have my friends’ kids now, they haven’t seen the movies, but they’re somehow so aware of everything that happens. I think that’s how I was introduced to them, through the merchandising, and toys, and Stormtrooper helmets and things like that. I tried to not think about that as much as possible. I remember early on, not thinking about him being bad or evil or a villain. Trying to make something that was three dimensional. That to me, when we were talking originally, seemed more dangerous and more unpredictable — someone who feels morally justified in doing whatever they need to, to publicly state that whatever they’re doing is right, seemed like something more active to play than just being evil for the sake of it. That’s not really fun to play.
The most important aspect of the original trilogy J.J. wanted to bring to this movie:
Abrams: When Kathy Kennedy and Larry and I started talking about what this was at the very beginning, the fundamental question was what did we want to feel, and what did we want people to feel when they came to this movie. That was really the beginning of the discussion, and the answer was the sense of discovery, exhilaration, surprise. The comedy that George Lucas put into Star Wars was, for me, the thing that made me love the movie. But when you look at all of the things that he got right, it’s impossible and stunning. For us at the very beginning, it was really about knowing why we were telling this story, and it was to give people that sense of possibility and magic that we all felt when we first saw the original Star Wars. But I will say that this is all to tell a new story. Meaning, it’s not a nostalgia trip. We had to go backwards in order to go forwards. If you look at four, five, and six, those are stories that continue. This is seven, so the history of seven will be what we’ve seen before. The fabric needed to be what we were familiar with in order to tell a brand new story.
Why is Harrison Ford making this movie?
Ford: It’s because it’s what I do. It’s what I like to do. It’s what’s fun for me. I had a chance to work with people I really admire doing something I thought was going to be fun, which actually turned out to be fun, and to work with J.J., whose work I really admire and have long known about. It seemed like a good idea at the time.
Was it difficult slipping back into the role of Han Solo?
Ford: It seemed easy to come back to the character. Clothes make the man and I’ve walked more than a mile in those boots. I was interested in the described path of the character, I thought there was an interesting bit of business for the character to do, and I’d been having a real good time with J.J. Abrams talking about it and getting ready for the adventure of filming. So it was easy.
The biggest difference between filming the old and new Star Wars:
Ford: It's hard to say what the difference is. I can tell you how it feels. It feels familiar, it feels good. It’s good to be home, as Han says in the teaser trailer. I’m aware of the value that’s placed on these films by the audience and I’m gratified that they’ve been passed on, the first three have been passed on generationally through families, and that they’re still an audience for those of us that were in the original film. There’s still some value to them interpreting life somehow. It’s a bit of a mystery, but it’s very gratifying to be part of that.
Carrie Fisher and Daisy Ridley on the "girl power" aspects of the original trilogy and The Force Awakens:
Fisher: I am the beginning of girl power. Deal with it! No, I got to be the only girl on an all-boys set, which was really fun, putting things in their drinks and stuff like that. We drank through the whole trilogy in the beginning, and this was a sober set. That’s what J.J. brought to this. [Rey]’s more powerful; she takes on the physical power, and then I scream at them until they pass out. Not scream, I make fun of them. That what was really fun about doing anything that was ‘girl power-esque,’ is bossing men around. I know a lot of women out there haven’t done that yet, and I encourage you to do so later this afternoon.
Ridley: Obviously, Princess Leia and Carrie have been an inspiration for girls for years, and I’m definitely not quite there yet, but I hope Rey will be something of a girl power figure. I think with writing like J.J. and Larry’s, and a story of which she is woven into richly and holds an important role, I guess there’s no other way except to say that she will have some impact in a girl power-y way. She’s brave and she’s vulnerable, and she’s so nuanced. That’s what’s exciting playing a role like this. She doesn’t have to be one thing to embody a woman in a film. For me, she’s not important because she’s a woman — she’s important, and it just so happens that she’s a woman. She transcends gender, she’s going to speak to men and women, and that obviously started with Leia, and Leia’s still there kicking ass. We’ve got Maz kicking ass, too. So it’s wonderful to be a part of.
Did reading the script live up to everyone's expectations and their own wondering about what's happened since the events of Return of the Jedi 32 years ago?
Ridley: I wasn’t a huge fan of the whole thing. I’d seen them, and I had a kind of interest, but I missed the Star Wars boat. So I didn’t wonder that so much. Even so, it was very exciting finding out what did [happen].
Driver: I would say that it’s still called Star Wars…it’s thirty years later, and the exact same things are going on in a way, which I thought was so true to life. We have such short memories of huge events and mass genocide, and then we sort of forget about it, it seems. And the same people are in charge, and the same group of people, younger and older, come on and feel that their problems are unique and it’s all a cyclical thing. It seems like finding these people — a lot of things have changed, like the setting, but really, the circumstances are the same. I thought that was very true. That was what I took from it: less plot points, like ‘Oh, I always knew that Leia would be doing this, or Solo would be doing this.’ More like, ‘Nothing really changes.’
On outside inspiration while writing the script:
Kasdan: All the movies of Akira Kurosawa have influenced me throughout my career. That’s because he was sort of the Shakespeare of cinema. He did comedies, he did action films, he did Shakespearean drama. All of life is contained in each one of his films. Seven Samurai may be the greatest film ever made — it’s a personal drama, it’s an action picture. And when J.J. and I were working, we kept referring to that. We would talk about the great American movies that we loved and the things that had influenced the first Star Wars, Howard Hawks and John Ford and Flash Gordon. When George made A New Hope, he was influenced very much by Kurosawa and by Flash Gordon and by The Wizard of Oz. I think that all of those movies, you can feel them in A New Hope, and everything that’s in A New Hope has come down through the movies to this day.
What did it feel like getting to use the Skywalker lightsaber?
Boyega: I was very excited to use that thing, because I think blue suits me. It was amazing for me to read the whole script and to find out all of the things that Finn gets to do. For me, it’s like, I feel like for some reason, did J.J. know what kind of fan I was and write this role for me? I get to wear a Stormtrooper suit, a rebel jacket, I have a blaster, I use a lightsaber, I hang out with frickin’ Han Solo and Chewie, it’s just fantastic.
Did he have concerns about getting a limb hacked off?
Boyega: I did, because Adam Driver has a really long reach. And that’s an issue. But I did my Floyd Mayweather thing: just bob and weave.
Is there any romance in the film for Poe Dameron?
Isaac: Mostly with BB-8. Inter-droid romance? There’s a real warmth there. There’s give and take. That’s who’s got his back in that X-wing. I’d say if there’s any real romance for Poe, it’s in those two little balls. (Everyone laughs)
How much backstory they were told ahead of time:
Isaac: I think this has been one of the coolest things about working on this with J.J. and Lucasfilm, is that there’s been a real sense of collaboration with that kind of thing. There’s a bit of a sandbox element of it. We talk about those things and there was an evolution of the characters, even from the first meeting with J.J. and Kathy and Larry to what ended up on screen. For example, with me, after we filmed it, I was talking about at the very end of A New Hope in the medal ceremony, one of Guatemala’s claims to fame is that last shot when the ships are leaving, where you see the temples, that was shot in Guatemala. For me, the fact that I was born there, and that’s a Rebel base, and playing a Resistance fighter, and I was thinking, ‘Maybe Poe was there! Maybe that’s where he’s from!’ And then this comic book comes out called Shattered Empire, where Poe’s parents ended up going to Yavin IV and making sweet love. (Everyone laughs) So that’s an amazing thing — the first time talking about where a character comes from ends up in a comic book, and it’s kind of a beautiful thing. It feels like we’re creating these things together.
Boyega: I didn’t know much going in because of spoilers and that sort of stuff, but I do remember having the sides, which were loosely based on who Finn and Rey was, but I remember during my time screen testing, I was like, to Daisy, ‘There’s no way that our stories are so simple.’ And I still don’t know. [Glances at Kennedy.] So I’ve still got some conspiracy theories as a fan as to where Finn comes from and I’m still trying to figure that out. But I like that it’s a mystery.
How much did Kasdan and Abrams look at the extended universe when writing this script?
Kasdan: I think it had more to do with [Return of the] Jedi, and the continuation. We had four, five, and six, this was seven. We were aware, we were respectful of the canon, but we really wanted to tell a story that interested us and delighted us, and we didn’t really want any rules or parameters. We said, ‘We can do anything we want with this story. What would be the most fun thing to do on this page, and the next page, and the page after that?’ That was sort of the guiding principle, I think more than the canon or anything that came before.
The scariest moments:
Kasdan: I don’t associate the process with fear. J.J. and I jumped into the thing under a lot of time pressure, and we had fun. In fact, the first day we started real work on it, we said, ‘We must have fun with this every day.’ It’s really a privilege and you have to be really lucky to write the next Star Wars. So we didn’t really have fear. I think we had trepidation about fulfilling peoples’ expectations, would they be satisfied with what we came out with, but we didn’t want them to know what we were going to come up with, and this moment that’s coming up next week [the release of the film] would be a fresh moment for as many people in the world who are interested in it. So the only pressure is, can you do something that’s worth that much anticipation?
Abrams: The scariest day for me was when Harrison Ford was injured, which was just absolutely hideous. But every day, it felt like there were challenges because I knew how important this was to so many people, and that was never a presence that went away. Every decision I knew had this importance, and yet we had a day to make, we had a story to tell, and it was always about telling the best story possible.
Was this a solitary experience for Lupita Nyong'o because of her motion capture work in the film?
Nyong’o: J.J. had me be a part of principal photography, so my very first experience with motion capture was on the actual sets with the actual actors. I’m eternally grateful to him for giving me that, because it was a great way to get into this wonderful, crazy thing called motion capture. I got to be on those sets and see all those things and feel them, and the art direction — there’s so much detail, even when you’re standing on that set, it’s mesmerizing — audiences, I think, are going to have a very immersive experience much like we had filming it.
Abrams: I will say one thing that Lupita would not. She was remarkably tireless and willing to experiment with different versions of this character. It was kind of an amazing thing to discover over various iterations of Maz. What she sounded like, how she moved. I’ve never been through this before with an actor, where we’ve gotten to discover again and again and again how to better tell the story we were telling. I always felt guilty every time we started another session or reshoots, and every single time, Lupita was willing and game and deeply committed and into finding Maz Kanata’s voice. I’m eternally grateful.
Why would J.J. be interested in making this movie?
Abrams: This is a project that I felt incredibly lucky to be asked to be a part of…to a person on the crew, to a person on the cast, this was not a job. It was nothing I think any one of us took on because it was a gig and we were available. It was something that felt like a true passion and something that every single person brought much more than any of us could have expected. I do honestly feel honored to be a part of this movie.
That's all from the Star Wars: The Force Awakens press junket. The film opens the night of December 17th.