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New The Force Awakens Behind the Scenes Featurette

But director JJ Abrams promises it won’t be a nostalgic trip down memory lane.

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Hollis said he expects The Force Awakens to have a strong “multiple”, meaning it could deliver big box-office returns for many weeks after its opening. “So they needed to be actors whom the audience could discover as these characters, not as actors they’d seen elsewhere”.

The cast and Abrams said they wanted to preserve the element of surprise for filmgoers.

“Being here now means we’re actually finished with the movie, which is a relief”, Abrams said with Jedi calm.

There has also been considerable speculation over which characters could get killed off during Episode VII – especially as Ford lobbied George Lucas to kill off his character Solo in the 1980s while the original trilogy of films was still being made. “It’s a bit of a mystery, but it’s very gratifying to be part of that”. On one hand, I felt like if this movie works for people, then that’s the way you want to go out. Also relegated in China are Oscar Isaac’s X-wing pilot Poe Dameron and Peter Mayhew’s Wookiee smuggler Chewbacca, who disappear altogether. “All I know is that John Boyega is extraordinary in the movie”. There will be no extra scene setting up the next film after the credits, Abrams said. “If I keep it a secret until the day it comes out, I get that payment”.

Newcomer Daisy Ridley was sworn to secrecy for three months that she had even been cast in the film.

But now the mystery has been solved by Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy, who has announced that the character we’ve been waiting for won’t be in The Force Awakens at all. We know that we’re gonna have Harrison and Carrie and Mark back.

Rey’s last name is unknown, leading fans to guess she may be Luke Skywalker’s daughter.

Nyong’o, meanwhile, will slip into the skin of pirate Maz Kanata, for which the actress used motion-capture technology. ‘I’m like, “Would it be okay if she were ugly?”

Thank to his boyish looks, messy mop of hair, and legions of young female fans spanning Asia, Han has often been described as the Chinese answer to Justin Bieber.

“I didn’t anticipate at that point that there would ever be another film”.

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