I can only hope The Force Awakens and all Star Wars movies to follow it will continue the tradition set by the prequel DVD releases, with their in-depth behind the scenes documentaries.
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The Force Awakens press conference took place at an undisclosed location where roughly 300 members of the press filled out the seats at a panel discussion between J.J. Abrams, Kathleen Kennedy and the cast of the new Star Wars film. None of the other Star Wars movies bothered with this, and the only one that comes close is if you wait until the end of the The Phantom Menace credits you can hear Darth Vader’s breathing, which is a nice touch, but certainly doesn’t tell you anything about Attack of the Clones.
Though it seems like we have been inundated with footage from the upcoming seventh instalment of the Star Wars saga, The Force Awakens, we have been privy to very little. “That’s because Harrison insisted on it”, she joked, referring to Harrison Ford, who returns to play Han Solo in “Force Awakens”. New stars include Daisy Ridley (Rey), John Boyega (Fin), and Oscar Isaacs (Poe Dameron). The film is less than two weeks away, and while there’s been lots and lots of trailers, hopefully the film still has surprises in store.
The Star Wars films helped to make the names of actors such as Harrison Ford as Hans Solo, Carrie Fisher as Princess Leia and Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker. He described a scene where Rey engages in a lightsaber battle with the movie’s villain Kylo Ren – immediately sparking rumours that Daisy Ridley’s character could have Jedi potential.
Ford gave weight to the theory when he gave the following answer. “While we were working on the film, I realised how engaged with the fans and forthcoming Lucasfilm had always been”, Abrams said. When asked how far ahead they’ve planned, Kennedy said that some key story elements were already written, while others are left to the other filmmakers.
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Star Wars past and present came together when Boyega recalled going into his final audition for the film and looking to Ford and Hamill for inspiration. “She’s an important character, a baddie in the best sense of the word”.
