Force Awakens Bits: Captain Phasma Was Originally A Man, Why Leia Didn’t Become A Jedi, Easter Eggs And More
WithStar Wars: the Force Awakenshitting theaters in just a matter of weeks, an international press tour is sure to bring an overload of Star Wars news. So Star Wars Bits will probably be a daily feature for the next couple weeks, and we’ll try to divide the Star Wars news into Force Awakens Bits for those who want to know more about the upcoming movie and Star Wars Bits which will focus on everything else in the galaxy far far away. It’s also impossible for us to cover every single interview, nor would we want to. So we’re going to try to focus on the best and most interesting. In today’s Force Awakens Bits:
All that and more in today’s Force Awakens bits. Hit the jump to Hyperspace for more.
Captain Phasma Was Originally Written As a Male Role
We know thatGwendoline Christie’s character Captain Phasma is based on a design originally created for Kylo Ren, but now we have confirmation that the role was originally written for a male actor. ScreenwriterLawrence KasdantoldVulture:
We were just casting about for all the characters. I mean, we were making them up at that moment, as costuming and everything else was happening! It’s not like there was a finished script sitting around for months." …“Everything was happening simultaneously. When the idea came up to make Phasma female, it was instantaneous: Everyone just said, ‘Yes. That’s great.’
I had heard that the casting directors were told the role was gender neutral, but this is probably the role that Benedict Cumberbatch was rumored for.
Why Leia Didn’t Become a Jedi After Episode VI
At theForce Awakensjunket,IGNaskedJ.J. Abramswhy didn’t Leia become a Jedi afterStar Wars: Return of the Jedi. You can watch his response above. Abrams explains its a question that him and Kasdan talked about quite a bit, and it was decided that it was a choice that Leia made. She chose to be a General rather than a Jedi.
How the Resistance Differs From the Rebellion
Over atIo9,Oscar Issacexplains how the Resistance is different from the Rebellion from the original trilogy:
Just think about the words, one is to rebel against, so it’s an offensive action. Resisting is on the defensive. So I think the big difference is that [The Resistance] is even more cornered. … There’s less of them” and “It’s slightly less organized.
New Disney XD Clip
Watch a new Disney XD clip which features among other things: a new outfit for Rey, Leia, and a look at Maz Kanata.
New Features of the First Order Stormtrooper Armor
InTime Magazine, it is revealed that when Finn (played byJohn Boyega), takes off his stormtrooper helmet in the film, theres a quiet whoosh sound, as of a vacuum seal being broken. So apparently the new armor has a vacuum seal. Not a huge change, but a cool new addition.
Note: the above easter egg is fake, a fan Photoshop
Force Awakens Easter Eggs
DirectorJ.J. Abramsis notorious for hiding Easter eggs in his films (the biggest ones tend to be “Slusho” and “Kelvin” references), soPopSugarasked the filmmaker what to expect inStar Wars: The Force Awakens. While the filmmaker didn’t reveal anything, he teased where you might find some of them:
We put some Easter eggs in, but they were Easter eggs that weren’t sort of the normal, from-another-movie type of Easter eggs. They were things we knew people would discover upon later viewings. Small things. But there’s a chase that involves the Falcon, and if you look at it carefully, there are a couple of things that happen in it that might be fun to recognize.
A New Book Features Stories of New Force Awakens Alien Characters
TheJourney to Star Wars: The Force Awakenscollection of short stories,Tales from a Galaxy Far, Far Away: Alienswill be released in April 2016 but four of the six storiesare now available in eBook format. Here are the details, and check out the cover images above.
All Creatures Great and SmallBy Landry Quinn Walker
High Noon on JakkuBy Landry Quinn Walker
The Crimson Corsair and the Lost Treasure of Count DookuBy Landry Quinn Walker
The Face of EvilBy Landry Quinn Walker
Droid Builder Lied To His Sons, Couldn’t Reveal He Was Working On Episode 7
We have all heard the story of the two R2 Builders club members that jokingly pitchedKathleen Kennedyon the idea of working onEpisode 7when she visited Star Wars Celebration in Germany a couple years back, and then actually got the job. Well, one of them has a few quotes in anew interview. Here is an excerpt:
I made a comment that if they were making any films in the U.K. and needed any droids, to get in touch. And then, from a very cheeky comment, I was called several months later by Lucasfilm asking if I was available to work on the new film. It was incredible, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. … My wife knew, which was fair enough, but I’ve got two teenage sons. So I decided to keep it quiet from them because of school chatter and so on, so I made up a job and had to lie about the job I was doing.
Force Awakens Box Office Prospects
Meanwhile,Deadlinehas another article on the box office prospects forThe Force Awakens.
In August, I was hearing as high as $315M. That would put this reboot in the realm of Jurassic World which this summer posted a record overseas opening of $315.3M. I’m now hearing some slightly more conservative estimates, although many are suggesting $300M is not out of the question. Whatever it does, it will be huge and as one person said to me today, it’s likely to break records in all markets across the globe. On the conservative side, a distribution exec says, “I would think that $300M is a good place to start, but the pre-Christmas time has never been spectacular so if it came in at $250M, it wouldn’t surprise me either.” Those pre-holiday days compete with shopping, travel and the like. This same person nevertheless says, “This is uncharted territory for sure.” Agreeing on the uncharted waters front, yet countering, another source says there’s “not a chance” it does $250M. “This is going to blow away Jurassic World.”
The article mentions that ifThe Force Awakenscan open in the $275 – $300 million range, it will be on its way to outgrossingRevenge of the Sithwithin its first week. Read the whole article on the site.
Force Awakens Story Spoilers
Time Magazinealso apparently saw twenty minutes from the film and published a description of what the saw. The following contains minor plot description from the beginning of the movie, don’t read if you don’t want to know:
