Lucasfilm and visionary director J.J. Abrams join forces to take you back again to a galaxy far, far away as “Star Wars” returns to the big screen with “Star Wars: The Force Awakens.”
The film stars Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Adam Driver, Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Lupita Nyong’o, Andy Serkis, Domhnall Gleeson, Anthony Daniels, Peter Mayhew and Max Von Sydow.
During the recent Global Press conference, we had the opportunity to hear from the film makers and cast. The Press conference which was hosted by Mindy Kaling had the audience engaged with some funny questions and comments from the cast on stage.
One of the questions asked to Director J.J. Abrams by Kaling was why he wanted to make this movie. Abrams responded by saying that “this is a project that I felt incredibly lucky to be asked to be a part of, and I think I speak for all of us, when I say, this was not a job. It was something that felt like a true passion and something that every single person brought much more than any of could have expected, and so I do honestly feel honored to be part of this group.”
“Who was the most difficult actor to work with?” added Kaling? “Definitely Oscar. No, no. everyone was shockingly and wonderful to work with, and to get to work with people like Carrie and Harrison and Mark and people who I was a fan of since I was 11 years old, and also actors like Lupita and Daisy and Adam and John, it was so much fun to see them work together” added Abrams.
Check-out this short video clip below to learn more about the filmmakers and cast.
After a few funny comments, Ridley was asked if she had a walk-up song like athletes do when they’re entering an arena, a song that they have chosen that like pumps them up and expresses who they are. “I actually have one” commented Ridley. “It’s from Mulan, I’ll Make A Man Out of You” she added. “I used to play it in the trailer before I went on the set to film.”
The next question was for Abrams and what was the most important thing to bring to The Force Awakens from the original trilogy, to you? “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. And that was really the beginning of the discussion, and the answer was the kind of sense of discovery, exhilaration, surprise. We had to go backwards in order to go forwards. And if you look at 4, 5, and 6 those are stories that continue. This is 7, so the history of 7 will be what we’ve seen before. So the fabric needed to be that that we are familiar with, in order to tell a brand new story.”
The names of the characters have always been really unique in Star Wars. What’s the process that you guys use to come up with new ones, and did you use any that were left over from Mr. George Lucas? “I don’t know if there were any left over. I think the criteria was: did we like it? That was it. Really tough criteria. Did it sound good to say it? Did it feel good to type it?” stated Kasdan.
Questions about costumes came up next to find out which was the most difficult costume to put together. Abrams added “So the costume that was the most challenging I think for us to arrive at, and Michael Kaplan, the costume designer, I cannot wait for you to see what he’s done in this movie.” The cast responded with how long it took them to get into their costumes. The answers were between twenty minutes to around 2 hours from others.
“Star Wars: The Force Awakens” is now playing in theaters.
