Star Wars Episode VII News: Week 11

Benedict Cumberbatch Lobbying for Episode VII Role

     This week in Star Wars news, there were no official statements on anything Episode VII related, but, as always, there were many rumors. The first one is more of a tongue in cheek statement: Tina Fey and Amy reportedly said that they were cast as Darth Vader's mothers. This is not serious of course, but they did describe what is was like in further detail to Entertainment. 

     The second rumor, more seriously started in early December, but has persisted for the past several weeks. According to Jedi News, James Blunt, a British popular musician, let slip that Carrie Fisher was going to be involved in Episode VII. Apparently, Blunt is a prankster but his story "seems legit". Well, it's almost guaranteed that the original cast is returning. Or is it?

     In an interview mid-November on the David Letterman Show, Samuel Jackson, who played Mace Windu in the prequels, said that he had asked J.J. Abrams about being in Episode VII, but didn't get a solid yes or no. Jackson then went on to say that he contacted Ewan McGregor, who played Obi-Wan in the prequels if he'd been contacted by J.J. Abrams, and got a no. But then Samuel Jackson contacted Mark Hamill, who played Luke Skywalker, only to learn that he hadn't been contacted either. This could either mean

A) Samuel Jackson is lying

2) J.J. Abrams is hoping to make some grand reveal in casting choice, or

VII) Mark Hamill isn't going to be in Star Wars.

     

     I would go for Option 2, because while I have no problem leaving McGregor and Jackson out of the new trilogy, I think most fans would agree that Hamill has to return. It's inconceivable that he wouldn't be.

     The next rumor involves Disney, Star Wars, and Marvel. Disney has announced plans to make new Star Wars movies every year, switching from episodic installments to standalone films, and Latinos Post pointed out that that sound fishily similar to a certain Marvel franchise cash grab, I mean investment I personally don't think that Star Wars should make films EVERY YEAR. That is crazy. Those movies would be incredibly rushed. I think that there shouldn't be any standalone films, maybe a TV series or something, but not a standalone film. Disney should be focused on making the episodic installments good, not rushed, and three years apart like every single other Star Wars move. Yes, not even the prequels were that crazy.

     The final piece of news comes from Benedict Cumberbatch himself. When asked in an interview with Conan O'Brian if he wanted to be in the new Star Wars film, Cumberbatch said, 

     "Yeah. It started with me with sort of…I just sort of would leave casual messages on his phone as a lightsaber. I thought he thought he was getting bad cell reception or something. Then, I even went on a chat show and auditioned for Chewbacca. I sat next to Harrison Ford and did my audition."

     The fact that he says J.J. Abrams is not responding tells us that

A) Benedict Cumberbatch is lying

2) Samuel Jackson is lying

III) J.J. Abrams is not interested in Cumberbatch being in Episode VII

   

     I choose Option III, though, Cumberbatch also denied that he would play Khan in Star Trek Into Darkness. So, believe what you will, someone will pull it all together.

    Hopefully.

Star Wars Episode VII News: Week 10

The Return of R2-D2

     The past three weeks have yielded a lot of Star Wars news, and there has been official confirmation as well. First, it was reported that the movie Warcraft was pushing back its release date three months to March because it can't go against Episode VII. Also on the release date, J.J. Abrams commented on it. He said,      "I will say that it is an infinitely better situation now than when they were saying that they wanted it in the summer [of 2015] ... I understand why they'd want that, but it didn't necessarily have anything to do with the reality of where anything was creatively... a release date is great, but you have to release something great. To me, the new release date is a huge improvement."

     Amen.

     Open casting has spread from London to Bristol, then across the Atlantic to Memphis, Troy, Austin, and Chicago. The casting call is apparently looking for a Matt Damon-type character, aka a "forty-something military man" the casting call reports.

     In other news, Star Wars has now created an Instagram page, with the first photo posted being this:

     

     This has sparked a rumor that Disney is hinting a Darth Vader return to Episode VII. But, Star Wars, being Star Wars, Darth Vader was bound to show up on an Instagram page, regardless of his appearance in Episode VII.

     Another rumor started was that a full scale Millenium Falcon was created for production, inside and out. However, this was by an anonymous source with no credentials. And, even if it were true, Disney could just as easily build miniatures or use CGI for the Millenium Falcon in Episode VII. If this rumor is true, the Falcon probably wasn't built for Star Wars. It was probably built for one of its many theme parks for tourists to explore. Who knows?

     The latest official news from Star Wars isn't surprising, but it is comforting. Two weeks ago, this image was posted on Bad Robot:

     This was the first behind the scenes look at Episode VII, in it stand R2-D2, J.J. Abrams, Kathleen Kennedy, and two other dudes. Those two dudes were from the R2-D2 Builders Club, and they were reported by Star Wars to be the ones to build R2-D2 for Episode VII. 

     This news comes as an expected, yet welcome Star Wars piece of information. R2-D2 was obviously expected to return, but this one is fan made, unlike all previous R2-D2s, which were studio made. It's nice to know that there are fans out there who make R2-D2 models as close as possible to the ones in the films. Well, that is, not the prequels, then R2-D2 would have rocket feet from Episode II. Ugh.