New Star Wars Cast Announced

[Blue_Adept]

Actors John Boyega, Daisy Ridley, Adam Driver, Oscar Isaac, Andy Serkis, Domhnall Gleeson, and Max von Sydow will join the original stars of the saga, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill, Anthony Daniels, Peter Mayhew, and Kenny Baker in the new film.

Director J.J. Abrams says, “We are so excited to finally share the cast of Star Wars: Episode VII. It is both thrilling and surreal to watch the beloved original cast and these brilliant new performers come together to bring this world to life, once again. We start shooting in a couple of weeks, and everyone is doing their best to make the fans proud.”

Star Wars: Episode VII is being directed by J.J. Abrams from a screenplay by Lawrence Kasdan and Abrams. Kathleen Kennedy, J.J. Abrams, and Bryan Burk are producing, and John Williams returns as the composer. The movie opens worldwide on December 18, 2015.

Link

I'll take that cast.

[Blue_Adept]

1. Some interesting surprises

We knew about Driver some time ago but I'm curious to see what he'll become in this role compared to his other films and the Girls TV series.

Andy Serkis is obviously going to be something interesting motion captured.

Max Von Sydow! That's out of nowhere!

And supposedly Han Solo will be a major figure in the opening film as opposed to just a cameo.

Definitely some good stuff in here. Nothing screaming "wooden acting" folks at all.

[Bucky]

2. Max Von Sydow!!!

Nice call, JJ. There is still a glimmer of hope here. I like Harrison Ford's pose in that shot there. But who is that little guy behind him?

[onehandle]

3. That's the good news.

The bad news is that Max is playing an incredibly old Jar Jar Binks.

[Bucky]

4. funny...

I thought Jar Jar got incredibly old by the middle of the first movie

[NewJeffCT]

5. I'd almost prefer that

to midichlorians.

[NewJeffCT]

6. Never heard of 5 of the first 6

only Andy Serkis.

[Xithras]

9. Star Wars has always leaned toward lesser known actors.

Carry Fisher and Mark Hamill were minor actors and were largely unknown before the original SW was released. Harrison Ford was a bit better known because of his roles in Gunsmoke and American Graffiti, but even he was generally considered a C list actor until A New Hope.

In the second trilogy, NONE of the lead actors had any previous major roles to their credit.

Looking down the list, the actors in the upcoming third trilogy may actually have more screen experience than ANY of their predecessors did with the earlier triologies. While none of them are "big", all of them have experience and previous films to their credit (which, given Hayden Christensen's wooden acting as Anakin in the second trilogy, is probably a GOOD thing...unknown actors are sometimes unknown for a reason).

[NewJeffCT]

11. Natalie Portman

Liam Neeson and Ewan McGregor were all pretty well known. Jake Lloyd was really the only unknown, unless you count the guy voicing Jar Jar?

And, Hayden Christensen had been on a TV series for a year and in a few movies.

[Xithras]

12. The leads generally aren't "stars"

In fact, Portman's career was nearly dead after her relatively small role in Mars Attacks and she hadn't done any work in years when she was signed to Star Wars.

Neeson and McGregor were certainly "stars", but so was James Earl Jones when he did Vader. My point wasn't that the movies used NO big name talent, but that the previous six movies were primarily built around minor actors and unknowns. Most people had no idea who Christensen was until they searched for him on the Internet. Most people had no idea who Hamill was at all until they saw him in ANH. Even Harrison Ford was considered a relatively minor actor until Star Wars, though he had a small following and had played supporting roles in a few movies and TV shows.

Most people still have no idea who in the hell played Jar Jar, but that's mostly because he's in witness protection so the fans won't murder him.

[shenmue]

7. Wow

I remember seeing the original in theaters, in 1977. I was four. I remember thinking, it was really loud! It was one of the first movies I ever saw.

[LanternWaste]

8. Cautiously optimistic.

I like what Abrams did in Lost and the Star Trek reboot. I'm cautiously optimistic as Abrams is a fan, and co-writer Larry Kasdan is one of the tops in screen-writing.

[charlie and algernon]

10. Oscar Isaac is a huge pick up

He was great in "Inside Ilewyn Davis" and is an (very) early Best Actor Oscar contender for "A Most Violent Year."

[mgcgulfcoast]

13. i hope leah turns evil and kills han and luke

[NightWatcher]

14. and they'll choke the story to death on CGI so that the whole thing feels fake

Just because you can do certain FX doesn't mean you always should.

[HD469]

15. Hey Star Wars -- Where the Hell Are the Women?

This morning we all delighted in the casting announcement for Star Wars VII. And then the reality set in: There is only one new female character being added to what is arguably the world's most beloved mythic series. It's as if 51 percent of the population cried out in pain, and was suddenly silenced.

Let me tell you about my seven-year-old niece, Hannah. She's one of those girly girls who wears pink sparkly boots and does ballet. She also has a pink toy sword, a pink shield, and does karate. And when she talks about princesses, which happens a lot, one of her models is the "fighting princess" Leia. Hannah is part of a generation of kids growing up in the Star Wars/Disney universe, and already the Star Wars part of that equation has changed the way she plays princess games and the way she imagines herself in superheroic form. Leia gives Hannah options that Ariel doesn't. And vice-versa.

So when I looked at that Star Wars cast list, Hannah was on my mind. Surely in the second decade of the twenty-first century, she'd be given more awesome female characters to choose from in this contemporary incarnation of Star Wars. Leia would still be there, as the fighting princess — but maybe there would be a female fighter pilot whose swagger could rival Han Solo's, or a female Sith strutting through some scenery-chewing lines. Nope. There's one female name other than Carrie Fisher's on that cast list: the relative unknown Daisy Ridley, whom fans are speculating might play the daughter of Han Solo and Princess Leia. Of course, more cast members will be announced, but this is probably our core cast — the main characters.

Having Ridley is great, but one new female lead in a cast of men? That's how we launch ourselves into the future of this series, which inspires little girls with pink swords, as well as old girls like myself who graduated to sharper weapons long ago? Are we seriously still pretending that the universe is comprised almost entirely of men (and mostly white men at that)? Mythic tales are supposed to open up possibilities, not shut them down.

http://io9.com/hey-star-wars-where-the-hell-are-the-women-1569357077