A couple of weeks ago I had the amazing opportunity to attend the Star Wars World Media Day. When I found out I was invited, I almost lost it. To be in the same room with the likes of Carrie Fisher and Harrison Ford was almost more than this girl could handle.
First of all, and aside from the fun facts about the making of the movie, I got to meet R2D2, C3PO and BB8, so basically, my life is pretty much complete. I swear, just when I think I’ve seen and done it all, WHAMO!, something like this happens and my mind is blown.
Plus, I got to breathe the same air as the funny and brilliant Carrie Fisher, you guys! I totally adore her in every way.
So… on to the fun facts.
Costumes Make the Character!
- The most challenging costume to design was Kylo Ren’s. J.J. Abrams and designer Michael Kaplan went through hundreds, perhaps even thousands of designs before landing on the final version seen in the film.
- Captain Phasma’s was one of the easiest because it came about as one of the costume’s pitched for Kylo Ren.
- It took Daisy Ridley, Carrie Fisher and Adam Driver 20 minutes to get into their costumes. Daisy’s costume required wraps and such and required assistance. Lupita Nyong’o’s costume needed for her work on the film took took at least an hour to put on.
Walk-up Songs for Getting in Character.
Many athletes have “walk-up” songs to get them “into the zone” before a big game. Daisy Ridley and Gwenoline Christie had them for their strong characters. For Daisy to get in character for Rey it was “I’ll Make a Man Out of You” from the movie Mulan and for Gwendoline’s transformation into Captain Phasma, it was Kashmir by Led Zepplin.
Does Carrie Fisher Buy Into the Hype?
Carrie Fisher recognizes her place in film history as a powerful female lead in one of the most successful film franchises.
“I’ve had people over the years come up,” said Fisher “‘I’m showing this to my child… I didn’t want to wait till they were 6, so I went with 5.’ And you watch your children watch the movie and you learn something about your children. Will we like the same characters? And Halloween becomes kind of more of a Thanksgiving experience, without the turkey. But you see all these pictures of entire families dressed as the characters and I find that so moving. Sorry. But I do. It’s just an amazingly emotional movie.”
When asked about her contribution to the “girl power” phenomenon, she said, “I am the beginning of girl power. Deal with it!”
What It Feels Like to Be Han Solo Again.
According to Ford, “It seemed easy to come back to the character. Clothes make the man. I had walked more than a mile in those boots. I was interested in the described path of the character. I thought there was an interesting bit of business for the character to do. And I had been – I’d been having a real good time with J.J. Abrams, talking about it, and getting ready for the adventure of filming. So I was – it was easy.”
Where The Force Awakens Story Comes From?
Star Wars fans are acutely aware of the fact that the Star Wars literary canon is vast–ranging from juvenile literature to comic books to novels. With such a vast amount of stories to pull from, many fans are wondering if they need to be dusting off books in their Star Wars library. According to the film’s co-writer, Lawrence Kasdan, there is no need to start hitting the books.
“I think it (the film) had more to do with Jedi and the continuation of (episodes) 4, 5, and 6. This is 7,” said Kasdan. “I think we were aware, we’re respectful of the canon, but we really wanted to tell a story that interested us and delighted us and we didn’t really want any rules and parameters particularly. We just said, ‘we can do anything we want with this story, what would be the most fun thing to do on this page, and the next page, and the page after that?’ And that was sort of the guiding principle, I think, more than the canon or anything that had come before.”
Want to know more about Star Wars: The Force Awakens? Click here for our spoiler-free review!
