Continuing this weeks coverage of Star Wars: The Last Jedi, I’ve got all of the exciting details of the Star Wars: The Last Jedi Global Press Junket that I was so fortunate to attend earlier this month.
The main event of the press day was the cast interview featuring Mark Hamill (รขโฌลLuke Skywalkerรขโฌย), Daisy Ridley (รขโฌลReyรขโฌย), John Boyega (รขโฌลFinnรขโฌย), Oscar Isaac (รขโฌลPoe Dameronรขโฌย), Adam Driver (รขโฌลKylo Renรขโฌย), Domhnall Gleeson (รขโฌลGeneral Huxรขโฌย), Gwendoline Christie (รขโฌลCaptain Phasmaรขโฌย), Andy Serkis (รขโฌลSupreme Leader Snokeรขโฌย), Laura Dern (รขโฌลVice Admiral Amilyn Holdoรขโฌย), Kelly Marie Tran (รขโฌลRose Ticoรขโฌย) and Director Rian Johnson.
The press conference lasted about 45 minutes with time for Q&A. I didn’t take a full video but you can watch the entire Star Wars: The Last Jedi press conference here:
There were no spoilers from the media event.
Here are a few highlights from the interview:
How would you say this film feels different from The Force Awakens? What sets it apart from that film?
John Boyega: I just think the storyรขโฌโขs moving forward. I just feel like J.J. had a blueprint, a foundation of Force Awakens that was pretty good and now itรขโฌโขs about moving forward with the story and just challenging the characters. All the characters are under intense pressure, and so itรขโฌโขs a time which everyone has their own specific reckoning, and itรขโฌโขs all different. Itรขโฌโขs like a lot going on. Iรขโฌโขve only watched it once and the first thing is that I want to watch it again because of the amount of information and Easter eggs in there as well.
Oscar Issac: I think the thing as well is that often with the second chapter in a story of three, because the first one kind of sets the tone and the world and the new characters, introduced them, in the second one you donรขโฌโขt have to spend so much time doing that, you can really just delve into the story, into whatรขโฌโขs happening, like John said, to the conflict of each of the characters. I think what Rianรขโฌโขs done so incredibly well is that heรขโฌโขs challenged deeply every single character, including the droids, with the biggest challenges theyรขโฌโขve ever faced, and thatรขโฌโขs how youรขโฌโขre able to really get to learn about them, on all sides of the spectrum, from light to dark. Itรขโฌโขs like heรขโฌโขs found a way to get to the central point of that character and try to challenge them as best as he can. I think itรขโฌโขs really amazing what heรขโฌโขs done.
Daisy Ridley: The biggest thing for me when I read the script, because you know, even though youรขโฌโขre trying to avoid what people are saying, itรขโฌโขs hard to, and because people responded well to John and I as a team, I was a big nervous about not being a team so much in this one. So I think for me personally it was a challenge. The film was a challenge and I donรขโฌโขt know what it was like for anyone else, but to be in different combinations of people. So in itself, weรขโฌโขre in different situations, weรขโฌโขre with different people that we are learning about, weรขโฌโขre meeting for the first time, so yeah, it felt pretty different for me.
Andy Serkis: I was blown away when I saw the movie. I just was so caught up with it, not least because it was really intimate and very emotional and I wasnรขโฌโขt expecting that at all. I mean, I know obviously that it was going to go that way, but it was very, very powerful and it touches you and what Rianรขโฌโขs done incredibly is make this dance between these great kind of epic moments and hilarious antics, literally flipping on a dime and then going right into the heart of these beautiful characters, and you really caring. And I think that was my takeaway, it was just an extraordinary viewing.
Gwendoline Christie: I was delighted by the film and what I was surprised by was that Star Wars has always been รขโฌโ I think the reason why itรขโฌโขs resonated with us all so deeply is that itรขโฌโขs our foundation story of good against evil, and where that balance is, and how we see elements of characters weรขโฌโขve never seen before, things that can be unexpected. But there is something about this film and I think itรขโฌโขs because the world that we live in is a changing and evolving place, that it retains the simplicity of those elements, but it really resonates with what it is to follow your own human dark narcissistic tendencies, where that will take you, and I love that, and itรขโฌโขs done so beautifully aesthetically too.
There are way more female characters in this move, certainly in the first three movies. Thatรขโฌโขs going to mean a lot to little girls. I want to know what it means to you guys.
Daisy Ridley: I think like as a girl growing up in London, obviously I knew there was a disparity in films but I wasnรขโฌโขt so aware of it, like growing up in a liberal household. I was never really made to feel any one way. So when I got involved I knew it was a big deal, but the response was so beyond anything I could have imagined, it was only afterwards I was like, oh, oh yeah. And itรขโฌโขs not like I ever took it for granted or anything but it was just so monumental, the response and how people felt about it, and obviously thatรขโฌโขs a testament to Kathy, J.J., Michael, Larry, everyone who created the characters in the beginning, and I think whatรขโฌโขs great about everyone is itรขโฌโขs not like sheรขโฌโขs a girl, this is a guy, this is anything, everyoneรขโฌโขs just great characters that happily are falling into broader categories now, so Iรขโฌโขm thrilled.
Kelly Marie Tran: I think that it feels like both an honor and a responsibility at the same time. I feel like from the beginning when I initially found out I got this role, I just felt like I wanted to do the whole thing justice, and Iรขโฌโขm so excited that the girls in this movie kick some butt. Every single one is so good, and I canรขโฌโขt wait for everyone to see it.
Laura Dern: I just want to pay tribute to Rian for being one of the most brilliantly subversive filmmakers Iรขโฌโขve ever been able to bear witness to, and in the case of the look of my character, I was moved by the fact that he really wanted her strength to first lead with a very deep femininity and to see a powerful female character also be feminine is something that moves away from a stereotype thatรขโฌโขs sometimes perceived in strong female characters must be like the boys. I thought that was a really interesting choice to get to witness.
Gwendoline Christie: I wasnรขโฌโขt cast in the first Star Wars film yet when I heard about the casting, and I was utterly delighted to see that there was a more representative selection of actors that were going to be in these incredible Star Wars films, and that has continued. And you know, everything that my amazing colleagues say is absolutely right. You get to see women that are not being strong just because theyรขโฌโขre acting like men. Theyรขโฌโขre doing something else. And also youรขโฌโขre seeing a developed character or at least a developing character, thatรขโฌโขs showing some complex character traits. And Iรขโฌโขm just delighted about that. Iรขโฌโขm delighted that something as legendary as Star Wars has decided to be modern and to reflect our society more as it is.
STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI opens in theaters December 15!
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Other Posts You Might Like:
- Star Wars: The Last Jedi Press Event – I’m Going!
- Celebrating the Holidays at Disneyland and California Adventure
- An Interview with Laura Dern for Star Wars: The Last Jedi
- An Interview with Gwendoline Christie for Star Wars: The Last Jedi
Special thanks toรย Disney, Lucasfilm & ABC for hosting my visit. All opinions
