Caffeinated Clint
Casting seems to be heating up like a newly-fueled Millennium Falcon over on Mickey Mouse’s “Star Wars” sequel.
Hot on the Bantha tail of yesterday’s report suggesting Jesse Plemons (“Friday Night Lights”) was being eyeballed for a pivotal role in 2015’s “Star Wars Episode VII”, comes freshly microwaved word that Hugo Weaving, Michael Fassbender and Adam Driver are also in contention to play roles in the JJ Abrams directed blockbuster.
While THR doesn’t say – likely because they don’t know; Lucasfilm has the script secured tighter than Mon Mothma’s panties – it’s speculated that Weaving and Fassbender are up for that rumoured military leader role in the film. Both aren’t just stupendous actors, they know their way around an effectsy science-fiction film; Weaving’s been a part of both the “Transformers” and “Matrix” franchises, among other genre additions, while Fassbender made for a perfectly suss android in 2012’s “Prometheus”.
Driver, best known for his role on HBO’s “Girls” (but quickly securing himself a seat at the big boys table, with reports suggesting he’s been up for a few biggies lately – including “Batman vs. Superman”), would assumingly be up for one of the film’s young heroes.
It’s common knowledge, I think, that the next three films in the series will fix on the offspring of Luke Skywalker, Han Solo and Princess Leia (there’s even a rumour floating about suggesting Obi-Wan had a daughter or granddaughter, and she’ll be in the flick), while offering the original threesome some juicy screen time too. On that, the trade says that the reason Michael Arndt (“Toy Story 3”) was let go from screenwriting duties was because his draft put too much emphasis on the film’s new characters, predominantly the ‘kids of the Star Wars dudes we know’, and that wasn’t what Abrams wanted. Instead, Abrams wants the original trio to be as much a part of the next film as the new recruits – if only so they can get a proper send-off, before handing the franchise over to its new younger cast members.
Abrams, however, wanted Episode VII to focus on the classic trio of characters, so audiences could have one more chance to enjoy them before a fitting send-off. The new characters, the offspring, will now be in supporting roles, according to these sources, and take center stage in Episode VIII and IX. Some characters have disappeared from the Arndt script and new ones are being drafted
So, sounds like a good thing Abrams and Lawrence Kasdan have now taking over screenplay duties; nobody wants Harrison Ford’s first appearance as Han Solo since 1983 to resemble Schwarzenegger’s cameo in “The Rundown” (Han Solo giving a new buck a high-5 and a ‘have fun!’ as he walks past him in the corridor). And I’m sure there’s even a few of us that wouldn’t mind seeing what Luke Skywalker is up to, too. And Lando. And Leia. And Wicket. And Ackbar. And how’s about Garm Bel Iblis? Oh, and please JJ, let there be some screentime for Long-Snoot!
OK, we’ll settle for Han.
Apparently some of the characters that appeared in Arndt’s script no longer appear in the version Abrams and Kasdan are working on, while others have been significantly tweaked.
So with Abrams and Kasdan now overhauling the script, that means many of the actors who had met and auditioned have been nixed for various reasons. For example, one actor who met with Abrams in the fall before the overhaul was Mud breakout star Tye Sheridan. But sources say that at this stage, there is no need for such young actors and thus Sheridan will not be involved. In another case, one part that was initially conceived as a 20-year old male is now being rewritten to be a 40-year old.
“Star Wars Episode VII” – with or without Fassbender, Weaving and Driver – hits theaters December 2015.
