We have seen the new actors in “Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” in this article, we are going to tackle the things you need to know about them!
The film Star Wars: The Force Awakens not only does it include new actors, but a lot of returning cast were involved. These include Carrie Fisher (Leia Organa), Harrison Ford (Han Solo), Peter Mayhew (Chewbacca), Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker), and Anthony Daniels (C3-PO and R2-D2). On the other hand, screenwriter Lawrence Kasdan returned for the film as well!
Having to mention the returning actors, let us turn our attention to some of the new actors. Below are some of the information you need to know:
John Boyega (Finn)
John Boyege, 22, had his first introduction in 2011 at the most cinephiles when audiences were treated to the vibrant and inventive take of director Joe Cornish. Boyega played the role ‘Moses’ in Attack the Block as the leader of a group of teenage hoodlums, as he walks home on Bonfire Night in Brixton through “The Ends.”
Boyega then shared about Finn’s character to British GQ saying,
“Finn is dope. His story is so epic. It’s a story that’s never been seen before, but it also mirrors the stories of Luke Skywalker and Han Solo. And he’s quirky and charismatic and funny. For me, he was the best character in the script. I was unleashed into seven months of auditions. It was like The X Factor but without the TV show around it. It was intense.”
Still, some people find it hard to adjust to the notion of black man serving as a stormtrooper in which we can find it shocking, and pretty ridiculous . . .
As Boyega told V Magazine,
“You either enjoy it or you don’t. I’m not saying get used to the future, but what is already happening. People of color and women are increasingly being shown on-screen. For things to be whitewashed just doesn’t make sense.”
Right on, Boyega!
Daisy Ridley (Rey)
Daisy Ridley, 23, had recent records of roles on TV shows such as Silent Witness, Toast of London, and Youngers before being chosen by J.J. Abrams.
With her casting in the Hollywood may lead her more opportunities, as she stated,
“I had heard about the role quite a while before I auditioned, and I emailed my agent that I have this really weird feeling; I really feel like I need to audition. Then months went by and the same people were reading for it. But I still really had this feeling of needing to read for it. So I emailed my agent again for an audition. I had four or five auditions over seven months, and it was a very emotional time. My first few auditions really didn’t feel good, but my last audition suddenly felt like something clicked. You’re so desperate to get a role, but I felt like even if I didn’t get it, I did a good job, I’d done myself proud.”
Added by her statements about the similarities with her role,
“I had heard about the role quite a while before I auditioned, and I emailed my agent that I have this really weird feeling; I really feel like I need to audition. Then months went by and the same people were reading for it. But I still really had this feeling of needing to read for it. So I emailed my agent again for an audition. I had four or five auditions over seven months, and it was a very emotional time. My first few auditions really didn’t feel good, but my last audition suddenly felt like something clicked. You’re so desperate to get a role, but I felt like even if I didn’t get it, I did a good job, I’d done myself proud.”
Oscar Isaac (Poe Dameron)
Oscar Isaac had been discovered for his remarkable talent when his audience took a glance of him taking the role of X-Wing pilot in the Star Wars universe.
He had been a lead actor in a film “J.C. Chandor’s A Most Violent Year,” and roles in Coen Brothers’ Inside Lleqyn Davis.
Not only that he is good in acting, he has a passion for music as well. He played in a band called Blinking Underdogs in which he performed an opening for Green Day and Warped Tour.
Adam Driver (Kylo Ren)
Adam Driver had been in the same film with Oscar Isaac “Coen Brothers’ Inside Llewyn Davis,” he also appeared in Steven Speilberg’s Lincoln and Noah Baumbach’s Francis Ha.
For more, J.J. Abrams and Hamill appeared in IFC’s Dinner for Five. In the video, Hamill express how he would appreciate the return of Luke Skywalker as a villain in Return of the Jedi.
Domhnall Gleeson (General Hux)
Domhall Gleeson is an Irish actor presenting General Hux as a ruthless and young officer in the First Order.
To mention his past roles, he appeared in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows in Part 1 and 2, Ex Machina, Anna Karenina, and Coen Brothers True Grit, and Dredd.
Gwendoline Christie (Captain Phasma)
Gwendoline Christie indeed was one of those actress that will always be recognized by her talents. Her past roles includes GoT’s warrior, Brienne of Tarth, Lyme in the Hunger Games. With Star Wars, it is safe to think that she’ll nail it.
As Christie stated in an interview with Variety in September,
“It’s great to be involved in three big franchises, but [they’re] big three big franchises that are looking to expand our consciousness about each other as human beings, and that’s very exciting,”
She added,
“They are three enormous things — however, the quality of the writing and the concepts are very, very well developed and very relevant, so everyone seems engaged in the excitement of what these things are doing. All three projects are incredibly progressive, so it feels as though everyone’s caught up with the idea of that, and everyone’s dedicated to giving their absolute best and honoring the set of ideas and setting them forth into the world.”
She even compared her role in Game of Thrones and Star Wars stating,
“I don’t think many female actors get the opportunity to play a part where they’re not having to think about the way their face looks, but I found exactly the same thing with Brienne of Tarth, and that was very liberating,” she said. “It was great as an actor to work on your skills — that it isn’t about holding your head so you look beautiful. It’s about what you’re transmitting, and to be in service of an idea greater than yourself, whether it’s the character’s overriding objective or, beyond that, hopefully something more sociopolitical. We have seen an image of [Phasma] and again, it’s an unconventional kind of woman exhibiting a kind of strength, but in a very different way to my other two characters.”
