ST Casting Rumors 2.0 - Nothing but casting rumors... or else.

They can still have key roles and give the new crew plenty to do. Maybe this first one is more of an ensemble piece than a trio - like LOTR or the Avengers or something.

 

Right, and my argument all along has been this "safe" route may actually wind up biting them on the butt. It's great for us older fans, but kids who grew up with the PT and TCW... not so much. Not sure 10-23 year olds are going to be rushing out to the theaters to watch 71 year old Harrison Ford and the gang get together for one more rodeo. Better off to focus on new characters and attract new fans, and have the Big3 along for the ride in Episode VII in mentor type roles. Then phase them out as the story unfolds...

Harrison in a "gigantic" role is not necessarily a great idea and certainly isn't "safe." He's certainly no longer a big box office draw with younger audiences. He has not had a substantial hit since Crystal Skull; he's not a guarantee of box office success.

Yancy

 

Mathew James Thomas?

 

This is where the danger comes in overanalysing every piece of statement or hearsay:

Horn heading to London to go over the script becomes script trouble.

Ford now might have a gigantic role. Define gigantic.

I understand why we all do it, but we can get a bit carried away based on very little.

 

Harrison Ford may not be a guarantee of box office success...but Star Wars (despite anyone's preferences for OT or PT) has ALWAYS been a guaranteed box office success, no matter how bad the story, or acting, or anything else has been argued by some to have been.

 

BTW does anyone remember the Star Wars novelization's subtitle??

From the Adventures of Luke Skywalker???

These adventures need to focus on the transition from Jedi Master Luke Skywalker to his student/students... not Han. Talk about letting bean counters run the show.


Yancy

 

This is very true, Pasjo.

Also, you're already charging off Yancy. Even if Ford does have a large role, I would bet that Luke's role is larger.

The rumours regarding the change in shift all focused on Luke being more prominent.

That makes the most sense.

 

There's a first time for everything. Look, we are dealing with a huge set of variables here, and many of them are areas I'm sure Disney is concerned with simply looking at their actions:.

1) For instance releasing in December rather than May. There's a reason Horn wants these pictures back on a May schedule... it's not rocket science. The likelihood of a Star Wars film grossing more money in May than December is substantially higher.

2) We are revisiting heroes who have not been on the screen in 30 years. Simply assuming kids are going to come running and embrace these characters is the kind of stuff that gets you fired. Again there's a reason Disney is going full court press trying to reintroduce these characters through merchandise and books at the Disney Stores.

3) Again, just going on these latest rumors, we've now moved from a story which apparently focused on a set of either Luke's or Han and Leia's children being trained in the Force. Lucas himself has said the sequel trilogy focuses on the next generation and Luke and company basically "pass the torch." Now we have Ford in a "gigantic role" when earlier reports suggested he was more of a supporting character.

That tells me either Ford or his agent leveraged Disney and threatened to back out if the role was not expanded, or some bean counter in marketing ran some polling which suggested the movie might perform better with Ford in the film more.

No, I'm just raising some legitimate concerns about some of these rumors. You can't just assume the film is going to kill it at the box office. There are all sorts of factors to weigh. And when I start hearing about wholesale story changes, and rumors like this Ford one, it simply raises some alarms.


Yancy

 

Big fan of John Boyega.

I've seen Oscar Isaac in several movies, but I can't say his roles were memorable

Don't know anything about Maisie, so who knows?

Driver has a unique look and I think he makes for a great villain.

I was still hoping for a guy like Hugo Weaving to play an imperial remnant. We definitely could use some gravitas from a secondary villain.

Not sure how I feel about Han having a MAJOR role, in this. If anybody deserves the MAJOR role, it's Luke Skywalker. The saga films are the Skywalker story, not the Solo story. Han isn't a Force user, I want to see Luke Skywalker as the lead. Yes, I know that Harrison Ford is a big-time actor, and all, but Star Wars fans want Luke. Give us Luke! Hamill is more than talented enough to carry the film. Anybody who think she isn't, is cynical. They can still give Harrison Ford top billing and play up his role in the trailer/previews, etc. to sell the film, but Luke is our go to guy!

 

Has anyone considered that a "gigantic role" may mean a pivotal one rather than a lengthy one where he is the focus? He might be instrumental to the plot but not have a lot of screen time.There is a lot of room for misinterpretation with such a vague description.

 

I get the story concerns even if I don't share them. But VII will smash at the box office regardless.

 

Eh, I'll counter a couple of points. The December release doesn't necessarily mean less money for Star Wars. In fact, it could mean a larger theatrical run given the lack of competition in the winter season. Both Titanic/Avatar are the highest grossing films and they are both winter releases. In fact, it wouldn't surprise me if episode 7 makes more money over a larger period than any other Star Wars movie.

As far as kid's lack of interest: Well, kids are stupid(I should I know I was a kid once). If you have enough flashy marketing, special effects, and merchandise to keep their attention spans for two minutes; they will want to see virtually any type of movie regardless of quality.

As far as the Ford stuff or the old cast. My guess is the first half of the film will rely heavily on the old cast while transitioning towards the climax with the new characters. We won't know till we see the film.

 

Han's role maybe be large in ep7 but it will not be larger than Luke's.

 

You do realise kids love the OT too right? And from the main site though the merchandising and Disney weekends stuff it's pretty obvious they are bringing the OT back into the spotlight in a major way so every kid is up to speed by the time VII comes around.

 

Time to show the younglings that there is more to the Star Wars Universe than just the PT.
Obi-Wan had a decent sized role in Episode 4, Yoda in Episode 5 and somewhat lesser in 6, Anakin was important in all 3. Han, Luke and Leia will be given a good amount of coverage.

 

Well, they may like it if they are exposed to it. But, the point he was making is that many have not been exposed to those films. Believe it or not, many of them enter into Star Wars(today) based on The Clone Wars. The Clone Wars is fairly far removed both in tone/style to the original trilogy

Personally, I don't think it matters much given my "kids are stupid" theory.

 

Do people actually think there are any kids out there that have only watched the PT but somehow not the OT? Even if TCW is the entry point, they won't just stick with that.

Rebels will get them back towards the OT era and there will obviously be a concerted push towards 2015.

The idea that kids might not be interested in the ST because it doesn't feature Anakin and Obi-Wan is ludicrous. One killer trailer with lightsabers, starships, droids and aliens will have all but the jaded and non-fans buzzing for VII.

 

I'm watching Return of The Jedi, waiting for some info to drop!

 

My niece/nephew never watched The Clone Wars, but they love the original & prequel trilogy. They're 8 & 7 years old

 

I agree for newer kids that have never seen the OT, but for kids who are familiar with these characters, I think they'll be interested in seeing the old-timers back together one more time.

 

I hope that's the case!

 

Yes, I actually know quite a few of them. I have a nephew who refers to the OT as the "old, boring ones" and one of my friends has a fairly young boy (6) and has only exposed his son to TCW, and even then he's monitored the episodes he's shown him.

If every young kid knows about the OT, then why is Disney going full court on introducing kids to these characters? Obviously they have research that shows they have work to do in this area. Also, over the summer Disney will be releasing these:

 

That's highly surprising that he considers them the 'old, boring' ones. My niece/nephew love all of them, probably the originals even more, because there's a lot of confusing stuff in the prequels

 

The point is not whether or not some kids prefer the PT or TCW to the OT, one an exciting trailer for the latest star wars film hits, very few kids are not going to be excited - also, your point about the "education on the OT process" is what I've said in my last 3 posts. That push is there to make sure everyone is up to speed by the time december 2015 comes around.

 

Heck my oldest daughter cannot stand the OT (I tried); she finds them "cheesy." She saw the OT at a very young age, but quickly gravitated to Amidala and Qui Gon as her favorite characters. She became a pretty big fan of TCW, especially the Ventress-centric episodes.

My youngest loves all the films and TCW and has read a few of the books and comics.

Right, and I would argue if you have to spend resources "getting everyone up to speed" on one of the most famous movie trilogies of all time you have a larger problem.

The reality is this is not simply an effort to educate the youngsters about the OT. This is nothing more than an effort to purge the PT and TCW from their little collective minds. I mean the fact a young girl wont be able to walk into a Disney store or a WalMart or a Target and find an Ahsoka Tano t-shirt, or a young boy can't find a Captain Rex action figure is absolutely pathetic, especially considering how popular the show was and how well it performed on Netflix.

These arguments about "brand confusion" are laughable. Kid aren't stupid, when you explain the basic story and how the PT takes place before the OT, or how Anakin is Luke's father they kind of get the concept of the timeline.


Yancy