Star Wars Episode VII Cast Announced

An ensemble of Star Wars characters.
An ensemble of Star Wars characters.

Image via: newsmoves.com

We’ve been waiting for so long – it really does feel like forever. But now, after internet speculation a-plenty, Lucasfilm has blessed us with the gift to beat all gifts. Ladies and gentlemen, the cast list of J.J. AbramsStar Wars: Episode VII.

Here’s the full statement:

The Star Wars team is thrilled to announce the cast of Star Wars: Episode VII.
Actors John Boyega, Daisy Ridley, Adam Driver, Oscar Isaac, Andy Serkis, Domhnall Gleeson, and Max von Sydow will join the original stars of the saga, Harrison Ford,Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill, Anthony Daniels, Peter Mayhew, and Kenny Baker in the new film.

A photo of the cast for Star Wars: Episode VII

Image via: insidethemagic.net

Here’s a statement from J.J. Abrams himself – 

“We are so excited to finally share the cast of Star Wars: Episode VII. It is both thrilling and surreal to watch the beloved original cast and these brilliant new performers come together to bring this world to life, once again. We start shooting in a couple of weeks, and everyone is doing their best to make the fans proud.”

Star Wars: Episode VII is being directed by J.J. Abrams from a screenplay by Lawrence Kasdan and Abrams. Kathleen Kennedy, J.J. Abrams, and Bryan Burk are producing, and John Williams returns as the composer. The movie opens worldwide on December 18, 2015.

So what do you think? Some expected names here (thank you, gods of Star Wars), but also some surprises. Andy Serkis? Oh yes please. This announcement has left this Star Wars nut very happy, but what do you guys think? Hit up the comments below!

The long walk to the big screen

A blue character from Avatar

As it was reported by Peter Jackson last week, the next Hobbit movie has been renamed to ‘The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies’ we decided to look back at some other films whose development has been ‘difficult’ to say the least.

1. Alien vs Predator

The movie poster for Alien vs Predator featuring two monsters on a white background.

Image via ExplosionsAreRad.wordpress.com

Released in 2004 after more than a decade of different scripts, changes to the cast, false starts, orphaned tie-ins, several series of video games and even promotions of the movie.

2. Dallas Buyers Club

Jared Leto and Matthew McConaughey sitting on a bench in a still from the film Dallas Buyers Club.

Image via slate.com

The screenplay for the oscar winning film was written 1992 by Craig Borten. It took 10 different versions of the script to finally persuade a production company to pick it up. It was then unable to secure financial backing, going through three different directors before Jean-Marc Vallée signed up and eventually released it in 2013.

3. Frozen

Elsa a princess from the movie 'frozen' creates ice and poses in front of a blue background.

Image via Disney.com

Originally planned to be a biography film of the author Hans Christian Anderson (Yawn!!) before it was green lit by Disney to become an adaptation of the ‘Snow Queen’. The film then went into development hell twice, the second time in 2010 due to the difficulty of making the story of the Snow Queen work. It wasn’t until Disney bought in Jennifer Lee, writer of Wreck-It Ralph, as co-director, who decided to make the Snow Queen character of Elsa into one of the film’s protagonists. 

4. Gangs Of New York

A gang, lead by actor Daniel Day Lewis in the movie 'Gangs of New York'

Image via IMDB

Martin Scorsese first started trying to get Gangs of New York made in 1978. He finally did so in 2002.

5. The Hobbit Trilogy

Bilbo the Hobbit walking out of his front door as sun streams in to his house.

Image via Business Insider

The Hobbit went through development hell, before finally being green lit.The film then suffered additional problems involving creative control and the studio’s refusal to allow filming to take place in New Zealand, where the preceding film series The Lord of the Rings had been shot. This was a deal-breaker for director Guillermo del Toro, who left the project. Peter Jackson retook control of the project and split it into three films, the first of which was released in December 2012.

6. Inglorious Basterds

Christoph Waltz playing Colonel Landa in the film Inglorious Basterds

Image via Wikipedia

Quentin Tarantino announced his plans to shoot a World War II movie titled Inglourious Basterds shortly after the 1997 release of Jackie Brown. As of 2007, he was still working on the script. The film began shooting in late 2008 and was released in August 2009. Inglourious Basterds was Tarantino’s most commercially successful film until his spaghetti western homage Django Unchained was released three years later.

7. Iron Man

Iron Man holding out his arm towards the camera.

Image via Marvel

The film had been in development since 1990 at Universal Pictures, 20th Century Fox and New Line Cinema, until the rights were reacquired by Marvel Studios in 2006. The project was Marvel’s first self-financed film, being distributed by Paramount Pictures. The script was originally written by multiple writers and the film and attached to direct were several directors, including Joss Whedon, Quentin Tarantino and Nick Cassavetes. Originally, actor Tom Cruise was in talks to play the role of Tony Stark, before the role went to Robert Downey Jr. after Jon Favreau was finally hired as director.

8. Star Wars Sequel Trilogy

The words 'Star Wars' with a gold outline on a black background

Image via screenrant.com

The Star Wars sequel trilogy remained in development hell beginning in 1983 since the concept was born in 1975. Even though the prequel trilogy was created with the films released in 1999, 2002 and 2005, the sequel trilogy was changed and denied for several years. The trilogy was brought back in 2012 after Disney’s purchase of Lucasfilm, starting with Star Wars Episode VII, which is scheduled for a 2015 release.

9. Avatar

A blue character from Avatar

Image via hollywood reporter.com

James Cameron has previously stated that his idea for the story of Avatar was ready before he even began filming Titanic in 1996 but that the technology needed to make the film simply didn’t exist. Production company Fox eventually backed out of the film in 2006 due to budgetary reasons, it wasn’t until Ingenious Media offered to back more than half of the $237 million needed for the film that Fox returned to the project which went on to become the highest grossing film of all time.

10. The Lord Of The Rings

Peter Jackson holding an Oscar statuette at the Academy Awards

Image via nj.com

There is something about either Peter Jackson or J.R.R Tolkien and movies that simply does not work. Throughout all six of the films that Jackson has been responsible for bringing to the big screen there have been major problems throughout the entire production. The rights to a live action adaptation of The Lord of the Rings were sold to United Artists shortly before J.R.R Tolkien’s death in 1973; it wasn’t until 1994 that Peter Jackson was given approval to begin shooting. The first film was not released until 2001.

Giving birth to a Predator

Like many other 1980’s classics, Predator is loaded with fun trivia that we at Inside Film can’t get enough of.

For instance, did you know that for the first two weeks of shooting, a completely different costume design was used for the monster, with none other than martial arts god Jean-Claude Van Damme inside the suit? The design later had to be changed for health and safety reasons, as its “fly like” head would wobble around uncontrollably, causing mayhem wherever it went. Van Damme was then relieved of his role for unconfirmed reasons, although the fighting guru was renowned for diva-like antics.

Funny, right? It gets better. An on set bodyguard had to be employed to protect the cast from fellow actor Sonny Landham. Landham’s on-screen character (Billy) exhibited strong physical features, a deep, booming voice and a rather badass, Native American appearance. Probably not the kind of guy you would want to upset. Unfortunately, Landham displayed very similar traits off-screen, leading to the insurance company behind the production to demand protection for the rest of the cast due to his “volatile nature”.

image via creafive.wordpress.com

image via creafive.wordpress.com

Yet, perhaps the most intriguing piece of trivia regarding Predator is how the original screenplay ever came into existence.

To understand what I mean, we must first go back to November 1985, a few days after the release Sylvester Stallone’s Rocky IV, the most successful entry in the Rocky franchise. At that time, the intense Stallone/Schwarzenegger rivalry was in full swing. Prior to cash cow that was the Planet Hollywood era, many were fully convinced that there was a real bitterness between Arnie and Sly.

After the box-office success of Rocky IV, many joked that due to the superhuman abilities of Stallone’s most recent opponent, Ivan Drago, the only real challenger left to Rocky would have to be of extra-terrestrial decent, or Rambo, but that would just be illogical.

Not everybody saw the funny side, however. In fact, screenwriters Jim and John Thomas took it very seriously, provoking them to produce a full script using the joke as inspiration. And thus, Predator was born, or Hunter, as it was originally called. After collaborating on Commando, Schwarzenegger and producer Joel Silver were called in to transform the science-fiction pulp storyline into the big budget, action classic we know today.

Jim Thomas later explained that ““The original conceit was ‘What would it be like if human beings were hunted by dilettante hunters the way humans hunt big game in Africa?’ ”

Sometimes these questions need to be answered. Without doing so, the action/sci-fi epic that is Predator would never have existed, whilst Rocky V would still have been released, and that is a world nobody deserves to live in.

Location, location, location

A house with a round door built into the side of a hill on the set of The Lord of the Rings

From the picturesque landscape of New Zealand that we affectionately know as ‘Middle Earth’ to the harsh environment in Iceland that forms the planet that is explored by the crew of Prometheus, find out how the perfect filming locations are chosen.

While special effects and computer generated images (CGI) can create worlds and landscapes that go beyond your imagination as seen in Avatar, directors often choose to film in location often in harsh environments.

A long table set with plates cutlery and glasses on a sound stage at Leavesden Studios.

The Great Hall in Harry Potter was all filmed on a sound stage at Leavesden Studios.

Sound stages such as Pinewood Studios offers filmmakers impressive backlots that allow for a variety of scenes to be filmed on either sound stages or in front of a green screen, they are often too artificial and lack the visual spectacle that the English landscape of a Hawaiian beach can offer.

Location Works is Europe’s largest locations company and have scouted the perfect location for hundreds of both film and TV productions including, Philomena, Jupiter Ascending and W.E.

But choosing the perfect location isn’t as simple as selecting a grand country house or an impressive mountain range in Italy.

So what is involved in being a location manager? According to Location Works, ‘Anything and everything that it takes to make a location shoot go smoothly. It’s a job that can require many talents and great patience. There’s no such thing as the “typical” job’.

A location manager takes the clients brief, whether it be a big-budget feature film or a modest photo shoot in London, they find the perfect location to suit all their needs. this means that the location has to work perfectly not just from a visual perspective but also logistically.

In some more harsh terrain the problem of safety and accessibility is something that needs to be thought about. After all, there is no point in finding the ‘perfect’ landscape if it is impossible to get a camera there to film any shots.

For example for the 2013 release, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, most of the filming was done in Atlanta, Georgia. The reason behind this was due to the tax breaks the state offers to film makers in that area and less with the natural landscape in the surrounding area.

Sam Claflin diving into the ocean while filming a scene with Jennifer Lawrence in Hawaii for The Hunger Games: Catching Fire.

Filming the scenes for the ‘Arena’ in Hawaii, stars Jennifer Lawrence and Sam Claflin of The Hunger Games: Catching Fire.

The film then moved to Hawaii, with a much smaller crew, due to budgetary reasons, to film on location instead of in Georgia where they were using mainly back lots and sets.

So what Atlanta offered the filmmakers in a practical sense was something that while very useful, could not be matched by Hawaii’s golden beaches and lush jungles.

Whether it be a luxurious Spanish villa located in London for an independent movie or an active volcano, it is the job of the location manager to find that perfect location to be the perfect backdrop to the biggest cinematic moments.

Godzilla, a retrospective

Image shows the movie monster Godzilla fighting famous ape, King Kong
Image shows the movie monster Godzilla fighting famous ape, King Kong

Image via: nukethefridge.com

Godzilla has been a part of film for many years, terrorising cities and fighting Kaiju since 1954. The king of monsters is set to be a part of the big screen again with this years remake but, how did Godzilla actually come to be who he is today?

Godzilla (the English translation of Gojira) is the creation of Japenese film director, Ishiro Honda. Inspired by early clay animation dinosaur films such as The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms, Godzilla was created as a cross between an iguana and a dinosaur. Thankfully, there was no such dinosaur as Godzilla, that we know of.

The first film, Godzillastarted the introduction of the ‘big monster’ film franchise, something that films such as Cloverfield owe themselves to. This film introduced Japanese audiences to the threat of a monster created as a result of atomic testing. Godzilla stresses that atomic testing may result in Kaiju such as the monster itself, lets hope not.

The subsequent sequels delivered on the success of the first film introducing new monsters and threats such as Mothra, a ruddy great big moth of death. These sequels largely saw Godzilla as a hero of the world (Japan in particular) fighting off monsters that threatened humanity.

Typically, the later the franchise went, the weirder and more surreal the Godzilla movies became. The most recent iterations saw the introduction of Mechagodzilla, Godzilla’s mechanised counterpart.The concepts and ideas of these later films are still no match for the Western introduction in 1998.

Godzilla (1998) was directed by Rolan Ememrich, famous for is action packed disaster films. The remake was criticised by fans and critics alike describing the movie as being nothing buit action, with very little story. Godzilla won accolades such as Worst Picture, Worst Remake and Worst Director at the Golden Raspberry Awards that year. It looked like the films just didn’t translate well to Western audiences.

There is a new hope however, in the form of yet another remake. Next month sees the release of Godzilla, directed by Gareth Edwards of Monsters fame. Looking to cater for Japenese audiences, sticking to the original roots of the monster, the film looks set do very well at the box office. Do you think this is a new era for Godzilla? See for yourself with the trailer below.