Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015)

2:16 (136 min)

Adventure, Action, Science Fiction

United States

7.5/10
1 321 433

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All about film

Video 62

Photo 338

Actors and characters

2:36

Photo 338

Production

Lucasfilm Ltd., Bad Robot

Release date

15 December 2015

Budget

$245 000 000

Revenue

$2 071 310 218

Director

J.J. Abrams

Scenario

Lawrence Kasdan

Composer

John Williams

Producer

Kathleen Kennedy

All team (261)

Actors

Daisy Ridley

Rey

John Boyega

Finn

Oscar Isaac

Poe Dameron

Adam Driver

Kylo Ren

Carrie Fisher

Princess Leia

Harrison Ford

Han Solo

Mark Hamill

Luke Skywalker

Lupita Nyong'o

Maz Kanata

All actors and roles (10)

• Although this film was not announced (just as the sale of Lucasfilm to Disney) until November 2012, Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher stated that they had been discussing their participation in Episode VII and subsequent Star Wars films with George Lucas as early as the summer of 2012.
• This is the first film in the franchise to be distributed by Walt Disney Pictures.
• Matthew Vaughn, Steven Spielberg, Guillermo del Toro, Peter Jackson, Christopher Nolan, Ben Affleck, Joss Whedon, Brad Bird, Rian Johnson, and James Cameron were all considered as directors for the film. J.J. Abrams was ultimately chosen. It was later announced that Johnson would write and direct the eighth installment of the saga, slated for release in 2017, and would also participate in the creation of the ninth installment two years later.
• After J.J. Abrams publicly declined to direct a new Star Wars film, Kathleen Kennedy visited his office. Their negotiations lasted for over a month. Abrams' main concern was that the project was incredibly large and held significant cultural importance.
• Jonathan Rhys Meyers was considered for a role in this film.
• This is the first film by J. J. Abrams for which Michael Giacchino will not be composing the score. Giacchino himself stated in an interview that he would have preferred to hear John Williams' music in this film rather than his own.
• In the summer of 2013, it became known that Carrie Fisher and Mark Hamill were actively preparing for their roles as Leia and Luke, respectively.
• Director J. J. Abrams decided to build a full-scale, meticulously detailed replica of the *Millennium Falcon* spaceship specifically for the film's production. The ship was recreated at a 1:1 scale, meaning life-size, and fully furnished inside.
• Panavision provided two custom-built Millennium XL2 cameras for filming. One camera was nicknamed "The Death Star," and the other "The Millennium Falcon."
• The filmmakers decided not to shoot the film with a high frame rate (48-60fps). They also decided not to shoot the film directly in 3D, but to convert it to this format during post-production.
• Jesse Plemons, Edward Speleers, John Boyega, Matthew James Thomas, and Ray Fisher were all considered for the role of Finn. The role went to John Boyega.
• The design of the new droid BB-8 embodies one of the earliest concepts once developed by Ralph McQuarrie for R2-D2. Unlike the droid that appeared on screen with a large spherical body and a domed head, its initial concept resembled a legless R2-D2 with a small spherical body. This idea had to be abandoned due to the technical impossibility of realizing it in the mid-1970s.
• Due to the atmosphere of strict secrecy surrounding the project, some actors learned of their inclusion in the cast almost at the last moment. Domhnall Gleeson found out the day after his audition and one day before the table read. Oscar Isaac learned just hours before the table read. Before that, he was instructed to stay in his London hotel room and wait for a call, after which he would either go to the table read or to the airport to return to the United States.
• Once on set, Kevin Smith and Benedict Cumberbatch appeared. Smith, known for his talkativeness, was immediately made to sign a non-disclosure agreement. Moreover, J.J. Abrams ordered posters in the style of World War II propaganda – "A chatterbox is a spy’s dream" – to be hung around the set as reminders for Smith. Smith subsequently proved trustworthy. The only thing he said about the filming was that, upon boarding the "Millennium Falcon," he burst into tears, overwhelmed with emotion, as he had loved "Star Wars" since early childhood.
• Within the first 24 hours of its appearance on YouTube, the second trailer garnered over 20 million views.
• Poe Dameron, as played by Oscar Isaac, received his surname in honor of Abrams' former personal assistant, and his first name in honor of Morgan Dameron's daughter's plush panda.
• Aside from the animated "Clone Wars," this is the first film to begin without the traditional musical fanfare of 20th Century Fox. This composition is closely associated with the "Star Wars" saga. John Williams re-recorded it specifically for "The Empire Strikes Back" (1980). It was its first re-recording in history.
• John Boyega was so afraid he wouldn't be cast that he didn't tell his parents until a group photo of the film's cast was published on the official "Star Wars" Twitter page.
• The budget for the seventh installment of the saga, "The Force Awakens," was $200 million. This is more than the budget of any other installment of "Star Wars."
• The second trailer for the film was released simultaneously with the Star Wars fan forum in Anaheim, California. Fans were literally ecstatic, especially when watching the final shots of the trailer, where Han Solo and Chewbacca, after a long absence, board the "Millennium Falcon," and Han Solo says: "Chewie, we're home."
• This installment of "Star Wars" marked Billie Lourd's film debut, as the daughter of Carrie Fisher.
• Until now, every installment of "Star Wars" has been released in May. This installment is being released in December.
• The trailer presents the film's title without specifying "Episode VII," in accordance with the tradition established since the original trilogy (1977-1983). It is known, however, that these words will be present in the film's opening credits.
• Initially, the filmmakers considered James McAvoy or Chiwetel Ejiofor for the role of Poe Dameron.
• Elizabeth Olsen, Jennifer Lawrence, or Shailene Woodley were considered for the role of Rey. Olsen declined to audition because she already had a contract with Marvel Studios for the role of Scarlet Witch in the Avengers franchise, and the filming schedule for Star Wars conflicted with the schedule for Age of Ultron. In April 2014, director Abrams chose Daisy Ridley. He followed in the footsteps of George Lucas, who at one time cast unknown actors in leading roles. In 1976, Lucas chose Carrie Fisher to play Princess Leia, Harrison Ford for Han Solo, and Mark Hamill for Luke Skywalker.
• The audio in the second trailer consists of words spoken by Luke Skywalker to Princess Leia on the planet Endor when he revealed to her that he was her brother. The only difference is that in the film Return of the Jedi, he begins with the words "You have the Force too," when Leia tells him that he possesses abilities unavailable to her.
• This is the first film by Abrams that was not released by Paramount Pictures.
• Filming of the movie was completed on November 3, 2014.
• At one point, the creators of the film were going to offer the role of Poe Dameron to Joel Edgerton, who played young Uncle Owen in the 'Revenge of the Sith' series.
• It is claimed that a huge number of people wanting to see the new 'Star Wars' series crashed sales websites shortly after the announcement of ticket sales.
• The first to see the new 'Star Wars' series was a longtime fan of the franchise named Daniel Fleetwood from Texas. Fleetwood was only 32 years old, but he was dying of cancer and had no chance of living to see the film's release. An online campaign in support of Fleetwood attracted the attention of Disney. Its management gave permission to show Fleetwood an unedited version of 'The Force Awakens' at his home. Before the screening, Fleetwood received a call from the film's director, J.J. Abrams. Fleetwood passed away at 3:59 PM on November 10, 2015.
• After the film's release, Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, and Harrison Ford became, like Ian McDiarmid and Anthony Daniels before them, the only actors to have played in more than three 'Star Wars' series.
• This is the first film in which the credits begin with the name of Harrison Ford. In all other series, the credits begin with the name of the actor playing the Jedi.
• Initially, rumors circulated that the plot of the seventh and subsequent installments of the franchise would revolve around the adventures of Ben Skywalker, the son of Luke and Mara Jade, and that the expanded universe of "Star Wars" would differ from the classic one. This turned out to be speculation. The filmmakers announced that the events described in the seventh episode would take place in the classic "Star Wars" universe.
• At one point, Oscar Isaac's tight theatrical schedule almost made him quit filming "The Force Awakens".
• J.J. Abrams always dreamed of casting a young actor as General Hux. He wanted the character to radiate tragedy, especially since he commands the First Order's "Star Destroyer" base. Abrams claims the name of the general was suggested to him by an abandoned tombstone with the name "Hux" carved in stone.
• This is the first "Star Wars" installment to involve three producers—Kathleen Kennedy, J.J. Abrams, and Bryan Burk.
• The title of the seventh episode, "The Force Awakens," first appeared on the official Disney company page on November 6, 2014.
• The third trailer was first shown to the public during the break of a football match between the Philadelphia Eagles and the New York Giants. It was watched by 15.9 million viewers.
• This is the fifth film in director Abrams' career.
• This is the first film in the franchise's history where the sequential number corresponds to the chronology of the plot.
• General Hux's uniform, played by Domhnall Gleeson, resembles Nazi uniforms from World War II with the addition of some naval uniform elements.
• The character played by Daisy Ridley was named after Rey-Philip Santos from the film crew.
• The first trailer was released on November 28, more than a year before the film's release. Nevertheless, the trailer was shown in some cinemas and on iTunes.
• This is the first American feature film to star Daisy Ridley.
• Merchandise for the film 'The Force Awakens' appeared on store shelves on September 4, 2015, on what was known as 'Force Friday'.
• 'The Force Awakens' is released ten and a half years after the release of 'Revenge of the Sith'.
• The emblems on the flags flying from the castle include the skull of a Mythosaur (Boba Fett's banner), the black sun (Hutt Ziro), and a pirate symbol (Hondo Ohnaka).
• In the expanded universe of "Star Wars" and in computer games, such as the "Knights of the Old Republic" series, the opposite aspect of the dark side of the Force is often associated with good and is called the light side. "The Force Awakens" is the first film to use the term "light side of the Force".
• Ticket sales began on October 19, 2015, 59 days before the premiere.
• J.J. Abrams is the only director to have directed films from the "Mission: Impossible", "Star Trek", and "Star Wars" series.
• George Lucas originally planned to include 9 series in the "Star Wars" saga, making the 9th the last.
• This is the second "Star Wars" series (the first being "Revenge of the Sith") to contain some scenes that may be unsuitable for children. Parents are advised to watch the film themselves before showing it to their children.
• BB-8, initially called "Grumpy" in early sketches, was originally supposed to make his first appearance in a droid repair workshop on a Star Destroyer. Droids beyond repair were simply sent for smelting.
• Production designer Rick Carter once considered a dual-bladed lightsaber with one blue blade and one red blade.
• An early script featuring Rey and Luke revolved around searching for the remains of Darth Vader.
• In one version of the script, Rey and Luke were searching for information from Jedi history hidden within the wreckage of the second Death Star, resting underwater.
• The now-famous scene from the trailers of Kylo Ren walking through the snow at the Starkiller Base and igniting his lightsaber was cut from the final version of the film because it didn't fit the narrative. “A trailer can have an image or a scene that has a powerful impact in a short form, but doesn’t necessarily align with what’s happening in the movie,” Abrams told the Associated Press. “There were a couple of other scenes shot that didn’t make it into the film because we were trying to make it as perfect as possible, and had to throw out a few moments.”
• In one version of the script, Rey found a map in the Imperial throne room amidst the flooded wreckage of the second Death Star, and from this map learned where the Jedi were and where Luke Skywalker was hiding.
• A vision scene with Luke submerged in sand was conceived and illustrated. “Sand is falling on him, but he doesn’t pay attention,” production designer Ian McCaig said, describing the scene. “And then suddenly he opens his eyes.”
• McCaig tried to push the idea of Darth Vader’s ghost appearing in the film, and this ghost could appear as either Vader or Anakin Skywalker.
• The film was supposed to have more scenes with Leia, whose first appearance was to occur earlier. These scenes would have focused on gathering intelligence in different parts of the galaxy and planning the use of the Resistance’s superweapon. This superweapon was to be called “War-Hammer” and was a massive ship with a huge bow that could break through shields and lead other ships. The “War-Hammer” was several times larger than a Star Destroyer.
• Captain Phasma was originally male, but J.J. Abrams decided to change the character’s gender during casting, believing that a couple more female roles wouldn’t hurt.
• A four-person SID fighter and a red Star Destroyer were designed, but ultimately didn't make the cut.
• There was a potential scene in Maz Kanata's castle where various aliens in a bar watch a fight between battle droids.
• Constable Zuvio, a character who appeared in the early scenes on Jakku, was completely cut from the film, even though his action figure had already been released.
• The film broke the absolute record for opening weekend box office revenue in the US and worldwide (previously held by "Jurassic World").
• Michael Arndt wrote the screenplay for this film based on George Lucas's outlines for a sequel he abandoned to the original "Star Wars" saga. Some details from these outlines were made public: Dave Pollack confirmed that the story would focus on building a new republic after the fall of the Empire, that Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, and Han Solo would be present in the story, and that the children of Luke, Leia, and Han would be the main characters.
• According to unconfirmed rumors about the film's plot, Luke Skywalker disappeared approximately ten years after the death of Darth Vader and the victory at the Battle of Endor. Luke spent twenty years in solitude on a remote island, fearing he would succumb to the dark side of the Force.
• Mark Hamill plays the role of an aged Luke Skywalker, just as Alec Guinness once played the Jedi Obi-Wan in 'A New Hope'. By the time 'The Force Awakens' was released, Mark Hamill was older than Alec Guinness was in 1977 when 'A New Hope' premiered.
• The third trailer for the film appeared on the 'Star Wars' Instagram page on August 27, 2015. The fifteen-second trailer featured the 501st Legion, Daisy Ridley's character with the droid BB-8, and a character played by John Boyega holding Anakin Skywalker's lightsaber. Some viewers felt that Boyega's character was about to engage in a duel with Kylo Ren.
• Rey was initially named Kira in Michael Arndt's early scripts and was characterized as a “reckless, tech-obsessed cool loner.” Unlike Rey, who reluctantly leaves Jakku, Kira dreamed of leaving the planet, and a scene was even written where she fantasized about this while watching ships arrive and depart.
• Poe Dameron was initially referred to as John Doe in the very first draft and was depicted as Black in the concept art. The role of this character in the film changed several times: he was considered as a Jedi, then a bounty hunter, but ultimately they decided to make him a Resistance pilot.
• When Poe Dameron was a hunter, he had his own Wookiee partner.
• Poe Dameron was originally supposed to die falling with his fighter on Jakku, but J.J. Abrams decided to keep the character for the second half of the film.
• Initially, Finn was supposed to desert after seeing prisoners of war being thrown out through the airlock.
• In one version of the script, Finn was rescued after the TIE fighter crash on Jakku by a tribe of natives. These natives performed a healing ritual, signifying Finn's rebirth as a hero.
• Jakku was originally conceived as a huge junkyard planet, its appearance inspired by spaghetti westerns of the 1960s and the Afghan film 'The Horsemen'. The now-famous images of the downed Star Destroyer and the fallen AT-AT were conceived from the very beginning.
• The fallen Star Destroyer was also intended to be a design element of a planet with lush vegetation, where Leia was to be introduced, but this planet was cut, and it was also decided that two fallen Destroyers in one film would confuse the audience.
• The Starkiller Base was originally intended to be located on Dantooine – a planet Princess Leia attempted to substitute for Alderaan in 'A New Hope' when presenting it to Grand Moff Tarkin. The First Order repurposed an old rebel base for its own needs.
• Leia's base was conceived as a hidden fortress, in the style of 'The Guns of Navarone,' and was to be located in the sheer cliffs of Moher in Ireland.
• One of the many variations of the Jedi Killer was a reworked design of the aliens from the Guavian Death Gang who raid Han Solo's freighter.
• The main antagonist in early scripts was named the Jedi Killer, and this character's appearance underwent many changes, like Vader’s. The Jedi Killer was to be accompanied by a flying torture droid, resembling a cross between the torture droid from the Death Star in 'A New Hope' and the Imperial probe droid that appears at the beginning of 'The Empire Strikes Back'.
• In an early draft of the script, Luke Skywalker played a more significant role: in the second act, Rey met him instead of Han Solo. This idea was abandoned because it pushed Rey into the background. “Whenever Luke appears on screen, he becomes the main character,” Arndt said in an interview with Entertainment Weekly. “And you suddenly lose interest in the actual main character, because, damn it, it’s Luke Skywalker! You’re wondering what he’s going to do.”
• In a rejected version of the script, the plot revolved around the search for Luke's old lightsaber, and immediately after the opening crawl, there were supposed to be shots of this lightsaber drifting in space. In the opening scene, Poe Dameron received this very lightsaber from Lor San Tekka, not a fragment of a map that he then hides in BB-8.
• Darth Vader’s melted helmet was also considered as a “MacGuffin” for the film at one point, but ultimately remained simply an artifact owned by Kylo Ren. No explanations are given.
• Octopus-like creatures, the rathtars, were originally supposed to inhabit the area near Maz Kanata’s castle, but when the scene with them was cut, J.J. Abrams placed them on Han Solo’s freighter because he liked their design.
• Maz Kanata was originally supposed to bring Luke’s lightsaber from her castle to the Resistance base and hand it over to General Leia. This scene was even filmed, and the moment of the lightsaber handover can be seen in the film’s second trailer. “It turned out there were too many problems with it,” Abrams admitted in an interview with Associated Press. “The film only benefited from us throwing that moment out. It was just a distraction, which was completely unnecessary. It was only later that I realized I’d hired an entire crew to shoot this scene, all just to throw it away.”
• Supreme Leader Snoke was initially conceived as a woman, but later became designed to resemble a beautiful, yet disfigured, marble statue.
• The scene where Maz Kanata asks Rey who she is, and she replies, "No one," was cut, despite featuring prominently in the trailer.
• Han Solo is Corellian, and his freighter, the Millennium Falcon, is modeled after a Corellian transport. The reference to a Corellian is the "Corellian death ray," mentioned by Agent K in Barry Sonnenfeld's film *Men in Black* (1997).
• Jesse Plemons, Ed Speleers, John Boyega, Matthew James Thomas, and Ray Fisher were considered for the role of Finn.
• George Lucas said that the merger of Lucasfilm and Disney was a necessary step to "pass on Star Wars to a new generation of filmmakers."
• Brad Bird and Matthew Vaughn turned down the director's position on the project. Bird was already committed to the film Tomorrowland (2014). Vaughn entered into negotiations and even left the project X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014) in order to helm the new Star Wars film, but ultimately declined due to "creative differences."
• The filmmakers tried to use real locations and miniature models as much as possible for filming, instead of green screens and computer graphics, to achieve an aesthetic similarity to the original Star Wars trilogy.
• During the filming of the scene in the Millennium Falcon, Harrison Ford sprained his ankle. About a year later, director J.J. Abrams revealed that he nearly pulled a muscle pulling Ford from under a heavy door.
• The droids for filming were made by Lee Towersey and Oliver Stipples, members of the "R2-D2 Club" (a fan organization that creates droids for the franchise). The services of Towersey and Stipples were decided upon after their work at a Star Wars fan forum made a lasting impression on Kathleen Kennedy. Executive Producer Jason D. McGatlin contacted them and included Towersey and Stipples in the team responsible for special effects.
• Cinematographer Daniel Mindel admitted in October 2013 that, unlike previous installments of "Star Wars," this film was shot on 35mm film—as were all films by J.J. Abrams. Mindel initially intended to shoot on 70mm film, but changed his mind due to the technical specifications (weight and noise) of the IMAX cameras. Nevertheless, some scenes of the film were shot with that camera on 70mm film.
• British actor Denis Lawson, who played the role of a fighter pilot in the original "Star Wars" trilogy, confirmed that he had declined an offer from Disney to reprise the same role in the new series. "No, I don't want to," Lawson stated in an interview with a British publication. "I was offered it, but I'm not interested."
• According to an article in the June issue of Vanity Fair, J.J. Abrams intended to insert a so-called "Easter egg" into the film—a momentary glimpse of Jar Jar Binks' skeleton in the desert.
• According to Mark Hamill, George Lucas once told him over lunch that Disney would be making the new "Star Wars" trilogy, and that if Hamill didn't like it, his character would simply be removed from the script. Hamill immediately agreed to play Luke Skywalker.
• The release of the first trailer sparked discussion about how, after the clean and brand-new visuals created by computer graphics in Episodes I-III, the filmmakers had returned to the "worn and dusty atmosphere" of Episode IV ( "dirty vehicles and used starships that are constantly breaking down"). British actor Phil Jupitus said in one interview that "... I met a guy in Wessex who works in special effects. He told me that the filmmakers bought up all the air rifles available for sale in England. They wanted to see recoil when the Imperial stormtroopers shoot."
• When Oscar Isaac was cast in one of the roles, he told J.J. Abrams that his uncle was a longtime fan of "Star Wars." Abrams allowed Isaac to invite his uncle to the set, where he literally amazed them both with an offer for the uncle to appear as an extra. The uncle, of course, agreed.
• As Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy recounted, when Han Solo and Chewbacca boarded the Millennium Falcon, a deathly silence fell over the set. According to Kennedy, there were about 200 people on set, and they all watched this historic moment, holding their breath and afraid to utter a word.
• This is the second film in the "Star Wars" saga created using IMAX technology, but the first to directly involve IMAX cameras in filming.
• Simon Pegg was cast in one of the roles in "Star Wars." He became the first actor to appear in both "Star Wars" and "Star Trek." In both cases, the director was J.J. Abrams.
• Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Anthony Daniels, Kenny Baker, Peter Mayhew, Tim Rose, and Mike Quinn starred in the original "Star Wars" trilogy, while Daniels, Baker, and Mayhew reprised their roles in the films telling the backstory of the famous saga.
• Before Adam Driver landed the role of the villain, Michael Fassbender, Lee Pace, and Hugo Weaving were considered for the part.
• Chloë Grace Moretz, Saoirse Ronan, Zac Efron, Miles Teller, Michael B. Jordan, Alex Pettyfer, Sullivan Stapleton, and Jack O'Connell have admitted to auditioning for various roles in this film.
• Michael Arndt was originally hired as the screenwriter, but he left the project after a few months and was replaced by J.J. Abrams and Lawrence Kasdan.

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