Cast Signs on for New Star Wars Movie
Star Wars Day (May the 4th Be With You) has come and gone for another year. And the next Star Wars installment isn’t set to release until December 2015 but that doesn’t mean fans of the franchise aren’t grasping at any information they can get on Star Wars: Episode VII. The story will pick up 30 years after the Return of the Jedi. Director JJ Abrams has been hired to sit at the helm of the new production. Some of his other successes behind the camera include Mission: Impossible III, Star Trek, Star Trek Into Darkness and the sci-fi movie Super 8.
The studio also recently announced who will be in front of the camera in the new film. Among the familiar faces that are returning are Star Wars veterans Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill and Harrison Ford.
After putting her hair up in a cinnamon bun hairstyle for the role of Princess Leia in the 1977 movie Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope, Carrie Fisher reprised her role in Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back and Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi. She starred in a few other Hollywood movies including When Harry Met Sally…, Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle, The Women and an uncredited role in Hook.
Along with his role as Luke Skywalker in the Star Wars movies, actor Mark Hamill has done television and video game work. He has played the role of DC Comics villain, The Joker, longer and in more adaptations than any other actor to this point. He and Fisher both appeared in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, the first movie they starred in together since Star Wars.
While Harrison Ford had a number of TV movie credits to his name prior to his role as Han Solo, he has had a robust movie career since his appearance as Princess Leia’s love interest. Some of his movie credits include The Fugitive, the Indiana Jones series, K-19: The Widowmaker, Sabrina, Air Force One, Morning Glory, Witness, 42 and more recently Ender’s Game.
However some of the other cast members who have signed on for the new Star Wars VII might not be as well known as Ford.
Andy Serkis actually has a number of big roles to his name. However most of them are computer-animated characters: Gollum in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, King Kong and Caesar in the Rise of the Planet of the Apes. He also did voice work in Arthur Christmas, The Adventures of Tintin and Flushed Away.
John Boyega shows up in the little known sci-fi movie Attack the Block where a group of inner city street kids take on an invasion of aliens.
Oscar Isaac garnered attention playing a down-on-his-luck folk singer in the movie Inside Llewyn Davis. He has also had roles in Won’t Back Down, Robin Hood, The Nativity and Sucker Punch.
Adam Driver also starred in Inside Llewyn Davis. As well the actor has taken roles in the movies Lincoln and J. Edgar.
The Irish actor Domhnall Gleeson starred alongside his father Brendan Gleeson in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 and 2. More recently he played the part of a young man who can go back in time to correct his mistakes in the movie About Time.
At age 85, Max Von Sydow is probably the oldest cast member to sign on. With at least 151 movie credits to his name he has appeared in movies such as Extremely Loud & Incredible Close, Minority Report, Awakenings, Never Say Never Again and Victory.
Daisy Ridley is possibly the youngest cast member and she comes with the fewest credits to her name. However with any luck this episode of Star Wars will send her career rocketing into the stratosphere.
