Star Wars: The Force Awakens director J.J. Abrams gave fans a lot to cheer about during a San Diego Comic-Con panel Friday for the upcoming film. And one word he uttered seemed to hit home more than others: authenticity.
George Lucas' prequel movie trilogy came under fire for overuse of special effects and computer-generated everything, but Abrams has made a commitment to practicality and realism in the seventh Star Wars movie installment, which arrives in theaters Dec. 18. There's a very good reason, too, why he's using the original trilogy beginning with 1977's Star Wars as his primary "canon."
"We wanted to tell a story that would make us feel," Abrams said to the packed house of 6,500, many of whom camped out at least a day to get onto the panel.
Him saying that is one thing, but he backed it up with a furry example. Abrams brought out Babbajo, an animatronic creature resembling a space camel-man that's operated by five people, which is more akin to puppets from the early movies like Jabba the Hutt than to CGI-heavy Jar-Jar Binks.
The mind-set carries over to the actors, too. John Boyega, who plays the new character Finn, jokingly "thanked" Abrams for filming in the hot Abu Dhabi desert when he had to wear a heavy Stormtrooper outfit, and when Oscar Isaac — as X-Wing Fighter pilot Poe Dameron — asked Han Solo himself for advice on on-screen flying, Harrison Ford told him, "It's fake. You're in space."
Between the crowded panel featuring stars old and new and the emotional behind-the-scenes video that brought tears to hardcore fans' eyes, a few things started to come into focus about The Force Awakens:
Solo's back in the saddle. The audience gave the smiling Ford a standing ovation for his first public appearance following a March plane crash. They were almost excited to see him back in the cockpit of the Millennium Falcon with British actress Daisy Ridley's new character Rey. (The video also showed her manning the iconic starship's gun turret.) Han doesn't just let anybody in the co-pilot seat usually occupied by Chewbacca (Peter Mayhew), which lends more credence to the thought that Rey may be the daughter of Han and Leia (Carrie Fisher).
The new flyboy. Isaac described his Dameron role as a guy who wants to take on the mantle of a hero, "sometimes even recklessly so." So that might explain why he's being led at blaster-point by a Stormtrooper. (Could that be Finn in disguise? Maybe more hints will come in the next trailer, which Abrams says hits in the fall.)
Bring on the bad guys (and girl). Fans already knew Adam Driver (Girls) was the masked Kylo Ren, a new potential Sith lord with a lightsaber seen in the original Force Awakens teaser from last November. The Comic-Con revealed some more about two of his fellow members of the Dark Side. Domhnall Gleeson plays Captain Hux, a throwback to Grand Moff Tarkin (Peter Cushing in the original Star Wars) and the old Imperial officers of yesteryear who is definitely evil, the actor said: "I'm British, so yeah." And about her Chrometrooper named Captain Phasma, Game of Thrones star Gwendoline Christie said it was "an opportunity to explore a female character who is totally not about the way she looks in the flesh." If this new trilogy is going to have an iconic villain along the lines of Darth Vader, she'd be a good bet.
Blasts from the past. Han, Leia and Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) are all back again, as is Peter Mayhew as Chewbacca — the tall actor actually hid himself as best he could in the audience for the Comic-Con panel. Abrams has many shades of Lucas' original movies in Force Awakens, especially when it comes to the First Order, the post-Return of the Jedi version of the Empire. Its Stormtroopers have a tweaked design from the old armored dudes, TIE Fighters are also revamped, and Gleeson revealed during the panel that the First Order headquarters is Starkiller Base, a reference to Luke's surname in Lucas' first draft of Star Wars.
Simon Pegg, living the dream. The Star Trek star, noted Star Wars super-fan and Abrams pal has a role as an alien beast in The Force Awakens. It pays to have friends in the galaxy far, far away apparently.
Contributing: Carly Mallenbaum
See the new Star Wars trailer. Director J.J. Abrams and a slew of cast and crew were on hand to unveil the latest teaser for the new Star Wars film — the seventh in the franchise since director George Lucas' 1977 original.
