Star Wars Episode VII Discussion, News, Interviews (12/18/2015)
- Thread starter Dream
- Start date
Nimoy didn't do a whole lot in either of the last two Trek films, and in STID he just sat and talked into the camera for his brief cameo. Billy Dee could always show up in a couple of scenes, trade some dialogue with the lead characters, toss out a few smooth lines to remind fans of the old Lando we love and then vanish until (and if) needed again.
He never had a physically demanding role to begin with. Getting choked by Chewie, then have a stunt guy fall into the Sarlacc pit, and the rest of it was walking, standing, and sitting for the entirety of the battle of Endor.
Yeah, like I've said - if they don't use him it's because they don't want to use him. He's not trapped in an iron lung.
Harrison Ford seems to be easing up in his old age. For years, he refused to talk about Blade Runner because of the difficult time he had working with Ridley Scott, but finally relented for the documentary Dangerous Days, which was produced for The Final Cut. Furthermore, I recently read an interview where he said he was interested in Ridley Scott's new Blade Runner project and stated that he was excited about the prospect of working with Scott again if asked.
Yeah I think he's finally accepted that his leading man days are behind him and his best bet for good roles is as a supporting character. With that in mind, baring the possibility someone offers him the lead in some oscar-bait drama/historical biopic, showing up as Han, Indy and maybe even (but probably not) Decker are really his only chance to headline in a tent-pole movie.
It took Shatner ages to embrace Captain Kirk and his pivotal role in the Trek franchise, and part of his legendary SNL "Get A Life" sketch from 1986 was based on his true feelings about the role, old TV series and the movies. Starting in the '90s he seemed to come around and accept Trek as one of the most important parts of his life and career (winning Emmys and Golden Globes for other series and acting projects no doubt helped him feel a lot more at ease with his past and less typecast as a futuristic space hero in a cult franchise, allowing him to more warmly and happily embrace Kirk and Trek in-general) and today he's practically swimming in convention appearances, books about Trek, documentaries, TV commercials, video games and other extensions of his most famous role, but it took him a long time to get there and loosen up.
He's also in his eighties now, and that might also play a role. He's a senior citizen in the twilight of his life and being bitter about old feelings and career regrets doesn't do anything once you reach a certain age.
He's also in his eighties now, and that might also play a role. He's a senior citizen in the twilight of his life and being bitter about old feelings and career regrets doesn't do anything once you reach a certain age.
I think that people have been taking that "Get a life" sketch too literally ever since it came out. The other, better Trek sketch in that same episode was "The Restaurant Enterprise," which lovingly recreated the TOS era (even tracking in original TOS music and bringing back the same guy who played Sulu in the famous Belushi "Last Voyage of the Starship Enterprise" sketch), and Shatner participated in that one with gusto, even recreating his TOS-era performance as Kirk (which really impressed me, since it was so different from the way he played Kirk in the movies at the time). I think it's clear that he'd already come to terms with being Kirk, which was why he was able to poke fun at his "disgruntled actor" image in the "Get a life" sketch.
(Another example of people not getting the joke behind that sketch: One of the jokes in the sketch is that Star Trek is called Sulu, Master of Navigation in Japan, and to this day there are some Internet sites that report that as a fact.)
Denis Lawson has said he will not be in it unless it was a significant part.
Sure, but what he said in the documentary is telling, and I'm sure he wasn't paid to say specific words, either for that documentary or the recent interview.
It's not as if Wedge would have gotten that much more to do in Episode VII than he did in the OT (the guy was a fighter pilot in all three major battles of those films and one of just three Rebel pilots to survive the assault on the first Death Star), but he was already one of the more significant background / secondary characters given his heroism (and routine survival) in those OT conflicts.
Oh well. If he did say that then that's his decision.
Well, why not give Wedge a significant part? Surely he's one of the leading figures of the Rebellion simply by having outlived so many others; by now he could've risen to a position of real prominence in the New Republic (or whatever) government or military. And Denis Lawson has matured into an impressive actor with a lot of gravitas. (He had a central role in Steven Moffat's Jekyll, and I unfortunately didn't figure out until afterward that I'd been watching Wedge Antilles this whole time.)
Well, by "much more to do" I mean more on-screen action and face time on camera. I'd love to see Wedge be a ranking colonel or general in the military hierarchy of the New Republic and for a long time I'd been hoping both he and Lando would return for at least one more appearance.
He could have all of three lines in the film and sit in a command chair the whole time and I'd be satisfied. He was strapped into a fighter cockpit in almost every one of his scenes in the OT so it's not as if he was ever running around wielding a blaster, yelling commands and leading troops into battle. He wouldn't need to do much at all, and simply being a high-ranking veteran and commanding officer in the New Republic would make it a more significant part.
Does anyone have a link to that Denis Lawson statement about the new film? I hadn't seen anything about that until now.
He could have all of three lines in the film and sit in a command chair the whole time and I'd be satisfied. He was strapped into a fighter cockpit in almost every one of his scenes in the OT so it's not as if he was ever running around wielding a blaster, yelling commands and leading troops into battle. He wouldn't need to do much at all, and simply being a high-ranking veteran and commanding officer in the New Republic would make it a more significant part.
Does anyone have a link to that Denis Lawson statement about the new film? I hadn't seen anything about that until now.
^Sorry, not sure what you're saying. Why would it be so impossible to write a script that would include Wedge in a significant role rather than just a cameo? I gather that there have been multiple Expanded Universe books and comics built around the character. So why couldn't a movie give him a larger role as well?
I'm not saying they couldn't. Sure they could. It might be a lot of fun to see Wedge have a more meaty and textured role that goes above and beyond what he did in the OT, but with the huge cast that's already been assembled and all the other characters the new film will likely be focusing on developing and fleshing out I don't believe they'd be all too concerned with greatly expanding a role like Wedge's were Denis Lawson even in the movie.
But hey, Hollywood can surprise the fans from time to time so who knows what Abrams has up his sleeve and which actors have yet to be officially announced as participating. The cast photo released the other day is far from the last word.
But hey, Hollywood can surprise the fans from time to time so who knows what Abrams has up his sleeve and which actors have yet to be officially announced as participating. The cast photo released the other day is far from the last word.
