In just 35 short days,Star Wars: The Force Awakenswill be arriving in theaters, the first adventure from a galaxy far, far away in over 10 years. We have already given you a wealth of details about this highly-anticipated sequel over the past few days, including aTV trailerthat aired on ABC last night, a preview from Disney XD UK, and much more. The latest issue ofEntertainment Weeklyarrived on newsstands today, which includes a number of tidbits that haven’t been released yet from the issue, including the official run time, which clocks in at two hours and 15 minutes.
DirectorJ.J. Abramsconfirmed theruntime, adding that he locked picture on November 3 at midnight. The filmmaker added that he still plans on tweaking the visual effects, sound effects and finalizing the score with composerJohn Williams. You may recall that a report surfaced last month which claimed that the runtime was two hours and 16 minutes, which would have been the exact same runtime of 1999’sStar Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace. Now that the 135-minute running time has been confirmed,Star Wars: The Force Awakenswill be the third longestStar Warsmovie, behindStar Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menaceand 2002’sStar Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones(142 minutes).
Shortly afterStar Wars: The Force Awakenswas first announced back in October 2012, Oscar-winning writerMichael Arndt(Little Miss Sunshine,The Hunger Games: Catching Fire) came aboard to write the screenplay. Eventually, directorJ.J. Abramstook over the writing duties withLawrence Kasdan, who co-wrote the scripts forStar Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes BackandStar Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi.Lawrence Kasdanrevealed toEWthat they started over from scratch.
“We started from scratch, it was getting a little critical. We had so little time that you can’t allow yourself to get stuck, you just keep moving forward all the time.”
Interestingly,Michael Arndtwill still receive a writing credit onStar Wars: The Force Awakens, but we obviously won’t know which elements of the story were created by him, and which came fromJ.J. AbramsandLawrence Kasdan. It is also hinted that theFirst Ordermay have been different in the original draft byMichael Arndt. BeforeJ.J. AbramsandLawrence Kasdantook over as writers, production designerRick Carterand his team created an image that reportedly gave the script a new direction.
Rick Carter’s image is described as a “Nuremberg-esque rally for the new legion of evil, the First Order.” AfterJ.J. Abramssaw this image, he apparently wanted to create a story around this gathering of First Order troopers.Rick Carterhimself wouldn’t offer too many details on the photo, stating that, “It’s more than just a rally.” While we don’t know for sure, it’s possible the image he’s referring to was seen in the second trailer, with General Hux addressing thousands of First Order Stormtroopers.
J.J. Abramsalso added that Kylo Ren’s mask is meant to be a nod to Darth Vader’s iconic helmet, and the issue also offers more about Rey’s speeder that was seen in the first trailer released back in November. While it contains no weaponry, the grill is actually from a vintage 1922 Aston Martin, which art directorGary Tomkinsspotted while visiting a UK event known as the Goodwood Revival, which features a number of classic cars. ActressDaisy Ridleyalso shared an amusing story about a scene where she flies the Millennium Falcon.
While there is one scene shown in the trailers that she flies the Falcon by herself, there is another sequence where she co-pilots the iconic ship withHarrison Ford’s Han Solo. We have seen a number of photos and pieces of footage with Rey in the Millennium Falcon cockpit, but we haven’t seen her flying it together with Han Solo yet.Daisy Ridleyrevealed that she was “mortified” afterHarrison Fordreminded her she was sitting in the wrong seat.
“I went to get into the pilot seat and he was like ‘that’s mine.’ I was genuinely mortified andJ.J.was sitting there like ‘Oh my god.'”
While we have heard a number of details regarding the Kylo Ren, we haven’t heard much from the actor portraying him,Adam Driver. We know this villain forms what is called The Knights of Ren, and that he is part of the First Order. The new trailer shows Kylo speaking to the burnt helmet of Darth Vader, saying he plans on finishing what Vader started. While we don’t know much about why Ren is so evil, the actor offered a tantalizing hint.
“Really its just because someone wasn’t loved enough or felt betrayed.”
There has been a lot of speculation about the unknown surnames of Finn and Rey, with some rumors claiming they may be the offspring of classicStar Warscharacters. Could it be possible that Kylo Ren has a mother and/or father that has already been established in theStar Warsuniverse? Stay tuned for more details aboutStar Wars: The Force Awakens, as we get closer to the December 18 release date.
