It’s here. The biggest trailer yet for Star Wars: The Force Awakens. A preview for the film that broke the internet earlier today when everyone and their parents tried to pre-order tickets online. A sneak peak at the movie that ignorant racists are trying to boycott on Twitter just because there’s a woman and a black guy in it (they know that’s hardly a first for the franchise, right?). You watched half of Monday Night Football just to see it, and they dumped it online anyway.
That’s right, it’s new footage from Star Wars: The Force Awakens, and we won’t keep you from it a moment longer. Take a gander and we’ll catch up as soon as you’re done!
Related: What If ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ Sucks?
Wow! Okay, that was a lot to take in at once. If you’re anything like most of the internet you’re probably going to watch this trailer about a dozen times in the next half hour anyway, so that’s hardly a big deal. We’ve got the return of Han Solo, Chewbacca and Leia… but no Luke Skywalker. Unless he’s the guy with the cyborg hand stroking his R2 unit, of course. Maybe there’s something unexpected about his appearance in the film? Maybe, like Darth Vader, he’s now more mechanical than man?
Or maybe we’re just reading too much into this. After all, Han Solo’s dialogue seems to indicate that although these characters live in a futuristic society where everyone communicates via holograms, nobody actually takes a historical record of anything that happens, so that after only 30 years the events of the original movies have passed into some sort of legend. So maybe holding this trailer up to close scrutiny won’t be rewarded.
We kid of course. This trailer has everything we want from a trailer: a whole lot of fun stuff but the distinct sense that none of the movie has been ruined. There’s action and intrigue and images we didn’t expect, and it ends on an oddly hopeful note that seems hellbent on inspiring the audience not just to see the film, but to believe in the wonder it can provide us.
It may not be the most incredible thing we have ever seen, but this new trailer for Star Wars: The Force Awakens is a rock solid piece of marketing. We have to give it that.
Star Wars: The Force Awakens opens on December 18, 2015. Good luck getting tickets.
Photo: Disney
William Bibbiani (everyone calls him ‘Bibbs’) is Crave’s film content editor and critic. You can hear him every week on The B-Movies Podcast and watch him on the weekly YouTube series Most Craved and What the Flick. Follow his rantings on Twitter at @WilliamBibbiani.
The Almost-Stars of Star Wars
Almost Stars of Star Wars
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Sylvester Stallone as Han Solo
Sly did indeed audition for the role of Han Solo, and picturing the wise-cracking jet pilot as something more of a Rocky-like lummox is amusing to ponder. Stallone was, however, quickly looked over by George Lucas, and he never got a callback.
Photo – United Artists
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Ryan Phillippe as Anakin Skywalker
When Attack of the Clones was in production, there was a bitter fight in Hollywood as to who would play the young Darth Vader, in the pre-mask days. The pouty-lipped Ryan Phillippe was already a known quantity in the biz, and got so far as readings with other actors, before he lost the role to Hayden Christiansen. Phillippe may have been too young, or perhaps not “dark” enough.
Photo – Columbia Pictures
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James Woods as Han Solo
Harrison Ford may be irreplaceable in people's minds as Han Solo, but James Woods would have, I think, been an improvement. Han Solo is a flip, wisecracker, right? Who better to give off a cynical attitude than the excellent James Woods? He auditioned for the role, but was turned down.
Photo – Universal Pictures
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Karen Allen as Princess Leia
Why she was not hired is anyone's guess, but Karen Allen – pre-Animal House – did indeed audition to play Princess Leia, long before she entered the action/adventure canon as Marion Ravenwood in Raiders of the Lost Ark. I feel she would have made a more human, earthier version of the character, as Carrie Fisher is, comparatively, daintier and prettier.
Picture - Paramount
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Kurt Russell as Han Solo
One can find video evidence of Kurt Russell's audition online, meaning he came close to landing the role of Han Solo. I adore Kurt Russell, as does every right-thinking person, but his audition was a bit awkward, and he is perhaps too genial and heroic to be the cynical sidekick of the series.
Photo – Columbia Pictures
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P.J. Soles as Princess Leia
There was once a rumor that Carrie Fisher was up for the P.J. Soles role in Brian De Palma's Carrie, and Soles was up for Princess Leia, but Fisher was rejected on account of nudity. Fisher would have done the nudity, however, and the rumors are not true. The spunky Soles, however, did audition for Princess Leia. Had she landed the part, it would have made for a very different movie.
Photo – New World Pictures
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Robert Englund as Han Solound
Yes, there was a time when Robert Englund was not known for horror, and was merely a struggling actor just like all his contemporaries. Englund auditioned for Solo, but was considered too young for the part, and perhaps not '70s dashing enough. Legend has it, though, that it was Englund who encouraged Mark Hamill for the role of Luke Skywalker.
Photo – Mars Productions Corporation
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Mel Blanc as C-3PO
The famed voice of Bugs Bunny, Barney Rubble, and a thousand others was once considered to dub over C-3PO's lines the same way James Earl Jones dubbed over David Prowse for Darth Vader. Blanc was, and is, a legend in the voice acting world, and there's no doubt he could have come up with an iconic and great vice for the fey robot. Lucas eventually let actor Anthony Daniels read his own lines.
Photo – public domain
