Troy Stiffler

Yea. 80 pages of Star Wars, and this is the best part!

Hope it gets off the ground. The Akira movie was a long time project that never materialized.

slop101

Well, for the leads. In the new one, there's gonna be Fisher, Ford and Hammil, so the younger leads can be unknowns like these three were in IV.

Jay G.

Harrison Ford had already been in a number of films, including a somewhat breakout role in Lucas's American Graffiti. And Lucas tested other, more notable actors for some of those roles, so he wasn't just seeking unknowns.

Again, I think the roles could very well go to relative unknowns, but they could also be played by more recognizable actors, provided they're right for the part.

slop101

Dude, Ford had TINY roles in a couple film before that, for all intents and purposes, he was relatively unknown in 1977, and brought in a small fraction of the baggage someone like Gosling or Efron would bring to a similar role.

Jay G.

Whatever. I don't personally buy into the idea of "baggage" for an acting role, but I guess some are affected by it. I've never seen a film that Zac Efron's been in, but if he gets picked for Star Wars and acts well in it, that's all that matters to me.

Oliver Clothesoff

Efron wreaks of Disney trying to tween-ify Star Wars and get some extra money out of that market. Let Abrams cast who he wants and leave Star Wars out of the tween set. They own enough of popular culture, they don't need Star Wars too.

RichC2

Look, the scene where a Carrie Fisher pisses on him will be epic, so I don't want to hear it.

taffer

I don't really know that much about Zac Efron, but wikipedia says he is 25 years old. It wouldn't really be "tweenifying" Star Wars anymore than Star Wars has been ever since the beginning considering Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher were also early/mid 20s when they were cast in Star Wars.

milo bloom

Exactly, Luke and Leia were 19 at the start of Star Wars, appealing to the young-ish set is not exactly a new thing here.

Terrell

Ugh! Ryan "One Expression" Gosling does not fit Star Wars, and Zac Efron? I'm not the least bit surprised. The "it's better than the prequels" excuses need to stop. The entire point is to do far better than the prequels. If you're only goal is to best the prequels, then what's the point in even making more Star Wars films, something that I think should be the case anyway.

I do have a feeling the rage around these films is going to be as bad as it was for the prequels.

joe_b

Gosling's reps are saying it's not true... and Efron's reps can't be reached for comment. I doubt his people will bother denying anything, as this is probably the most publicity their client has gotten since High School Musical 3.

TGM

Ben Foster as Luke's son, or I fucking revolt.

JumpCutz

Lets just hope Jaden Smith gets a nice featured role in this.

That kid has mega-star written all over him.

slop101

I guess he was huge before SW, what with "Owen Marshall Counselor At Law".

bluetoast

The age is a bit off.

Oliver Clothesoff

there's a difference between young-ish 1977 sci-fi nerds and the Twilight- and High School Musical-loving pop culture whores who run the mainstream today.

TGM

Mark Hamill was really a good looking kid before the car crash fucked up his face.

taffer

Not really. Its just now we are the old geezers sitting on our porches shaking our canes at the young'uns thinking it was all so much better in the old days. Its a natural part of getting old to think the younger generation is worse than the previous, but it really isn't.

Supermallet

For everyone who's bitching about Gosling (although god knows why) and Efron, all I have to say is remember how you felt when Heath Ledger was cast as The Joker, and how you feel about that casting decision now.

Josh-da-man

Yeah, any name that comes up is going to send people into fits.

With the internet, gossip sites, twitter, and 24-hour news, every celebrity is going to have baggage, be over-exposed, and have a legion of haters.

The Star Wars franchise itself also comes with a lot of baggage, which only adds to it.

LosingMyMind

I would cast Channing Tatum and Dreama Walker.

slop101

?
Why would anyone have had a problem with that? He was already an Oscar winner at that point (a deserved one), and I don't recall much, if any, of an outcry against his casting when it was announced.

Supermallet

He was nominated for an Oscar for that "gay cowboy movie" and there was a ton of outcry that Nolan had cast a pretty boy in such a major role.

Jay G.

To wit:

And that's just from the first page of that thread.

Supermallet

Bingo. I think I dumped on him, too. I was wrong and I'm not going to get up in arms about shit like that again, especially since Gosling is an excellent actor, and Efron's not half bad, either.

Then again, I don't expect any of these movies to be GREAT. I'll be happy if they're just good, despite Terrell's sky is falling posts about why even bother if they're not going to be amazing.