Rumors surrounding J.J. Abrams‘ Star Wars: Episode VII are a dime a dozen, but we’re getting closer to what many are saying will be a January 2014 start of production so sooner or later some of these things are going to come true.
The latest, again, comes from Latino Review, reporting Alex Pettyfer (I Am Number Four, Magic Mike) and Rachel Hurd-Wood (Peter Pan) have auditioned for roles in the film. Presumably not the same role.
The role Hurd-Wood was up for is said to be the daughter of Princess Leia and Han Solo, which is believed to be the true lead in the new trilogy while Pettyfer (pictured from his role in Beastly) is speculated to be up for the role of Luke Skywalker’s son. I’m going to go out on a limb and guess he didn’t have the baby with Leia as well, but they seemed to have a “complicated” relationship. Then again, are Jedis allowed to have sex? Aren’t they like monks or something?
If I was casting Pettyfer, he’d be a villain in my film. The dude is awfully creepy and has pretty much played a bad guy in damn near every movie, up to and including his detestable role in Lee Daniels’ The Butler where he not only rapes the lead character’s mother, but then proceeds to shoot his father in the head. Any time he plays a “good” guy — I Am Number Four and Beastly — the films don’t tend to do so well. Maybe Luke’s son is a bad guy? He rebels against his father, mad because he killed Anakin and haunted by the ghost of Palpatine. Blah, blah, blah.
Then again, the news here isn’t so much the actors auditioning as much as the roles they may be playing, hinting at what direction the story for the upcoming trilogy may follow.
In other Episode VII news, Variety quotes Albuquerque Studios president Dana Arnold saying the production may shoot at their New Mexico based studios. “[All studios are] willing to offer things on a one-shot basis, everything they can imagine the producers might want, just to be able to say they got the new Star Wars shoot,” Arnold noted.
The film is already slated to shoot at Pinewood outside London while location shoots in Iceland, Ireland, Scotland and Jordan have also been mentioned.
A release date is still unknown (a good thing we should all note). May is typically the date Star Wars films are released, but rumors have it pegged for a Christmas 2015 release to take advantage of the holidays.
