One of the greatest challenges when adding to the Star Wars saga is to continue the tropes that have made it so iconic for almost 40 years. This was something that even George Lucas struggled with when writing and directing the conroversial prequel trilogy, and the results were mixed. Such as the evolution of the Clone Troopers Mandalorian styled helmets into the helmets worn by the Stormtroopers in A New Hope, or the design for the clone war fighter craft used by the Jedi that would evolve into the infamous imperial TIE Fighters. Another of Star Wars attracting elements is the cool, kick arse weaponry owned and utilised by the galaxies many characters: be it Chewbacca's Bolt Rifle, Han Solo's Blaster, Boba Fett's Flamethrower or Darth Mauls Dual Lightsaber, the Star Wars galaxy has some of the best looking and best sounding weaponry of any science fiction franchise. And The Force Awakens wants to continue this trend if it is to have us on the edge of our seats in excitement.
One of the ways The Force Awakens intends to do this is with Rey's weapon of choice, which surprisingly is not a lightsaber (well not initially), but instead a staff weapon. While attending the movies first press conference in Japan two weeks ago British actress Daisy Ridley, whom will portray Rey, and Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy spoke to Kotaku (via StarWars7News) about the forthcoming movie, and Ridleys role...
Kotaku: As we get into this epic saga, what research did you do in advance?
Kathleen Kennedy: In order to understand George Lucas’s fictional world and his method for creating it, we spent a considerable amount of time doing research onto what he made. The contents, it is his prior research, which was carried out in order of production, such as about the work that he was affected by, such as Flash Gordon and Akira Kurosawa’s movies. In addition, we looked a lot at early concept art by Ralph McQuarrie; we also went to the San Francisco Lucasfilm archive. The Death Star of the model that was actually used in the movie from the archive in San Francisco can be pulled out, and the Stormtrooper costume can be examined anew. Since the staff there are super Star Wars geeks, they fainted when we stopped by. [Laughs]
Daisy Ridley: Compared to Kathleen, I didn’t do nearly as much research! [Laughs] What I did for the movie was look into how to portray an independent character in a compelling way; what I mainly did for this was to conduct physical training. Reading the script and interpreting Rey’s thoughts and actions were also important, as I wanted to understand what I should show in the film.
Kennedy: Daisy trained with the swordfight choreographer of Game of Thrones.
Kotaku: She did a lot of training in swordfighting as well?
Kennedy: She learned the bojutsu fighting style. Rey uses the staff she has in the trailer to fight. Daisy’s gotten to be so good at b?jutsu that even grown men on the set fear it. [Laughs]
Kotaku: The movie’s about half a year away. What are the fans going to do during the wait?
Kennedy: We’ll be unveiling the story in stages in the next six months or so. Fan conventions are important, so I think we’ll show up along with the hardcore fans. Maybe we’ll say something at the Star Wars exhibition being held in Roppongi. [Laughs]
Kotaku: Ms. Daisy, did you get any advice from the cast that appeared in the previous movies?
Ridley: The cast members of Episode IV gave us great warm love and courage. They noted we were about as old as they were when they filmed A New Hope.
Kotaku: Kathleen, did the various actors and crew members need a lot of convincing to sign up to work on/in the next Star Warsmovie?
Kennedy: We weren’t hard to convince – we wanted to join! I got a lot of phone calls, so it was harder to find the people who were not able to participate.
Heres a video of Daisy Ridley's stunt double Chloe Bruce showing off her martial arts abilities, including some footage of the stunt performer using a staff weapon...
Looks like Rey will using a fighting style similar to that used by Darth Maul, with lots of spinning, twisting, cartwheels and somersaults. Also take note of Chloe Bruces use of a standing high kick, which would look very impressive connecting to a Stormtroppers head. One thing is for certain - with or without a lightsaber, Rey is going to kick some serious arse come this December.
