John Boyega won the BAFTA Rising Star Award last night. And he was dressed for it, looking sharp in a black velvet suit. I love his reaction when he got up to collect his trophy – a wide open-mouthed WHOA! as he was buttoning up his jacket. Understandable, non?
He was in Star Wars. He was in the biggest movie of all time. He was SO GOOD in the biggest movie of all time. And he’s got more of them to come. Just after 9am ET this morning I received an email from Disney Canada publicity, announcing that Episode VIII has begun production at Pinewood Studios in London. John told reporters last night that he was getting picked up at 6am today to get to set. According to the press release:
Star Wars: Episode VIII, which is written and directed by Rian Johnson and continues the storylines introduced in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, welcomes back cast members Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Adam Driver, Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Lupita Nyong’o, Domhnall Gleeson, Anthony Daniels, Gwendoline Christie, and Andy Serkis. New cast members will include Academy Award winner Benicio Del Toro, Academy Award nominee Laura Dern, and talented newcomer Kelly Marie Tran.
We’ve long heard the reports of Benicio Del Toro (who was also at the BAFTAs last night, because, as we know now, he’s starting work on Star Wars) but Laura Dern is new, and a surprise. Also a lovely, lovely surprise:
Kelly Marie Tran, a largely unknown Asian actress.
It would seem, then, that they are actively thinking about how Star Wars should look, and who it should look like. Which makes the wait even more painful. December 2017 feels so very, very far away. And this tease doesn’t help at all, although I’m shocked that that attention-whoring punk BB-8 didn’t find a way to make it into this video.
