Early reviews of Star Wars: The Force Awakens are coming in and OH MY GOSH am I even more excited to see the film than I was before. I’m planning on taking my son to the Star Wars themed movie theater about 20 minutes from my house, the Alamo Drafthouse Theater in LaVista, Nebraska. Before that though, it’s time to share my Exclusive Star Wars: The Force Awakens Interview with Lupita Nyong’o and Oscar Isaac!
(Thanks to Disney/LucasFilm/ABC/Marvel for this all expenses paid experience.)
Exclusive Star Wars: The Force Awakens Interview with Lupita Nyong’o and Oscar Isaac
Last week we got to sit down with Lupita Nyong’o who plays Maz Kanata, and Oscar Isaac who plays Poe Dameron. Two characters that we knew little about, aside from the fact that they both played huge roles in the new storyline for The Force Awakens. We interviewed them prior to the premiere or press screenings, but this is what they could tell us about their characters.
I can tell you my character’s name is Maz Kanata, and she is a pirate and owns a bar. – Lupita Nyong’o
I can say that Poe Dameron is a pilot, not a pirate, and he is committed to the resistance and defeating the First Order. He believes in ‘The Force’ and he can be a little reckless in wanting to prove that he is a leader, and a hero. I think he also has that swagger and confidence that come from people who can soar above everyone else, and do all these things at once, like flying a fighter jet and getting into these dog fights, and be so close to the edge of death, and that definitely influences how he operates in the world. – Oscar Isaac
We are finally into the final countdown of Star Wars: The Force Awakens opening in theaters nationwide tomorrow! Many of you may even be seeing the movie tonight! It’s been a long wait, but it’s been even longer for Oscar and Lupita if you go all the way back to auditions.
I met J.J. Abrams, and then a few weeks later I went in and read with John Boyega, and took some pictures next to Daisy Ridley. I wanted to make sure I wasn’t to decrepit looking… apparently I am. (laughs) Then I did a couple of scenes, and I found out about an hour later when I went home. Pretty quickly, yeah. – Oscar Isaac
I met J.J. Abrams to audition for something that I believe may have been Star Wars, the week of the Oscars, when I was nominated for an Oscar, so I was in quite a whirlwind and I don’t really remember much about that audition. Then a few months after that, after the Oscars, I was in Morocco when I received the call from J.J. saying “this is the character I’m thinking of, she’s CGI, are you interested?” and I said ‘yes, I’d love to see the script.’ They flew someone to Morocco with the script for me to read, and I read it over the 2.5 hours I had, and I was immediately intrigued by it. Motion capture was something that I was interested in doing because I think it offers the actor a unique opportunity to play something that’s not limited by your physical circumstances. Especially after playing Patsy who was so much about my physical circumstances, I wanted to get as far away from that as possible so that I’m not trying to second that experience at all, and that I can learn something and be on a completely new turf. For me, motion capture was that, so I was very interested. A few days later I got the call from my agent that I should pack up. – Lupita Nyong’o
After crazy, quick, and even whirlwind audition processes, how does one respond to learning that they got a part in Star Wars: The Force Awakens?
I took out my suitcase. I really did, I took out my suitcase. I literally found out like two days before I needed to be in London so I had to pack. – Lupita Nyong’o
I was in a hotel room in London so I blasted the Star Wars theme, and I grabbed the shampoo bottle and started using it like an X-Wing. That’s what I did. – Oscar Isaac
Lupita Nyong’o attends the World Premiere of Star Wars: The Force Awakens at the Dolby, El Capitan, and TCL Theatres on December 14, 2015 in Hollywood, California. – Image.net
Seeing Star Wars: The Force Awakens holds special memories for a lot of us. Many of us have our own Star Wars Story about where we first saw it, or how we came to play with the toys. Both Lupita Nyong’o and Oscar Isaac grew up with Star Wars as a part of their childhood and they shared a bit about their Star Wars story during our Exclusive Star Wars: The Force Awakens interview.
I was born into Star Wars I feel. It was a very normal part of my childhood. It would come on public holidays on the national television. We only had two channels so Star Wars was on and everybody watched it, and everybody was familiar with it because that’s all there was to watch on TV, and we all loved it. It was a very normal, comfortable, cozy part of my imaginative folklore you know. It wasn’t until being cast in it that I realized what it meant on a meta level to the world, and how big the fan base is. How dedicated and how enthusiastic people are about this world George Lucas created. It dawned on me for the first time, stepping onto the actual set, that I was a part of it because I looked around, and these are very expansive sets and there was so much detail taken into the creation of every single thing. The textures, the colors…you really did feel like you were on another planet. I think that was the time when I realized , wow, I’m apart of something that has and will continue to go down in history. – Lupita Nyong’o
The first movie I ever saw in the theater was Return of the Jedi, amazingly. Which is pretty crazy. Now that I’ve done this one I’m going to stop doing movies. I’m really into symmetry. No, it definitely changed my life. It kinda blew my little kid brain. Yeah, I was a huge fan ever since, and my family are very big fans and every time a new film would come out, we’d throw themed parties and memorize the fight scenes to a T, and terrorize my family with them. For me, Star Wars always represented and meant, coming together as a family and having a great time. It was an excuse to do that. At the same time, it’s like that thing where there’s this ownership over it, and there’s an intimate relationship with it, and also it’s something outside of anyone’s real reality. So, to suddenly be asked to join that, and not only be in it, but contribute something and create a new character, which it really was that. It was an evolution. The character changed so much from what originally was there when J.J and I first met, to what ultimately ends up on screen. So it really did feel like creating something. It’s kind of hard to process it, especially now, you really feel the receding of all the water because the tsunami is about to hit. That’s kinda what this moment is really. It’s about to crest over. It’s not just a film, it’s a cultural phenomenon, and it’s just hard to process. – Oscar Isaac
Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac)
Ph: David James
©Lucasfilm 2015
I know how I feel, being filled with anticipation of seeing Star Wars: The Force Awakens. I’m just a fan. I’m not a fan who is now starring in a movie I’ve been waiting for a long time to see. Can you imagine?
It’s strange. It’s difficult to process. There’s a lot of mixed emotions because you’re seeing it as a fan. You’re seeing the new thing and your exhilarated by that. You’re understanding what the world is because it’s one thing to see it all put together, so I was being affected as a viewer, and then also the memories of what shooting was like, and what takes were used and what takes were not used, and what was moved to another place and how it affects the thing. So there’s so much going on that it’s a very trippy moment. – Oscar Isaac
When I signed on to play Maz, they were still developing the character and her role in the film and what she going to look like. They welcomed me into that conversation, which was really cool to see the early stages of her, and how she’s evolved over time. She’s CGI and they’ve been working on her for a long time. To finally see the film and to see what became of her, and somehow it’s me but its definitely not me and it’s bizarre. I’ve never seen myself like that, in another body all together. It was just as confusing and bizarre and titillating and like “oh my god there I go”, and then you see the whole film as well and it’s overwhelming and it’s beautiful. My takeaway from seeing the film was that it felt to me like a seamless continuation of the Star Wars saga. What they’ve done is that they have kept the integrity of the world George Lucas created, and somehow they have managed to integrate all this new technology and these new story lines, and they just work. They work effortlessly together and it’s a beautiful visual experience and a moving story. I think the fans the franchise already has will be very happy, and the new fans will be equally thrilled by this amazingly creative world. – Lupita Nyong’o
Now that Star Wars: The Force Awakens is hitting theaters nationwide on December 18th, what’s next for these two amazingly talented young stars who are about to have their careers awakened by the Force?
I have to finish filming a movie called ‘The Promise’ that I’m doing, and I’ve been shooting it in Spain. It takes place in the beginning of World War I in Turkey, and I play an Armenian doctor. – Oscar Isaac
I just finished a play called Eclipse that is by Danai Gurira (Michonne on The Walking Dead). We just finished that at the Public Theater in New York and we move to Broadway in February. Very excited about that. It’s going to be the first play on Broadway that is written by a woman, directed by a woman, and starring just women. That’s a great milestone, and then I have the jungle book coming out in April and Queen of Katwe coming out dot dot dot….. (laughs) – Lupita Nyong’o
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HcgJRQWxKnw
Hopefully this exclusive Star Wars: The Force Awakens Interview has you even more excited to see the film in theaters tomorrow! And, just in case you need to stock up on awesome products of Poe Dameron, or with his face on them, here you go……
I have a very small apartment so I can’t get too much stuff, but I am funneling things to the family. Like sheets, there’s a cardboard cutout, there’s a Go-Gurt. You can drink yogurt out of my head. And I’m an emoji on Twitter. I’m on seat, like a beach chair, and my face is right next to the butt area. That’s a little disrespectful. (laughs) – Oscar Isaac
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