Intergalactic Crime Family The Hutts Might Return To Rule The Underworld In 'THE FORCE AWAKENS'

Latino Review has an interesting bit of news concerning what aliens we might be seeing return for The Force Awakens. They've learned that J.J. Abrams had a couple of expensive Hutts created for the film, and there is talk they could end-up being redressed or altered to be included in the spin-offs.

Here's what the site has to say about the Hutts returning.

Well, I can forward that timeline for you today: there are Hutts in The Force Awakens, we know because those Hutts have been practically built. I know there is more than one Hutt, but unsure how many exactly are going to show up. The process of constructing these Hutts began over a year ago, so you can imagine how my ears perked up when it was rumored that the Star Wars spin-off film would be “sharing assets” with The Force Awakens, despite being in different time periods. Last time I speculated this would mostly be ships and interiors, but how hard can it be to re-dress a Hutt? Reaching out to a source, I was told: “I’m sure their existence could have factored in to them being included, or the expenditure was made because it was all coordinated.” In other words: if JJ wanted expensive Hutts, it might have been okay since they could be used down the line.

The site previously reported that to save money on the productions Lucasfilm would be repurposing sets and props across different films. This makes a lot of sense and could allow the studio to turnout more in-camera shots, which according to Oscar Isaac during his interview on The Daily Show is "mostly practical with limited green screen work".

The Hutt Fleet

In the case of the Hutts, they are just as important and influential as the Empire itself along with the Mandalorians. Considering they basically run the criminal underworld which includes bounty hunters, smugglers, pirates and assassins in their employment. Controlling entire systems, planets and commanding fleets of their own attack ships. There inclusion wouldn't be a spoiler in the least, considering they have been heavily involved in the Clone Wars and will likely have a role to play in Rebels as well.

We're not just talking about Jabba, as there are many different Hutts operating all over the galaxy not just on Tatooine. It's possible that we could see Jabba's replacement in The Force Awakens, since it's said we could be returning to desert planet which might be homestead of Daisy Ridley's Rey.

A lot of leaked concept art points to the return to Tatooine include Rey's home which is made out of a destroyed AT-AT imperial walker.

This isn't the first time we've heard the Hutts mentioned for new Star Wars films.

AICN reported that Lucas had been talking-up story ideas Jabba during the meetings for the spin-offs. Then again, they were also citing a Yoda spin-off becoming the first of the standalone films which at this point isn't the case.

Oh - and I've also heard tale of a JABBA story that Lucas has floated to some of his buddies.  

By the sounds of things Gareth Edwards' film could very well be a combo of a lot of these ideas which could include bounty hunters, Han Solo and Boba Fett. We know that all them have a history together which could be explored in the spin-offs.

SOURCE: LATINO REVIEW

Jessica Chastain Absolutely Wants A STAR WARS Role

We're starting to see the Star Wars universe open-up with many female roles being available for actresses, something that wasn't the case under George Lucas. I think we have to thank Lucasfilm head Kathy Kennedy and the filmmakers for making the effort to give women a fair shot in this new era of the series.

I've already pointed-out that both The Force Awakens and Gareth Edwards' untitled spin-off will have a strong female presence like we've never seen before with the films.

Daisy Ridley's character in Awakens is said to be a bit more of main character than most are expecting, since she's one of the only people I've seen in concept art wielding a lightsaber. There are even two big supporting roles being filled by Gwendoline Christie and Lupita Nyong'o.

In the casting of Gareth Edwards' film it's looking like the lead role might actually be a female character. Since we've been hearing about four actresses in the running for the part which include Tatiana Maslany, Rooney Mara, Felicity Jones and Kate Mara. Currently, no male actors have started creeped into the casting conversation for the project. This might be hinting to this film becoming the first female driven Star Wars movie.

This aspect might see even more high profiled actors and actresses signing-up to be apart of the universe since we're getting one Star Wars installment every year in December starting in 2015, there will be plenty of roles to go around.

The next installments include Episode VIII coming from Looper's Rian Johnson in December 2017 and then another untiled spin-off from Fantastic Four's Josh Trank likely in December 2018.

Well, someone at Digital Spy asked two-time Oscar nominated actress Jessica Chastain (Crimson Peak, Zero Dark Thirty, The Help, The Debt, Tree of Life) about Star Wars since her A Most Violent Year co-star Oscar Isaac is apart Force Awakens. The interviewer curious if she had aspirations for the franchise, here is what Chastain had to say.

Yes, they never sent me the script. I would have absolutely been in Star Wars, I would have loved to be in Star Wars, I know they're going to make more so.. [points to herself].. Listen, I'm an actor because I love film I love going to the movies I love comedies and so many different kinds of films, sci-fi, drama, horror films I love them all. And I'd love to do anything it just has to be a good role. You know like I don't want to just stand there and hold a spoon, I really want to do something fun and I would absolutely would love it. 

I personally think the more Oscar caliber talent the better when it comes to Star Wars and we know that Chastain is a workhorse actress and wouldn't shy away from a huge workload these projects demand.

She's been dying to get a meatier role in comic book film genre, but had to turn down Marvel because of lacklustre roles in Iron Man 3 and Ant-Man. Although, she would make a badass Carol Danvers in Captain Marvel we at least know wants to be apart of Star Wars.

SOURCE: DIGITAL SPY

Gareth Edwards' STAR WARS Spin-Off Film Adds Kate Mara As Candidate For Lead

The other day we learned from The Hollywood Reporter that actresses Tatiana Maslany (Orphan Black), Rooney Mara (Pan, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, Social Network) and Felicity Jones (Like Crazy, The Theory of Everything) were in the mix to test for the female lead of Gareth Edwards' untitled Star Wars spin-off film.

Variety has added Kate Mara (Shooter, Iron Man 2) as a new candidate for an unnamed role. Mara will be making the jump to blockbuster lead with Fox's Fantastic Four reboot in August. Like her sister Rooney, Kate's career upswing was thanks to David Fincher, casting her in the Netflix series House of Cards.

Twitter scoop following @Borys_Kit STAR WARS testing story from yesterday, hearing the fourth girl who tested is Rooney's sister, Kate Mara
— Justin Kroll (@krolljvar) January 21, 2015

I'd be fine if all these ladies end up being in the film.

The film is set to begin production sometime soon to make it's December 2016 release date. It's script is written by Gary Whitta and producer Simon Kinberg handling rewrites. Simon is also the writer and producer of Fantastic Four which stars Kate.

Kinberg is co-writing Josh Trank's (Chronicle, Fantastic Four) Star Wars spin-off as well, there are a bunch of connections between Fantastic Four and these spin-offs.

SOURCE: VARIETY

Tatiana Maslany And Rooney Mara Testing For STAR WARS Spin-Off Lead Role

The Hollywood Reporter is giving us our first casting news concerning Gareth Edwards' (Godzilla, Monsters) untitled Star Wars spin-off. Actresses Tatiana Maslany and Rooney Mara are testing for the unnamed female lead in the film.

The film is said to focus on a crack team of bounty hunters gathering intel and blueprints of the Death Star. This has been our first hint that lead could be a female character.

It's release date has been set for December 15th, 2016 and production is expected to start-up very soon as reflected by this casting news. The script was provided by Gary Whitta (Walking Dead, Book of Eli) and is said to be getting rewrites from Simon Kinberg (Fantastic Four, Rebels, X-Men Days of Future Past).

Tatiana is best known for her well received series Orphan Black where she plays multiple roles in the show which is reason for her direct praise. She also was in the running for the Sarah Connor role in Terminator: Genisys losing out to Games of Thrones actress Emilia Clarke .



Rooney Mara recently broke-out thanks to her Oscar nominated role in David Fincher's The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo.



They also mention that Oscar nominee Felicity Jones (The Theory of Everything, Like Crazy) is also on a wish-list but won't be testing as of yet.

Another bit of info that has come out is that Simon Kinberg and Lawrence Kasdan have indeed worked together on the script for Josh Trank's (Fantastic Four, Chronicle) other Star Wars spin-off movie.

Trank's film might actually turnout to be that Boba Fett film we've been hearing Kasdan had been writing. Then again, Gareth's film is said to focus on bounty hunters.

SOURCE: THR

STAR WARS Producer Simon Kinberg Taking Over Spin-Off Writing Duties From Gary Whitta?

Just a couple of days ago it was confirmed that screenwriter Gary Whitta (Book of Eli, Walking Dead) would be leaving Gareth Edwards' untitled Star Wars spin-off. The writer would be moving-on to focus on adapting Mark Millar's comic Starlight for 20th Century Fox.

Another writer was expected to take his place since the film has a release date of December 16, 2016. As a new rumor coming from Slash Film suggests that Rebels writer-producer Simon Kinberg could be taking over where Whitta left-off.

/Film has learned, but was unable to confirm, that it will be Simon Kinberg. At Lucasfilm, Kinberg is a consultant on The Force Awakens, a writer and producer on Star Wars Rebels, and writer of at least one standalone movie. Whether or not that became this film or is another remains unclear. But Kinberg will be taking over duties for Whitta on this movie.

This shouldn't be too shocking to anyone who has been following the Lucasfilm development deals for future Star Wars projects. It was announced a while back by Lucasfilm that both Simon Kinberg (X-Men Days of Future Past, Fantastic Four) and Lawarence Kasdan (Raiders of The Lost Ark) would be handling the Star Wars spin-offs, taking-on duties of both writers and producers.

Kasdan was said to be penning the Boba Fett movie scrupt which has been in the works for at least four years. The bounty hunter's creator Joe Johnston confirmed he was pitching a Fett film to George Lucas back in 2011. Fett was mentioned along with Han Solo and Yoda as characters potentially getting spin-off installments.

Larry would later be called-up to rewrite The Force Awakens script with director J.J. Abrams. A huge promotion for him but sort of expected since Larry had penned but Empire Strikes Back and Return of The Jedi previously.

Simon is another story, helping spearhead the successful animated series Star Wars Rebels. Like The Cone Wars, is series that is canonical to the original trilogies and new films. A huge task for any writer or producer to keep in order.

He's also heavily involved with other major projects at 20th Century Fox and Sony. Partnering with Neill Blomkamp on his films Elysium and Chappie. He's also instrumental in the development of Fox's X-Men and Fantastic Four franchises as writer-producer.

Seeing Kinberg make the jump to writing the Star Wars spin-off films feels like it was already apart of his original deal with Lucasfilm. Considering that Simon was an established screenwriter before signing-on for his Star Wars deal.

As per usual the details surrounding the film from Godzilla director Gareth Edwards are varied and unconfirmed.

However, there was talk from reliable Slash Film that the movie could revolve around a group of bounty hunters who are tasked to secure the Death Star plans. These plans helped the rebels destroy it during the original film.

Could this end-up being out Boba Fett movie since he's the most notorious bounty hunter?

You might remember that LucasArts was planning on release a video game with the working title Star Wars 1313 (demo footage above). It seemingly would focus on the underworld of the Star Wars universe which included thieves and bounty hunters.

After it's eventually cancelation along with a Darth Maul game, it was revealed 1313 was in fact a Boba Fett game with players being placed in the role of the legendary bounty-hunting Mandalorian. Concept art revealed that he would be working with a team of fellow bounty hunters in the game.

While it's possible the Lucasfilm/Disney merger could have killed many of the games LucasArts had in development. They could have also given it the axe because of this Boba Fett movie was in the works and the wanted to fold the game into the film's development. Again, this first spin-off is said to focus on a team bounty hunters and would be set around the time Boba was still alive.

In my opinion, this very likely could be the Boba Fett centric film we've been hearing about for years.


SOURCE: SLASHFILM