10 Interesting Behind The Scenes Facts About 'The Force Awakens'
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Every movie production has an eventful time behind-the-scenes. These events aren’t inherently bad, but they’re not always good. The Force Awakens has everything from last-minute writing changes to on-set injuries. Here are some interesting behind-the-scenes facts you may not know!
1. Snoke Was Originally A Woman
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This one may or may not shock you: Snoke, as a character, was initially supposed to be a woman. Unfortunately, the character’s design wasn’t finalized until the last minute, and there were so many creative director changes throughout the trilogy. Not to mention, Snoke didn’t have a very clear origin. Several designs went across the desk for Snoke until the final one was settled to look like Peter Cushing’s Grand Moff Tarkin. A major villain Force-user who was a woman would have been refreshing, but considering Snoke’s abrupt death, no one missed out on too much.
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2. Captain Phasma Was Originally A Man
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Maintaining the energy of the first point, Captain Phasma was initially supposed to be a man. The Internet helped make this change. The netizens noted a lack of female cast for the movie and retaliated accordingly. This change made history for Star Wars movies; she became the first female to be a villain lead in Star Wars theatrical movies. Overall, the character was well-written, didn’t need much explanation, and worked fantastically as a woman.
3. Harrison Ford Was Injured On Set
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Most productions have their share of on-set injuries, and The Force Awakens is no exception. At one point, Harrison Ford had his left leg broken when a hydraulic door fell on him. The actor recovered well, but it dropped him off filming for 8 weeks. Unfortunately, Ford wasn’t the only one who got injured that day. Abrams injured his back trying to lift the door off of the actor. Luckily no one else was hurt in that incident.
4. Poe Was Supposed To Die
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No one could survive such a fiery crash as Poe did. He wasn’t originally supposed to, either; Poe was supposed to start the storyline and then die. Things obviously changed since then, Oscar Isaac’s character became a more vital piece of the plot, and the death stick was passed to Han instead. It isn’t easy to solidly explain, but they pulled it off as best they could without having to scrap an entire section of the movie.
5. FN-2187 Was An Easter Egg
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The very observant Star Wars fans may have caught this, but some people didn’t. Finn’s stormtrooper identification was one of many throwbacks to the classic trilogy; it matched Leia’s cell number in A New Hope. In a way, it was still a prison cell, too, since being stuck in the stormtrooper regime was like being stuck in jail for some.
6. BB-8 Had Two Voice Actors
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Rather than being purely computer-generated or having one voice actor, the little orange droid had 2. Bill Hader and Ben Schwartz were the “Voice Consultants” for the character, tag teaming a mesh of computer-edited tones that made the beloved droid speak. Roles don’t often get split in this way, so to see it happen, and to see it so smoothly applied, is interesting to consider.
7. John Williams Didn’t Want To Write The Cantina Band, So Lin Manuel Miranda Stepped In
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John Williams is famous for his geek compositions, especially the Star Wars pieces. Because of his skill and history with the franchise, he was approached about writing the score, and Williams eagerly accepted. However, he didn’t want to write the Cantina Band nostalgia piece. That wasn’t an issue, however; during a show night for Hamilton, Lin Manuel Miranda approached Abrams himself and jokingly offered to write it. He didn’t know the composition was needed; the stars just aligned in this circumstance.
8. Chewie Was Played By Two Actors
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Since his introduction, Chewbacca has been played by the same actor up to this movie. Peter Mayhew, who came in at a solid 221 centimeters (7’3”), maintained his role as the Wookie until he retired in 2015. He couldn’t do it all himself; at the time, the man’s age and physical health got in the way. This means that The Force Awakens had the very first scenes of a different actor playing Chewbacca live action. Stunt double Joonas Suotamo, a former basketball player, took over the role’s action scenes and later the entire part himself at Mayhew’s retirement.
9. Luke Was Going To Have More Screen Time
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Luke was initially supposed to make a greater appearance, not just that short pan out with Rey. There was a concern over Luke stealing all of the thunder with the original plan. The intention was for a female Jedi lead to be the focus, not for Luke to overwhelm the screen. By giving Luke a limited amount of screen time in the first of the trilogy, Rey and the new crew were able to shine brighter than ever. The move surprised a lot of people, though, including the actor himself.
10. Ford Didn’t Want To Reprise His Role
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The actor talked about this a fair amount; initially, he wouldn’t return for his Star Wars role. Ford hasn’t been too thrilled with Han as a character for a while. He saw the character as a bit pointless after getting busted out of Jabba’s palace in Return of the Jedi. He wished Han was killed off, which was the agreement the writing crew came to for Ford to return.
Later, Ford took on the character one last time in The Rise of Skywalker. He and Abrams had a conversation about the purpose of the reprise, Ford wanting to understand his role a little better. In the end, it worked out quite well, his character had a significant impact on the plot, and he got a pretty good paycheck out of it all.
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