I kind of feel sorry for all of the other studios, films and TV shows that were trying to get attention at this year’s Comic-Con, because Star Wars really went all out. People were crying. People were freaking out. No one could hide their glee. And props to JJ Abrams for bringing everyone out for Comic-Con – seriously, I think every major cast member of Star Wars: The Force Awakens came out. Even (dun dun dun) Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher. It was amazing! This was Harrison’s first time at Comic-Con and his first big public appearance since his plane crash in March. All of the joy and tears were mostly for Harrison, if we’re being honest. To see a grizzled old Han Solo up there with grizzled Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher… OMG. Harrison made jokes (he told the crowd he “walked here”) and explained why he decided to come back to the beloved franchise:
“It should’ve felt ridiculous. [The first movie] was 30 years ago, and I sort of grew up. And yet here I was doing something I did so long ago and I will tell you that it felt great… I wasn’t so sure it would be but the company was the right company, the director was the right director. Larry [Kasdan] wrote us a wonderful story and I was proud and grateful to once again be involved. The original Star Wars that I was a part of really was the beginning of my working life and I was very, very grateful for the opportunity that I had in that film and for the success of that film. It was great to be back… [I didn’t expect this to] come back to bless me rather than haunt me. I was very grateful when I read the script because I read something that I thought was really remarkable, really well written and with some very intriguing developments.”
After the panel, JJ and the cast invited everyone to a big surprise concert of Star Wars music performed by the San Diego Symphony. Disney really spent a lot of money on this year’s Comic-Con, right?
When I say that every major cast member was there, I really mean it. These are the cast members who came out, in addition to Harrison, Carrie and Mark: Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Adam Driver, Oscar Isaac, Domhnall Gleeson and Gwendoline Christie. We also found out that Driver and Christie are definitely playing bad guys…? And they released this new “behind the scenes” video that gave me chills.
Photos courtesy of WENN, Getty.
The best movies ever made, the first 3, the others… meh… I always liked that first trilogy… And had a crush on Han Solo.. 😀
And Indiana Jones too… 😀
Except for all the racism, of course.
Racism? Don’t understand your comment @Nicole
I don’t recall racism, but the sexism was awful in the first trilogy. And they can’t excuse that by claiming the trilogy reflected the level of sexism in the U.S. at the time the movies were made.
In the first movie, females were left out of the entire movie except for Leia. And Leia’s character was not as strong as the other males in that she pleaded for rescue and of course was rescued by men.
Putting the blatant pervasive sexism aside, I was surprised because I don’t especially like sci-fi, but I really enjoyed the 1st trilogy. To me it was primarily a well-done good vs. evil action film.
The racism I assume you refer to is the newer versions with Jar Jar Binks and the group of ‘baddies’ at the beginning of that movie with the type of Japanese accents being considered a move too far
It would however be helpful if you were more expansive with that comment as it allows others to understand your view rather than accuse the movies of racism and not explain
I do not believe it was intentional and in fact one could consider the opposite in fact…Lucas however did have a problem writing good parts for women but there were some who were considered ‘leaders’ even if they were not explained properly……more clunky script than anything else I believe
Oh please. Give me a small break. Insensitive maybe or maybe you’re just projecting your racist tendencies on others because you’ve been conditioned to do so.
Only the first two (IV and V) for me.
Oh, yes!!! I loved those movies!! I think I was a teen when the first one came out, and they were remarkable and took the world by storm!! And Hans Solo – so dashing!! Swoon!! Fell in love with HF back then!!
Maybe this is not the time to say that I have never watched a single Star Wars movie and don’t plan to either.
Now I better run to Timbuktu and hide from the Star Wars fans.
Well to each his own ,but actually I think the original 3 could be ones you could consider that are watchable not necessarily just sci fi fans only …I have never seen a Rocky film and avoid horror..more because I am a coward and a squeamish one at that!!!..it does put me at a disadvantage when others have seen it
I agree with you. I’m not a sci if fan at all, but I loved the first Star Wars. I think I saw the second one and liked it, too. But definitely the first one is just a cute movie.
Yes they really are good! I recently watched A New Hope with a friend who’d never seen any of them, knew nothing about them, and isn’t a sci-fi fan by any means. She loved it! She said, “I didn’t know it would be so funny!” They’re just good movies all-around, (Original trilogy ONLY)
Obsessed fans can be scary.
😊😍😘
😂😂😂
It is not a big deal. I have seen them all. But I was a kid when the originals came out. And out of those 3. If you are ever going to break down and watch one. Empire Strikes Back, is the one I would recommend. Lots of good stuff in that one. There is a good deal of charm and dark humor in it.
But I had fully expect the Comic Con fans, to have a full melt down. Since this was the first time Harrison Ford agreed to get near the convention.
He had no idea how crazy it would be.
And lets be honest… he is their guy! The guy that all the Star Wars fanatics wanted to see in person. On a Star Wars panel.
Harrison has been successfully avoiding these, for decades. Now Han Solo has blessed the nerd herd and they all (Harrison/Nerd Herd) seemed to love every minute of it! Every actor needs this kind of adoration, at least once.
Agreed. I grew up watching Star Wars (my mom was a big fan) and I was a kid when the second trilogy came out. ESB is the best of all six for sure. The original trilogy just has that magic of world building that you can get lost in.
Not sure how this will do…I kinda wish they didn’t bring back the old players because I feel like they are going to have a difficult time balancing old characters and fitting them into new driving material. We shall see I guess
Agreed. The first three have a magic and I love the balance provided by the humor and the joshing interaction between the characters. That was hugely missing in the second newer trilogy in my opinion. I loved ESB most of all too, and hope #7 has some of that charm, surprise, humor,and pure myth-making.
Han Solo? THE MAN, forever. I still love the fact that Sean Connery — Bond, the OTHER foever-man, played his father in the Raiders series.
Well said, thank you.
There are so many iconic movies I haven seen either, JAWS and Jurassic Park or Rocky movies for instance. Maybe one day right? That being said if you ever change your mind Empire kind of brilliant . The original Star Wars is a vibrant caper and The Return of the Jedi is a cheeky, slightly cheesy lark. Don’t bother one bit with the ‘first’ three chapters which are pretty bad except for the last one which is almost decent.
I’ve never seen jaws or top gun
Top Gun is about the pretty. My gawd the men in that movie, were gorgeous. Oh and they flew some planes around too. Watch it to see the men topless.
Jaws… is a decent movie.
Even though the shark seems to be the star… it really is about a family making a move from the big city. To a small island community, for a fresh start.
And sh*t goes really wrong, their first Summer there.
The (Jaws) novel by Peter Benchley, that the movie was based on… is a first rate soapy drama. A great summer read. Find an old copy of it and read it instead.
Never saw Jaws or Jurassic Park, or Titanic. And like Elaine on the old Seinfeld series, I wanted to kill myself during The English Patient, and fled halfway through.
Until Last Year I was In Your Blissful set Maya, I was Made to by my bf and LOATHED Them and the hourse i spent trying not to fall asleep…Im literally going to this next one out of spousal Obligation and Love (for my bf) and gwendolyn and lupita and oscar and domnhall, But Not like I couldnt wait to see this hot mess of fuzzy intros and Outros and space rebels force mumbo jumbo
Haha, you’re probably not alone. My mom loves telling the story about how she fell asleep in the theater in 1977 watching the original. 😉
ive seen them but they werent my jam. id never watch them again.
I never saw any of the first three in the theater. I thought they were Star Trek rip offs.
I was wrong. I took a chance and saw the first one on TV. How cool. It was really fun. The characters were different. I really loved it. And the young Harrison Ford was gorgeous. Still is.
I’ve never seen one Indiana Jones movie. Love the ride at Disney though! LOL!
Maybe mark needs to not borrow a see through T-shirt from brad next time.
Holy Maloney, a gut, moobs and a see through shirt just don’t mix!
Better now than like 5 years ago.
Thank you JJ for whipping him into shape for this movie–I’m really not trying to be mean, I just… I swear, he used to be green he was so unhealthy. I love Mark a lot, I’m glad he was motivated to get healthy for this movie.
Lol. Poor mark.
Awwww. Harrison Ford will forever hold a place in my heart. He was my man crush when i was little.I wanted to be Indiana Jones! He’s the reason I begged my parents to find a book to translate hieroglyphs. It’s good to see him up there. As for Star Wars, I am not a huge fan, but I will see this movie, just for the nostalgia factor.
You are my kindred. Harrison ford is the first guy I remember seeing as a kid and thinking (the 6 yo equivalent of) “daaaaayyyyuuuuuummm”. He is my then, now and forever crush!
Mine too! I have had a Harrison Ford crush since the first SW came out, when I was around 11. Han Solo and Indy for evah!!!
Me too! I adore Harrison Ford, always have, and always will. How is it that he’s still sexy?!
*sigh*
Ah Harrison, you charm the clever out of me.
Yup. He just seems like a sweet man. Yup–crushing on him as a kid.
Harrison Ford was the first actor I ever had a crush on. A BIG crush such as only a thirteen year old can muster. As such, Han Solo is permanently burned into my emotional DNA somewhere.
I can’t wait to see rhis.
I feel sorry for any other film that hopes to makes a big impact toward the end of the year. It’s not going to be easy to compete with this.
Me too… Major crush…
Were we in Dr. Jones’ class, we would all have “Love You” written on our eyelids.
That was me all over back then, and I have not changed.
Harrison was and still is my biggest celebrity crush. I just adore him. Not only for Indy and Han, but so many other movies that I grew up watching. Class act all the way, and a true movie star. Has never tried to play media games or put up his private lives for discussion.
And I love how they all spoke as true fans and celebrated being in the movie rather than acting like dic*s.
I plan on seeing this at least twice in the theatre and buying every extended, director cut DVD. (Yep, I am a proud, flag carrying SW nerd.)
++1 he was my boo for years!
I even loved (as a teen) the mosquito coast even when he was playing a dark crazy character.
Yep, yep, captain Solo and Dr. Jones… <3 <3 <3
And he still looks like a movie star (age notwithstanding)…
Me too! (See above) I have found my people
Harrison sounds genuinely humble. Amazing that everyone returned instead of grumbling or at least one being a holdout.
Han Solo was the first major role Harrison earned. He was working as a carpenter when he auditioned for Star Wars.
Harrison always wanted to be a working actor to support his family.
Not a typical Hollywood leading man-except for 2 divorces.
Lives on a ranch, and treats his profession as “a lucrative business”.
Harrison was the only reason I endured Star Wars…rebel Han Solo was a clever problem solver and magnetic. Perfect combo for a 7 year old girl sneaking to the movie theatre with her friends.
All my my friends worshipped Luke Skywalker-ufgh.
Han Solo just felt authentic to me.
That behind the scenes video is awesome. I can’t wait to see the movie. I was nervous about it because the last three films were not good. Too much cgi, and some bad acting. But JJ Abrams is a great director and writer. What his did with the Star Trek movies was awesome and exceeded my expectations, so I trust him to do these new movies justice.
Didn’t Harrison do Comic Con for Cowboys and Aliens? I remember something with him being brought out in handcuffs by the director as a joke about him not wanting to do it and then people just lost their minds about it.
I remember that too.
Yes, this def was not Harrison Ford’s first time at Comic Con.
I remember when the first Star Wars movie came out. My brother, uncle, and I went to see it while I was visiting. I bought a huge tub of popcorn to keep me occupied since I assumed I would be bored by anything with “wars” in the title.
The huge tub, still full of popcorn, went home with us. It was not boring. I couldn’t keep my eyes off the screen! No time or focus for eating popcorn. Even my curmudgeonly uncle admitted it was good. The movie, not the popcorn. Uncle was especially taken by the bar scene for some reason.
In contrast, when we went to see the first Star Trek movie, I didn’t buy popcorn but really wished I had. Love Star Trek in all its incarnations, but that first one was rather dull and excruciatingly slow moving. Not unusual when going from tightly written TV shows to a movie – they really need to think of a movie as three or four episodes to keep it tight.
But Star Wars definitely got the pacing right. And who could resist the robots?
I know! I was a sullen kid who got dragged to the theater by my family…Star Wars was the last thing I thought I wanted to see. I was shocked at how great it was it and of course I hated giving my parents the satisfaction of my enjoyment. The same thing happened with Raiders of the Lost Ark, too! 🙂
Harrison Ford looks amazing. When you consider that in 1977 he was twice Carrie Fishers’s age, and now look at him next to Carrie and Mark Hamill.
Yeah I noticed that too. He looks better than both. Good for him!
The man has aged well, indeed. And despite his physical misfortunes of late, he looks pretty darn solid.
The fact that Harrison is still alive after that plane crash and walking out as if nothing happened brought tears to my eyes.
Yes and he got injured also while filming so he has really taken a beating. Great to see all these pictures of him looking good and happy.
I hate his shirt, but I think Mark H looks better than most men with baby-faces look when they age. That was a pretty back-handed compliment, I know, but he looks nice with a little weight on him (when he’s not wearing a see-through shirt). Or am I just old? Not sure.
No, no, he looks almost… sexy? It’s the beard, I think. He lost the ‘puppy dog’ look. The grey helps.
The beard is working!
Oh, thank you. I thought maybe I was losing it. I think he looks good, too.
Mark looks pretty good to me too. Between movies, iirc he had a terrible car accident and had major facial reconstruction that was not well done or perhaps it was due to the tech limits of surgery back then. Anyway, looks like he’s had work to improve that 1st surgery with great results.
I love Carrie Fisher’s hair, I love her outfit, and I love the fact that she brought her dog!
I am uber excited about this and i have always adored Harrison Ford – there are elements of Han and Indiana that are part of his personality – you can see the glint in the eye.
Going to Hall H at the San Diego ComiCon is on my bucket list – one day.
And Daisy is a younger clone of Keira Knightly – she smiles and talks like her.
PS Gwendoline is my girl crush – she’s a great actress and role model. I can wait to see her rip up the scenery with her badassery.
Also does the Simon Pegg cameo mean that Bendy has one too!?!?! I hope not – we’ll never hear the end of it ‘My friend JJ……’.
And speaking of Bendy – he’s at the Wimbledon final with his father and is in the royal box. Is this his 2nd time in the royal box watching tennis this week? Guess that CBE has some uses. He gets on my last nerve now.
I am so jealous I wasn’t there. Did anyone here attend?
So excited!!!!! I hope JJ has done some great things for this film. It says something to me that the original cast members wanted to be involved…
The excitement!!!!!!
This thread is everything. I love Star Wars & to discuss it on my fave site is pulling me through a sh!tty Sunday shift
I had a Star Wars room in my last where I proudly displayed all my SW memorabilia. My family and friends think I’m nuts (except oldest niece who I converted into a nerd). But, I’m optimistic about The Force Awakens. While I think JJ did a horrible job with the reboot Trek franchise, he’s always stated he’s a SW geek. I hope that love translates this December. I’ll be there at midnight, geeking out in all my nerdom.
I just hope they don’t kill off Han Solo. Harrison’s always wanted that…Lucas wouldn’t do it, but Abrams might. That might break me. 🙂
Oh God no!! They can’t do that. The amount of hate JJ would receive would never end…
I don’t want Han to be killed off either. Plus I want him to retain enough of his scoundrel-ness to still be exciting as well as believable.
Yes! ..scoundrelness indeed….I need a scoundrel just like he was then!!…
I don’t think it’s socially acceptable for me to divulge the number of times I’ve watched this since Friday (I don’t know anyway, I stopped counting). Yes I cried the first time.
Although I don’t consider myself a nerd I never tire of watching the first Star Wars …now known as IV …and I guess I can even give you some of the dialogue ….the Cantina/bar scene and others
As the originals were shot here in the UK I know of someone who was an extra and had a great line in VI……”You Rebel Scum!!”….
So I am excited by this movie too..it is looking very promising..
I was weeping after my daughter showed the above sneak to me. And how’s this for out-of-control? I’ve seen “A New Hope” more than 53 times (that’s when I stopped counting). The other two from the original trilogy are not far behind in the viewings count.
I have very high hopes for this latest incarnation. You know, I waited two months before watching “A New Hope” back in 1977. I won’t be making the same mistake this time around. My kids and I (da hubs is not a fan) will be doing the “Midnight Showing” craziness — I really can’t wait. C’mon December!
Hi Five and Finger Pinkies, Ivk1978!
I stopped counting after seeing A New Hope 100 times in the theatre (well, movies were cheap and they stayed in cinemas a lot longer then.)
Be proud of our nerd-dom!
The fact that Mark still has the Jedi Master beard makes me wonder if he’s filming some scenes for a future Star Wars movie, or he’s just doing it to f*ck with us, lol
I went to the first Star Wars with my parents. I loved it, my Dad loved it but we were surprised that my Mom loved it too, because her favorite films were old westerns. We had thought that she might not take to sci-fi, but she explained that Harrison Ford was the new John Wayne, and the Millinium Falcon was the wagon train he was guarding. We were both amazed because no one had ever earned a “John Wayne rating” from her. They are both gone now, but when I go see the new one I’ll be thinking of them and the joys of that day together.
That is really nice Giddy…made me ‘well up’ thinking of my parents..not that they saw Star Wars…
It reminded me that Star Trek was sold to the network as Wagon Train to the Stars by its creator so there was a story link /theme link there
I know that Lucas claimed we drew on all types of backgrounds including WW2 movies for the dogfights ..so that many types of styles were involved…that’s why I feel in love with that bar scene when I saw it all those years ago…it was unique and still holds up now
It wasn’t Harrison Ford’s first time at Comic-Con, he had been there previously for Enders Game, and that cowboy alien movie. The Star Wars panel was awesome. I couldn’t believe they gifted us a free Symphony show with a fireworks conclusion. I am going to frame the light saber they gave us at the Symphony. It was worth camping out for, if you love Star Wars as much as my family does.
But but…where’s Lupita? Why am I thinking she has a part in the new movie?
Follow-up: I just checked IMDB and Lupita IS in the new movie! So, where is she? The force feels a disturbance – the group pic is def not the same w/o Lupita. 🙁
Harrison Ford was my mom’s celebrity crush when she was young (I gravitated towards Luke Skywalker) and she made sure my sister and I watched the original trilogy when we were little. None of us really enjoyed episodes 1, 2, and 3 but then it was an origins story of Darth Vador (with terrible writing and acting). Origins stories rarely jazz me and we already knew what happened because he turned evil in the end. They should have just skipped ahead to make 7, 8, and 9 and make them 4, 5, and 6.
And hopefully the reason Harrison Ford felt excited is because JJ Abrams did a good job with the story and had a good script (because George Lucas is a terrible script writer).
Gwendolyn Christie…
HUBBA HUBBA!!!!!!
That is all.
Harrison looks great and poised. However, Mark looks bewildered in every shot and could have worn something more flattering. He looks messy. I love Carrie’s dog! She’s like f-it, the dog’s in the photo!!!!
I watched the Comic Con film clip and thought. Oh Harrison Ford was there too!
How cool. I was looking at the bad scar on his forehead and knew about his other injuries form the plane accident. And I thought; well, if, God forbid, there is a worse accident and HF is killed in a plane crash- at least he was doing what he loved to do, so bless him and his family.
Chills? Just the behind the scenes video made me cry a little. I’m so happy for this!