- Mark to everyone, unscripted.
(group laughing)
That's all it says.
- He means ask a question, any question.
- Oh, oh.
- You got it.
- How many Frenchmen can't be wrong?
Knew I'd get you guys, next.
(upbeat music)
- Hello, I'm John Boyega, and welcome to Moviefone.
I'm surrounded by my amazing cast
from Star Wars: The Last Jedi.
Kelly Marie Tran, Mark Hamill, Gwendoline Christie,
and we are going to talk Star Wars: The Last Jedi.
We're gonna do the questions that you guys sent in
and we're gonna answer some unscripted questions as well.
From Karen V. in Washingtonville, hi love, how you doing?
(laughing)
- 'Sup Karen.
- No, no, Karen just felt a little like, Karen has
some flavor, so I just had to send that,
send that flavor back, Karen.
- Karen, send in a pic.
- Is it difficult to switch from one director, J.J.,
to another, Rian,
with characters you've already established?
- Does anybody know what J.J. stands for, by the way?
Is it true it's Jar Jar Abrams?
(laughs)
- That's true.
- Nobody knows.
- That's actually true.
- It's a mystery, what those initials stand for.
- No, you're right, Mark.
That was his birth name.
And then he changed it because he was worried that
it might conflict in some way with the franchise.
- I think you're correct.
Thanks for solving that mystery.
My work here is done.
- So that was the only difficulty, wasn't it?
For switching from one director to another
was just being unsure.
We didn't clear that up.
- I'm interested to hear from you, Mark, because you've had
multiple directors throughout this whole legacy of yours.
- Right. George, and then Irvin Kershner
and Richard Marquand.
It's, you know, they all have their own style.
They all have their own ways of relating to
the actors, and one of the things that is similar to the,
amongst them all is their love of Star Wars,
- [John] Yeah.
- And the way we love it, too.
- Yeah.
- So it's just a joy to go to work and have fun.
If you can't have fun doing a Star Wars movie,
something's seriously wrong with you.
- Right, exactly.
Gwendoline?
- I felt very liberated, actually.
And I was really surprised at how, you know,
they're quite open to, they're open to creativity,
and they want to know what you think.
I never thought, ever, I would ever be doing
a Star Wars film and the director would say,
what do you think?
Uh, ooo, that's always the answer.
- I think, just transitioning from J.J. to Rian,
I just think they were given different goals,
and they were given different challenges.
J.J. had to bring back something that we all love
to a new audience and, you know, to pay homage to the old.
And then Rian now, needs to build off of that, you know,
that blueprint that J.J. built within the same energy,
and within the same vibe of Star Wars,
but at the same time to be new,
to be different, and to take risks.
And I thought that Rian was doing that a lot, and so,
it's good.
- And it felt kind of effortless, too, I think.
You know, it was his vision.
- Ryan's a massive Star Wars fan.
He's like, crazy about it.
So everything is
- These new films are the first generation that were
originally fans
- [John] Right, exactly.
- Now in the position of writing and directing.
- [John] This is from Darin C. In Melbourne, Australia.
- [Kelly] Hey Darin, what's up?
- [John] What's up, Darin?
(laughs)
- Who would win in a fight,
Captain Phasma or Brienne of Tarth?
- Do you know what?
You know what?
(laughs)
What I'm gonna say to that,
don't think about pitting them against each other.
- Oh man.
- What could they accomplish together?
- Who do you think, John?
- I think Captain Phasma would annihilate her.
- What? Annihilate Brienne of Tarth?
- Yeah.
- Oh my God. My brain just melted.
- And Captain Phasma wouldn't leave her house for that.
She would just order some form of air strike.
- [Gwendoline] Audrey M. in Atlanta.
Did you compare medical pod notes with Mark?
Who had a the more traumatic recovery process?
John?
- Mmm. Is this when you lost your hand?
- Well, and also, and I was in the bacta tank for
my encounter with the wampa.
- You're in the tank.
I'm in the bacta suit, so I'm like
- [Mark] Oh, all right.
- I've got like, the upgrade.
- So you didn't have to wear that adult diaper,
which was
- Yeah, I didn't, I didn't have to wear that.
- He elected to wear the adult diaper.
And there is nothing wrong with that.
- It was see through too, like water.
It was basically like wearing plastic
and putting water on yourself.
- [Gwendoline] Yeah, why not?
Do you know why?
- I didn't ever talk to you about that.
- No.
But what I loved about the bacta tank is like,
they, I had to learn scuba diving
so they were worried if I would panic, breathing,
and they took me to a girl's school swimming pool,
and I got to take scuba diving lessons.
It was great fun.
And of course when you get in that tank,
it's like an isolation tank.
It's just sheer bliss.
And you just sort of, because you can't do anything
- Yeah
- You're just floating emotionless in this liquid.
- They looked at my track record and was like,
yeah Boyega can't swim.
Give him a suit.
- [John] From Anne P. in Millcreek.
Out of all the Star Wars movies you have been in,
what scene or moment was the hardest for you to play
as an actor, and the most fun for you to watch as a fan.
- You know, the fun stuff was like swinging across
with the princess, and running around the Death Star
undercover, which I notice you're very adept at,
you and Kelly.
The Vader scene.
You know, there was a false line, so they'd keep the secret.
The line was, "You don't know the truth.
Obi-Wan killed your father."
And I'd do it just like you see it.
No! And all that.
Which I thought was a terrific twist, if Sir Alec
- Wait, Mark, could you just do that one more time?
- I know!
It was really great.
- The thing is, they said we're gonna dub this line
in later: I am your father.
And I could not believe it, I said,
boy that's even a better twist, if it's true.
How should I play this? To Kershner,
he says, well he says "Search your feelings,
you know it to be true,"
and then we played it absolutely authentically.
You see a sort of calm come over Luke,
and he just lets go, like committing suicide.
That was rough stuff, because it's all so final.
- Unscripted.
- Well, you know, it's, these movies deal in
triumphs and tragedies, and family, and sacrifices
you save for the greater good.
It's all that, it's just that primal sort of story telling,
so they're really difficult when you shoot them,
then it's a whole different experience
when you bring in the most important element,
which is the audience.
- [John] Yeah.
- That is fantastic.
- So did you, that moment of Darth Vader revealing himself
as your father, were you there with an audience?
Did you enjoy watching that moment knowing it was coming?
- I couldn't wait for them to,
because I had to keep that secret for
more than a year and a half,
and it was still
- Don't lie, Mark.
Who did you tell?
- No, Kershner said, look, I know something that I'm
gonna tell you, and the only other person that knows
is George Lucas, so if you leak it,
we'll know it's you.
(gasps)
- So talk about pressure.
I was terrified, you know?
I talk in my sleep.
I could have ruined the whole franchise.
(laughs)
- [Mark] Sam B. In Los Alamos, New Mexico.
Who was the first person you told when you got cast,
and what was their reaction?
- I told my parents and I gotta prelude this story.
So in November, I found out.
November, 2015.
This was right before Force Awakens came out, right?
So that came out in December of 2015.
And I was home for Thanksgiving,
and I was talking to my dad, I'm like,
dad, we should go see The Force Awakens together,
knowing that I was going to be in Last Jedi.
And my dad was like (sigh).
- You hadn't told him yet?
- No I hadn't, because I couldn't.
And so he was like, I don't watch movies like that.
- (laughs)
- So then later when I told him, he was like,
oh my god, I love those movies!
I'm like, you're a liar.
(laughs)
- But yeah, that was his first reaction.
- Now you're in it.
That's the reason why they go.
My parents don't watch those.
Now they do.
(laughs)
- With a gun to the head.
- [John] Yeah, now they do.
It's mandatory.
- Yeah, of course they do.
Good.
And do you know, and I bet they're happier that they do now.
- Yeah, I mean, it's a cool film.
- Yeah, yeah.
- Does he understand it, understand it?
Yeah, that's the other thing about my mother.
- I don't think so.
- Yeah they don't understand it.
- My parents are from a different culture, yeah you know.
- This is, really let it out.
- Yeah, it pains me.
- Mom, dad.
- It's like group therapy isn't it?
- Really let it out.
Let it out there.
Whereas I was shown Star Wars when I was six.
It was presented to me as, like a holy grail.
- [John] Really?
- Of course.
- On home video, right?
- Yeah.
- Or on the big screen?
- No, it was at home.
It was, I think it was some kind of
dodgy video to be honest.
Or it might have been on the television at Christmas time.
- Oh with the commercials every 10 minutes.
- No, it was on the BBC.
- Oh okay.
- It doesn't have commercial breaks.
- I know, I love that about the BBC.
- But it was a really significant, it was presented to me
as a very significant moment.
This is Star Wars.
- Yeah.
- You know, and that was, and as a family, that kind of
was really united us.
We loved this, and it was special,
and it was so transporting.
- So how fun, for you then to
eventually become a part of it.
Not like these people who couldn't care less.
- They couldn't care less.
- Whoa.
- [Gwendoline] But when I was little, I used to think,
I mean, I was six, seven, eight, I used to think,
God, I wish one day I could be in a Star Wars film.
But my mother saying to me, they don't make them anymore.
(laughs)
- Awww.
- [Mark] John to Mark. unscripted.
- Ooh. Mark. What would you advise me as a new actor
to the Star Wars franchise about moving forward
in life with Star Wars being such a big part
of my day to day life?
- Put it in perspective.
It'll always be part of your resume,
but I look at every job I have as the first I've ever had.
You know?
And that's the only way to go.
And you always, what's great about it, is that you have,
you'll have the universal good will of a base of fans
that I call the UPFs, the Ultra Passionate Fans,
and they are with you through thick and thin.
They know you're doing a
off-Broadway show in a 99 seat house.
They know more about me than me.
And like I said, I'm sure you already know,
they are so devoted,
and they're almost like an extended family.
I get more support from them than my actual family.
- [Mark] Mary-Anne P. In Phoenix, Arizona.
Were you adamant about maintaining an air of mystery
about your character?
- Well, I enjoy that as something in terms of my work,
also it was kind of a necessity,
because when we started The Force Awakens,
the character wasn't, you know,
it was sort of a bit of an idea,
and it started off just being a couple of days.
It was just gonna be a couple of days,
and it was gonna be kind of in the background,
and then I was really passionate about it,
and J.J. and everybody felt that it was really working,
and so they said we want, we want to do more.
And I proffered some ideas,
like urgently pumped some ideas that I had
about the character.
- [John] Can I just ask you, how did you get out
of the trash compactor,
because that was locked pretty tight.
- It wasn't locked.
- [Kelly] Ooh.
- Oh, you're getting in spoiler territory,
because it's Last Jedi
- You didn't lock it.
- People love characters in a mask because there's so much,
it's so enigmatic.
- I also think we live in an information age,
where it's constant information overload.
And for me, what I find interesting in my entire life
is rather than being given all the answers about
everything all of the time,
the work that my mind does in terms of what things might be
is more interesting than any straightforward answer.
It's more satisfying wondering about something
and not knowing what it is is fascinating to me.
- Boba Fett, Kylo Ren, Darth Vader, you don't want to take
their helmets off because then all the
- You actually don't want to know.
- Leave it to your imagination, the audience will
- I want to know
- Yeah
(laughs)
- Trying to find out everything.
- Pay attention you two.
- Oh my God, what is happening over here?
- This will be on a pop quiz at the end of the session, so
- We were just letting on, though, we wanna know.
- She's talking about the air of mystery that any
character with a mask has.
- You know what?
It's over now.
- All right.
- Mark, I'm really grateful you listened.
- I was.
- I totally lost faith in both of these
two people I once called friends.
That's it.
You know what?
It's fine.
- It's going against Star Wars, but we just want to know
who Captain Phasma is.
Who everybody is behind this mask.
- Okay, you gotta wait for eight.
- [John] This is from Eugene L. In Sherman Oaks.
- [Kelly] That's a long question.
- [John] Your character has meant so much to
Asian-Americans since she was first announced.
How challenging or rewarding is it to play such a
significant character the fans fell for before they even
saw the movie?
- Wow.
- Yep.
- Um. It's both challenging and rewarding, I think.
I've thought about this a lot.
Like, I always feel that it's such an honor to be part
of something this big and this amazing,
but it's also a lot of pressure,
because you want to do it right
for everyone that's loved this franchise,
and for Asian-Americans that want to
see themselves in movies that maybe they haven't before.
Yeah. It feels like
- And you went out to Singapore,
so how was it, how is it out there?
- Yes.
It was so great.
- Yeah.
- It was so great.
Yeah. I went to Singapore, and then I went to Vietnam,
which was where my parents are from,
and we were promoting the movie out there
and it really felt
- So crazy.
- What's crazy is that no one has really seen anything
about my character in this movie, and everyone
is just so welcoming and already just so accepting
of everything, like everything I say, and I'm like
It just makes me emotional.
- She's getting choked up even thinking about it.
- I'm getting emotional!
- I know. It's so important.
- Thank you John, Mark, Gwendoline,
and thanks for having us, Moviefone.
Thanks for all of you for watching and sending in
your questions.
And don't forget to go see our movie,
I'm sorry, what's it called again?
- Star Wars: The Last
- The Last
- Yeah.
- You'll figure it out.
- The Last Yeti.
(laughs)
(upbeat music)