ScreenCrush’s WookieeLeaks is a weekly roundup of everything Star Wars! From The Force Awakens to the upcoming spinoffs and the TV shows, if it pertains to that long ago, far away galaxy, we’re covering it here, bringing you our expert analysis. This week, new spoilers from The Force Awakens emerge, Brad Bird dishes on his future in Star Wars, and you can catch your first glimpse at the Episode 8 script.

All of the New Star Wars: The Force Awakens Details

It’s Friday, so you know what that means: a whole bunch of minutiae about Star Wars: The Force Awakens, some of it harmless and some of it spoilery as all get-out. As usual, we’ll start with the innocuous stuff before we really go crazy with the big spoilers. You’ll know if/when you want to tap out.

Let’s start with something totally innocent. Some pictures of Oscar Isaac in a new costume have been floating around the internet, leading to a bunch of people wondering if this is the “casual” outfit he’ll wear for the bulk of the movie. But c’mon, people: it’s clearly just the jumpsuit he wears under his X-Wing pilot gear. Still, the man makes this look work.

Meanwhile, Kotaku sat down with Lucasfilm commandant Kathleen Kennedy and actress Daisy Ridley and chatted about a great many things, most of them not worth relaying in full here. However, Kennedy did reveal that Ridley was given some fairly significant martial arts training. Maybe (maybe!) we’ll get to see her use her newfound skills in a lightsaber duel:

Daisy trained with the swordfight choreographer of Game of Thrones ... She learned the bōjutsu fighting style. Rey uses the staff she has in the trailer to fight. Daisy’s gotten to be so good at bōjutsu that even grown men on the set fear it.

We knew that movement and parkour expert Pip Andersen was in The Force Awakens and we knew that much of his performance involves motion capture, but thanks to a new interview, we now know he spent a lot of time on set with Harrison Ford, Daisy Ridley and John Boyega. Rumors have suggested that the film features a major action scene where that trio (and Chewbacca, of course) battle two street gangs on board a massive space freighter, so it wouldn’t surprise us at all if that is Andersen’s big scene. Here’s the interview where he talks about the set:

The set of The Force Awakens was surprisingly tight. Sure, a handful of photos got snapped, but otherwise, not much escaped and the internet wasn’t allowed to pick scenes apart before they were actually ready to be seen (cough SuicideSquad cough). So it’s weird that video from the set is just now making its way online. However, it doesn’t show much – just a practical effects sequence where an explosion throws a Stormtrooper across a room. The video has been pulled off YouTube, but you can still watch it over here. This is presumably from a scene where Finn and Poe Dameron escape from a Star Destroyer with a stolen TIE Fighter, but don’t take our word on that.

And that brings us to today’s real, true slice of insanity. Someone has taken all of the confirmed plot points and rumors swirling around Star Wars: The Force Awakens and combined them together. The result is a detailed plot synopsis that reads so much like a real movie that it makes our heads spin. This could very well be a fairly accurate, beat-for-beat description of what we’ll end up seeing on December 18.

Or it could be totally wrong. Just because we know the beats doesn’t mean we know the flavor. Still, tread with caution if you decide to click this link and read the whole thing. It could really ruin your day if you don’t want to know more than absolutely necessary.

Does Brad Bird Have a Future in Star Wars?

It’s no secret that director Brad Bird was the first filmmaker on Lucasfilm’s list of potential hires when they initially set out to make a new film. It’s also no secret that Bird turned down the offer because he was already deep into prepping Tomorrowland. Since Tomorrowland is finally out today, everyone has been constantly reminding him that he turned down the cultural event of the year to make this movie. However, Bird’s reasoning is sound and noble enough: if he quit Tomorrowland, the project would have most likely fallen apart. Star Wars will live on forever, but this movie needed him.

Plus, George Clooney had already said yes. And how could you disappoint George Clooney? Here’s a quote from IGN’s interview with Bird:

George [Clooney] had committed [to Tomorrowland] at that point. I love Star Wars, but Star Wars is going to get made whether I do it or not. They are not going to delay Star Wars in order for me to do Tomorrowland. [In terms of] Tomorrowland, you know momentum is fragile. And we need momentum. There was a lot of momentum on Tomorrowland and I really loved what the movie was. And I thought there’s a chance that Tomorrowland wont get made, simply because it loses its momentum. A movie is a weird thing. It’s not a tangible thing. You have this wispy cloud that you’re trying to solidify and I thought that it deserved to be made. You know, Star Wars is a very robust thing right now and it’s going to be fine.

But as Yahoo reminded him, Josh Trank has exited his Star Wars anthology film. Could he possible pick up the reins?

Told the Star Wars universe does currently has an opening now that Josh Trank has exited an upcoming spinoff, Bird didn’t bite. “Right now I’m writing Incredibles 2, so I’ve got my hands full.”

And since animated movies are massive commitments, The Incredibles 2 could eat up a lot of time before Bird is able to return to the live action realm. It’s possible that he could simply write The Incredibles 2 and let someone else direct, but that’s not the Bird we know. Anyway, it Bird is destined to make a Star Wars movie, he’ll make one. Someday.

Updates on Various Star Wars Entertainments

Disney’s California Adventure, the sister park to the original Disneyland, has a spectacular night show called World of Color. This show features water and lights and fog and projected images, all working together for a spectacular sensory experience. And because Disney knows what the people want, this show now features footage from Star Wars: The Force Awakens. That’s a big deal. To put it bluntly, Disney isn’t f—king around when it comes to making sure every single person in the world knows about this movie. Watch it for yourself below.

In slightly less spectacular news, a new video about the creation of Madame Tussaud’s Star Wars exhibit has arrived online and it’s a very cool look at how talented artists spend weeks meticulously recreating the face of Hayden Christensen for your amusement.

Your First Look at the Star Wars: Episode 8 Script!

Look! It’s the screenplay for Star Wars: Episode 8!

As a prop. Under director Rian Johnson’s foot. As a joke. On the cover of the new issue of Wired.

Still, the cover story on the history of Industrial Light and Magic brought a lot of very cool people (both real and imaginary) into one place and any movie fan should appreciate it, so it’s not like we wasted your time or anything. It must be awfully surreal for Johnson to see himself in the same spread as George Lucas, Yoda, Steven Spielberg, a Velociraptor, Guillermo del Toro, and the Hulk. Don’t screw this one up, mister.

Make sure you click on the image below to take in every detail.

Wired
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