Star Wars Episode 7 News

Thursday, March 6, 2014

UPDATE! Actor James Coard Was in Contention to Play Chewbacca in Star Wars: Episode 7?

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British actor James Coard posted some very interesting tweets, suggesting that he went through some kind of audition for playing Chewbacca in Star Wars: Episode 7...


This is indeed interesting because the actor said that Nina Gold is in charge of the castings and we already know that she is the Casting Director of Star Wars: Episode 7. Here are the tweets:



Coard lives in Exeter Devon, UK and he is a freelance actor. I'm really unfamiliar with this guy and I can't find any other info about him.

He uses this picture in Twitter but I'm not sure if he's the one in the middle or the big guy.  

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Still his confidence posting this is doubtful. Maybe he was in contention and is no more, that's why he posted that. Who knows. Still he has some film credits but for now take this with a huge grain of salt.


UPDATE!

Now the actor clarifies that he didn't get the part because he was too short. Still this suggests that they are indeed recasting Chewbacca.

And some other interesting tweets from the guy:




81 comments:

  1. @Bames_Jondage Awesome! Did you get the part?

    James Cöard ‏@Bames_Jondage 2m

    @averagefilmguy Only an Extra. I was too tall to get one of the main parts. (I'm 6ft 6)

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  2. Peter Mayhew "is" Chewbacca.
    A double for him though would be helpful though, to give his knees a rest.

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    1. I agree 100%. He is the heart and soul of Chewbacca. They could put another actor in the suit and it might work alright but it would be like after Mel Blanc died. Bugs Bunny never sounded quite right afterwards.

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    2. you fans....
      mel blanc Voice acted almost every looney tunes character. Thats very different to an extra who wore a suit.
      They can get someone the original actors height and he would be exactly the same

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    3. "When Mayhew grew ill in the shooting of The Empire Strikes Back, a similarly tall stand in was used, but the actor could not match Mayhew's studied movement style and the scenes had to be re-shot upon Mayhew's recovery.'

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    4. THAT IS RIGHT! NO ONE CAN GET IN THAT GORILLA SUIT AND MOVE HIS HEAD LIKE PETER. JUST LIKE NO ONE COULD EVER SQUEEZE INTO THE BARREL OF R2 AND SHAKE HIM AROUND LIKE. KENNY BAKER DID. (SARCASM)

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    5. Yeah, but just involve Peter Mayhew man!!! There will be a way to use him and he's a sentimental favorite. Nothing wrong with that.

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    6. The only difference you might be able to see, if you have super-vision or something, is maybe Chewbacca's eyes.

      Hey!!! That's not Peter Mayhew, look at those eyes, that's someone else!!!

      Unlikely. As for body movements or walking, it seems like all really tall people have that fucked up way of walking and doing things. I'd be shocked if when we see Episode 7, we're all gonna sit there and say, "Holy shit!!! Look at Chewbacca, there's someone else underneath all that fur"

      Besides, what about in ROTS? Some of those Chewbacca scenes were completely CGI. Nobody was whining that Peter wasn't in all of those shots.

      I'd love and prefer to have Mayhew back, but wtf, he's all fucked up now physically and old and shit so it's probably just too demanding on the mf. What about further down the line, like Episode 9? He'd have to get replaced eventually. What the fuck do you expect Abrams to do, bring him out on a stretcher and then prop his ass up to shoot some scenes?

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    7. but, MOST IMPORTANTLY, I'm glad they're completely ignoring that stupid EU shit where they killed off Chewbacca. What a dumb storyline that was!!!

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    8. I like the idea of bringing Peter Mayhew out and propping him up for scenes... just like Weekend at Bernie's!

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    9. You know, I never thought of it that way. I guess they could write the story to where Chewbacca suffered some major injury so that we could indeed bring Mayhew back. Hooray!!! Weekend at Kashyyyk!

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  3. This maybe as a result of Peter Mayhew's bad knees. It could be they were auditioning for a Chewbacca just in case Peter was not able to go.

    Also, he mentions he got a role as an extra. Could be for another wookie - meaning there will be either a visit to Kashyyyk or some other gathering of wookies.

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  4. Gathering of Wookies would be a sick band name.

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    1. Weird Al would front the band with Slash as lead guitarist.

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  5. He's the taller guy on the right.
    I could see this recasting as a possibility due to Mayhew's physical disability. It'd be a real shame, but at least understandable for them to find someone new to play Chewbacca. I, of course, would much rather have all of the able-bodied OT cast members in EpVII as they can get, but Mayhew is unfortunatly not so able-bodied. If they were to use him, it'd be cool to see Chewey with a walking stick or something.

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  6. So... this guy is supposedly signed on for Ep. VII (albeit as an extra) and he's tweeting stuff like:

    "The supporting cast is pretty much sorted. Just waiting for the leads ... *cough* Zac Efron sucks ass. *cough*"?

    Now, I think Zac Efron is a bit of a lightweight too and I hope the Ep. VII production team isn't stuck casting Disney Channel kiddie stars at the behest of a bunch of boardroom hacks. BUT...

    ...if this guy were actually officially signed on even as an extra, wouldn't it seem like tweets like that one would tend to violate any of a dozen "don't rock the boat" clauses that I would assume are standard in every contract attached to this movie?

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  7. I think this guy is full of $-h-I-t he is way to full of himself and just out to get Attention.

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  8. I doubt this persons legitimacy. He says he's an extra and yet opens his mouth about casting and filming and bad mouths an actor who may be in contention for a role. Yeah, if he was ever an extra I have a feeling he isn't anymore

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    1. Exactly, my thoughts too. I just wonder if the whole thing was a fraud. One thing is sure, we won't see him in Episode 7 even as a Stormtrooper.

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    2. He may have been given a chance at playing Chewey, but was discarded for his height as he's said. The whole schpeel about being an extra may be just a shotty attempt to keep attention on himself. Everything he's said pretty much points to him not having a role in the movie.

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  9. The guy in the middle looks like he's trying to be David Bowie.

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    1. He looks like Ron from Harry Potter!

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    2. The kid on the far left kinda looks like Joffrey from Game of Thrones without blonde hair.

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  10. I mean, I may get a world of hate for this but...

    Peter is old. Not to mention he has extreme trouble with his knees. Being in a movie at his age with his condition is folly. Not possible. It just isn't no matter how much I want all of the original cast back. It just won't happen.

    I'd rather have a recast actor play the Chewey than see no Chewey at all.

    The real issues are the new characters. Getting those right. Characters like Artoo and Chewey can be interchanged but the big 3(4) can't and getting the new characters right has to be the main focus for them right now.

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    1. The chemistry that the new characters have with the OT cast is really what matters both as actors and actual written characters. I'm afraid that the implementation of new villains and heroes will be awkward or off in one way or another, but I have faith in JJ and his team. I look forward to see what's new and how the galaxy has changed since ROTJ.

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  11. ^ I agree Peter is too old and there's no way you can really tell the difference between him and another actor because he is wearing a suit.

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    1. That may apply to a character like Chewbacca, but c3PO is also an actor in a suit and would not be the same if portrayed by anyone other than Tony Daniels. I think that's the mindset fans are holding onto so dearly. There are some things we'll have to sacrifice as fans in the ST, but who knows? The changes made could be ridiculously awesome! We just have to wait and see.

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    2. Oh come on. Don't just brand Peter as 'too old'. It's his knees and disability that's the problem. Give him a tad more respect..
      And "there's no way you can really tell the difference between him and another actor because he is wearing a suit" is a completely stupid thing to say.. I mean I see how you get to that conclusion. You have this idea that just because you cannot see the actor playing the character, it doesn't matter who the actor is. Wrong. Chewie has very distinctive movements. He is actually very awkward in where he places his hands, his run and walk. Yet his head movements can be very sharp and intuitive like a dog, and very repetitive during a scene. Chewie moves quite shy and self contained, yet in high paces scenes he can turn a lot more brash and childishness. Mostly a lot of insecurity in the more personal moments. His movements were very specific, and this is just literally a lot of things from the top of my head while thinking about Chewie. An actors portrayal of a character is a whole lot to study. It's an entire personality. Dear god hopefully he hasn't got your idiotic mentality that any old person could play him. He should really get the walk the head movements, and the arm placements right. I don't want to be watching a scene and thinking 'well that doesn't look right chewie would never do that'. Sure, chewies actor is not a big deal to 99% of the audience. But to brand it as 'no way you can really tell' is just wrong. Ok, rant over.

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    3. Solution: Give Chewie a cane. I mean Chewbacca's like 150 at this point... Wookiees can get bad knees too..

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    4. "don't just brand him as too old"

      He is man! In any other field of work he'd've retired by now!

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    5. So therefore Harrison ford is "too old" then..? Peters disability is the problem not his age.

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    6. You have to admit that there has to be someone out there as tall as Chewie that could get the manurisms of the character down well enough to pull it off, if Mayhew's disability was at a point that would make it impossible for him to reprise the role.
      I would much rather see as many original cast members as they can get without ruining the story by structuring it around pointless cameos.

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  12. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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    1. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator. Don't know why this happened .

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    2. Well sorry, but it was really not related with the topic. I thought you were testing something. You have to agree that "Hey, how is it going" is not contributing to the topic at all. :)

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    3. I don't know how "HMMMM" adds anything to the discussion, but whatever.

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    4. The whole thing is that I remember you testing your profile with the new comment system and I thought that you're doing the same right now with the old one. Nothing personal.

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  13. It won't be the same without you Peter !

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  14. I got a feeling episode 7 is going to suck, cause Chewbacca is killed off in the comics, come on JJ stick with the damn story line not your version cause mara jade , Anakin solo and jacen solo are all dead in the books, so if this to take place in the future after return of the jedi, it needs to focus on Anakin skywalker and Vestara Khai from the legacy of the force series and the rise of the sith empire mentioned in the same books, cause something needs to be explained as to where the hell Darth Krayt and Darth wrrylox comes from and their role before we meet Cade Skywalker in the legacy comics and also the story line to where we get ania solo, so obvisiously, the generation gap needs to be filled,

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    1. It's. Going. To. Be. An. Original. Story.
      Why is this a difficult concept to understand for people? Can people please stop whining about how much the film is going to suck because it's not copying everything they specifically want or feel they are owed as though they have some power because they read the comics and books? *sigh* But don't you worry they're supposedly taking some character descriptions and things from the EU or whatever to keep you from getting too butthurt :)

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    2. I wish i could thumb up that comment. STOP referencing the EU or comics or any of that nonsense. It has nothing to do with episode VII. Original Story

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    3. GO BACK TO WHEN LUCAS FIRST SOLD LUCASFILM TO DISNEY, AND WATCH THE VIDEO OVER AN OVER AGAIN, WHERE HE SAYS THESE FILMS HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH EU. PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, ENOUGH WITH CHEWBACCA BEING KILLED IN THE BOOKS AND ENOUGH WITH MARA JADE.

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    4. ^AND GO BACK TO LAST MONTH WHEN THE LUCASFILM STORY TRUST WAS FORMED WHERE THEY ARE DECIDING WHAT WAS GOING TO BE CANON AND WHAT WASN'T, NOT TO MENTION THE FACT THAT MANY EU THINGS WERE INCORPORATED INTO THE PREQUEL TRILOGY....

      ....AND ANOTHER THING, ANONYMOUS, ENOUGH OF THE CAPS.

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    5. Every next comment with CAPS will be deleted!

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    6. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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    7. You, sir, are a man of your word.

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  15. No good. They need Peter Mayhew's particular mannerisms or it won't come off as Chewbacca. It'll come off as some generic wookie.

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    1. Yeah. Unfortunately I think they will be forced to recast though :| Hopefully the casting people and the actors actually bother to study Chewie's character and audition people. A lot of people around seem to think it doesn't matter because they will be in a suit. Peter gave Chewie a tone of unique and particular quirks to him.

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  16. Well they need to find someone the same build as Peter Mayhew have him talk to him about Chewbaccas mannerisms and watch all the scenes with Chewbacca in them, some blue eye contacts, should work out just fine.

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  17. If Chewbacca is indeed in ep7, I wonder if they will introduce us to his family. And if so, will it be the same family introduced to us in the holiday special? Or will it be a brand new family? I think at the very least they should make some sort of reference to his family. Did the EU books include or mention his family at all? If so, did it differ from the holiday special?

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    1. I think they need to stay away from the Holiday special as they can. Leave Chewbacca as a bachelor roaming the galaxy with his good buddy Han. Actually, that sounds kinda, you know.

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    2. Why on earth would they introduce a family to chewie? .. I literally cannot scramble my brain to fathom an answer as to why this would be in any way logical.

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    3. Why on earth would Jar Jar Binks exist in the Star Wars universe? Scramble your brain with that one!

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  18. I'm watching Empire right now. Chewie has a very specific character about him they better not screw the casting up if they don't bring back Peter.
    And I'm just gonna bring this back as to any doubters - "When Mayhew grew ill in the shooting of The Empire Strikes Back, a similarly tall stand in was used, but the actor could not match Mayhew's studied movement style and the scenes had to be re-shot upon Mayhew's recovery."

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  19. Needs chewie, 3po, r2d2 to feel like SW. Luke, Han and Leia may have got old, but not those guys.. Mayhew would be best, but if his health is not up to scratch it could be pulled off by another actor if done carefully.

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  20. this is f'in stupid. cant wait for you to take this comment down weirdo...

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  21. let me refresh everyone memory here, whether or not JJ goes with the expanded universe or not when he does get around to doing episode 7, I just wanted to tell everyone if you read back a few years ago when George Lucas was asked about making the next starwars trilogy even before the prequels and all the writers that actually writes the books, the restrictions were that they could not write anything 20 to 30 years BBY and then could not write anything 50 to 65 years ABY, this was George plan all along for the prequels and the sequels, so whether or not it goes along with the storyline, in the past year, no expanded universe books have been written after the book Crudible which takes place 45 years ABY, so does everyone get my point, the next trilogy will focus on Ben skywalker and the female lead will be either Jaina solo or Amelia solo aka the queen of the jedi., so whether you want to admit it or not, I been a huge starwars fan since 77 and know where this is going,

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  22. I would like to see Peter Mayhew as Chewie. If Peter has trouble walking, they can either have a majority of sitting scenes for Chewie, or have him walk with a cane. I think Chewie with a cane might be pretty badass, actually.

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  23. I wish we had some kind of casting confirmation.... and yeah, I know I'm the billionth person to say it.

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  24. Perhaps they bring back Peter as a old and disabled Chewie. At some point in the film Chewie dies. Could be a cool scene to see Harrison play, but sad at the same time for us fans.

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    1. ..um.. is that a serious suggestion to have chewie come back disabled?..

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  25. It is possible the guy talking about being considered for the role of Chewbacca was making an assumption. They may have told him he was auditioning for the role of a Wookie character and he assumed it was going to be Chewbacca. For all we know, they could have been looking for Lowbacca, Chewie's nephew who is a Jedi and is a character in Legacy of the Force. Also, for those who insist the EU is not going to be considered, they never said that it wouldn't. Michael Arndt indicated it would be an original story, but he is out now and the latest we heard was that they were looking through the EU material for canonicity. That doesn't mean that everything in the EU will make it into the film, which would be impossible even if they were just doing Legacy of the Force, but it is likely that they will be taken into account, and it is quite likely that they will keep the new movies true to the EU. I also heard a rumor that they were planning to bring all the books, comics, and movies in line with each other, and that would be impossible if they were simply going to throw out the EU.

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  26. (sorry, previously posted in wrong section)

    The only difference you might be able to see, if you have super-vision or something, is maybe Chewbacca's eyes.

    Hey!!! That's not Peter Mayhew, look at those eyes, that's someone else!!!

    Unlikely. As for body movements or walking, it seems like all really tall people have that fucked up way of walking and doing things. I'd be shocked if when we see Episode 7, we're all gonna sit there and say, "Holy shit!!! Look at Chewbacca, there's someone else underneath all that fur"

    Besides, what about in ROTS? Some of those Chewbacca scenes were completely CGI. Nobody was whining that Peter wasn't in all of those shots.

    I'd love and prefer to have Mayhew back, but wtf, he's all fucked up now physically and old and shit so it's probably just too demanding on the mf. What about further down the line, like Episode 9? He'd have to get replaced eventually. What the fuck do you expect Abrams to do, bring him out on a stretcher and then prop his ass up to shoot some scenes?

    but, MOST IMPORTANTLY, I'm glad they're completely ignoring that stupid EU shit where they killed off Chewbacca. What a dumb storyline that was!!!

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    1. Cheiwe was only done by Peter in ROTS. Loads of the other wookies were cgi in the battle scenes but Chewie was all Peter.. Get your facts right. And it's just dumb to assume that nobody is going to notice anything different with a new actor. Of course people will realise it's a different actor. Especially when, you know, it's friggin CONFIRMED to the public that it's a different actor. This isn't a difficult concept to understand. 95% of the general audience won't be able to notice a difference because 95% of the audience aren't huge gigantic star wars fans that check blogs all the time about it. But come on, it's just a shame for Peter and it's a shame for fans. It's not a huge deal that will effect the movie in anyway, duh, but there's no point being a snob and moaning at fans as though it doesn't matter at all just because it doesn't personally matter to you. Why does there always have to be trolls who think they'er better then others? Just let people express their disappointment. You don't have to be such a baby and moan that it supposedly doesn't matter to anyone

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    2. agree completely. even though they only used the cgi Chewbacca for a couple of scenes, at least they described why they had to do so in the book, The Making of Revenge of the Sith. the other good thing was how Mayhew was fine with it and didn't complain.
      it was also cool how NOT ALL of the other wookies were cgi. Michael Kingma played Tarfful and wore a suit. if only kids today would just take the time to simply read and research before claiming they are the know-it-all with facts just because their fans
      a lot of little kids tend to believe that actors/actresses are in all scenes and no doubles or cgi are ever used. but, facts are facts. any idiot knows REAL facts as opposed to claiming to be a SW fan and creating their own facts

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  27. "I ended up being too short."

    "I was too tall to get one of the main parts."

    So, which was it? Was he too tall or too short to play Chewbacca?

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    1. He is too short for Chewbacca, but too tall for other parts.

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    2. Got it. Just seems a little odd that he doesn't consider Chewbacca to be 'one of the main parts'. He obviously isn't a true Star Wars fan ;o)

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  28. its not just the suit ........ in the prequels i could tell immediately who chewie was by the walk , the head turn , the way he stood ......
    even in a suit its about acting the part.
    i hope the cast someone who can learn to copy all that or they might as well cast a dwarf and give him pink fur.

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  29. OK, the guy is not as able as he used to be but I think it will be a real shitter to write the guy off already.
    So he may not quite be able to run down corridors chasing after Stormtroopers like he used to, but what about most of the screen time when he is just standing still or sitting in the cockpit scenes?
    Anyway, he didn't have to do much in ROTS, just stood in the background most of his scenes, and I'm guessing Mayhew must off had dodgy knees back then as well which must have been painful, but he has had an operation since then and now is recovering with new knees.

    There is absolutely no excuse not to have Peter Mayhew back once again, even just for cockpit scenes, standing still scenes, etc, etc.

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  30. Fans, check out this link posted today https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/lenswithaview/standing-in-the-stars-the-peter-mayhew-story/posts/765018

    It has given me renewed confidence that Peter Mayhew will be back as Chewbacca.

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    1. Good to see Perter Mayhew out of his wheelchair and on his feet. Now maybe all this "Who cares if it's Peter in the suit or not" bullshit can stop.

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    2. It's obvious the guy is working his nuts of to get the part in Episode 7.

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  31. The Chewie recast rumor aside, to me the important thing was learning that Nina Gold's in charge of casting. There's a reason why Game of Thrones fans keep saying "in Gold we trust"; the woman's done an amazing job at casting the right actor for each character from the Song of Ice and Fire books. In this sense (as well as music, obviously) EP 7 is in great hands.

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  32. If Peter is not Chewbacca ..WOW.. J.J Abrams has no idea the giant can of FUCK YOU he will open around the world if he pulls that..i can see someone being his double for some action scenes or something...To not have Peter Mayhew as Chewbacca will be very sad and totally ruin the whole vibe of the movie and make it less special.

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