"Star Wars" fans have been waiting and speculating (and speculating some more) on how 71-year-old Harrison Ford's leg injury would impact filming of "Star Wars: Episode VII."
Would Ford's role, rumored to be the film's lead, be diminished? Might the movie be pushed back until 2016? Disney and Lucasfilm have remained frustratingly silent, leaving fans to go stir crazy trying to figure out what would happen.
At last, Lucasfilm has revealed to us lowly mortals just how it's all going to play out, via a blog post over at StarWars.com. Harrison Ford's injury, it turns out, isn't going to change the movie's release date after all. The production is taking a short, two-week break in August to allow Ford extra time to recover. Director J.J. Abrams and the crew will use those two weeks to make adjustments to the production schedule, to ensure that filming stays on track.
"Star Wars: Episode VII" wrapped location filming in Abu Dhabi as of May 2014. Currently, principal photography has moved to the legendary Pinewood Studios in London. Filming is expected to wrap sometime in the fall.
Additionally, Lucasfilm has announced the hiring of two new members of the cast, following a global search for undiscovered talent that resulted in more than 67,000 applications.
Crystal Clarke, a New Jersey native studying at the Royal Conservatoire in Scotland, joins the cast as a relative unknown, though she has both stage and screen experience. Her first film, an action/adventure starring Pierce Brosnan and William Hurt, "The Moon and the Sun," is due in 2015.
Parkour professional Pip Andersen is a British actor who one assumes is joining the cast in a role that's heavy on physical stunts. Examples of 23-year-old Andersen's impressive abilities can be seen in this "Amazing Spider-Man" ad. He is a member of a professional parkour team called Storm Freerun.
"The Star Wars universe has always been about discovering and nurturing young talent and in casting 'Episode VII' we wanted to remain absolutely faithful to this tradition," said Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy. "We are delighted that so many travelled to see us at the open casting calls and that we have been able to make Crystal and Pip a part of the film."
As you'd expect, Lucasfilm and Disney aren't spilling any details on the roles these two will play. They join an already impressive cast that includes numerous actors from the original "Star Wars" trilogy, and an increasingly long list of newcomers to the franchise.
