Photoshop: @CenayangFilm
Fantastic news this morning for action movie lovers and Star Wars geeks everywhere – it looks like three of the actors from “The Raid 2,” – Iko Uwais, Yayan Ruhian and Cecep Arif Rahman – are all going to appear in “Star Wars: Episode 7 – The Force Awakens.”
The news was first reported by movie new site Twitch late yesterday evening. Although no official announcements have been made by the actors or their representation, Twitch is known for having a very close relationship with the director of the Raid films, Gareth Evans, so we definitely trust their “insider” source on this. The Hollywood Reporter also cites its own sources confirming the news. saying the trio are are “performing fight work in the movie.”
Although it’s not clear what exactly their roles will be in the latest edition of the iconic sci-fi series, we hope that our highly-talented martial artists aren’t simply making brief cameos. In addition to their starring roles in both “The Raid” and “The Raid 2,” Iko Uwais and Yayan Ruhian were also the principle fight choreographers for both films (while Cecep was the “Assassin” character Iko fought at the end of “The Raid 2”).
Can you imagine this + lightsabers?
“The Force Awakens” director JJ Abrams has said that he wants to rely less on CGI (which George Lucas overused to terrible effect in the Star Wars prequels) and more on practical, in-camera special effects. Iko, Yayan and Cecep are some of the best fighters to ever work in the movie industry (if the Force were a real thing, these guys would definitely all have it). So we have to hope Abrams consulted with them on the fight choreography in addition to using their amazing martial arts talents on screen.
In an interesting side note, the three Indonesian actors will be the first Asian performers to have a major role in any of the Star Wars movies (there was an Asian Y-Wing pilot in “Return of the Jedi” who was on-screen for a total of 4 seconds).
Chinese actress Bai Ling was set to appear in “Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith,” but she claims she was cut from the film after she angered George Lucas by appearing in Playboy wielding a lightsaber.
Christina Chong, a UK-born actress with a Chinese father and an English mother, will also be appearing in “The Force Awakens.”
Principal photography on “Star Wars: Episode 7 – The Force Awakens” wrapped on November 6. The film is scheduled to hit theaters on December 18, 2015.
