Last year’s double-whammy shock of Disney buying Lucasfilm and immediately announcing a new Star Wars trilogy left a lot of people floored, for one reason or another. With another two years to before release and a cast that, if the previous Star Wars films are anything to go by, will be pretty large with plenty of significant roles and minor parts to go around, rumors and news about Star Wars Episode VII can be expected to continue permeating Screen Rant’s film coverage quite heavily.
Things have been pretty quiet on the talent front, recently. J.J. Abrams is signed on to direct from a script by Michael Arndt, and original trilogy stars Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher and Harrison Ford are all returning, but no new actors for the franchise have yet been revealed by Disney or Abrams. Where official announces are scarce, however, rumors tend to thrive.
Latino-Review reports that “two names have been thrown around a lot” in the casting for Star Wars Episode VII, and that the two names in question are Zac Efron and Ryan Gosling. Leonardo DiCaprio was apparently up for a role at one point, but later dropped out, and according to LR‘s source, Gosling is up for the role of Luke Skywalker’s son. The report does not mention LR‘s earlier claims that The Tudors star Jonathan Rhys Meyers was in talks for a role, so it’s unclear what happened to that lead.
Sounds like great news if you’re an admirer of Gosling or Efron’s acting and would like to see them head into outer space for the next Star Wars adventure. If that’s the case, why not pause in reading and take a minute to bask in the happiness that comes with this report, because there’s a caveat on the way.
First of all, LR‘s exclusives have lately had a tendency to be somewhat hit and miss in terms of accuracy – so it’s advisable to take this story with a pinch of salt. Secondly, though it’s not mentioned in the article, El Mayimbe later clarified on Twitter that Gosling and Efron had only auditioned for roles, and if that’s the case, then they are most likely only two names in a very long list of actors that Abrams will call in for auditions. Finally, the article ends with a warning to “EXPECT DENIALS FROM ABRAMS,” which could happen if the story is true (though there’s not really much need for Abrams to deny that he’s held auditions), but there could just as easily be denials if the rumors are false.
With all that in mind, the idea of Gosling and Efron even being auditioned for Star Wars is certainly interesting. Gosling is best known for his roles in indie films, particularly Nicolas Winding Refn’s ultra-violent crime dramas Drive and Only God Forgives, but he could fit the bill for a young Skywalker very well. Efron obviously gets a lot of flack for making his name through the saccharine Disney High School Musical films, but he is actually a decent actor who could benefit from a role in what is expected to be one of this decade’s biggest sci-fi movies.
Tell us what you think of this casting buzz, and which other actors you’re hoping to see in Star Wars Episode VII, in the comments.
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Star Wars: Episode 7 is set for release in 2015.
