With the digital copies available Tuesday and the home-video release starting next Friday, we’ll soon be in the thick of it with “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” videos. Yesterday already saw two supercuts comparing J.J. Abrams’ latest to the original trilogy, but that was just the beginning. Today brings two separate clips that should also be enticing to fans: the journey of Anakin’s lightsaber, a pivotal trek tracked by YouTuber Christopher Sherwood (via Boing Boing); and a look at Daisy Ridley’s highly impressive audition tape, which will be found as a special feature available on DVD and Blu-ray April 5.
Spanning over 60 years inside ‘Star Wars’ mythology, Anakin’s lightsaber has had a hell of a journey throughout these past seven films. Accompanied by Lucas King’s melody, heavily inspired by John Williams’ “The Force Theme,” the two-minute edit explores how the laser sword went from the hands of Qui Gon Jinn (Liam Neeson) to Anakin Skywalker (Jake Lloyd, Hayden Christensen) to Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor, Alec Guinness) to Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) to Maz Kanata (Lupita Nyong’o) to Finn (John Boyega) to, eventually, Rey (Ridley). It’s a long, winding, almost exhausting haul that Sherwood’s video presents effortlessly and breezily. It also highlights the emotional pull aimed to be felt in the final moments of Abrams’ film.
And speaking of emotional, if somehow you were wondering what it took to make Abrams and his team realize they had their Rey when Ridley stepped into their offices, look no further than this unearthed peek at the 23-year-old’s audition tape, which instantly impressed everyone who saw it around the Bad Robot offices. Noting that they needed someone who was “new,” “vulnerable,” “tough,” “sweet,” and “terrified” all at once, this waterworks-fueled introduction clearly showed Ridley’s range and emotional prowess. Although we only get a few snippets of in this little-over-one-minute video, it’s clear what Abrams, co-producer Michelle Rejwan and casting directors Nina Gold, April Webster and Alyssa Weisberg saw in this young British unknown. And based on the final performance, their instincts were quite right.
Check out both videos below.