Once again, J.J. Abrams assembled the cast of “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker” for a pre-premiere visit to “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” conveniently across the street from the premiere theater, on Monday night.
He was joined by Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Kelly Marie Tran, Billy Dee Williams, Anthony Daniels, Keri Russell and Naomi Ackie for a wild ride through all things “Star Wars.”
Jimmy Kimmel put them to the test by having them answer wildly unpredictable questions from kids, by pitting them against one another in a game of “Family Feud” and by trying himself to pry any secrets at all out of them about the final chapter in the Skywalker saga — but by no means the final chapter in the “Star Wars” saga.
That’d be like throwing money away!
Gifts Received and Stolen
With this being the final part of the sequel trilogy, Kimmel asked the cast what they may or may not have acquired through swift fingers and general sneakery from the set as they said goodbye to these characters they’ve played all these years.
Writer and director J.J. quickly chimed in with a very cool get. “I stole– I mean, I was given D-O,” he said, referring to the film’s new and even tinier droid. “I have BB-8 from ‘Force Awakens,’ so I got D-O for next to him.”
Does that mean he created D-O for the sole purpose of stealing him and giving BB-8 a droid companion at his house? Lucasfilm had better keep a tight eye on their R2-D2 props. If one goes missing, they know who’s house to check out.
Daisy Ridley said she “was given” a lightsaber. She also received a very obscure and slightly creepy gift from Abrams when they wrapped the film. It all ties back to their shared love for “The Great British Bake Off and a contestant they both loved, but she would not reveal.
“J.J. had me made a real life-size mask of the contestant that fits on my head,” Daisy said of the custom gift that is the sweetest and most disturbing thing we’ve ever heard.”
“It looks incredible,” J.J. said, as Daisy admitted she’s used it to scare her friends. And yet, the unnamed contestant doesn’t even know she has this, and suddenly that seems very important.
John was thrilled to received a one-of-a-kind Spider-Man Stormtrooper helmet, as he’s a huge fan of the Marvel character, while J.J. was none too pleased with how dismissively Oscar Isaac talked about the hand-crafted Oscar Isaac chocolates he got. J.J. was clearly stewing in this for a moment as he interrupted the interview to make sure it was clear these weren’t just some thing he picked up at the store, but rather a thoughtful, unique gift he’d had crafted for Oscar.
Can’t Miss Appointment
For many “Star Wars” fans, the premiere of any new film is a can’t miss appointment, but for one cast-member, it was another can’t miss appointment that left them feeling a little left out.
Kelly Marie Tran cracked up her fellow cast-mates when she revealed that she’d only recently learned that her parents weren’t going to be able to make it to the premiere. “My dad said, ‘Your mom has a doctor’s appointment she can’t reschedule,'” she shared.
When Jimmy asked if it was something serious, Kelly said, “No, I think it’s honestly a regular checkup.”
Kids Quiz Star Wars Stars
You’ve got to love the candid nature of kids. With almost no filter, no couth and no thoughts of consequences, they are truly unpredictable, which is why they left the cast and audience in stitches with the questions they posed about the highly-anticipated film.
“Hey Rey, can you really do a backflip or are you just a liar?” one girl asked.
After she stopped laughing, Daisy had to admit, “I’m a liar.”
J.J. was grilled on whether or not droids eat or go to the bathroom, “or do they just pee in their pants,” while Oscar was asked if Poe was going to have a bigger role in this film or what?
But the best question of them all goes to a young man who asked a simple question of John about his character, Poe … and we’re not sure if he breathed at all during the asking.
“How old is Finn, does he like being a Stormtrooper or a bad guy, what’s his favorite color, how old is he, does he wear glasses or not, how old is he in real life, does he like shopping, does he go to Gucci, Nordstrom’s or Macy’s or does he just go to normal stores and buy food or does he go to other places?”
Whew! That was exhausting just hearing the questions. And this same kid later hit up Joonas Suotamo with a similar string of questioning about Chewbacca.
The Force Feud
If there’s one thing we learned from this hilarious round of “Family Feud,” it’s that poor Jar Jar Binks still doesn’t get any respect.
Jimmy divided the cast up into two teams, and brought in a ringer when one side wound up a person short. Unfortunately, he’s not someone who’s particularly easy to understand … especially as Daisy was on the other team, and we all know what happened to Han.
We have to give credit to the young, new cast of “Star Wars” for keeping it family-friendly when Jimmy asked what would be the worst body part to have chopped off by a lightsaber.
It took the smoothest man in the galaxy, Billy Dee Williams, to reveal what was surprisingly the second answer from those surveyed. That said, it’s hard to argue with the first one.
The second round proved even more challenging as they were tasked with revealing something that begins with “yo” aside from Yoda. Daisy absolutely blew it for her team at the top, guessing, Yo, dog.”
They got more on track with this one, and even Chewbacca got one right … somehow.
But our favorite was when they were asked to name which “Star Wars” character would make the worst roommate. There are so many good choices, but we do have to agree with the top one selected by those random passersby on the street outside Kimmel’s studio. Poor Chewie landed on that list, too, as did everybody’s favorite “Star Wars” punching bag, Jar Jar Binks.
To be honest, though, no matter your feelings on the character, we’re pretty sure no one would want to have to listen to him talk about his plans for the day over coffee when they’ve just woken up.
Bonus Content
If you’ve made it this far, congratulations. You’ve earned a nugget of information that proved newsworthy for both J.J. Abrams and Jimmy Kimmel.
J.J. couldn’t believe that after working on two films together, Anthony Daniels had never corrected him on the pronunciation of his name. It’s not quite the way you might think based on how it’s written, instead it reads like “Antoni.” That C-3PO is sometimes just too polite!
“Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker” premieres in theaters nationwide on Friday, December 20.
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