‘Star Wars: Episode VII’ Resumes Filming as Harrison Ford’s Leg Heals
Not even a broken leg can keep Han Solo down. Production on Star Wars: Episode VII has resumed this week at London’s Pinewood Studios, according to The Hollywood Reporter, following Harrison Ford‘s on-set injury (allegedly involving Han Solo’s Millennium Falcon) and subsequent surgery, which put the sequel on a two-month filming hiatus.
Ford, who was healed enough to take the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge last week, will reprise his role in the film, along with original cast members Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill, Anthony Daniels, Peter Mayhew and Kenny Baker. Joining the old guard will be fresh faces Adam Driver, Lupita Nyong’o, Max von Sydow, Andy Serkis, John Boyega and Daisy Ridley. The film’s director, J.J. Abrams, co-wrote the Episode VII script with Lucasfilm veteran Lawrence Kasdan, who replaced original screenwriter Michael Arndt.
Details on the sequel are scarce, though it’s known that the film’s plot will take place 30 years after the events of 1983’s Return of the Jedi. In May, the crew filmed some scenes in Abu Dhabi, sparking reports that Abrams was trying to recreate the desert landscapes of Luke Skywalker’s home planet, Tatooine.
Filmmaker and Star Wars nerd Kevin Smith visited Episode VII‘s London set earlier this summer, and he gushed about the movie. “So we go to the set, and they’re actually shooting – and this is what I can’t tell you what they were shooting – but what I saw I absolutely loved,” Smith said. “It was tactile; it wasn’t a series of fucking green and blue screens in which later on digital characters would be added. It was there; it was happening.”
“I saw uniforms; I saw artillery that I haven’t seen since I was a kid,” he continued. “I saw them shooting an actual sequence in a set that is real – I walked across the set; there were explosions, and it looked like a shot right out of a fucking Star Wars movie.”
Despite Ford’s injury and the filming hiatus, Disney and Lucasfilm say the sequel’s release date of December 18th, 2015 will not be affected.