By Long Thai
Star Wars Episode VII just got a heavy dose of bad ass. Despite the wrap of principal shooting on The Force Awakens, J.J. Abrams has apparently case three stars from the cult martial arts favorite The Raid 2 to inject a realistic dose of fight scene work into the highly anticipated space epic.
According to the Hollywood Reporter,
The star of acclaimed Indonesian action movie The Raid 2, Iko Uwais, and two of his co-stars are part of the cast of Star Wars: Episode VII — The Force Awakens.
Sources tell THR that Uwais, along with Yayan Ruhian and Cecep Arif Rahman are performing fight work in the movie, directed by J.J. Abrams, which wrapped official principal photography Nov. 6.
Abrams has stated that practical effects would be used heavily in the new movie, as opposed to solely relying on CGI work as did the George Lucas-directed prequels.
Hiring the marital arts actors, who made Raid 2 one of the best action movies of 2014, would be in line with that philosophy since much of the fighting action in the prequels was sadly done by CGI.
For a taste of what kind of realism we might expect in the fight scenes to come… check out their work in the Raid series…