Empire speak to Harrison Ford and Adam Driver from Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Harrison Ford reprises his role of Han Solo from the original Star Wars trilogy.

Published 25th Nov 2015

Just under a month before the release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens Empire have secured some exclusive interviews with the cast.

Harrison Ford reprises his role of Han Solo from the original Star Wars trilogy and told Empire about his reunion with Peter Mayhew, the man behind lovable wookiee, Chewbacca.

When asked about his character’s relationship with Chewy he said, “they were very much like an old married couple to start with. I think people will find them very much the same as ever."

It’s been 32 years since Harrison and Peter first teamed up on Return of the Jedi and the actor behind Chewy reminisced about day one of shooting the new film saying "I was sitting in my trailer. There was a knock at the door and someone shouted, ‘Where’s that walking carpet?’ It was Harrison. He came in, gave me a big hug and said, ‘Welcome Back’”.

The film magazine also interviewed Adam Driver, the actor who plays Darth Vader’s heir, who like Darth Vader wears a mask throughout the film. Adam said that playing Kylo Ren was challenging as he had to convey his personality from behind a black-and-gold helmet.

“Playing someone who’s masked, your body plays such a role in what you’re trying to play,” he said. “What was so powerful in the original trilogy is that even though (Darth Vader) was behind a mask you could always feel (him) thinking.”

The 32-year-old actor originally intended to follow a career in the military but when a mountain bike crash stopped him from pursuing that path he decided to go back to acting having been to acting school.

Adam told Empire, "I felt that I had just a little bit more life experience than the 18, 19 year-old kids in my class. I needed to calm down a bit and they maybe needed to grow up a bit.”

The full interview and more exclusive content from Star Wars: The Force Awakens appears in this month’s collector’s issue of Empire magazine, on sale now.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens is released in the UK on the 17th December with many cinemas having midnight showings which have sold out to eager fans.

Read more at www.empireonline.com