Things We Learned At The Force Awakens Premiere

The world premiere of Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens featured many celebrities, droids, members of the Rebel Alliance, and more on the red carpet. The event took up four blocks on Hollywood Boulevard and showed us many incredible sights. The excitement in the air was electric, and in order to keep the crowds at the red carpet and at home entertained, interviewers grilled the stars and crew of the film, resulting in more than a few interesting tidbits and revelations. Here are a few of the things we learned from the red carpet.

Contrary to a popular rumor, Adam Driver confirmed that he did not stay in character as the villain Kylo Ren on set. He did, however, keep Ren's mask on after shooting certain scenes. Driver said that some scenes "took him to a different place" and that keeping the Kylo Ren mask on helped him stay in that frame of mind.

Anthony Daniels—better known as the actor who's portrayed the effete, golden protocol droid C3PO a whopping 65 times since the first Star Wars movie premiered—revealed that he grabbed pieces of the Millennium Falcon after filming Return of the Jedi. Daniels said he saw them burning bits of the Falcon after the film wrapped. Because he loved the ship, he took a few pieces for himself and said, "I have them as, I don't know—keepsakes, I guess."

Director J.J. Abrams revealed that if he could live on any planet in the Star Wars universe, it would be Endor, but only if there was an "Ewok-free" zone. While he enjoys the furry forest denizens, he thinks it would be overkill to have them around all of the the time. He would even consider the planet of Kashyyyk, home of Chewbacca and the rest of the Wookiees. In fact, Abrams said he'd want to live just about anywhere except for a desert planet. No love for the moisture farms of Tatooine, apparently.

Lawrence Kasdan co-wrote The Force Awakens with director J.J. Abrams. He talked a little about the writing process and said that he and Abrams would walk around cities like Santa Monica and Paris, openly talking about the story while Abrams recorded everything on his iPhone. "We were very reckless," said Kasdan, saying that they would speak in restaurants and blurt out things like, "Han should do this!" This means that there may be Parisian restaurant patrons out there who had advanced knowledge of the story. Maybe they hid their spoilers in an astromech...

John Boyega, who plays Finn in The Force Awakens, said that at the time that he was cast, his father Reverend Boyega had never watched any of the Star Wars movies and didn't know what they were. Since then, he has accompanied Boyega to locations like Tokyo and had even visited the set.

Starring in a Star Wars film must be an incredible experience, especially considering the weight that the franchise holds in our cultural history. Still, even with all of the responsibility and the excitement of being newcomers to the series, actors Daisy Ridley and John Boyega still found time for goofing off and messed around the most on set. Ridley said to look forward to seeing a lot of dance-offs and fun times on the extras when The Force Awakens comes to DVD and Blu Ray.

If there's one takeaway from the red carpet premiere, it's that there are probably dozens of actors who have cameos as Stormtroopers in The Force Awakens. Everyone from voice actor David Collins, the sound design crew, Star Wars: Rebel's Sam Witwer, and more have been rumored to appear in the film as Stormtroopers. Carrie Fisher herself even joked that Al Pacino would be one. You'll just have to keep your ears sharp when watching the film to find out whether or not Fisher gave us the Jabba treatment and was just yanking our chains.