I thought Scarlett Johansson kicking more ass was enough cool news of the day. Now, according to Twitchfilm, more asses shall be kicked! This time by actual ass-kickers Iko Uwais, Yayan Ruhian, and Cecep Arif Rahman. You don’t know those names but you know their ass-kicking well, because they kicked tons of ass in Gareth Evans’ The Raid and The Raid 2. This is so kick-ass!
From Twitchfilm:
It would appear that the force is set to awaken in Indonesia.
Though there has been no comment whatsoever from any of the performers or their representation, Twitch has learned that a key trio of performers from Gareth Evans’ The Raid and The Raid 2 – leading man Iko Uwais, Mad Dog / Prakoso actor Yayan Ruhian and The Raid 2 finale fighter Cecep Arif Rahman, credited simply as The Assassin – will all appear in JJ Abrams’ upcoming Star Wars: Episode 7 – The Force Awakens.
I can’t contain my excitement for this. There is one redeeming part of The Phantom Menace and in my opinion it was Ray Park as Darth Maul introducing proper martial arts to this huge universe. Now it seems everyone will actually be kung-fu fighting (OK, silat, but let me have my aged pop culture references).
Just imagine this fight for a second, okay? Hardcore, brutal penchak silat mixed with sci-fi mysticism. The way they handle the kris and kujang are a gory spectacle, but now picture it with force pushing, lightning bolts, big-ass giant force leaps, and LIGHTSABERS with PENCHAK SILAT.
Holy shit, you guys.
But aside from the martial arts? There was a big, noisy hoopla over John Boyega as a black Storm Trooper or whatever nonsense some dumb people came up with. Considering that in all six previous Star Wars films there were just two black people in a predominant role, I thought it was totally amazing the first thing we see of Star Wars was Boyega’s sweaty mug. And then people had to say a bunch of dumb things. (But I absolutely loved how Boyega responded.) But now, it seems the ever-expanding cast of this much-hyped movie is truly reflecting our diverse world. For all the Asian influences Star Wars modeled itself from, there was a severe lack of any Asian faces, even in this galaxy far, far away. Imagine how slightly different our cultural perceptions would be if Seven Samurai star Toshiro Mifune had accepted the role of Obi-Wan like George Lucas had wanted.
It is currently unknown what roles Uwais, Ruhian, and Rahman will be playing, and from the looks of it they probably won’t even be speaking roles at all. Based on their skills and how they were announced, I imagine they’ll be playing raiders or assassins of some sort, they will have the spotlight for a big martial arts set piece and vanish afterwards. They weren’t introduced in the initial casting announcements, and principal photography is already finished. I reiterate I’m only speculating, for all we know Iko Uwais is playing Luke Skywalker’s son! (Haha, JK, but seriously could you imagine?) Their roles may be small but in the realm of our pop culture headspace? Their roles are going to be huge.
I’m seriously about to pop in The Raid and The Raid 2 again because that’s how stoked I am about this news.