Star Wars 7: is Luke Skywalker the villain of The Force Awakens?

Star Wars The Force Awakens Interview - Adam Driver, Gwendoline Christie & Domhnall Gleeson

As anticipation about Star Wars 7: The Force Awakens continues to build, the actor who plays the original trilogy"s young hero Luke Skywalker has offered some new hints about the future of his character, leading some to speculate that Luke may end up as the forthcoming trilogy"s arch-villain.

Warning: possible spoilers ahead

According to Mark Hamill, Luke will not be returning to the series as the "innocent farm boy" he was in Star Wars IV: A New Hope. "Obviously you"re seeing him in a very different time in his life, there are lots of surprises in this movie. You"re going to love it," Hamill told Empire Magazine (via SlashFilm).

Hamill also said that while shooting scenes for the new movie in Ireland he felt as though he was inhabiting the Star Wars universe. "It reminded me of when I was in Tunisia on the salt flats. If you could get into your own mind and shut out the crew and look at the horizon, you really felt like you were in a galaxy far, far away. I had that same wave of emotion happen to me when I was on Skellig Michael in Ireland. I wasn"t anticipating it."

Fans are still in the dark about why Hamill hasn"t appeared in any promotions for the new film.The most recent trailer for Star Wars 7: The Force Awakens - released last week to coincide with the US Thanksgiving holiday - features a lot more of villain Kylo Ren, but nothing at all of Luke.

The character has been notably absent from all promotions related to the forthcoming sci-fi film.

Hamill is billed second in the credits for Star Wars 7, right after Harrison Ford and before Carrie Fisher. But according to the film"s director JJ Abrams, "it"s no accident" that the actor doesn"t appear in trailers, posters, official photos and merchandising.

So where is Luke? Asked recently by the Sydney Morning Herald why the Jedi has been absent, Abrams responded cryptically: "These are good questions to be asking. I can"t wait for you to find out the answers."

In the absence of the original trilogy"s old hero, last week"s Thanksgiving trailer for Star Wars 7 has plenty of the series" new arch-villain Kylo Ren. The minute-long trailer startswith a close-up of Ren, played by Adam Driver. The now familiar voice of Supreme Leader Snoke can be heard on the background saying: "There"s been an awakening. Have you felt it?"

Later in the short clip the voiceover says: "Even you have never faced such a test," while the camera focuses on Ren standing in the rain holding a lightsaber.

In an interview with Howard Stern this week, JJ Abrams explained further why he did not want to talk about Luke"s absence ahead of the film"s release.

"Here"s the thing: I really want to make sure that we"re not ruining the movie for people, that they"re not seeing too much of it before it comes out. I hate when I go and see a trailer and think that I"ve just seen the movie in encapsulated form ... I"d rather be asking questions than feel like they"d been answered for me."

One of the more fanciful theories from Looper.com has it that Kylo Ren is in fact Luke Skywalker. The site supports its argument with the following evidence: the pair have never been seen together, they have the same fashion sense, Kylo Ren"s voice is "obviously fake", Luke likes to make custom lightsabers and that Kylo has Darth Vader"s head.

Other sites have suggested that Luke may become a villain, but that he is more likely to emerge as the Supreme Leader Snoke.

Andy Serkis, the performer behind Supreme Leader Snoke"s physical movements says that the character has a "huge agenda" and has "suffered a lot of damage," EmpireOnline reports. Serkis said that his character is "quite powerful," but exhibits a "strange vulnerability".

Star Wars 7: "I am Princess Leia" says Carrie Fisher

25 November

In an interview with Time magazine about her decision to return to the Star Wars franchise, Carrie Fisher says that she "long ago accepted that I am Princess Leia."

In a Q&A about the eagerly anticipated forthcoming Star Wars film The Force Awakens, which goes on general release in mid December, the 59-year-old actress said that it wasn"t a difficult decision to come back.

"I"m a female and in Hollywood it"s difficult to get work after 30 maybe it"s getting to be 40 now. I long ago accepted that I am Princess Leia. I have that as a large part of the association with my identity. There wasn"t a lot of hesitation."

Asked if her character Leia had changed over the years, Fisher replied: "Oh my G*d, she got so much older. I tried to stop her, but apparently that includes death so that didn"t seem like a good solution. Along with aging comes life experience so in every way that is consistent with even being human, Leia has changed."

In the new films, Fisher"s character is referred to as General Leia, indicating that her role within the Rebellion now known as the Resistance has grown since her adventures in the original trilogy of films. Some fans have speculated that Leia might now control the group aligned against the evil New Order, the group spawned from the defeated Galactic Empire.

Asked whether she brought aspects of her own life experience to the role, Fisher replied: "Probably, but I try not to. I mean, one hopes that I at least indicate that I have wisdom. Whether I"m successful with that indication or not remains to be seen. And I wear less makeup and I need it more."

Source: http://www.theweek.co.uk/star-wars/57322/star-wars-7-luke-skywalker-wont-return-as-an-innocent-farm-boy-says-mark-hamill

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Carolinas Hospital System Host Free Movie Night Featuring: The Polar Express - WBTW

EXPRESS-もぐらの唄【MV】
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Source: http://wbtw.com/2015/11/30/carolinas-hospital-system-host-free-movie-night-featuring-the-polar-express/

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Joey Feek Shares Sweet Photo With Daughter While in Hospice

"See You There" - Joey Feek

Joey Feek has faced her terminal cancer battle with "big smiles" and determination since she and her husband announced they were stopping treatment last month.

The country star posted a sweet photo with her 1-year-old daughter Indiana on Thursday with the caption, "the mail lady delivered big smiles to us today....hand-sewn hats, made with love."

Joey and Rory Feek have been giving interviews and posting messages to fans during the 40-year-old"s battle with cancer. In October, the couple decided to stop treatment, so she could spend her remaining weeks at her childhood home in Alexandria, Ind., with friends and family.

In an interview last week with The Tennessean, Feek said she is "at peace."

"G*d decided for me that my job of singing for people down here is my legacy, and he needs me singing up there. Thats how I look at it," she told the paper. "I pray that one morning I just dont wake up. But I dont fear anything because Im so close to G*d and weve talked about it so many times. I know hes close. And I know he loves me. Im really at peace. I still believe theres healing in prayer.

Feek has been battling stage 4 cervical cancer since 2014 and stopped treatments in late October after they were found to be ineffective.

Source: http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/joey-feek-shares-sweet-photo-daughter-hospice/story?id%3D35327059

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Popular on Vulture

The Big Short | Clip: "Wrong Number" | Paramount Pictures International

Ryan Gosling on The Big Short, finding the humor in the financial meltdown, and why h**l probably never wear a wig again.

Adam McKays The Big Short the subject of this weeks Vulture cover story stars Ryan Gosling as a version of Greg Lippmann, a slick Deutsche Bank trader (he also gives some interstitial, direct-to-camera informative narration). We spoke with him about how to play a guy who bets against the American economy, how to order drinks like a Tony Robbins on His Day Off, and the importance of his hairpiece.

Were you an Adam McKay fan before this?I am a huge fan. His movies arent even like movies, theyre more like friends of mine. Like it feels like you have to check in with Step Brothers every once in a while, just to see how its doing. Adam sent along the script, and I was just really impressed by it. I knew that he was freakishly smart. But the fact that he was tackling this subject matter, in this way, was just really interesting to me.

Was the subject matter something you were familiar with?No, I wasnt. I mean, obviously I was aware that something happened. But like most people who will see the film, I felt like it was something I would never completely understand. But Adams perspective was unique in that he believed it was accessible, and he was trying to explain it in a way that was entertaining. The films point of view is that the language of high finance feels alienating because its designed to alienate you, to make you feel like you cant understand it, so that basically you wont ask too many questions. And this was like, Lets pull the curtain back on that whole machine.

Tell me about your character, Jared Venet.I like to pronounce itVenay. He wears many hats in the film. Hes the narrator and the tour guide of that world, the high finance world, but hes also a character in the present of the movie. I thought it was a really smart device on Adams part. It knows that its a movie, and we are actors, playing real people, and that this happened, or didnt quite happen like this, and I think it makes it more entertaining and engaging, and its a way to sort of earn the audience"s trust, its not trying to fool you, it knows what it is and what its doing, and you should trust it when it tells you something is important.

The character is based on Greg Lippmann, a Deustche Bank salesman who sold insurance on mortgage-backed securities to the hedge funds in the movie, who, in real life, as in the movie, didnt find him particularly trustworthy. (Though at one point, one of the characters says, Hes so transparent in his self-interest, I cant help but trust him.) What do you think? Is this character a good guy or a bad guy?Jareds job is to make money for his bank. He didnt create the system. He didnt invent the idea of the CDO, and he hasnt been going to the ratings agencies and having them rate things dishonestly. He has never been a party of that system. Unlike his peers, he had that instinct, that things were too good to be true, and he understood the genius of these credit-default swaps betting on this system to fail, and he went to his bosses and told them the payoff was much bigger than the risk. And in doing so, he took on a lot of humiliation. He was known among his peers as Bubble Boy and Chicken Little because he stood by this idea when it was unpopular. Whats difficult is all of these characters are sort of walking a morally ambiguous road. But the film is not walking a morally ambiguous road. It doesnt celebrate the heist of it all. It never celebrates their financial successes. My favorite part of the film is a line Brad says to two of the characters, where he tells them, You just bet against the American economy, and if you win, hardworking people will suffer, so try not to celebrate.

Though you do see Jared/Greg smoothing out his $47 million check at the end, after the collapse. You had dinner with the actual Lippmann, who didnt want his name used in the film. What was that like?He was very helpful, in a way, in sort of helping me to understand as much as is possible the sort of financial lay of the land at the time. He understood the character was loosely based on him, and his purpose in the film was to educate the audience on the overall story. And he was helpful in sort of adding flavor to the character so that he wasnt just a narrator. Unfortunately, I ended up looking more like Dustin Diamond than the real guy.

Yes, tell me about your look. Did you go on a special diet? How did you achieve that sickly pallor?It was really just powered by the wig. It was a hair-fueled performance. Its really like a Samson kind of a story. It took about a half-hour to put on every morning. It was kind of a nice way to start the day. I have never really worked much in that way, you know, in terms of, like ... altering my appearance.

You mean, no one has ever hired you to be ugly before?Uhhh. I just remember, the first time I stepped out of the trailer in makeup, Steve Carell was there, and he looked at me and very seriously said, Never do this again. Do it for this, but never, ever do this again.

I know you got to do some ad-libbing. When I was on set, during the scene in the casino, when youre at the bar with the guys from Front Point, at one point, you asked the bartender for a Matt Lauer, no strawberry.There was also an Andre the Giant With a Tractor Pull. And a Tony Robbins on His Day Off. They didnt make the cut.

You cant be too funny in a movie about the financial crisis, I guess.That was something we were all aware of. We knew this wasnt one of Adams comedies, and he wasnt making it because it was funny. At the same time, he cant help but have a sense of humor, and everything gets sort of filtered through that, and he encourages everybody to improvise within the realm of who that character is. And then he keeps mostly what he wrote, but he leaves some things to keep it feeling spontaneous.

Did anything else get cut that you were bummed about?We played a lot with the idea of Jared wanting to be very clear with the audience about the differentiations between real life and the story, and what he did and didnt say, him being aware that hes in a movie and the story has to be condensed, and getting more and more vexed by the process over the course of the film. But in the end, there was so much ground to cover, that was a layer that didnt end up serving the story. So that was too bad. Also, the Tony Robbins on His Day Off. But I think we should all try to order that and see what happens.

David Edelstein: The best film of the year? Possibly...

Source: http://www.vulture.com/2015/11/the-big-short-ryan-gosling.html

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Raiders vs. Vikings: Score, Stats & Highlights

Vikings : Season 1 Full Soundtrack by Trevor Morris

Jerick McKinnon will be busy in the preseason with the absence of Adrian Peterson. (Getty)

Final Score

Oakland Raiders6-3-3-0 12Minnesota Vikings0-13-7-020

Key Stats

(OAK) Amari Cooper: 1 catch, 40 yards(OAK) Derek Carr: 4-for-8, 78 yards(MIN) Teddy Bridgewater: 10-for-14, 89 yards, 1 TD(MIN) Charles Johnson: 4 catches, 40 yards, 1 TD

The Vikings rantheir preseason winning streak to eight games going back to 2013 with a 20-13 winover the Oakland Raiders on Saturday night.

Lightning in the area caused a 65 minute delay with 6:45 left in the second quarter. The Vikings took the lead for good right before halftime, and controlled the second half by forcing three turnovers to keep their exhibition streak alive.

One Vikings player who will want to burn the game tape is kicker Blair Walsh. In addition to missing an extra point, Walsh was 0-for-3 on field goal attempts. Walsh also struggled last season, going 26-for-35 on field goals.

The Raiders got a big play from rookie Amari Cooper, but struggled to stay on the field by going 5-for-14 on third downs.

Check below forhighlights of the game.

Latavius Murray Scored a Touchdown to Give the Raiders a 6-0 Lead

After several possessions where defenses held firm, the Raiders got on the board first with 3:22 left in the first quarter. Derek Carr hit Amari Cooper for a 40-yard gain, and Latavius Murray would score from two yards out for the games first points. Murray tried to convert the 2-point conversion, but was stopped short of the goal line.

Teddy Bridgewater Threw his 1st Touchdown Pass of the Preseason

The Vikings responded to the Raiders touchdown drive with one of their own, with Teddy Bridgewater hitting Charles Johnson for a 10-yard score. Blair Walsh missed the extended extra point, and the game was tied at 6-6.

Lightning Halted Play in the 2nd Quarter

With 6:45 left in the second quarter, a storm front came in and caused a delay for lightning near the field.

Chase Ford Caught a 4-Yard Touchdown Pass Before Halftime

After the lightning delay, the Raiders took a 9-6 lead with a field goal before the Vikings struck back. Shaun Hill threw his third touchdown pass in two games, this time to Chase Ford. Walsh made the PAT this time to give the Vikings a 13-9 lead at halftime.

Blake Renaud Scored a 1-Yard Touchdown to Increase Vikings Lead to 20-12

TOUCHDOWN!!!Blake Renaud takes the handoff and finds the end zone to give the #Vikings a 20-12 lead.

Minnesota Vikings (@Vikings) August 23, 2015

Vikings linebacker Brian Peters intercepted Matt McGloin and almost returned it to the house, but three plays later Blake Renaud scored from a yard out to get the seven points.

Preview:Raiders, Vikings Meet at TCF Bank Stadium

The Raiders held the Rams to 285 yards and three points last week. (Getty)

A pair of proud franchises who have not enjoyed recent success in the last decade will meet in preseason action on Saturday. The Vikings and Raiders met in Super Bowl XI, but have been shut out of the big game since the Raiders made it to the Super Bowl in 2003.

Oaklands Derek Carr and Minnesotas Teddy Bridgewater are providing fans hope after solid rookie seasons that they may be on the way back to being contenders. Bridgewater has completed 12-of-14passes for 130 yards in two preseason games, while Carr and rookie wideout Amari Cooper connected on several passes against the Rams last week.

Vikings right tackle Phil Loadholt was lost for the season last week when he tore his Achilles, leaving fourth round rookie T.J. Clemmings to earn the spot. Second-year linebackerAnthony Barris expected tomake his preseason debut.

The teams will also meet in Week 10 at the O.Co Coliseum. Oakland leads the all-time regular season series 10-4.

Editors note: Heavys partners at DraftKings are gearing up for another football season. Sign up now with DraftKings promo code HEAVY and get a $600 deposit bonus with no season-long commitment.

Source: http://heavy.com/sports/2015/08/oakland-raiders-minnesota-vikings-preseason-game-score-updates-stats-highlights-vines-preview-recap-box-score-teddy-bridgewater/

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Leicester vs Manchester United player ratings: Who outplayed Jamie Vardy? And ...

FIFA 16: OMG RECORD BREAKER JAMIE VARDY (DEUTSCH) - FIFA 16 ULTIMATE TEAM [NO VARDY NO PARTY!!]

Jamie Vardy broke Ruud van Nistelrooy"s scoring record but Leicester had to settle for a draw against Manchester United despite yet another thrilling display from Claudio Ranieri"s side.

Vardy became the first player to score in 11 straight Premier League matches - beating Van Nistelrooy"s record from 2003 - when he stroked home Christian Fuchs" slide-rule pass.

The Foxes blitzed United with wave after wave of attack in search of a second goal, but had to settle for a 1-1 draw after Bastian Schweinsteiger headed home an equaliser in first-half injury time.

The draw meant Leicester were unable to reclaim top spot, but Ranieri will not be too disheartened.

Although they failed to grab all three points, this performance showed they are capable of challenging for a top-four place at the end of the season.

But who was the star man? Scroll through our gallery to see the ratings:

Disagree? Let us know in the comments below

Source: http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/premier-league/leicester-vs-manchester-united-player-ratings-who-outplayed-jamie-vardy-and-how-bad-was-wayne-rooney-a6753086.html

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Notre Dame focused on slowing down Stanford back Christian McCaffrey

Barry Sanders, Christian McCaffrey bring pro pedigree to Stanford"s backfield

Notre Dame has made it to the final week of its regular season with just one loss, a two-point defeat at Clemson.

The Tigers just happen to be the No. 1 team in the College Football Playoff rankings.

The Irish (10-1) have two wins against teams currently in the top 25, beating No. 15 Navy and No. 25 Temple. They close the regular season against another ranked team, No. 9 Stanford (9-2).

Does Notre Dame believe a win against the Cardinal would be enough to secure one of the four playoff spots?

"Yeah, we do," Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly said earlier this week. "But again, we don"t control that. There"s a committee that makes those decisions. All we can do is control the way we perform and the way we prepare.

"And they know that. Our guys clearly understand what they have to do in their preparation and then their performance on Saturday. And that"s it. The rest is up to a committee, and we knew that coming into the season. We"ll take care of what we can take care of."

Kelly"s comments came before the Irish dropped two spots to No. 6 in the rankings. But the sentiment remains. Notre Dame"s hopes for a playoff berth could come down to stopping Stanford"s Christian McCaffrey.

The sophomore running back has become a factor in the Heisman race.

"He"s a guy that can influence the game in special teams, catching the ball out of the backfield, certainly running the football," Kelly said. "Special, special player and deserving of all the accolades he"s gotten. We"ve got our hands full there."

McCaffrey has 1,546 rushing yards and seven touchdowns this season. He"s caught 34 passes for 416 yards and three TDs. And he"s returned 26 kicks for 813 yards and one TD.

"What he did against UCLA, what he did against Cal, what he did a couple of games earlier in the year, he took over the game," Stanford coach David Shaw said. "It"s amazing to see."

McCaffrey set a Stanford record with 389 all-purpose yards last week in a win against California. He"s rushed for at least 100 yards for nine straight games, including a school-record 243 yards against UCLA on Oct 15.

"Every time we needed something, he was the guy," Shaw said. "That"s what big-time players do. You run out of adjectives to describe him. You sit there and say "wow." He"s that good that he can take over any game we play."

Notre Dame is calling on its veterans to do likewise Saturday.

"I need to remind them that in big games, the great players rise to the occasion," Kelly said. "And so (receiver) Will Fuller has to play great. (Linebacker) Jaylon Smith"s got to play great. (Defensive lineman) Sheldon Day has got to play great. (Offensive lineman) Ronnie (Stanley) has got to play great.

"The great players have to step up. And for us to win, they"ll have to play great. If they do, we will. If they don"t, we won"t. It"s that simple."

lpope@post-trib.com

Twitter @lamondpope

Source: http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/post-tribune/sports/ct-ptb-football-notre-dame-st-1126-20151125-story.html

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