If you’re any kind of Star Wars fan and also happen to be into martial arts films, chances are you just went a little bit apeshit. Twitch have reported on the news that 3 principal cast members from the utterly ludicrous Indonesian Raid duology are set to appear in The Force Awakens (which adds up, considering that their editor produced both films). The 3 in question are Iko Uwais, who played the lead in both films, Yayan Ruhian, who played Mad Dog in The Raid and Prakoso in The Raid 2 and Cecep Arif Rahman, who featured in the insane kitchen fight that closed out the second movie. In short, they’ve cast the 3 best fighters in those films.
Since first being announced, a predication towards practical effects has been evident in J.J. Abrams’ latest addition to the Star Wars cannon, so casting seasoned martial artists who cut their teeth on films that used barely any special effects and a shitload of actual body contact makes sense. It’s not the first time that someone of such caliber has appeared in a Star Wars movie, Ray Park played Darth Maul in The Phantom Menace (although he was voiced by Peter Serafinowicz), and provided us with that undeniably awesome double-lightsaber fight.
According to sources, the 3 were brought in not only to appear on screen, but also to help with choreography, since they have experience in that field. This, in essence, means that at least one fight in the next Star Wars film will have both the the talent and the choreography of two of the greatest martial arts films of all time. It will almost definitely also have Jedi. You should probably go and clean yourself up. If they are working in a choreographic capacity, it stands to reason that they’ll be working with some of the more stunt-savvy players in the cast. The most prominent of these will be Gwendoline Christie, aka Brienne of Tarth. It’s already been speculated that she might well be in an antagonistic role, so we may have an ass-kicking Sith woman, working from Indonesian training and more than willing to bite someone’s ear off if the need arises.
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