J.J. Abrams and the **Star Wars: Episode VII **producers are still not done adding cast members to the already well-stocked ensemble that makes up the latest film. Just this weekend, Crystal Clarke and Pip Anderson were announced as the new recruits.
The pair, largely unknowns, was plucked from the massive open casting call that Disney and Lucasfilm held at the end of last year. From a deep pool of more than 70,000 submissions both in person and online, these two made it through.
Clarke is an American actress studying in Glasgow who has worked in the theatre. She has two films due in 2015, The Moon And The Sun and Woman In Gold. Anderson is a parkour expert who has mostly been a stunt performer. Sounds like his skills will be put to good use on either the side of good or evil.
“The **Star Wars **universe has always been about discovering and nurturing young talent and in casting Episode VII we wanted to remain absolutely faithful to this tradition. We are delighted that so many travelled to see us at the open casting calls and that we have been able to make Crystal and Pip a part of the film,” said producer and Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy in a statement on the official Star Wars site.
These new additions join Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Kenny Baker, Anthony Daniels, Peter Mayhew, Gwendoline Christie, Domhnall Gleeson, Andy Serkis, Lupita Nyong’o, Oscar Isaac, Adam Driver, Max von Sydow, John Boyega and Daisy Ridley in the film, which has already shot in Abu Dhabi and is in production at London’s Pinewood studios.
The production will break for a two-week hiatus next month as schedules are shifted to accommodate Harrison Ford’s recent broken leg. But despite recent chatter about a shifted release date, the latest **Star Wars **remains on track to arrive on December 18, 2015.