An Oh My Gosh Moment During Domhnall Gleeson Star Wars The Last Jedi Interview

Disney provided me with hotel and transportation to the Star Wars The Last Jedi Press Conference.

During the Star Wars The Last Jedi Press Conference we interviewed Domhnall Gleeson who in Star Wars The Last Jedi plays General Hux. He’s also known for his role Bill Weasley in the Harry Potter franchise. He chatted about his time on set, being in this movie and in Star Wars The Force Awakens, and about that time that he embarrased himself in front of Harrison Ford while he was swinging a light saber just for fun. Luckily that ended in taking a picture with him. So we asked him if Han Solo was his favorite Star Wars character and he very diplomatically said that he loved them all. But he did say that he was a huge Indiana Jones fan. He also admitted that he hadn’t seen Star Wars until he was considering being in Star Wars The Force Awakens.

“JJ gave me a file of the original Star Wars, and I watched it on a big screen. And that was, like, yeah. So that was like, amazing. And then, yeah, then they all became my favorites. How diplomatic is that? They’re all my favorites. Yeah, but I do love Han Solo”

I didn’t realize this but part of Star Wars The Last Jedi was filmed in Ireland. Domhnall said that he loved that they had an amazing time and that everyone got good weather.

“Ireland is my home, I think it’s the best place in the world, and I’m just happy for people to see it. It’s, like, it’s an intensely beautiful place, and they got to see it in intensely beautiful weather, which is ridiculous. That never happens”

It was difficult to find out very much from him about changes in his character or how the story was going to go. All the actors we interviewed seem to say that it’s going to explore some very dark places and he talked a little bit about his disfunctual relationship with Kylo Ren and how they battle for favor from Snoke. He may have gotten some influence to creating his character from the older movies but said he had to reach for something real to make his character more believeable. He strongly felt that he couldn’t “steal” from other performances and had to make this performance his own. The only clues he gave us about where his character is at the beginning of The Last Jedi is that his character is in a………

“much more desperate place, a much more uncomfortable place, and I think that’s a good place to put somebody like Hux. Like, speaking… Taking a step back from him and thinking objectively, you want Hux to suffer. That is what you want for somebody like that, who behaves like that, and who carries himself like that. And I liked creating somebody that that would end up being the feeling you would have for him. So we start with a place where we’re ready to see him suffer.”

I found Domhnall to be very charming and can’t wait to see him on the big screen again. It’s a good thing that showings start tonight as Star Wars The Last Jedi comes out officially December 15th.

I did have one more thing I just had to know though and that was if he had a “geek out” moment on the set of star wars.

Is there ever a moment on set where you had a geek out moment, like, oh my gosh, I’m in this.

His response:

“Oh my gosh? That’s so polite, [LAUGHTER]. I use different words. Yes, there are. There are lots of moments like that because the scale of things. Because of how much Star Wars means to people. Because just the history of it. I mean, there aren’t many, like, Harry Potter was a huge journey, and that was over, those films were over; twelve year, ten years, something like that, you know what I mean? This has been going on since…..… There are so many things which are part of growing up, which are part of people’s childhoods. Star Wars would have been the first movie that a lot of people, you know what I mean? Like all those things. There’s just something that’s a position of privilege, so loads of moments like that. Any time, without giving anything away of who I worked with on this or didn’t work with, but when you’re on set, other people have to come on set to show Ryan a costume in person, or, you know, to talk to him about something………So the days when you don’t know somebody’s gonna be in, and you’re kinda talking to Ryan about something and then Mark Hamill just stoles up in his Luke Skywalker gear, you’re like what the f- [LAUGHTER]. You’re like, oh my gosh… [LAUGHTER]. Those moments, when you’re not expecting them, and he’s there on a Star Wars set and you’re like, what are you doing in the evil place? Why are you hanging out here, and it’s like, oh he just here to see Ryan. Like, those things are kind of amazing. Those where you pinch yourself.”

 

I think after his “Oh My Gosh” he’s now one of my new favorite actors and I’m going to go watch and rent everything he’s been in. Plus, I’ve always been a fan of that wonderful Irish accent.