Captain Phasman! Gwendoline Christie's character in The Force Awakens was originally male... and she didn't know
She plays female knight Brienne of Tarth who is mocked for her manliness in Game Of Thrones.
And it seems Gwendoline Christie's character in The Force Awakens had some gender identity issues too.
The 37-year-old will play the first major female Star Wars villain Captain Phasma in the upcoming episode VII.
News to me: Gwendoline Christie did not know her character in The Force Awakens was originally male
But it was revealed on Monday - including to Christie herself - that the chrome armoured stormtrooper was originally going to be a male character.
The revelation was made in an interview which co-writer Lawrence Kasdan gave to Vulture; and when the site passed the tidbit on to the actress, she was shocked.
'Really? No. No!' she laughed, admitting that she was uncovering more about the film from journalists than from being in the cast.
Shiny: The 37-year-old will play the first major female Star Wars villain Captain Phasma in the upcoming episode VII
According to the report, the gender switch happened about three weeks before principal photography began, when several characters had yet to be cast.
It also occurred not long after that infamous first table read photo first emerged, showing Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill and a slew of new actors - but only one new actress in Daisy Ridley.
'We were just casting about for all the characters. I mean, we were making them up at that moment, as costuming and everything else was happening!' Kasdan said. 'It’s not like there was a finished script sitting around for months.
'Everything was happening simultaneously. When the idea came up to make Phasma female, it was instantaneous: Everyone just said, "Yes. That’s great".
Where the ladies at? Phasma had not been cast by the time this first table reading photo emerged, when some had pointed out that Daisy Ridley was the only new female
From what fans have seen of her in the trailers so far, there is no way of telling Phasma's sex: her voice has yet to be heard, her armour has no gender specific features, and it remains unknown if she will remove her helmet at all in the film.
Nevertheless, the British actress thinks its great the powers decided to rethink the character.
'I think that’s great of them, don’t you?' she said. 'That there was a discussion about that, and an evolution?
'It’s that we’re so used to relating to female characters primarily through how they have been made in flesh; and with Captain Phasma, our initial relationship is based on her character and her actions, rather than that random group of elements that comes together and makes us be born in a certain way.'
Brienne the Beauty: The 6'3" star's Game Of Thrones character Brienne of Tarth is always getting stick for her manliness
Busy: The Brit also played Commander Lyme in The Hunger Games Mockingjay Part 2
The 6'3" star added that this is what she found so interesting about her costume.
'It’s armor, and it’s entirely functional, and it isn’t sexualized in any way.' she said. 'I remember when I first saw it, I said "Wow". Not just because it looks incredible - although, come on - but because I thought, "This is new".
She said it was 'evolved thinking' for a Star Wars movie to realise that 50 per cent of its audience was female... and to utilize it.
Front and centre: Christie's character is the first female Star Wars villain warrant a spot on the official poster
'I just lost it,' she recalled of being offered the role. 'I could not believe that a Star Wars film was doing something as progressive as this, I really couldn’t.
'Entertainment projects like Game of Thrones, The Hunger Games, and Star Wars have a more diverse range of characters - male and female, but particularly female - and what audiences seem to be saying is, "We like this and this is what we want to see. We want to see something more unconventional than all the things we’ve seen before".'
While Captain Phasma is being billed as the first female Star Wars villain, that honour actually belongs to Zam Wesell, who attempted to assassinate Natalie Portman's Queen Amidala in Attack Of The Clones... although Christie's character is certainly the first to warrant a spot on the official poster.
Bad gal: The honour of being Star Wars first villainess actually belongs Zam Wesell, who attempted to assassinate Natalie Portman's Queen Amidala in Attack Of The Clones
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