Fans turn out in full force for Star Wars auditions at Twickenham stadium

11:28am Monday 25th November 2013 in News


By Tom Ambrose

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Queues around the block, there were as thousands of Star Wars fans turned out in force to audition for the next movie.

Disney held open auditions for the seventh instalment of the Blockbuster sci-fi franchise at Twickenham stadium on Saturday and Sunday.

Announced by UK Casting Call, the auditions were originally scheduled for Hackney’s Apiary Studios but were moved so producers could see more hopefuls.

Casting agent Kate Bone told the BBC: “We are doing this to find someone who might not have necessarily gone to drama school.

“They don’t have to have acting experience – just the right look and then we can see if there’s any talent there.

“We don’t want to leave any stone unturned, we want to see what’s out there. To find an unknown talent is very exciting.”

Auditions were being held for the roles of Rachel, a 17 or 18-year-old who lost her parents at a young age but uses guts and humour to get by.

Aspiring actors also had the chance to try out for Thomas, aged between 19 and 23, who is described as handsome, smart and athletic.

People were warned not to camp in Twickenham due to expected extreme weather conditions.

Beth Hayward commented on Twitter: “Though I spent 6 hours in the cold yesterday to no avail, it was a good day yesterday at Twickenham for the star wars auditions :)”.

However, not everybody was so pleased to be kept waiting in the cold and rain.

Alex Mugnaioni said: “Disney should be ashamed of this exploitative media stunt that they have euphemistically named a casting call.”

Joshua Cauldwell tweeted: “The #StarWarsAudition was a WASTE OF TIME AND MONEY, DON’T GO. You walk in a tent for literally 1 second then go home.”

Open auditions have also been held in Bristol, Manchester, Glasgow and Dublin throughout November.

The film, directed by Star Trek film-maker JJ Abrams, is due go into production next year for a 2015 release.

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