I’m happy to know that Entertainment Weekly didn’t forget to do an article on BB-8 in their big “The Force Awakens” coverage, as a new article on everyone’s favorite new droid has been posted, where we learn some interesting new details on the deign, story, and even the gender of BB-8!
You can check out a portion of the BB-8 article from EW.com, where they talk to Neal Scanlan, the head of “The Force Awakens”creature shop about the droid:
BB-8 was born from a drawing by J.J. Abrams. “Much like Picasso and the famous serviette drawing,” says Scanlan. “It was a very simple sketch, beautiful in its simplicity of a ball with this little dome on top.”
During the design phase, it was up for debate whether this character would have a male or female personality. “I’m still not sure, dare I say, whether BB-8 is male or female,” Scanlan says. “BB-8 was female in our eyes. And then he or she became male. And that’s all part of the evolution, not only visually, but in the way they move, how they hold themselves.” (It’s not clear a gender-type has ever been specified, but as of now everyone working on the movie calls BB-8 a “he.”)
“We always imagined BB-8 as being quite manipulative,” says Scanlan. “I think he knows he’s cute. He knows that he can win people over. And he uses that like children do to get his own way. In this film, he has a very important mission that he has to accomplish and so he uses his personality, his coyness, and all of those things.”
BB-8 has retained some secrets for future films. “We haven’t absolutely defined what each panel does,” Scanlan says. “Each has a specific purpose, whether it be a data port, or a docking station, or a welding torch. He might have his own self-defense mechanism.” At least one has a Taser-like probe, and he also ejects grappling hooks for climbing vertically. In other words, he’s a Swiss Army Knife. “He is indeed,” Scanlan says. “A Swiss Army Knife that shouldn’t be trusted.”
Well I guess I got to start referring to BB-8 as a he now, as I was someone who was referring to the droid as a she most of the time. But I love how Neal Scanlan describes BB-8 as a droid who knows it’s lovable, and uses that to get what it needs! It’s also great to hear that even with all the cool things we’ll no doubt see BB-8 do in “The Force Awakens,” there’s still more surprises from him in future movies!
Be sure to check out the full article over at EW.com.
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