Lupita Nyong'o Didn't Know She Was Auditioning For Star Wars When She Met With J.J. Abrams

An actor’s life can be admittedly crazy. With filming, auditions, appearances, and having an actual life, schedules can get mixed up. Apparently this is exactly what happened when Oscar winner Lupita Nyong’o auditioned for Star Wars: The Force Awakens. In her recent appearance on Ellen, Nyong’o recounted how she didn’t realize she was auditioning for Star Wars as it was happening. 



Well, she sure is honest. In her interview with Ellen DeGeneres, Lupita Nyong’o states that she auditioned for her role in The Force Awakens almost immediately after winning an Academy Award for her role in 12 Years A Slave. In fact, it was the same week- which might explain why Nyong’o’s recollection of the events are a bit fuzzy. She claims that she only knew that it was a J.J. Abrams directed piece, and that it would be a "big movie". Pretty crazy right? Evidently she did something right, as Abrams offered her the role two months later. Just don’t ask her what that something right was.

Later in the segment Lupita Nyong’o explained what it was like filming The Force Awakens. Her character, pirate Maz Kanata is a motion-capture role. This means that Lupita acted her scenes while her face was closely monitored by equipment what would capture each nuance of her performance. Then, this footage was used to craft her character’s facial movements, as visual effects will be used to create Maz Kanata for the big screen.

Lupita Nyong’o admits that it took up to two and a half hours to apply the 125 plastic stickers that were on her face, in order to properly capture expressions the actress made during filming. She later goes on to joke that when she would get breaks to eat, she’d end up accidentally consuming the stickers that were previously on her lips and teeth.

Maz Kanata has been one of characters that has been kept the most secret during the marketing of The Force Awakens. Indeed, Lupita Nyong’o’s character can only be seen on the poster, as well as for one moment in one of the newer trailers. And, for the longest time, we weren’t even given Nyong’o’s character name. Maz Kanata, along with Mark Hammill’s role and Kylo Ren’s face, have been arguably the biggest mysteries around The Force Awakens. 

Luckily for fans, we won’t have to ponder the mystery of Maz Kanata for long. Star Wars: The Force Awakens is hitting theatres in just two more days. With reviews already looking favorably after the premiere, it seems like we may be getting the Star Wars movie we’ve been dreaming about since Return of The Jedi.