Vanity Fair‘s behind-the-scenes video previewing its new The Force Awakens photoshoot is essential viewing for every Star Wars fan. Not only does it give us a fresh look at the main cast, but it reveals the actor behind the lightsaber-wielding menace Kylo Ren.
In what has become a tradition for Star Wars movies, renowned photographer Annie Leibovitz visited the sets of J.J. Abrams‘ The Force Awakens to photograph the cast for Vanity Fair, creating a cover that went viral as soon as it was posted on Twitter last night. But this photo was just the tip of the iceberg.
Rebel scum and stormtroopers join forces on our new #StarWars cover http://t.co/26F83laXQN pic.twitter.com/UoUCkYh3Ck
— VANITY FAIR (@VanityFair) May 3, 2015
Although you’ll have to buy the magazine to see the full photoshoot, a short behind-the-scenes video has already shown us some brand-new material from the Star Wars set. Most importantly, we now know that Girls star Adam Driver is the man behind the mask of Kylo Ren, the black-clad Sith lord with the controversial crossguard lightsaber.
Vanity Fair
The video also shows Academy Award-winner Lupita Nyong’o filming a scene with motion-capture dots on her face, confirming a rumor that she was playing a CGI character, although the identity of the character has not yet been revealed.
Leibovitz chatted with J.J. Abrams, Harrison Ford, Daisy Ridley, and John Boyega on the desert set for the planet Jakku, snapping the already-iconic image of Han Solo, Chewbacca, Rey, and Finn in the cockpit of the Millennium Falcon.
The Vanity Fair issue with this photoshoot will hit newsstands on May 12, revealing plenty of brand new Star Wars details including a photo of Game of Thrones star Gwendoline Christie‘s character. Vanity Fair will post a larger preview of its photoshoot at 8am.
Vanity Fair
Screengrab via Vanity Fair