My run-in with the new Star Wars cast

Introduction

My wife and I were in the Suites lounge in the Narita airport waiting for our Singapore Airlines A380 Suites flight from NRT to LAX in early December 2015.  We were there for about an hour and a half.  Anyway, we were in there minding our own business when we see this Japanese escort walk in with about 6 non-Japanese people.  My first thought was, “Why did they get an escort and we didn’t?”  Then I thought they must have been special; possibly late for their flight and that’s why they got an escort?

 

In the lounge

Two of the six – a young African American gentleman and a dirty blonde Caucasian lady sat right behind me.  I assumed they were a couple.  The other 3 got a table close to the noodle bar so they could talk business.  Once again, I thought maybe they were on a business trip.  Eventually, the lady went to sit with the other 3 ladies at the table.  The gentleman was playing with his phone the whole time.

I went to grab some food and saw the 6th person – a tall American guy.  I thought he looked a bit familiar, but it didn’t click at all.  When I went back to my chair, I could see the African American still tapping away on his phone, which had a big rugged case that you never really see.  I thought it was odd that he’d have such a big case (think palm sized case.)  He walked to get food or something once, and the only thing I remember him saying to the lady was something like, “I don’t think he understood.”  He was referring to the interpreter/escort.  He also spoke in a British accent.

 

On the plane

We walked to the plane about 15 minutes before boarding started (in case they boarded early,) and I wanted to take pictures of the plane before the other passengers showed up.  Eventually, the 6 of them boarded.  The Caucasian lady that sat with the African American was seated across from me.  It occurred to me to ask her who her group was, but I didn’t want to pry.  Plus, what would I say, “Eh excuse me.  Is your group famous or something?”  No, seriously, that’s the best line I could come up with, and as you can see, I decided to not ask that stupid question.  Plus, I didn’t want to be THAT guy.  Once dinner was served, I noticed my seat mate was still asleep.  That’s when I went to sleep and didn’t think any more about it.

 

The big reveal

So now we’ve landed and taxi’ed to the gate.  Everyone is standing up and grabbing their bags.  All of  a sudden, I stand up and make eye contact with the person in 2K, and immediately I knew I had recognized that face before.  I didn’t remember his name (I’m terrible with names and have a bad memory to boot.)  I messaged my movie buff friend, “Hey, who is that actor that looks like Keanu Reeves and always plays the down and out sarcastic drug guy?”  No seriously; those were my exact words.  My friend didn’t respond, so I actually Google’d, “Keanu Reeves actor lookalike.”  Nothing came up.  Then I decided to IMDB Judd Apatow to see if I could remember what movie he appeared in.  EUREKA!  It was Lena Durham’s boyfriend from “Girls!”  That’s where I had recognized him.  It was Adam Driver!

Anyway, so now we’re lining up at the front of the airplane.  The African American gentleman was seated in 2A and his companion lined up beside him, and I’m RIGHT BEHIND them.  He’s still inside his suite waiting.  Now the 2 are talking and she mentions something about wearing a Storm Trooper outfit.  And that’ when it hit me.  HOLY CRAP!  IT’S FINN FROM THE NEW STAR WARS!  He was much shorter in person that I expected.

At this point, I thought to myself, “Should I ask him to take a selfie with me?  I don’t want to be THAT guy!  But this would be an awesome selfie once the movie comes out!  Should I say something?  Wait.  This is Suites class.  I’m sure they expect not to be bothered by fanboys by being in First Class. ”  These thoughts went through my head for a good 5 minutes by the way because we were waiting a while for the door to open. Eventually I decided not to speak to him.  I sorta rationalize it because he just didn’t seem like a friendly guy.  You know how some people give off a green friendly aura?  I didn’t get that vibe from him.  It wasn’t an a-hole vibe.  It was more of a “Don’t bother me vibe” and so that’s why I didn’t speak to him.

 

Baggage claim

At baggage claim, I saw Adam waiting for his bags.  Our bags took about 10 minutes to come out.  I was about 5 people away from him.  By the way, at this point, I hadn’t realized he was Adam Driver; I was still trying to figure out who he was.  I think if I had known he was the “Girls” actor, I would have gone up to him and say something.  His vibe was more of an “I’m tired from this flight, but I would be okay with a fan approaching me right now since I’m not doing anything else waiting for my bags.”  Finn and his assistant had no bags and had left baggage claim.  Only Adam Driver and his assistant were waiting for bags.  Eventually I got my bags and left and that was it.

 

Conclusion

Afterwards, I Googled ‘cast of Star Wars Tokyo’ and sure enough, I saw this link – http://blogs.disney.com/disney-style/2015/12/10/the-force-awakens-cast-visits-star-wars-fans-across-the-world/  By the way, the solo pic of Adam Driver in the link was EXACTLY how he was standing at baggage claim.

That meant that the 6 people were – Finn (John Boyega) and his assistant, Adam and his assistant, and Rey (Daisy Ridley) and her assistant.  How did I not notice Rey?  I’m just going to blame it on the fact that the movie hadn’t come out yet.  Or maybe it’s because she looks a lot different in person without all the makeup.  A question I had was – why would you put the assistants in Suites too?  If it were me, I’d put them in business at best.  There was no need to pay for them to be in First.  Must be all that Star Wars money.

Anyway, I still regret not taking a selfie with Finn.  It MAY have been cooler than my pic with Jiro.