The next installment in the legendary Star Wars saga is arguably the biggest project in the career of writer/producer/director J.J. Abrams, and it is certainly not something that he takes lightly. Collider recently spoke with Abrams and had the opportunity to discuss both the upcoming Star Wars and Star Trek films. You don’t see that every day.
[dropcap size=small]E[/dropcap]ver since fans got a glimpse of Kylo Ren wielding a longsword-inspired red lightsaber in the first trailer for The Force Awakens, the Internet has basically exploded, and Abrams is well aware of the discussions currently taking place. He recounted his own experiences regarding the feedback on the new lightsaber:
“I will say that what’s been funny is, since the lightsaber’s come out, I cannot tell you how many contradictory emails I have received from people who have both defended it with unbelievably detailed graphics…I’ve gotten things that are nuts, and I’ve gotten people who’ve shown how it’ll kill you and how it doesn’t make any sense. It’s been the funniest thing to see the arguments that have developed over this thing.”
Kylo Ren with the controversial longsword lightsaber.
Abrams went on to clarify that the debates over the new lightsaber were nothing new to him and the creative team behind Episode VII:
“It was a number of conversations [that led to the design]. It was a sketch that became a whole thing and, you know, this was not done without a lot of conversation and it’s fun to see people have the conversation that we had, but in reverse.”
Abrams went on to reveal that there is one segment in the film that was filmed for IMAX, stating “It’s really one sequence so it’s not a ton [of IMAX footage], but it’s a good sequence.” As previously expressed, Abrams reiterated the strong use of practical effects in the film versus CGI but confirmed that there are still a significant amount of computer-generated visual effects present. It was announced last summer that Looper director Rian Johnson will be at the helm of Episode VIII, but Abrams did confirm that he will be continue on as an executive producer on the 8th and 9th films in the series.
Although Abrams gave up the director’s chair for Star Trek 3 to Justin Lin, he will still produce the sequel to Into Darkness. He briefly discussed the recent development that Simon Pegg (who played Scotty in the first two films) would be co-writing the next entry in the hit series:
“[Pegg] and I had talked quite a bit about story, he had a lot of wonderful ideas. It just sort of felt obvious that he would be a wonderful person to work on the story and help craft the story, so he’s working on it.”
You can watch Collider‘s interview with Abrams in its entirety below.
After hearing some of Abrams’s insight on the upcoming films, do you think he’ll be able to live up to the extremely high standards for the fans of both franchises? Tell us in the comments!
Star Wars: The Force Awakens will be released on December 18, 2015, and Star Trek 3 hits theaters on July 8, 2016.
