Will Force Awakens have the same flare as Star Trek?
[dropcap size=small]O[/dropcap]ne of the most exciting things about the Montclair Film Festival this year was the news that the upcoming Star Wars: Force Awakens has nearly officially 100% wrapped its post production tweaking, with director J.J. Abrams confirming it once and for all in an interview with Stephen Colbert.
The pair sat down and had a lengthy two hour chat about JJ’s directing career, and of course, talk inevitably lead to Force Awakens, one of the hottest films Abrams has ever dared to tackle.
But this was not the first beloved franchise Abrams has taken on – as many will know – he also directed the recent Star Trek reboot movies, Star Trek and Star Trek Into Darkness.
The films were generally very well received, but Abrams did get some flack for his over-use of lens flares in scenes, and it simply can’t be denied that it’s incredibly lens flare heavy.
Abrams took the criticism with a smile, and explained his overuse of the flare wasn’t intentional, and he didn’t quite expect it to be as key a feature as it turned out to be:
When we were doing Trek, what I loved was this idea … that the future that they were in was so bright that it couldn’t be contained…I didn’t think we’d have quite that number of them [lens flares], I just fell in love with how it looked, and I started to get in trouble with it with people because they were like, “Enough already.”
With this in mind, Colbert couldn’t resist poking some fun, and asked JJ if we should fear the flare making much of an appearance in Force Awakens. Many fans across the internet have been expressing their own concerns about the mighty flare invading Lucas’ world, with some rather humourous results:
Abrams was quick to take the joke, and reassure the audience and Colbert that he’d calmed down on that front:
As you’ll see in the Star Wars movie, I’ve allowed lens flares to take a very back seat. There are a couple [moments] where you have to have them.
After which Abrams finished off the lens flares joking by telling Colbert he would tell the special effects team:
[T]hese are not the flares you’re looking for.
Good one, JJ.
Star Wars: Force Awakens will be in theatres 18 December, 2015.
