J.J. Abrams Was Offered STAR WARS: EPISODE VII; He And Chris Pine Comment On New Trilogy
Star Trek Into Darkness director J.J. Abrams talks here about turning down the opportunity to be involved with Disney and Lucasfilm's Star Wars Episode VII, but also expresses his excitement to check out the new franchise. Chris Pine (Captain Kirk) weighs in with his thoughts too!
The latest Empire Magazine features a lengthy feature on Star Trek Into Darkness, but it should come as no surprise that a certain other sci-fi franchise was brought up during their conversations with the cast and crew. When Chris Pine was asked to share his thoughts on whether he would be interested in being involved with the new films, he was quick to point out that he's committed to another franchise right now. "I'm committed to three. That's the contract I signed. And as far as I know, everyone else is in the same situation. But there's obviously room for both Star Trek and Star Wars," he added. "We both have plenty of things to offer sci-fi. But I'm not saying any more that that! There are more than enough Star Wars stories around at the moment!"
J.J. Abrams has already taken himself out of the running when speculation as to who should helm Star Wars Episode VII was at an all-time high last month, but reveals here that he was at one point asked to be involved with the highly anticipated film from Disney. "There were the very early conversations and I quickly said that because of my loyalty to Star Trek, and also just being a fan, I wouldn't even want to be involved in the next version of those things. I declined any involvement very early on. I'd rather be in the audience not knowing what was coming, rather than being involved in the minutiae of making them." The studio are clearly setting their sights pretty high if they at some point offered the gig to Abrams, but as we near the new Year, we still don't know who will sit in the director's chair (Matthew Vaughn is thought to be the favourite).
"I guess the franchises could go up against each other, but I'm not thinking that far ahead," laughed the director when the magazine put the idea forward that the next instalment in the Star Trek franchise could end up facing off against one of the new Star Wars movies. "I'm a huge fan of Star Wars, Empire and Jedi, and the idea of the world continuing is exciting and will be amazing. Kathy Kennedy is a friend and there are no smarter producers. It's in great hands." For more, be sure to pick up the latest issue of Empire when it hits stands on December 27th.