Lawrence Kasdan Wanted STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS To Feel Less Like The Prequels

As the screenwriter of The Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi, The Force Awakens, and the Han Solo anthology film, Lawrence Kasdan has had a big hand in forming the Star Wars universe. Recently, he sat down with the Los Angeles Times to discuss the past, present, and future of the franchise.

First of all, Kasdan discusses why he wanted Star Wars: The Force Awakens to feel more like the original trilogy. 

”The story [in the prequels] does not interfere. We only have to deal with the first trilogy so we didn't have to deal with it much. They obviously have a certain feel, and that was not the feel we wanted this one to have. This is much more related to "A New Hope" and "Empire." [Pauses] The thing I always loved about "Star Wars" — and George had this when he made "A New Hope" and J.J. can hook into this very strongly — is that it's goofy, you know? There are big issues and there's some philosophy, but it's basically goofy. And I think "The Force Awakens" is goofy — in the best way. Wherever there's a question: Could that happen? Well, why not?”

Kasdan also comments on how it was like working with J.J. Abrams and has a lot of praise to offer for the director.

”Now with J.J., you get a whole new generation with a kind of dynamic mastery of camera and effects put together by someone that has a strong personality himself. He's a really decent guy, and he makes movies the way I try to make movies, which is that it's a privilege to make a movie and no one should be miserable. You're spitting in the face of luck if you're not having a great time. And that's infused in the movie. So what you're going to get is very much the J.J. Abrams movie.”

Furthermore, Kasdan discussed the benefits of having different directors on every new installment in the Star Wars franchise moving forward.

”These movies will all be so different. ["Episode VIII" director] Rian Johnson is a friend of mine — he's going to make some weird thing. If you've seen Rian's work, you know it's not going be like anything that's ever been in "Star Wars." You couldn't have three more different people than J.J., Rian and ["Episode IX" director] Colin [Trevorrow]. Those movies will have the "Star Wars" saga as their basis, but everything else will be different. Then Phil Lord and Chris Miller are going to make the Han Solo film and I can't guess what that will be like — and I'm writing it!”

He then briefly commented on his approach to the upcoming Han Solo anthology film, which, from the looks of Kasdan's comment, seems to be very much an origin story.

”You know, he's younger in this [spinoff] movie and that's fun because you have to imagine him 10 years earlier in his early 20s. What was he like before he hardened up? Before he had some setbacks? Before he put on this cynical coat? What got him there?”