J.J. Abrams On Those Missing Scenes From STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS
Most of us noticed several moments from the Star Wars: The Force Awakens trailers that didn't make it into the final film, such as that very early (and very cool) shot of Kylo Ren igniting his lightsaber in the Starkiller Base forest. In a new interview, Abrams explains why they cut 'em out...
Remember that shot of Kylo Ren and our first glimpse of his cross-guard Lightsaber? How about that intriguing shot of Maz Kanata handing Leia Luke Skywalker's old weapon of choice? Those moments from the first couple of teaser trailers along with several smaller shots and bits of dialogue never made it into the final cut of Star Wars: The Force Awakens - and we even lost an entire character in Constable Zuvio.
So why did these things end up on the cutting room floor? Well, quite simply, they needed to tighten up the movie and J.J. Abrams felt they were superfluous. “Sometimes you discover that things you would have cut off a limb to shoot on the day are absolutely inconsequential, and in fact less impactful than if you were to remove it," the director explained to EW. “As much as you try to kick the tires and write and shoot only what is necessary — no one wants to waste anyone’s time — when you’re in the editing room you realize, for instance, that introducing the character there actually diminishes their power, or giving that information actually distracts you from what you should be concentrating on. Or, having that moment happen concurrent with that moment actually gets in the way of both — things like that.”
Abrams mentions the Maz Kanata lightsaber scene specifically, as the absence of that shot made fans realize that at one point there must have been a bigger role for Lupita Nyong'o's mysterious alien character. “That was a scene actually filmed, but we took out," he confirmed. "At one point, Maz used to continue along with the characters back to the Resistance base, but we realized that she really had nothing to do there of value, except to have her sitting around. Lupita did film scenes on set for that sequence, but it felt like going right just to go left, and it was unnecessary. So we ended up leaving those things out.”
Maz may not have done much after her initial scenes on Takodana, but at least establishing that she did return with the Resistance would have meant that she didn't vanish from the film without any explanation! Anyway, hopefully we'll get to see that and many more extra content when Star Wars: The Force Awakens hits home release. Do you think the picture would have been better served by leaving this stuff in, or are you glad it was cut?
About The Author:
Mark Cassidy is a writer, photographer, amateur filmmaker, and Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic from Dublin, Ireland.