J.J. Abrams Talks STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS And Involvement In Future Movies

J.J. Abrams Talks STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS And Involvement In Future Movies

Star Wars: The Force Awakens director J.J. Abrams talks here about that controversial crossguard lightsaber, the movie's one IMAX sequence, his role in Rian Johnson's Episode VIII and Episode IX, and how he feels about Simon Pegg taking over writing duties on Star Trek 3...

News
By JoshWilding - Feb 05, 2015 02:02 PM EST
Filed Under: Star Wars
Source: Collider
In the following interview with Collider, J.J. Abrams talks in detail about his plans for Star Wars: The Force Awakens, revealing his surprise over the reaction to the crossguard lightsaber ("It’s been the funniest thing to see the arguments that have developed over this thing") and more. The filmmaker also confirms his limited involvement with the next two movies, stating: "I wouldn’t say 8 and 9 are my baby, Rian will be working at least on 8, but I’m executive producing those films, yeah." It sounds like Episode IX could still end up being directed by someone else then, something which makes sense until Johnson proves himself with VIII. As for Star Trek 3 getting a new writer in the form of Simon Pegg, Abrams adds: "[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." Check out the video below for more!

About The Author:
JoshWilding
Member Since 3/13/2009
A lifelong comic book fan who grew up on Spider-Man: The Animated Series in the '90s, Josh Wilding has been contributing to ComicBookMovie.com since 2009.

While he's also written for websites like Batman-News, HeyUGuys, and WhatCulture, Josh is CBM's Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic and the site's #1 contributor with nearly two decades of experience covering film and TV news (including interviews with Tom Holland, Chris Pratt, Gary Oldman, Halle Berry, Jon Bernthal, Tom Welling, and hundreds more).

Based in the UK with his wife, Josh is also an avid WWE and Formula 1 fan and writes about those passions on CBM's sister sites, TheRingReport.com and FullThrottleHQ.com. Favourite superhero? Spider-Man. Favourite pro wrestler? CM Punk. Favourite F1 driver? Max Verstappen.
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DaVinci31
DaVinci31 - 2/5/2015, 2:54 PM
"I wouldn’t say 8 and 9 are my baby, Rian will be working at least on 8..."
MattBracken
MattBracken - 2/5/2015, 2:54 PM
Itsbeenfun
Itsbeenfun - 2/5/2015, 2:55 PM
He's a creative genius IMHO
MarkyMarkRises
MarkyMarkRises - 2/5/2015, 2:59 PM
"This comes from the mouth of Abrams himself, addressing a group of attendees at a recent Hollywood industry event… this is banquet season after-all. Apparently, his desire for secrecy does not apply in this case, as he openly expressed his frustration about the Episode VII leaks. Adamant about the project’s secrecy, Disney is reportedly taking Abrams’ request very seriously and is looking at a possible summer release. This would put Star Wars up against other giant franchise releases, namely Jurassic World and Avengers 2: Age Of Ultron."

It's official. I love J.J. Abrams. This is a man that [frick]ing loves his movie and wants to make it the best thing he can and as enjoyable as possible for fans he knows well (being he himself is actually a fan).

Probably won't be reading any more rumors, in honor of his hard and passionate work, and my love for the franchise. Boy, you really don't see that kind of passion in the business.
SauronsBANE
SauronsBANE - 2/5/2015, 2:59 PM
Haha I saw that @DaVinci31! Hilarious.

I'm pretty sure I'm more excited to see what Rian Johnson does with Episode 8 than I am to see Abrams' The Force Awakens. I mean, The Force Awakens obviously has the novelty of being the first sequel to the original trilogy in DECADES...but Johnson just might be the superior filmmaker out of the two.
MrFridayNights
MrFridayNights - 2/5/2015, 3:01 PM
J.J. Abrams is way better than Joss Whedon.
Y2H
Y2H - 2/5/2015, 3:06 PM
I'm not a star wars fan, but I know they have a strong fanbase. In 9th grade literature class, I had to watch this documentary about Star Wars and the Hero's Journey. Very cool stuff. I recommened it to all Star Wars fans. It shows why Star Wars has such an impact on human society and the way we view the world around us. The only thing I like about Star Wars is the toy light sabers. But its pretty cool to see the way it utilized the Hero's Journey to revolutionize humanity. So what you gonna do when Hero's Journey, 9th grade literature, and StarWarsMania runs wild on YOU, brother!


SauronsBANE
SauronsBANE - 2/5/2015, 3:07 PM
Eh...Abrams doesn't quite have a handle on the character side of things like other directors do. In all the technical aspects of filmmaking, he actually might be one of the best in the business (lens flares notwithstanding). But man, the dude just has no natural storytelling instincts to save his life: characters and themes are definitely his MAJOR weakness. Everything just feels a little too polished and glossy and...detached, if that makes sense.
LEVITIKUZ
LEVITIKUZ - 2/5/2015, 3:11 PM
I am really happy Rian Johnson gets to do Episode 8. Not hate on Abrams but Rian is probably my one of my favorite directors. Personally when Marvel announces their Spider-Man reboot for Phrase 4, I would love Rian to direct Spider-Man for some reason.
batz11
batz11 - 2/5/2015, 3:17 PM
J.J. Abrams is way better than Zack Snyder.
Schmoopy
Schmoopy - 2/5/2015, 3:19 PM
Behold! The Hollywood super-Jew!
batz11
batz11 - 2/5/2015, 3:19 PM
I even felt dumberer writing that comeback to MrFriday, now I know how JCamer0n and Diamondz feel...
Gab
Gab - 2/5/2015, 3:20 PM
SauronsBANE
SauronsBANE - 2/5/2015, 3:25 PM
"I even felt dumberer writing that comeback to MrFriday, now I know how JCamer0n and Diamondz feel..."

LOL!
Tempo
Tempo - 2/5/2015, 3:26 PM
For man that create that cross lightsaber,the female stormtroopers,and recycling ideas I can only say...[frick] you JJ Abrams,you and your stupid ideas,this isn't a canonic Star Wars just like Dragon Ball GT isn't a canonic Dragon Ball
SauronsBANE
SauronsBANE - 2/5/2015, 3:28 PM
"For man that create that cross lightsaber,the female stormtroopers,and recycling ideas I can only say..."

The cross lightsaber is completely new, female stormtroopers are completely new (I'm honestly shocked you didn't mention the black stormtrooper too), that ball droid is completely new, almost all the vehicles we see in the teaser are redesigned. What ideas are he recycling?

Star Wars "purists" are the absolute worst.
Lozzy
Lozzy - 2/5/2015, 3:35 PM
@MrFridayNights

Why bring up Joss Whedon?
Itsbeenfun
Itsbeenfun - 2/5/2015, 3:35 PM
Well... the thing I think most people get confused about is that filmmaking evolves, and Directors evolve. Like if Zack persay has given us the best comic book movie of all time with BvS then people would say different things about him and change their opinions. I more so look at the style of each director and who is the most innovative/exciting. All these guys are talented though of course
Tempo
Tempo - 2/5/2015, 3:36 PM
@SauronsBANE:Star Wars lives with the purist without them there isn't a real SW phenomenon like that,recycling ideas like: Empire again,X-wing again,rebels again,sith again,no real innovation,not Yuuzhan Vong,not a real Jedi Academy,not Dark Empire,so all the new stuff we have seen is just shit,"cross lightsaber! Yeah because normal and double already exists,ball droids! R2-d2 in not enough,black jedi stormtropper! Yeah a new hero for the minority,female stormsroppers! yeah Empire is progressive! Destroy a timeline of years! Yeah we have all new fantastic ideas for the continuity like the Inquisitor!"
SauronsBANE
SauronsBANE - 2/5/2015, 3:41 PM
@Tempo

1) Stop commenting in all bold. It's annoying and unnecessary.

2) Star wars does NOT "live with the purist". The only reason Star Wars became a pop culture phenomenon is because the general audience got swept up in it too, not the nerds. The die-hards and purists are in the minority. Same goes for The Avengers, Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, and anything else you can name.

3) You literally know nothing about the movie. No one does. Forgetting the fact that the teaser shows a TON of innovation, let's wait til we actually see it before we condemn it for "no real innovation"?

4) Being "progressive" does not destroy ANYTHING. In fact, it improves it. The prequels did a million times more damage to your precious timeline than a female or black stormtrooper ever will.
Itsbeenfun
Itsbeenfun - 2/5/2015, 3:41 PM
@Jollem

100% Agree
ShadowlordSavage
ShadowlordSavage - 2/5/2015, 3:43 PM
SauronsBANE -

Actually the cross-guard lightsaber isn't really new it was introduced in the old EU. Also After the clone wars and a period when other clones of people were made, the empire stopped the production of clones entirely. Instead they focused on human male recruitment with the rarity of females sprinkled in to become stormtroopers.
SauronsBANE
SauronsBANE - 2/5/2015, 3:47 PM
@ShadowlordSavage I see what you mean, but that's kind of getting into semantics territory though. The EU is not canon, and (as far as I know) no Star Wars movie has borrowed elements from that material. The crossguard lightsaber would be the first. So in that regard, it's innovative. But point taken.

And yeah, 100% right about that last part. No disagreement here. It makes perfect sense to have female and minority stormtroopers. It's funny though, because when the teaser first came out, most "purists" tried to say "NO, ALL STORMTROOPERS ARE CLONES OF FETT, SO THEY CAN'T BE BLACK OR FEMALE". It just goes to show that sometimes, even the die-hards don't even know all that much about their favorite property.
ShadowlordSavage
ShadowlordSavage - 2/5/2015, 3:47 PM
I don't get the criticism of the black stormtroopers as black people obviously existed in the Star Wars universe and like I said eventually the the Empire stopped using clones.
Tempo
Tempo - 2/5/2015, 3:50 PM
@SauronsBANE:The purist are the guys that buy their games,their books,their comics,their movies,their tv series,their merchandise,are the people that keep alive a franchise after years.
The intent of a trailer is attract the poeples,see a sweaty black dude,a horrible lightsaber,again Falcon/Tie/X-win are not very attractive for me,when the prequel comed all the style was new,completely new spaceship,new setting,new costume,put again Empire Vs Rebels and again a resurrected Sith is not innovation for me
Tempo
Tempo - 2/5/2015, 3:54 PM
@SauronsBANE:And I repeat the Disney movies are not [frick]ing canonic,no way out
ShadowlordSavage
ShadowlordSavage - 2/5/2015, 3:54 PM
Actually the rule of two, Coruscant are some examples taken for the old EU. Also while old EU is not canon, they still use some of it's elements. Starwars: Rebels creators admitted that as such so it's not like it's completely thrown out, just that whatever the filmmakers want to make canon could remain canon while other things may not.
MarkyMarkRises
MarkyMarkRises - 2/5/2015, 3:55 PM
@Tempo

Go away. Star Wars isn't supposed to be hateful, it's supposed to be fun and laid-back and something to bond over. You're not making the fanbase look good (then again CBM.com isn't exactly any fanbase' nicest group of fans).
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