With Star Wars: The Force Awakens just a little more than a month away, you can bet there's no one feeling the heat more than JJ Abrams. The 49-year old director is saddled with the daunting task of bringing the beloved Sci-Fi Saga to a new generation of fans while still retaining the spirit that made the original films such classics.
As part of the film's big promotional push, the director sat down with Wired Magazine for a lengthy chat that touched on the creative process he utilized to develop the new Star Wars films and a host of other topics. Here are some highlights of the conversation.
On how the film hopes to balance new narrative elements with existing Star Wars lore:
"We wanted to tell a story that had its own self-contained beginning, middle, and end but at the same time, like A New Hope, implied a history that preceded it and also hinted at a future to follow." Says Abrams.
Later in the conversation he says, that they were able to use what came before in a "very organic way."
Also noteworthy was Abrams' reflection on his time with Star Trek. Before he was handed the keys to the Star Wars franchise, the director was given the similar task of rebooting Gene Rodenberry's equally iconic universe.
Abrams' last work on the franchise, 2013's Star Trek: Into Darkness, was a critical and commercial success, but some members of the fanbase weren't too happy with the direction the story took.
"I drew on personal experiences as cautionary tales, things that I didn't want to do again. For example, I didn't want to enter into making a movie where we didn't really own our story." Said Abrams "I feel like I've done that a couple of times in my career. That's not to say I'm not proud of my work, but the fact is I remember starting to shoot Super 8 and Star Trek Into Darkness and feeling like I hadn't really solved some fundamental story problems."
To read the rest of the interview, check out Wired.
