J.J. Abrams has just admitted to io9 that the road to 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens' was a long and difficult one. Although 'Episode VII' started out with Abrams only working as the director, 'Indiana Jones' writer Lawrence Kasdan as a consultant and 'Little Miss Sunshine' screenwriter as the writer, the team underwent several changes over the years.
First off, J.J. Abrams shared how their group started with the script.
"The very first discussions we had were about feeling," Abrams confirmed. "What did we want to feel in this film? What did we want the audience to experience and feel? I know that sounds so stupid and obvious, but it was the most important thing to me. The absolute fundamental 'What do we want the experience to feel like?'"
They decided on exhilaration, joy, fear and spirituality before launching into more questions.
"Why are we telling the story at all? If we wanna feel that way, how do we do it? Who are these new characters?" Abrams shared. "Because this had to be a new story about new people and that was all gonna be about trying to serve that feeling."
Just as the storyline was beginning to develop, the group encountered a problem. Michael Arndt admitted that he needed a year and a half to finish the script. Unfortunately, they only had six months. J.J. Abrams had to make a decision to get the script on time, so he turned to Lawrence Kasdan.
"I sat with Larry and I said, 'Look, there are things about the story that I know are right. And I believe we could actually answer the questions that we still need to be answered if we wrote this together,'" he revealed.
The 'Empire Strikes Back' writer agreed, but this meant they would need to start from scratch. However, J.J. Abrams admitted that they kept a few key elements from the original Michael Arndt script.
"I said to [Larry], 'Look, we're gonna start to reincorporate very quickly many things because I know I want this young woman to be at the center of this thing. I know I want this Stormtrooper to abandon his post.' There are just fundamental tenets of what we had come up with that were gonna stick," he confirmed.
The finished product, 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens,' will premiere on December 18.
