If anyone can shephard the next installment of the Star Franchise series, J.J. Abrams can!! His resume is pretty impressive, creating Felicity, Alias, Lost and Fringe on top of directing Mission Impossible III and resurrecting the Star Trek franchise. As you can imagine, he is a man with a pretty big responsibility taking over one of the most revered and loved movie franchises. On the day we met with him was also the Star Wars: The Force Awakens press event so he was pretty busy doing an entire day of interviews. So many so that he ran pretty late for ours but who cares, interviewing someone this talented doesn’t come around very often.
Getting Involved With Episode 7
Did you know he actually said no when President of Lucasfilms, Kathleen Kennedy called to offer him the job? What!! J.J. talked about how he and his wife actually had plans to take their kids away because he had been working on back-to-back projects plus working on numerous sequels. And he admitted, “..I care about Star Wars so much that the idea of the taking it on felt, like a kind of thing I couldn’t imagine and intimidating.” So what changed his mind. Kathleen Kennedy called back and convinced him telling him that episode VII would continue the story and that the main characters would be born 10 to 15 years after the Return of the Jedi.
But it wasn’t just Kathleen Kennedy who convinced him to do to the movie. We can thank his wife Katie for convincing him telling him, it was a once in a life opportunity and if this is something you want to do then consider it. And the rest is history!!
Creating BB-8
Star Wars: The Force Awakens.BB-8. Ph: Film Frame 2014 Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All Right Reserved.
From the first glimpse of BB-8 in the first trailer, fans have gone nuts over the little droid. And it was actually J.J. who drew the original sketch of what BB-8 should look like. He talked about how “if we had a sphere and then a semi-sphere on top, you could get quite a bit of expression without a face.” And did you know that BB-8 is actually controlled by a puppeteer just like the Muppets? J.J. talked about the first day they brought BB-8 to his studio and “how literally within seconds, Brian (the puppeteer) disappeared, like he was right there but it was like he wasn’t. This thing was looking around curious and you could feel the soul because Brian was imbuing him with life.”
Diversity of the Cast
Much has been made of the fact that of the diversity of the cast. I for one am thrilled by the casting decisions. J.J. discussed that it was really important that when they began working on the the script that this movie feel and look a bit more like the world.
“In casting Finn for example, we had no idea what he looked like. We didn’t have an idea what Rey would look like. We just started casting knowing like we did for Lost, for example, you needed to be inclusive. We ended up finding, Daisy Ridley, who was like a prayer answered. And we ended up finding, John Boyega, whose work I was an enormous fan of “Attack The Block.”
The First Female Villain
Captiain Phasma Costume
Captain Phasma played by Gwendoline Christie of Game of Thrones fame being cast came about because they were trying to figure out Kylo Ren’s look. They were presented with an amazing design for Kylo Ren but it didn’t make sense for the character. At that point they started coming up with this character inspired by the costume as the head of all the Stormtroopers. And why not have her as a female (and yes there are female stormtroopers.) That’s when Gwendoline Christie’s name came up. Abrams was already a fan, but just wasn’t sure it was possible to get her.
“Somehow she was available and our British casting director, Nina Gold, also cast Game of Thrones. Luckily, there was a connection there already. And Gwendoline came in and is as lovely as you’d ever want someone to be. She was such a Star Wars fan. She got exactly what it needed to be instantly and was just an utter joy to work with.”
I have to say that I just am such a huge fan of J.J. Abram, not only for his energy and passion but that he has done an exceptional job of shepherding movies that have had a huge fan base and high expectations but making those movies for the next generation.
Star Wars: The Force Awakens Trailer
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STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS arrives in theaters everywhere TODAY, December 18
Disclosure: NYC Single Mom’s travel and accommodations to attend the Star Wars: The Force Awakens and ABC TV Event were covered by Disney. As always, all opinions are 100% my own.
