The director admits that 'if we got intoxicated by the nostalgia of what we were doing, the movie was gonna suck.'
- Dec 8, 2015
AceShowbiz - J.J. Abrams talks about directing "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" in a new interview with PEOPLE. While admitting that he was blown away by the "Star Wars" movies when he was 11 years old, Abrams didn't want to ruin the upcoming installment.
"As a kid, it was a mind-expanding amazement," Abrams says. "If we got intoxicated by the nostalgia of what we were doing, the movie was gonna suck. We had to very quickly move on to the job at hand, which was to be actors and crew members and filmmakers and directors, and do the work we were all there to do."
Abrams reveals he was initially hesitant to helm the upcoming "Star Wars" movie after having just rebooted the "Star Trek" franchise. He agreed to do it after Kathleen Kennedy, the new president of LucasFilm, hooked him.
"Kathleen Kennedy brought up the idea of 'Who is Luke Skywalker?'," Abrams recalls. "George Lucas told a story about everyman, everywoman characters who were nobodies who had to step up and become somebody. The idea that there would be a new crop of nobodies in the Star Wars universe who didn't realize yet they would become somebody, that was a very powerful feeling."
Abrams later worked on "The Force Awakens" script along with Lawrence Kasdan, who co-wrote "The Empire Strikes Back" and "Return of the Jedi". Kasdan said of the return of Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher and Mark Hamill, "We wanted to see them after 30 years. There was nothing really that we had to do but there were enormous possibilities of what we could do."
The pair are joined by cinematographer Daniel Mindel, who worked with Abrams on the "Star Trek" movies and "Mission: Impossible 3". "The thing about J.J.'s scripts is, as a cinematographer, it is hugely intimidating to read them in a cold way," Mindel says. "My initial instinct is, 'How are we going to do that?!' They're just massive moments."
So, do the characters, story and those massive moments create a new "Star Wars" movie which doesn't "suck"? Kathleen previously said that the film was screened for George Lucas. "He really liked it," she explained.
"Star Wars: The Force Awakens" is scheduled to hit U.S. theaters on December 18.
