![]() Working with Larry definitely ties for first in terms of incredible experiences I’ve had with this project. Were there moments from your life or your own work from which you drew inspiration? He said recently that his own life experiences-and the span of time not working on Star Wars-readied him to work on this film. You mapped out the story with Lawrence Kasdan, who cowrote The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. If you are a fan of Star Wars, what they experience will have added meaning. But these new characters, which Force is very much about, find themselves in new situations-so even if you don’t know anything about Star Wars, you’re right there with them. We didn’t have to come up with a backstory that would make sense it’s all there. We’ve been able to use what came before in a very organic way, because we didn’t have to reboot anything. The Force Awakens has this incredible advantage, not just of a passionate fan base but also of a backstory that is familiar to a lot of people. In that first movie, Luke wasn’t necessarily the son of Vader, he wasn’t necessarily the brother of Leia, but it was all possible. When Star Wars first came out, it was a film that both allowed the audience to understand a new story but also to infer all sorts of exciting things that might be. 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. How much of The Force Awakens is geared toward welcoming people back to the Star Wars franchise versus starting something completely new? How do you strike a balance between those two imperatives? We’ve been baking this cake for a long time, and now it’s time to serve it. Abrams: Good! It’s a crazy thing, right? I can’t wait for people to see the movie. Wired: How are you feeling? It seems like only yesterday you were announced as the director of Episode VII. Can Abrams do it? Well, you know what Yoda said about merely trying. The lightsabers are drawn the coordinates for the jump to hyperspace are calculated. I sat down with Abrams to ask him about balancing these competing (ahem) forces to tell an epic story from a long time ago and a galaxy far, far away. No pressure, right? After all, the stakes are merely the future of the franchise that made Abrams a filmmaker a mythology held precious by millions of people for four decades and, oh, right, billions and billions of dollars in movies and merch over the next half century (at least). But when he first met those movies he was just an apprentice. He loves those movies as much as you or any of your laser-brained friends do. With The Force Awakens, Abrams is marshaling the same actors, writers, designers, and even the same composer to reanimate the characters and themes that made the original Star Wars into, well, Star Wars. It’s one of the things that invented modern superfandom. Sure, this won’t be the first time Abrams resurrects a beloved Enterprise. He has inherited the one megafranchise to rule them all. It’s clear that in addition to being one of the most gifted movie directors in the world, somehow the heir apparent to both Steven Spielberg and George Lucas, Abrams is also a superfan. ![]() Those vintage 1970s Star Trek action figures aren’t just sitting there. But if you look closely (we looked closely) you will see a meticulousness to the madness: The props and tchotchkes are all dust-free and carefully arranged. Abrams’ Bad Robot Productions and you enter a world of memorabilia-the murderous Talky Tina doll from The Twilight Zone, rows of old VHS tapes labeled “Midnight Movies,” a Six Million Dollar Man board game, assorted Godzillas. Step through the sleek, anonymous metal door of J.J.
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