One of the challenges of every Star Wars film is to present new worlds, ideas and angles that we’ve not seen before, and director J.J. Abrams is very much aware of the balance that brings. Go too far one way and it’s playing it safe, too far the other and ‘it’s not Star Wars‘ and he discusses that in relation to one of the major elements of the saga – Force powers.
“It was really important that we not just redo the things you’ve seen, but add new elements—which we knew will infuriate some people and thrill others
“Among those things are not just new ways of doing sort of traditional, must-have sequences, whether it’s chases or lightsaber battles, or what have you.We wanted to make sure that this picture also showed aspects of the Force in ways that go beyond what you’ve seen before.”
“The challenge on this film, being the end of three trilogies, was to tell a story that not only feels inevitable but also feels surprising.There are some people who want to not like something—and they will, without question, find something to not like. And people who want to like it, will find the things to like. I feel like you get criticized for changing too much, you get criticized for not changing enough. And everyone’s opinion is valid.”
“I can’t speak to what it means about the future of Star Wars, but what I can say is that you don’t want to come to this movie to see everything you’ve seen before. You want to come to it because you might love certain characters, and you want to see more of them. You might come to it because you love Star Wars and what it feels like, and what it looks like, what it sounds like. You want to see something that feels like it is moving, that it is shocking, that is also incredibly funny, that has got a big heart. But you want to make sure that you’re bringing elements that feel like it’s expanding the story, even as this brings it to a close.”
