STAR WARS Postquel Update - J.J. Starts To Talk
The guys and gals at Empire probably made a Paramount publicist's blood curdle when they asked J.J. about his next gig for Disney, but to Abrams' credit he said much while saying little.
The director was asked about his self proclaimed Star Wars nerd deal with that universe, as opposed to the level of detachment and objectivity he could bring to messing about in the land of Trek. Hey sayeth:
He also provided details about the on again/off again decision making process, and something I immediately argued, that Spielberg was not quite a silent partner in making this happen."I don't know because we're just getting started. So it's a great question that I hope I'll have a good answer to when I know what the answer is. There are infinitely more questions than answers right now, but to me, they're not that dissimilar. Though I came at these both from very different places, where they both meet is a place of 'Ooh, that's really exciting.' And even though I was never a Star Trek fan, I felt like there was a version of it that would make me excited, that I would think 'that's cool, that feels right, I actually would want to see that.
"How we were going to get there, what the choices were going to be, who was going to be in it - all of those things I knew would have to be figured out, but it was all based on a foundation of this indescribable, guttural passion for something that could be. It's a similar feeling that I have with Star Wars. I feel like I can identify a hunger for what I would want to see again and that is an incredibly exciting place to begin a project. The movies, the worlds could not be more different but that feeling that there's something amazing here is the thing that they share"
"My knee-jerk reaction was that I'm in the middle of working on the Star Trek movie and I can't even consider it. But then time went by and I got further along working on the movie and getting to a place where I had done most of the heavy lifting. So when I met with Kathy Kennedy we just started discussing it and I was able to actually engage in the conversation. I went down to tell Katie, my wife, and I said 'I had just a very interesting conversation with Kathy.' That was the beginning.
I will say that Steven [Spielberg] was very encouraging of Star Wars. It's funny because I talked to him about it and it turned out he knew all about what was going on."
There had to be the likes of Spielberg easing the way for a tentpole director for Paramount to be allowed to join the Disney ranks, and when the story is fully told I'm sure his involvement will be seen to have been felt from very early on.
At the least, it's clear that Abrams is saying all the right things as we continue to be excited about how he can avoid messing up something that clearly means a lot to him personally.
