Lawrence Kasdan Talks Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

Lawrence Kasdan

With the release of Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens rapidly nearing, the people at Los Angeles Times approached Lawrence Kasdan (the film’s co-writer) to ask about the movie.

 

LA Times: When you look back at the run-up to the releases of The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, how does the anticipation and hoopla surrounding The Force Awakens feel by comparison?

Lawrence Kasdan: There’s no comparison. The way the world is connected now, the fact that everything is instantly available to everybody, that you release a trailer and five minutes later it’s all around the world — there was nothing like that back then. Back in the ’80s, it was like, “Have you seen the trailer?” “No, I have to go to a movie that’s playing it.” I mean, Empire and Jedi were big movies. But it was just a different world.

 

LAT: At this point, it’s hard to imagine how much higher the expectations could get. There are already predictions this could be the biggest hit of all time.

LK: They’re very high expectations. The business expectations are sort of irrelevant to me. That’s going to do what it’s going to do. People are going to come — does it matter where it lands in the all-time list? I think no, not at all. What does matter is, do we feel good about it and do we think we fulfilled those things we set out to do? I’ve seen it six or seven times, and I feel very good about that. When this movie starts, you just can’t believe how dynamic and fun it is. I don’t know anybody who can resist who’s slightly open to it. [Director] J.J. [Abrams] just knocked it out of the park.

 

Lawrence Kasdan

LAT: When you were brought on board The Force Awakens, you represented a connection back to the roots of Star Wars. Did you ever imagine you’d return to the franchise?

LK: When Jedi was over, I was like, “That’s the end of Star Wars for me.” I had gone away and done a lot of other things. It’s always with you when something is that big, but I had put it out of my mind. In October of 2012, I got a call from [Lucasfilm President] Kathy [Kennedy] and she said, “We’re going to do some more movies. Can you come up and talk to George [Lucas] and I?” I went up and George had sort of roughed-out many movies — not just the new trilogy but other movies, the spinoffs and things. I wasn’t sure I wanted to do anything, but I said, “I could do the Han Solo movie” — because he’s my favorite character. Then they hired me to consult on Episode VII. And within weeks suddenly Disney owned the thing and everyone was shocked. When we got J.J., I got really excited, because I just thought he was the perfect guy to direct this movie. I didn’t really know him but when I met him he was so funny and smart and irreverent about things and he understood the virtues of what we were trying to get back to. When he agreed to do it, I just flipped out.

 

LAT: What was the process of collaborating with him on the script like?
 
LK: We did it under so much time pressure but in actuality it was the most fun writing process I’ve ever had. We hashed out the story by walking miles and miles together — Santa Monica, New York City, Paris, London — with him recording on his iPhone. We produced the first draft in six weeks. We worked right through Christmas. It was so energized.

 

Hamill

LAT: Was the plan always to bring back Luke Skywalker, Han Solo and Princess Leia and mix in a new generation of characters?

LK:Yeah, the basic thing was: We’re treating it as 30 years since we last saw them. And that’s fun because we’ve all lived 30 years in that time and we’ve all changed. We’re not pretending it’s any different than it is — 30 years have passed, whatever that means in that galaxy, and we have Han and Leia and Luke and Chewie and C-3PO, so that’s one element that’s so solid and has so much nostalgia and resonance for people. Then you have this whole brand-new cast — wonderful young people, some very young — who have never been in the movie. There has never been anyone like Adam Driver in a Star Wars movie. Daisy [Ridley], John [Boyega], Oscar [Isaac], Domhnall [Gleeson] — it’s unbelievable fresh blood. You know all these elements are going to come together in this story and you know the virtues that you’re trying to reawaken. That tells you a lot and it starts to shape up to a movie. Then obviously there’s something about Darth Vader that is so powerful and the movie embraces that and that’s another element you’re bringing in. The movies have always been about generations and families and passing on knowledge and what can be transferred and what is inherent in the universe. The Force has always been around from George’s first idea of it, and this philosophical thing mixed in with the excitement of the action — that’s a very powerful soup.

 

For the full interview, check out the Los Angeles Times article.

 

+ posts

Grant has been a fan of Star Wars for as long as he can remember, having seen every movie on the big screen. When he’s not hard at work with his college studies, he keeps himself busy by reporting on all kinds of Star Wars news for SWNN and general movie news on the sister site, Movie News Net. He served as a frequent commentator on SWNN’s The Resistance Broadcast.

Grant Davis (Pomojema)

Grant has been a fan of Star Wars for as long as he can remember, having seen every movie on the big screen. When he’s not hard at work with his college studies, he keeps himself busy by reporting on all kinds of Star Wars news for SWNN and general movie news on the sister site, Movie News Net. He served as a frequent commentator on SWNN’s The Resistance Broadcast.

64 thoughts on “Lawrence Kasdan Talks Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

  • December 3, 2015 at 11:36 pm
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    Wait, what? Maybe I’m reading wrong, or am late to the party, but were these new movies in preproduction before the Disney buyout?!

    • December 3, 2015 at 11:55 pm
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      Yep, you’re late to the party. They were.

  • December 3, 2015 at 11:41 pm
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    “There has never been anyone like Adam Driver in a Star Wars movie.” Interesting comment, I’m really intrigued what he will be like in the film. The fact that so many people tried out for the role (as with all the other new roles) and Driver is the guy Lucasfilm chose really excites me, particularly because of the nature of his character. Star wars is always at its best when it has a strong and compelling villain and I think Kylo Ren is going to be that.

    • December 4, 2015 at 12:19 am
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      I think he’s going to be less Palpatine and more Bane (from Batman). Just a cold-hearted, almost flippant villain who doesn’t value human life.

      • December 4, 2015 at 3:28 am
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        i really hope not because emotionless characters don’t bring good actor games. IMO the relation between Batman and Bane let me a really blank feeling.

        edit : btw rumors reported Kylo Ren as a member of a cult to Vader. He’s more about to play a fanatic zealot with an austerity attitude… who can be close to your vision in a certain sense..

    • December 4, 2015 at 1:17 am
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      I thinks he is hinting at the magnitude of Adam Driver’s acting ability. I can tell hes a good actor because he seems kinda nuts. Like Brando.

      • December 4, 2015 at 3:12 am
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        Or like Shia Labeouf. You know, because ‘nuts’ = ‘thespian’. 🙂

  • December 3, 2015 at 11:55 pm
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    I hope Kasdan is on point with this. He hasn’t written, directed or produced a really good film, to me anyway, since 1985’s Silverado and that was 30 years ago.

  • December 3, 2015 at 11:59 pm
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    I can’t wait for Kylo Ren story. The story that should have been Anakins.

    • December 4, 2015 at 12:28 am
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      To be honest, I don’t like how the Star Wars saga turned into the story of Anakin Skywalker… I want something original this time.

    • December 4, 2015 at 12:35 am
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      Sorry, but you don’t get your own cake and eat it (no need to act with a sense of entitlement and think that his story should’ve been how you had it played out in your mind because guess what? It was never going to be how we envisioned as the creators of these movies, past present and future, are not holding fan-centered focus groups nor polls in fishing for movie ideas). Furthermore, we don’t know what Kylo Ren’s full story is so it’s too premature to say anything about it.

      By the way, watch TCW. You’ll get more stories there (it’s canon by the way).

      • December 4, 2015 at 1:00 am
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        I don’t care what Disney says. The clone wars is ridiculous, brings back too many characters, is animated, and is for kids. Furthermore, to get the most of it, you have to watch Star Wars Rebels, another TV show. For me, the movies are cannon, and that’s it.

        • December 4, 2015 at 1:18 am
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          The Clone Wars were better than the Prequels. The large scale, multiple worlds, bounty hunters, politicians, Jedi, Sith, it has everything. Bringing Maul back was stupid, but what are you can’t please everyone.

          Rebels on the other hand has not been all that great. Only the Vader episodes were decent. The idea of Inquisitors bothers me. It should have been about Vader hunting the last of the Jedi and the birth of the Rebellion, not a cross between ANH and the show Firefly.

          As for canon, I can tell you Kasdan and Abrams are only going by the movies, not the other stuff.

        • December 4, 2015 at 1:25 am
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          There is no “for me”. You can ignore The Clone Wars, but can’t make it non-canon just because you don’t like it. And just so you know, everyone else loves the show for the most part, so I think it might just be you.

          • December 4, 2015 at 1:54 am
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            Guess how much TCW is going to affect the movies? Not one bit. So there very much can be a “for me” in regards to canon.

          • December 4, 2015 at 2:41 am
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            No, it’s not only him. I couldn’t care less about ANY product with the words “Star Wars” on it other than the films. I don’t watch Rebels, I didn’t watch The Clone Wars, I don’t read the comic books or the novels and I don’t play SW videogames.

            Besides, if X or Y SW product has no relevance on the actual films, then it doesn’t matter if it’s canon or not to those of us who only care about the films, because we’ll never know any of that stuff at any rate.

          • December 4, 2015 at 4:27 am
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            Your loss!

          • December 4, 2015 at 6:44 am
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            I’m up to Season 4 of The Clone Wars, and it’s a bit of a mixed bag overall – a lot of episodes are really brilliant, some are average, and a few are really painful and boring to sit through. But it gives you a much better insight into Anakin. It shows how the war wears him down, it shows how he slips at times and gets angry, force choking people and really intimidating them. He is the “Vader” we wanted to see more of in the prequels.

            If you enjoy Star Wars, TCW is at least worth a look, in my opinion.

          • December 5, 2015 at 2:39 am
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            Well, I was perfectly happy with the Anakin I saw in the PT, because I didn’t want him to do “Vader-esque” things. I wanted to see his fall to the dark side and in that sense, Lucas delivered. Now, Lucas’ delivery may not have been the greatest, but it was good enough for me.

            Thanks for your recommendation, though. I appreciate it. Maybe I’ll check out The Clone Wars some time.

          • December 4, 2015 at 6:19 am
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            I disagree. You can easily have a personal canon. Mine is simply KotoR and the OT. I liked half of CW and so far Rebels is pretty good. I still don’t consider any of it canon. To me true canon went out the window the second George tinkered with the OT.

            Now it’s whatever you want it to be. Sure there is the official one Disney has to go by but it’s largely unimportant to those of us not making the films. You’ll notice a lot of the time they’ll go out of their way to make it accessible to those who don’t follow every scrap. Not to mention the EU canon that was imploded.

            So to me… Obi-wans words in the OT and my imagination are what happened during the Clone Wars. Let me tell you… Anakin falling to the dark side and hunting down the rest of the order is way cooler in my mind =D

        • December 4, 2015 at 2:20 pm
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          This is hilarious. You trolls want to ignore the Prequels, TCW and Rebels, claiming it is being “ignored” and will have no presence in the Sequels. Have you visited StarWars.com lately? Most of the time, the spotlight of the week has had something to do with this big pile of great stuff you have decided is not Canon. You guys are gonna be totally butthurt when you’re proven wrong.

          Case in point: this week’s spotlight is Illum, and given the recent speculation about the location of a certain Starkiller Base after the release of that star map, I think that is no coincidence.

          You guys are gonna cry hard when someone like Cad Bane or Ahsoka Tano shows up in a live-action film interacting with someone from your beloved isolated “canon”.

          Go ahead and isolate yourselves, you’re the only ones losing in the end, and trying to troll everyone into the same tired argument of what you think is and is not Canon is getting old.

        • December 4, 2015 at 8:35 pm
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          Some of TCW episodes are much more revealing the secret of Force.
          GL wrote these episodes to supplement the movies.
          Meaning of Balance of the Force, Living Force vs Cosmic Force, Sith planet,
          those stories are priceless if you really would like to understand SW.

      • December 4, 2015 at 1:24 am
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        Be careful not to hurt too many snails with that salt of yours. Calm down.

      • December 4, 2015 at 5:24 pm
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        Fact: the prequels could have been tremendously better had Lawrence Kasdan wrote them.
        There’s nothing to get upset about with that statement, especially after watching ESB and conceding that it’s the best Star Wars film of all time.

        • December 4, 2015 at 6:28 pm
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          That´s what I always say: the prequels’ content was AWESOME, the problem was with the movies execution.

          • December 5, 2015 at 6:24 am
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            Well perhaps I jumped the gun a little too much. Yes Lawrence Kasdan could have made the prequels insanely better than they were, but real sets would have been nice as well. I’m loving what they did for episode VII

  • December 4, 2015 at 1:38 am
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    that part about meeting with lucas and kennedy before the sale to disney is very interesting. one of these days i hope it comes out what lucas was thinking for VII-IX, plus the spinoffs, if only for comparisons sake.

    • December 4, 2015 at 1:56 am
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      Yeah, that was the most interesting part to me. I tend to think that the PT was mediocre (mostly due to the dialogue and wooden acting) but the ideas were good. Lucas is a brilliant idea guy, and I do think that some of his concepts have been adopted by the new crew (i.e. the Saga films being about the Skywalker family). It would be awesome to compare the two for sure.

      • December 4, 2015 at 2:22 am
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        And Lucas asked Kasdan to write the prequels and he declined

        • December 4, 2015 at 3:12 am
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          What a tragedy that was. Ideas from Lucas and words from Kasdan would have made them so much better.

          • December 4, 2015 at 3:13 am
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            Yep – imagine another round of story conferences like the Raiders meetings. What a giant missed opportunity.

  • December 4, 2015 at 4:39 am
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    Kasdan sounds like a cool guy.

    On another note, what’s up with the b-w photo of Mark Hamill? I’ve never seen Mark look like that. Like, seriously, I followed the photo source and there are some websites saying that’s Mark Hamill and other search results say it’s someone else.
    Either Mark Hamill lost half his body weight since AFTER FILMING or that’s a doppelganger. My mind is troubled…

  • December 4, 2015 at 6:00 am
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    I know not everyone feels this way, but everything Kasdan said was great about the OT is exactly what I am hoping they bring to The Force Awakens. Specifically, humor and fun. Real, witty humor that makes sense within the story — not pasted-in signifiers of humor. And actual fun, not characters telling you they’re having fun.

  • December 4, 2015 at 6:12 am
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    Sounds amazing. I take this guys opinion more to heart than most others. I almost wish they had recorded each other’s sessions. Can you imagine listening to their brainstorming? Must have been epic.

    • December 4, 2015 at 7:35 am
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      Kasdan said they recorded, while they walked, on JJ’s iPhone. They’d absolutely keep those audio files.

  • December 4, 2015 at 6:37 am
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    “When this movie starts, you just can’t believe how dynamic and fun it is.”

    Although I feel like I have seen a lot of the movie already from the trailers, I really have no idea what the opening is going to be (Except that the first word is “This!”). I really hope it is as fun and dynamic as Kasdan says it is.

    The opening crawl fades away, the music quietens down, and then… what?!?!

    • December 4, 2015 at 7:25 am
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      Space….

      • December 4, 2015 at 7:27 am
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        And then?!

        • December 4, 2015 at 7:29 am
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          The space battle everyone wants and loves!

          • December 4, 2015 at 9:29 am
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            I hope so – something we haven’t seen a clip of yet.

          • December 4, 2015 at 2:22 pm
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            There is a quick shot of Poe, when he says ‘Give it all you got’. It looks like that was in space! Not sure though.

          • December 4, 2015 at 2:26 pm
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            Yeah that looks awesome – to me though it seemed like something we’d see later in the movie? But I could be wrong!

          • December 4, 2015 at 3:48 pm
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            Yeah, nice suggestion, “give it all you got”… So basicly he is ordering the pilots to quickly launch all their proton torpedoes, deplets its shields and lasers and, finally, do just like Arvel Crynyd.

    • December 4, 2015 at 3:13 pm
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      This is JarJar, the Sith leader… we need to find him and kill him Luke.

  • December 4, 2015 at 8:39 am
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    In LA times article , Kasdan said Rian Johnson would do a wired thing in Episode 8 , which excites me. What will he do ? May be time travel thing in SW universe?

    • December 4, 2015 at 9:28 am
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      I think he was talking about the different styles of directors. I hope that’s all he means… I hope they’re not going to try something deliberately weird just to be different.

      • December 4, 2015 at 9:44 am
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        Benicio DelToro , who is in Episode8, told Rian Johnson would bring about real Sci Fi coolness to SW in his interview of Sicalio. Definitely he is up to something different.

        • December 4, 2015 at 10:20 am
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          Sounds interesting – I hope it’s good!

    • December 4, 2015 at 12:18 pm
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      There were the rumors of Hayden being in the next episode. It would be interesting if he does a Godfather Part 2 thing with Anakin and Luke. Two different timelines showing father and son. I doubt it though.

    • December 4, 2015 at 3:12 pm
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      Everyone has to wear an Ocolus Rift headset to watch the movie.

      I kid

  • December 4, 2015 at 5:49 pm
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    Awesome group of actors. I hope they kinda have a cameo of obi wan and anakin in the next one or have them in the anthology series. I just watched episode 3 and ewan and Hayden and are not that bad in it. I’m sure they could be even better with a great director.

  • December 4, 2015 at 10:18 pm
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    “We hashed out the story by walking miles and miles together — Santa Monica, New York City, Paris, London — with him recording on his iPhone.”

    Would that we get those soundbits in the special features!

  • December 4, 2015 at 10:24 pm
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    Can someone email Pomojema’s contact information. I have a huge the Force Awakens/SWNN related news I want to share with the site. My email address is tnaufcwwefreak@gmail.com. I am dead serious.

    • December 4, 2015 at 10:51 pm
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      Try the forum, Not sure how much they check these columns.

  • December 4, 2015 at 10:52 pm
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    I really hope he doesn’t pull a Lucas in this one considering he also wrote the Han Solo film.

  • December 5, 2015 at 12:32 am
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    Did everyone miss that Kasdan totally revealed the exact time-frame and age Han will be in his Anthology film? “You have to imagine him 10 years earlier in his early 20s,” Kasdan said. So, there we have it. It’ll be roughly 10 BBY, with an early-20s Han. The 2,500 actors they’re auditioning range from early teens to 30s, but I imagine they’ll actually pick someone who can believably pull off 21 or so.

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