Star Wars: The Force Awakens Featured in the January/February Issue of Wired UK
The double issue is a Star Wars special that includes a great cover interview with JJ Abrams, as well as features on sketching Darth Vader’s backstory; the big business of Star Wars toys; the super fans who brought R2D2 back to life; and the inspiration behind dressing The First Order.
Here are a few quotes from the interview with J.J. Abrams sent to us by Wired:
On using real props and locations:
‘Being able to use CG to remove things such as puppeteers, arms and controls and strings and legs of people that were under creatures, instead of adding things, was priceless. We were in a desert in Abu Dhabi with five guys inside a Hopabor costume – in between takes they would shove an air conditioning unit up its ass to cool the guys down so they didn’t die in 50°C heat. But you had this physical, tangible creature right there that John Boyega could interact with. Could it have worked otherwise? Of course. We’ve all seen movies that have done that. But by making it physical and real, I would argue it made that scene better. None of this makes it a good movie, but some of it can prevent it from being a bad one.’
On being a Star Wars fanboy:
‘The key to doing this movie for me – and I think I share this exact sentiment with everyone else in the crew – was to acknowledge, embrace and appreciate your fandom, and then put it in your pocket. I could’t be on the set and be a fanboy, I need to be a director… None of the original actors wanted a fanboy to work with… So while there were moments – almost every day- where I would find myself gasping that it was happening, I would have to suppress that and do the job required, because no one, and certainly not the movie, would benefit from my being blinded by the love of Star Wars. There were nights where I would go to bed at night and just think “Holy s**t, we shot a chase sequence in the Millennium Falcon today.” But I was holding my breath all day because I couldn’t let myself bathe in the impossibility of what we were doing.’
For the full story make sure to get the January/February issue of WIRED UK.
Founder of SWNN, MNN and The Cantina forums.
Born on April 24, 1980.
So unreal… err not the practical effects. I mean it’s so unreal that it’s only 9 days! I’m not going to be able to see it right away so I’ll probably have to avoid this site post launch… but man. So exciting.
Got my tickets today. Bloody exited 🙂 The 16th. at 06.00 pm. Thats freeking in just one week and half a day.
Hah I’m watching it at 5 pm that day 😉
dont text me and spoil what is an hour ahead. 🙂
The irony is that a friend of mine watches it at 3 pm and threatened me with spoiling it… so we can call this a spoiler-chain 😀
they should really STOP CALLING IT A REBOOT its not a reboot they can’t be THAT stupid or ignorant to not see it!
It’s clearly a sequel to return of the jedi. He’s not restarting anything, only continuing.
I know that, tell that to those journalists… journalists from italy understood that at least!
My take on it with the “entire universe” part is that they’re probably referring to TFA and the way it’s tending to set the storyline for the initial rebirth coming about for the non-film media (the reboot of the old EU). But still… just doesn’t sound right, nor is he masterminding it all, just wielding a bit of influence. Poor choice of wording.
It has no returning planets or locations, the least amount of familiar characters of any Star Wars movie, and new central villain for the first time ever. Kind does feel like a reboot.
huh? Episode 1 had 5 ‘familiar’ characters.
The Force Awakens has 6…. how is that less?
A reboot would entail that it was not connected to the other movies (was not connected to, or in the same universe, as those other movies). This is just a sequel happening 32 years later.
Your forgetting Jaba the hutt who had more screen time than Luke, 3po, and R2. But it’s a tie at best. This will be just like Star Trek. A thin link to the previous films, but a reboot that won’t be able to stand on its own.
excuse me- what? Just having an old han solo proves it’s no reboot….
Just like how old spock didn’t make the 2009 Star Trek a reboot? Just one of many examples of Star Wars just following trends under Disney. The non reboot reboot is a way to seem edgy and innovative, but is just lazy really. They arent just paying homage to A New Hope, their flat out copying the script and just changing a few things here and there.
Because you’ve seen the movie? Here’s how it is. This Han, unlike Spock in Trek ’09, is the same Han from all of the other movies, just older. You can do whatever kind of mental gymnastics you want, but this is not a reboot. And that is a FACT.
Spock in ST09 was the same Spock from the past films. Same actor and everything. JJ is even ignoring the Prequels like he ignored the Next Generation stuff.
He is ignoring them, but he’s not stating that they’re in a different timeline. they’re still canon. This movie is a SEQUEL, and it doesn’t erase the canonicity of any other film, or state that it’s in a different universe. It’s not a reboot. get over it.
With your literal definition even Star Trek 09 isn’t a reboot, just a continuation of he original story involving time travel. In the 21st century, TFA is in every sense a reboot. It has a whole new cast from the new generation following a script that is pretty damn close to that of ANH. It’s bunch of new characters in new locations recreating the themes and elements of the original. The fact that they have it thinly linked to the original narrative with some returning actors makes it worse. They are clearly not confident enough to let it stand on its own. They have to reference the original to give it weight and legitimacy. Ala, Star Trek: generations, STAR TREK 09, and Star Trek into darkness.
2009 star trek is way more debatable wheter it’s a reboot or not.
I’m one of those worried that there’s a lot in common with ANH, but it’s really clear that episode VII (even just considering its number) is not a reboot. A reboot is when they remake a film. If we had Oscar Isaac playing Han solo and daisy ridley playing Leia in a story that sobstitutes ANH it would have been a reboot.
Yes so close but so far!!
Starkiller Base within range in eight days… and counting
Do people even know what the term “reboot” means? This is NOT a reboot, it’s a continuation!
So is it Hopabore or Happabore?