THE FORCE AWAKENS Is Complete and J.J. Abrams Talks Favorite STAR WARS Alien, Lens Flares, and More
Over the weekend, J.J. Abrams showed up at the "Celebrity Nerd-Off" event at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center with The Late Show host Stephen Colbert. While at the event he revealed that he completed the final cut of Star Wars: The Force Awakens on Saturday morning at 2:38 am. Now that the film is finished Abrams can sit back, relax a bit, and let Disney continue to market the shit out of the movie until it's released on December 18th.
Abrams talked about a few other things like who his favorite alien in the Star Wars universe is, cutting back on his use of lens flares in the movie, and a J.R.R. Tolkien film project that Colbert would like Abrams to direct.
During the panel Abrams was asked about his favorite alien creature in the Star Wars universe that didn't have a main role in the film. Abrams chose an alien named Kardue’sai’Malloc, the red grinning devil looking guy from the Cantina scene. The director explains:
"The first thing that comes to my mind, and I don’t know his name but I’m sure he’s got a novel written about him, was in the cantina, that guy who smiled. This guy with this amazing face, and I remember as a kid seeing it, and just being like, holy crap. It wasn’t just that it was cool-looking, but it was that little thing that was representative of what George Lucas was doing everywhere you looked … They were characters that told you there was life and character and drama happening beyond the borders of what you were seeing, and it was an inspiring, inspiring thing."
When talking about the use of lens flares in the movie, Abrams said:
“I’ve kind of pulled back. As you’ll see in the Star Wars movie, I’ve allowed lens flares to take a very backseat. We’re making sure that it looks photorealistic and photoreal, but every time there could be a flare — because you know, I like to do that a lot — I would say ‘These are not the flares you’re looking for.'”
Of course, we all know there are going to be a few. There are a couple of them that pop up in the most recent trailer. Later on during the Q&A session a member of the audience asked Colbert what Tolkien project he would like to see Abrams to direct, and this was his response:
“I would ask him to make what’s called the Akallabêth. It’s got all your greatest hits in it. It’s got elves in it, it’s got Sauron in it… It’s a perfect story. It’s complete. I think of anything in The Silmarillion, you should do that.”
For those of you not familiar, The Akallabêth is the fourth section of Tolkien’s The Silmarillion. If you want more details on what it entails, click here. It would be amazing if that were turned into a movie, but I seriously doubt it will ever happen.
Abrams has been hard at work on The Force Awakens the past three years, and he admits that he's ready to say goodbye to it.
“It’s been like living with the greatest roommate in history for too long. It’s time for it to get its own place. It’s been the greatest and I can’t tell you how much I want him to get out and go into the world and meet other people. We know each other really well... Of course I’m, in turns, thrilled beyond words and more terrified than I can say.”
You can watch part of the "Celebrity Nerd-Off" event below if you are so inclined:
Via: /Film and Flavia De La Cruz