'Star Wars 7' News [VIDEO]: J.J. Abrams Gets Help From Fans on 'Jimmy Kimmel Live,' Feels Awkward Discussing 'Episode VII,' Producer Wants to Keep Secrets!
Star Wars: Episode VII will hit theaters in 2015 but news is coming in pretty much every day in concerns to the movie. We are definitely in the very early stages of the film, yet fans can't seem to get enough of even the little updates. Luckily, director J.J. Abrams is promoting his new film Star Trek Into Darkness so each interview usually turns to Star Wars. But how does he feel about talking about this project so early? Also, what are his bigger plans for Star Trek and Star Wars in the multimedia world? Plus, since he's in the early stages of Star Wars, Jimmy Kimmel decided to have some fans help J.J. out with some ideas for the new film.
Check out this funny clip from "Jimmy Kimmel Live" where some audience members (and some special guests) give Abrams some advice when it comes to the next Star Wars installment:
So these ideas were not exactly that great, but it really seems like everyone (including William Shatner) wants to see Princess Leia and Chewbacca have a love story of sorts. Maybe Abrams took down some notes after this segment!
Abrams recently talked to the Associated Press about how his interviews usually turn into Star Wars conversations and how awkward he feels sometimes. He said: "What the approach is going to be remains to be discussed, because it's in process. So it's a weird thing to be talking about. If I'm charging down the court dribbling the ball, it's hard to comment on the layup that's about to take place. I feel like the ball is just getting passed to me now, to complete the annoying metaphor."
Abrams and his Bad Robot production studio are known for being scretive. So will there be many secrets with Star Wars: Episode VII? Earlier this month, LucasFilm President Kathleen Kennedy stated:
We talk about that all the time. I think the whole issue of confidentiality is gonna be fascinating as we move into making the movie. If we're shooting anything outside, it's almost impossible to not have things end up on the Internet. So my feeling is, you need to embrace that, especially with the fans around something like Star Wars. You need to recognize they're important to the process and acknowledge there are things you're gonna want to make sure they get to know. So I think that's something we're going to monitor, pay attention to and think differently about.
But recently, her co-producer Bryan Burk of Bad Robot said in response:
Well we haven't had those conversations, but I'm sure she would agree, and by the way having grown up watching all of her movies, you know... nobody saw ET before and I didn't know what the temple in The Temple of Doom was until I saw it. I guess what I'm saying is it's always that balance. It's a hard thing. If I were to right now tell you all of the things that were going to happen in Star Wars in detail, the left side of your brain would say 'Awesome,' you guys would have this exclusive and know all of this stuff. But the right side is going to sit down one day and see the movie for the first time and you'd have all of that kind of spoiled, so it's that balance of wanting to know everything and not wanting to know everything at the same time.
It's like a magic trick and there's nobody who wants to know how all of the magic tricks are done more than me. Then the second I learn how they are done, it's like "Oh" and it kind of goes away. So it's a little bit of that balance and it's funny, because I'm having this conversation with Damon sitting next to me who we would regularly talk about this on Lost. His mother is one of those people who, when reading a "whodunnit" novel, will always turn to the last page immediately and find out who did it. She is one of those people, but I think people who are desperate to find out what's going on with Star Wars as we move forward are going to find out what's happening with it. It's just you're damned if you do and you're damned if you don't.
So there will be some plot points kept secret! Sounds fun!