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<\/p>\nMelbourne Australia 26th of January 2013 – It’s official, J.J. Abrams is the director for Star Wars Episode VII! Let’s hope that Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher can resume their roles as mentors for the next generation of Jedi!<\/p>\n
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Disney Press Release<\/p>\n
After a bevy of emails and phone calls, the formalities have been wrapped up, and at long last everyone can exhale and properly share the word with an excited Internet. Yes, J.J. Abrams will direct Star Wars: Episode VII, the first of a new series of Star Wars films to come from Lucasfilm under the leadership of Kathleen Kennedy. Abrams will be directing and Academy Award-winning writer Michael Arndt will write the screenplay.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s very exciting to have J.J. aboard leading the charge as we set off to make a new Star Wars movie,\u201d said Kennedy. \u201cJ.J. is the perfect director to helm this. Beyond having such great instincts as a filmmaker, he has an intuitive understanding of this franchise. He understands the essence of the Star Wars experience, and will bring that talent to create an unforgettable motion picture.\u201d<\/p>\n
George Lucas went on to say \u201cI\u2019ve consistently been impressed with J.J. as a filmmaker and storyteller.\u00a0 He\u2019s an ideal choice to direct the new Star Wars film and the legacy couldn\u2019t be in better hands.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTo be a part of the next chapter of the Star Wars saga, to collaborate with Kathy Kennedy and this remarkable group of people, is an absolute honor,\u201d J.J. Abrams said. \u201cI may be even more grateful to George Lucas now than I was as a kid.\u201d<\/p>\n
J.J., his longtime producing partner Bryan Burk, and Bad Robot are on board to produce along with Kathleen Kennedy under the Disney | Lucasfilm banner.<\/p>\n
Also consulting on the project are Lawrence Kasdan and Simon Kinberg.\u00a0 Kasdan has a long history with Lucasfilm, as screenwriter on The Empire Strikes Back, Raiders of the Lost Ark and Return of the Jedi. Kinberg was writer on Sherlock Holmes and Mr. and Mrs. Smith.<\/p>\n
Abrams and his production company Bad Robot have a proven track record of blockbuster movies that feature complex action, heartfelt drama, iconic heroes and fantastic production values with such credits as Star Trek, Super 8, Mission: Impossible Ghost Protocol, and this year\u2019s Star Trek Into Darkness. Abrams has worked with Lucasfilm\u2019s preeminent postproduction facilities, Industrial Light & Magic and Skywalker Sound, on all of the feature films he has directed, beginning with Mission: Impossible III. He also created or co-created such acclaimed television series as Felicity, Alias, Lost and Fringe.<\/p>\n
Past Star Wars veterans, dating back to the classic trilogy, offered words of praise from their direct experience with Abrams:<\/p>\n
Visual Effects Supervisor Dennis Muren, ASC, whose credits include the original Star Wars trilogy as well as landmark films such as E.T. and Jurassic Park, also worked with Abrams on Super 8. \u201cHe puts everything he has into his work,\u201d said Muren. \u201cHe totally immerses himself. He\u2019s got such a visual eye, which is so important to the Star Wars films. It seems that a lot of the same things that were in George when he made the first Star Wars films are also in J.J. I think he\u2019s going to fit into the other movies perfectly, with the energy that J.J. has. We\u2019re kick-starting Star Wars again with dynamite. It will knock people out, including the people who get to work on it. I think it\u2019s a great choice.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ben Burtt, responsible for such iconic Star Wars sounds as Darth Vader\u2019s breathing, R2-D2\u2019s beeps and the classic lightsaber, has worked with Abrams as sound designer and sound editor on Star Trek and Super 8.\u00a0 \u201cJ.J represents the next generation of filmmakers from those that were making Star Wars when I started,\u201d said Ben Burtt. \u201cWhen he was a teen, he was a fan of Star Wars, and a great deal of his love for movies came out of his reaction of that first Star Wars film. You feel that he\u2019s already invested so many years in it, and he\u2019s going to propel it forward in a new way. In other words, you\u2019re having a fan who has grown up and developed tremendous directorial skills finding himself at the steering wheel to take the franchise into the next stage. I feel like I\u2019m there watching history turn over from one era to another.\u201d<\/p>\n
Matthew Wood, who served as supervising sound editor on Super 8, similarly grew up as a Star Wars fan before working on the films through the prequels. \u201cWorking with him, it was so obvious to me that J.J. and I have the same nostalgic love of that era. Now we have someone from that generation who is going to be at the helm of the Star Wars franchise that I\u2019ve known and worked on, so it\u2019s a great circle. Just seeing what he did with Super 8 and capturing those moments, and knowing what was so special about that era, it\u2019s going to speak to a new generation of audience as well.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Melbourne Australia 26th of January 2013 – It’s official, J.J. Abrams is the director for Star Wars Episode VII! Let’s hope that Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher can resume their roles as mentors for the next generation of Jedi! Disney Press Release After a bevy of emails and phone calls, the formalities have<\/p>\n