J.J. Abrams On Star Wars 7 Inspirations & Lightsaber Duels

As the wait for Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens becomes shorter, Lucasfilm is sharing more and more from their highly-anticipated film. New television commercials are debuting every other day, magazine covers feature the heroes and villains in action, and an interactive partnership with Google has been launched. After three long years, the return of the galaxy far, far away is about to become a reality.

Nobody is more relieved at that prospect than co-writer/director J.J. Abrams, who is ready to share his film with Star Wars fans around the world. The trailers have provided many encouraging signs that Abrams was able to recapture the old school space adventure vibe of the classic trilogy, but those were not the only films he looked towards for inspiration.

In Empire‘s coverage of The Force Awakens (hat tip Star Wars News Net), Abrams revealed that his research went beyond Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi. He was influenced by some unlikely sources during pre-production to get a better idea of how he wanted Episode VII to look:

Before he started The Force Awakens, Abrams watched some movies. No, not those ones, Other ones. He looked at “the confidence” of John Ford Westerns. He took in the “unbelievable scene choreography and composition” of Kurosawa’s High and Low. And he studied “the powerful stillness” of Terrence Malick. “It’s not something I would normally have thought of coming to Star Wars,” he says. The spare visual style of Ford, Kurosawa and Malick points to a key mandate for Abrams’ approach to Episode VII: the distinctive less-is-more quality of the originals.

Since film is a visual medium, “show, don’t tell” is a useful tool filmmakers have at their disposal to inform the audience. Elements like shot composition and lighting can convey so much about the characters and situations, the imagery of a movie has the potential to be much more efficient and effective than expositional dialogue. It’s a positive development that Abrams strived to emulate this style, and based on what’s been shown so far, the look of the film has already left a strong impression with moviegoers.

Abrams also discussed his approach to filming the Force Awakens lightsaber battles. Those who felt the duels of the prequels were a little too choreographed and elaborate will be pleased to hear that Abrams looked back at the “primitive” nature of the original trilogy duels when plotting out the Finn vs. Kylo Ren fight:

“When you look at Star Wars and Empire, they are very different lightsaber battles, but for me they felt more powerful because they were not quite as slick. I was hoping to go for something much more primitive, aggressive and rougher, a throwback to the kind of heart-stopping lightsaber fights I remembered being so enthralled by as a kid.”


In addition to how the physical fights were portrayed, the duels of the classic trilogy were so compelling because of what was happening internally with the participants. Frequently, they were used to develop the characters and give audiences a deeper look into their psychology. One would hope that Abrams incorporated this aspect into The Force Awakens as well, so the lightsaber battles are not just flashy sequences, but have a meaningful impact on the story he’s telling. That would be an ideal way to give a new generation of youngsters “heart-stopping” moments of their own.

“I call it like a divorce,” Lucas says candidly. He always knew that at some point he’d have to part with “Star Wars” in order for the franchise to go on living.

“There is no such thing as working over someone’s shoulder,” he says. “You’re either the dictator or you’re not. And to do that would never work, so I said ‘I’m going to get divorced.’ . . . I knew that I couldn’t be involved. All I’d do is make them miserable. I’d make myself miserable. It would probably ruin a vision — J.J. has a vision, and it’s his vision.”

As recently as a couple weeks ago, with fans going ape over tidbits and new trailers for “The Force Awakens,” Lucas had still not seen the film. Not a frame.

He expected that he would soon see it here at the ranch (“I’ve got the best theater in the world,” he notes), perhaps even with Abrams and Lucasfilm Ltd. President Kathleen Kennedy (a longtime Lucas collaborator) in the room, watching him watch it. What then?

“Now I’m faced with this awkward reality, which is fine,” Lucas says. Extending the metaphor, he says it’s like when a grown child gets married. “I gotta go to the wedding. My ex will be there, my new wife will be there, but I’m going to have to take a very deep breath and be a good person and sit through it and just enjoy the moment, because it is what it is and it’s a conscious decision that I made.”

“Doing this museum, I’ve realized that most cities don’t want museums, they don’t really care about them,” Lucas says. “You know, it’s too esoteric for most people, and they don’t see them as educational institutions.”