Director J.J. Abrams did not think he would be sinking his teeth on another franchise again, right after delving into two "Mission: Impossible" and two "Star Trek" films. This is exactly why he initially turned down offers to direct "Star Wars: The Force Awakens."
"I said 'No'. I didn't want to do a sequel. I'd done a Mission: Impossible movie; I'd done Star Trek. I didn't wanna do another sequel-I'm sick of movies with numbers... As a fan, I'd rather just go to the theater and watch the movie," he told Howard Stern on his radio show.
However, producer Kathy Kennedy really wanted him for the job, and did a great job convincing him to helm the seventh installment to the "Star Wars" franchise.
"Kathy said can we get together, and so we sat down and we just started talking about Star Wars," he shared. "We just started talking about what this thing could be, and as we were talking about it I found myself suddenly on fire... When Kathy and I started talking about these characters, the idea that Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Princess Leia-this is 40 years ago, so for someone who's 19 years old, they're myths. Who knows what they know about them? People wouldn't even know, maybe, who some of these characters are."
Abrams really wanted today's moviegoers to connect with the characters from the "Star Wars" universe the same way he did as a young boy, and to be the one to tell that story to them is a gift he did not want to pass on to someone else.
"And the thing that got me, that grabbed me, was that feeling of a new, young character-in the case of this conversation it was a female character, didn't know anything about her, but in the conversation that question of this young woman asking, 'Who is Luke Skywalker?', I don't know why but it made me feel like, '(Expletive) that's so cool!' That there would be a discovery, these would be essentially kids who didn't see Star Wars themselves who would be in this universe. The idea of sort of rediscovering this world," he explained.
These new characters Abrams was referring to are Daisy Ridley's Rey and John Boyega's Finn, and they, together with new generation viewers will get to know the "Star Wars" legends portrayed by Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, and Mark Hamill when "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" finally makes its way to cinemas on December 18, 2016.
