J.J. Abrams Responds To Critics Who Say 'The Force Awakens' is Just A Rip-Off Of The Original Star Wars Trilogy

Image: Lucasfilm/Disney

Some critics pointed out how Star Wars: The Force Awakens recycled a lot of elements used in the original Star Wars trilogy. Although I partly agree with their statements, I thought the film a great job paying homage to A New Hope without hewing too closely to the original storyline.

Director J.J. Abrams responded to that criticism to The Hollywood Reporter:

"I knew that, whatever we did, there would be a group of people — and I was just hoping and praying that it would be smaller than not — that would take issue with any number of things," Abrams says in

the latest episode of THR's Awards Chatter podcast

, admitting that everything about the project initially scared him. "But I knew we weren't making the movie for any other reason than we believed that it could be something meaningful and special and entertaining and worthy of people's time."

"I can understand that someone might say, 'Oh, it's a complete rip-off!' What was important for me was introducing brand new characters using relationships that were embracing the history that we know to tell a story that is new — to go backwards to go forwards."

I thought Abrams and screenwriter Lawrence Kasdan did a fantastic job bringing new elements to the saga while paying homage to the original trilogy. To those who thinkThe Force Awakens relied too much on the original trilogy's plot formula, what would you have done differently?