J.J. Abrams Says There are Secret References in Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Vanity Fair's coverage of Star Wars: The Force Awakens was huge; in addition to the behind-the scenes photos and character reveals, the magazine also featured an interview with director J.J. Abrams. Earlier this week, we shared a part of that interview, in which he described to pull back some references from The Force Awakens. Now, the magazine has released the whole interview online for us to see. When Abrams was asked if he fooled around with references of film history, he says:

There are a few specific references that are kind of my own little stupid, secret ones. But I will say that because the world is a different place now than it was when that movie came out, we can't come out with the same thing and expect people to react as if they hadn't seen it before. I'm not sure we could count the movies that have, since 1977, tried to embrace a similar mythic quality and in some cases a similar aesthetic or even humorous approach to a space adventure.

So on the one hand, you're tempted to turn this into a meta–Star Wars, but that feels like you're taking, by default, an ironic approach, which feels anti–Star Wars. So to me it's not about trying to remake exactly what we've seen. It's about inheriting and embracing the elements of Star Wars that are the tenets of what is so powerful. If this were a Western . . . well, there are the plains, there's the saloon in town, there's the bad guy who probably wears dark clothes, there are probably horses, there might be a stagecoach. I mean there's the list of things that you know every Western must have.

With the footage we've seen in the trailers so far, it's clear that Abrams has the vision that embraces the elements of Star Wars. He goes on to describe the importance of point of view in seeing the galaxy, far, far away:

And you know that in the Star Wars universe there are going to be certain things that you're going to want to see, and that's cool and that's great. But what I realized early on was it was all about point of view—meaning it's not like you just objectively throw in a star field or a spaceship or a desert planet or whatever the thing. The question is, who is that person in that experience? Why does it matter to them? What are they desperate for or afraid of? For me, you could reference all the stuff you want, but the experience of the audience in this is that they've got to be sitting with someone who happens to be on-screen going through these experiences. And then that's not just a desert planet; it could be the most desperate place in the world. Or that's not just a spaceship flying by; it could be the greatest, most heroic moment of your life.

That's a great point. Making a great Star Wars film isn't just about bringing back together nostalgic Star Wars references, but it's also about re-imagining its universe through the eyes of its characters. You can read Abrams' full interview at Vanity Fair.

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