{"id":5816,"date":"2015-12-17T09:00:17","date_gmt":"2015-12-17T17:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spijue.wpengine.com\/news\/director-abrams-on-best-way-to-watch-his-movie\/"},"modified":"2015-12-17T09:00:17","modified_gmt":"2015-12-17T17:00:17","slug":"director-abrams-on-best-way-to-watch-his-movie","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/news\/director-abrams-on-best-way-to-watch-his-movie\/","title":{"rendered":"Director Abrams on best way to watch his movie"},"content":{"rendered":"

LOS ANGELES<\/strong> \u2014 J.J. Abrams can\u2019t really settle on a favorite moment from his saga of directing, co-writing and co-producing \u201cStar Wars: The Force Awakens,\u201d but this one isn\u2019t bad.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing here now means we\u2019re actually finished with the movie, which is a relief,\u201d Abrams said with Jedi calm.<\/p>\n

The Associated Press spoke with Abrams at a weekend media event in advance of the Dec. 18 release of \u201cThe Force Awakens.\u201d The remarks have been edited for clarity and brevity.<\/p>\n

AP:<\/strong> Lucasfilm\u2019s creative executive Pablo Hidalgo helped you answer questions about the \u201cStar Wars\u201d universe during the making of the film. Did you ever stump him?<\/p>\n

ABRAMS:<\/strong> He was not only unstumpable but he was immediate. I would send him an email at almost any hour asking some arcane question and I\u2019d hit send and I\u2019d hear \u201cding\u201d and he\u2019d already have responded with an answer. What you realize, by the way, in working on these movies is that even things that are canon, that are beloved and absolute to fans, are very much fluid and in flux. For example, the Millennium Falcon itself, the cockpit changed dramatically from the first to the second movie. It\u2019s much bigger in \u201cThe Empire Strikes Back.\u201d Even things that are even the most fundamental and beloved are changing before our eyes and we don\u2019t even notice it.<\/p>\n

AP: <\/strong>Was there anything you were surprised the powers that be let you do?<\/p>\n

ABRAMS:<\/strong> I was most surprised that the studio never said no. That\u2019s incredible to me.<\/p>\n

AP:<\/strong> What do you think is the ideal way to watch \u201cThe Force Awakens\u201d?<\/p>\n

ABRAMS:<\/strong> As someone who really hasn\u2019t been the most vocal advocate of 3-D, the strangest thing happened to me on this. When I was watching the reels in 3-D, there were a number of shots \u2014 and I know this sounds insane \u2014 that I hadn\u2019t understood in the three-dimensional space quite the way I did when I saw them in 3-D. I actually felt that there were things that were playing better in 3-D. I had never felt that before. And if people have access to a theater that has laser projection, it is shockingly better.<\/p>\n

AP: Really?<\/p>\n

ABRAMS: You cannot compare a traditionally projected image with a laser image. The blacks are true blacks. It\u2019s almost as if you have to adjust to it.<\/p>\n

AP: But definitely theatrical?<\/p>\n

ABRAMS: The thing that is so fun about \u201cStar Wars,\u201d and I remember this from when I was a kid, was the communal experience of being with hundreds of people and getting to scream and laugh and cheer and cry with the story. It\u2019s got that kind of a pulse and that kind of an engine. Though I love that we all have access to movies on the devices in our pockets and I love that home screens are often better than theater 17 at the multiplex, I also feel like movies speak to a human desire, if not need, to congregate and to experience stories communally. They\u2019re experiences that allow us to feel that connectivity, which is truly what \u201cStar Wars\u201d is all about \u2014 the Force and the idea that we\u2019re all connected. In whatever format it is, whatever screening, whatever the best available version is, I would just argue that, if possible, to try to see it with a crowd.<\/p>\n

AP: This has been one of the most tightly guarded, high-profile releases in film history. When do you think it\u2019s appropriate for audiences to start talking and posting about spoilers?<\/p>\n

ABRAMS: I think that as people do and as I\u2019m sure that they will, after the first screening of this movie, that aspect will be over, the secrecy. It\u2019s not so much that we feel like the movie doesn\u2019t work if you know what happens, but I do feel like part of the magic of a movie, and certainly \u201cStar Wars,\u201d is to know as little as possible for as long as possible. But I know that people will start talking about what happens immediately.<\/p>\n

AP: Are you at peace with your decision to directly only one?<\/p>\n

ABRAMS: It\u2019s a bittersweet choice. On one hand, I felt like if this movie works for people, then that\u2019s the way you want to go out. You don\u2019t want to necessarily have to top something that worked. And if it\u2019s a disaster, no one would want me to direct the next one anyway. It was only a win.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Follow AP Film Writer Lindsey Bahr on Twitter: www.twitter.com\/ldbahr . Her work can be found here: http:\/\/bigstory.ap.org\/journalist\/lindsey-bahr<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

LOS ANGELES \u2014 J.J. Abrams can\u2019t really settle on a favorite moment from his saga of directing, co-writing and co-producing \u201cStar Wars: The Force Awakens,\u201d but this one isn\u2019t bad. \u201cBeing here now means we\u2019re actually finished with the movie, which is a relief,\u201d Abrams said with Jedi calm. The Associated Press spoke with Abrams […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":107,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_stopmodifiedupdate":false,"_modified_date":"","wds_primary_category":4,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-5816","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5816","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/107"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5816"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5816\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5816"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5816"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5816"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=5816"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}