If you’ll forgive the mixed franchise metaphor, prising Star Wars: Episode VII information from J. J. Abrams is like trying to lift the Arkenstone from under Smaug’s nose. It’s a kind and gentler experience, and much less likely to lead to incineration, but as The Daily Telegraph can attest, equally challenging.
In an interview to promote his book project / faux artefact S, the director-writer-producer stressed that he’s still “not a 3D fanatic” but “understood why it was important to the studio” to release Star Trek Into Darkness in the format, and hinted at a more conventional promotional campaign than those he’s previously overseen for Cloverfield, Super 8 and that Star Trek sequel. “Star Wars is in every way a different animal,” he said. “It’s always been a more open, fan-engaged universe than I’ve been used to, so I’m sure there’ll be some sort of compromise.”
Abrams admitted that his experiences with you-know-who on **Star Trek Into Darkness **would guide his hand when it came to throwing out **Star Wars **curveballs. “We were trying to preserve the unexpected for the audience”, he explained of Benedict Cumberbatch’s big bad, “but it came across as if we were trying to be too clever”.
But, Abrams emphasised, don’t expect him to throw open the curtains – and the windows of his pre-production office are currently blacked out – and let everyone peek inside his treasure trove. “It feels to me like there’s a purity in not knowing every little thing.”
Star Wars: Episode VII gets underway at Pinewood this spring and will be on our screens in all its glory on December 18, 2015.