WIRED interview with JJ Abrams

There's a great interview that WIRED did with JJ Abrams pretty recently. JJ talks about everything from inheriting the biggest film saga ever to making sure the cast worked well together. Pasted below are some of my highlights:

On working with Larry Kasdan:

"Working with Larry definitely ties for first in terms of incredible experiences I’ve had with this project. We all take our experiences with us from one project to the next, but in this case, I never looked to draw from my past work. More than anything, I drew on personal experiences as cautionary tales, things that I didn’t want to do again. For example, I didn’t want to enter into making a movie where we didn’t really own our story. I feel like I’ve done that a couple of times in my career. That’s not to say I’m not proud of my work, but the fact is I remember starting to shoot Super 8 and Star Trek Into Darkness and feeling like I hadn’t really solved some fundamental story problems.

The collaboration, for me, was an education in storytelling and doing so with clarity, with efficiency, brevity—wit. It was a little like taking an extended master class. And because he’s also a director, he knew what I was going through in prep and in production, and he allowed for my needs. Sometimes those needs were practical, other times they were creative needs or feelings I had. But he was there to help that process, the same way I would have been if I had known he was directing. It was always about moving this thing forward in the right way, about making this movie the right way. I can’t say enough about him.

So I tried to not forget the mistakes I’d made, but I also tried to focus on things that I find inspiring about cinema. I asked questions like “How do we make this movie delightful?” That was really the only requirement Larry and I imposed on each other: The movie needed to be delightful. It was not about explaining everything away, not about introducing a certain number of toys for a corporation, not about trying to appease anyone. This has only ever been about what gets us excited."

On the production design of the new film:

"It all started at the very beginning, when we were working with Michael Arndt, the first writer on the project. While Michael and I were collaborating, I invited our production designer, Rick Carter, into the story process. Just as it would be impossible to separate John Williams’ score from the Star Wars movies, it was impossible to separate what Ralph McQuarrie and his design team had done from A New Hope. My sense was that the sooner Rick could be part of the process, the better. He’s an incredible dreamer; his mind will go amazing places and dream up things you never would have imagined.

Then there were things like the radar dish on the Falcon, which clearly was ripped off in Jedi, so it needed a new one. But part of the decision was made as a fan. There’s a part of me that wants to know: That’s the Falcon from this era. Now I know that when I see the Falcon with the rectangular dish, we’re at a moment after it traded hands. It also helped us mark time."

On casting The Force Awakens:

"A lot of this cast wasn’t even born in 1977. How do you relay the legacy of what Star Wars means to people like you and me? Or is that a burden that you try to avoid?

It’s a really strange thing, when you think about being born into a world where it just exists. Despite their having been born horrifically recently, these kids knew about and understood Star Wars in a way we all do; they just were born into it as opposed to it happening during their lifetime. The key in casting them was finding people who were able to do everything. When you think about all that these characters go through, not just in this movie but knowing their work would continue, these individuals needed to be worthy bearers of this burden and opportunity to continue to tell the story. I think about the Harry Potter movies—that’s unbelievable that they cast those films the way they did. And for what, eight movies?! That was a miracle. They needed to be able to do everything, and they all killed it.

We knew we weren’t just casting one movie—we were casting at least three. That, to me, was the biggest challenge. When we met Daisy Ridley, when we found John Boyega, and then Oscar Isaac and Adam Driver came aboard, we got really excited. And yes, Daisy and John could work together, but what happens when Harrison’s in the mix? What will that feel like? If it doesn’t spark, it’s a fucking disaster. Yes, BB-8 is a great character, amazingly puppeteered, but what will happen when he’s suddenly in a scene with C-3P0 or R2-D2? Will it feel bizarre? Will it feel wrong? Somehow it didn’t. When Anthony Daniels told me, “Oh my God, I love BB-8!” I said, “We’re going to be OK.” Because if he’s OK, it’s working.

Or seeing the sweetness between Han and Rey or the tension and comedy between Han and Finn. It was really exciting to say, “These scenes are working!” We worked really hard to cast and to write and to put it all together, but you just don’t know until you start shooting. Then all of a sudden, you’re on-set watching it and you know. It’s a little bit like having a party and having friends from your new school meet friends from your old school, and you think, “What’s going to happen?” And all of a sudden they’re getting along famously and this party’s really fun! It was a lot of work, but it ended up being great."

Head on over to Wired.com to read the interview in full.

Movie Review: The Lone Ranger

What follows are my thoughts after seeing Disney's The Lone Ranger last night. Spoilers to follow.

Disney has tried to recreate a classic with their latest film, and, in my opinion, have failed miserably. Although I have only seen one episode of the classic TV series (which ran from 1949-1957 with 221 episodes), I can tell you that the similarities go only as far as the title and main characters.

One of the things that really put me off about this movie was the amount of violence that was in it. I knew going into the film that it was going to be a little darker than, say, Pirates of the Caribbean, but I was not expecting this amount of violence and gore from a Disney film. For instance, about 30 minutes into the film, the Dan Reid, one of the Rangers for the town of Colby, Texas, gets shot off his horse. They could have ended the scene right then and there, and the audience would have known that he was dead, as many classic Western films have done, but again, Bruckheimer and Verbinski didn't stop there. The antagonist, Butch Cavendish, proceeds to cut his heart out and eat it. He ate his heart. WTF Disney?! Judging from a few other moments in the film (Red's ivory leg), Butch got his name from butchering people and eating them. I digress.

Another thing. I totally understand John Reid's moral code of not killing anybody, and bringing them to justice in a court of law. It's one of those themes that the classic Western The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance is all about. But Rance Stoddard never donned a mask to fight his enemies. The Lone Ranger did. I'm not arguing for a double-standard of morality, I'm just saying that you live in the Wild West. There are no laws. There is no authority. The only justice there is is the 6-shooter on your side. USE IT.

The cinematography on the film was rather odd, actually. Some of the framing, particularly in the beginning of the film, frames some people who are talking so that their head is cut off. I'm not sure if this is because the filmmakers wanted us to feel uneasy about this particular character, or if they just got lazy, but either way, it worked. The film was shot in Colorado, southern Utah, New Mexico, and California. I loved the expansive landscape shots in the d. One of them in particular is during the end credit sequence, where it shows Tonto and The Lone Ranger riding off to bring justice to the wild west. Cinematographer Bojan Bazelli used a mixture of film and digital to capture the beautiful scenery. The daytime exteriors were shot on Kodak VISION3 50D 5203 35mm film, and the night time exteriors and interiors were shot on the Arri Alexa Studio camera. I actually liked how the film looked and felt in terms of it's grittiness, because the wild west was a gritty and dirty place.

The music was one of the few things in the film that I actually enjoyed. Once the film gets it's legs (at about 2 hours into the film), we finally hear the classic William Tell's Overture, as The Lone Ranger starts to do his thing. I wish there was more of that in this film.

One of my beefs with the film are the many times that Tonto somehow miraculously appears in the right place at the right time, or how he got out of jail, etc... Instead of showing us some tricky way of how he did it (ala Jack Sparrow style), the filmmakers cheapened the experience by cutting away to the older Tonto telling the story to the young boy at the fair, and having the boy ask the question that was on the audience's mind, only to be met with a cross-eyed gaze from the aging Tonto, who just proceeds with the story. Also, how did they know that the dynamite and the kerosene was in the vault at the bank? There were many other plot holes, and they make up the whole of the movie. 

Oh, and Tonto is really Jack Sparrow in disguise.

I feel like this film was trying to be something that it wasn't. It was trying to be fun, but by the climax of the film, you're worn out and just want to leave anyway. The climax (the only real fun part of the show), reminded me of Buster Keaton's 1926 classic film The General. Except that everything that you see in The General is honest-to-goodness real. There were no bad CGI buffalos or disorienting camera moves, or cannaballistic rabbits in The General, either. But I definitely had more fun with that film. Oh, and did I mention that it's a black and white silent film?

I give The Lone Ranger a 4/10, and that's being generous.

JJ Abrams is Directing Star Wars Episode VII, and Why that's a Good Thing

News broke today that JJ Abrams will be taking the helm of the newest Star Wars film, Episode VII. Due to Abrams' list of directing credits and his storytelling capabilities, this is a very good thing.

One of the things that I like about Abrams' style is that he shoots on film. Real film. The stuff that people keep saying is extinct. This is hopeful for Star Wars fans, because the series went south once Uncle George started shooting the films on his shiny new HD cameras:

Now I'm not saying that HD makes things bad. Only partly though. I'm saying that shooting in HD is easier to do than shooting with film. The turnaround time is faster. The image is cleaner. You can get 14+ stops of Dynamic Range with the RED EPIC. You can review what you're shooting as soon as it's been shot. It's just easier. And that easiness leads to complacency, and complacency shows when you're making a film.

The above image shows the stark contrast between the Original Trilogy and the prequel trilogy (it's not capitalized because it doesn't deserve it). I hope JJ Abrams uses actual models in his film, rather than just saying to throw in some CG and calling it good. The fans deserve more than that.

One of the things that I am concerned about with JJ Abrams taking the helm of this film is his excessive use of lens flares everywhere, and so our movie could end up looking like this:

I hope not. I hope he leaves those in the Star Trek universe where they belong. I trust that he'll make the right decisions when it comes to things like this.

And so there you have it. I can't wait for 2015 (seems like forever away). Make us pround, JJ, make us proud.

So Disney bought LucasFilm today...

So Disney bought LucasFilm today. Below is the video of George Lucas talking about the deal.

Along with that  (obviously) comes Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Industrial Light & Magic, Skywalker Sound, and any other company that Uncle George has made along the way. This is big news in more than one way.

First, Princess Leia is now a Disney Princess. Yes. It's happening.

Second, Disney has announced that Star Wars: Episode VII will hit theaters in 2015, with two more movies to follow. Yes, yes, I know that it sounds like a thousand years away, but still. It's coming.

Third, Disney is not going to ruin Star Wars. A lot of people have been fussing that Disney will ruin Star Wars, and that their childhood will be ruined. Well, I think that we hit rock bottom with Episode II, and so the only place to go is up!  Did you know that Disney also owns Marvel? Oh, and did you know that Marvel just made an awesome movie called THE AVENGERS (which, I might add, is sitting comfortably as the third highest grossing movie of all time)?!? Also, I don't recall seeing Micky Mouse in that flick, or, for that matter, having ANY Disney overtones. Get over it people! This is not going to ruin your childhood!

Personally, I am excited for new eyes and fresh ideas for the new Star Wars films. I also hope that one day they get around to making the live-action Star Wars series they've been talking about for years now. I really, REALLY hope that happens.