Concluded, almost a year and a half ago with the release of
The Rise of Skywalker
, the latest
Star Wars
trilogy
has been widely appreciated in theaters. Mitigated in turn by JJ Abrams and Rian Johnson, two directors with the opposite style, the trilogy did not fail to appear like a gargantuan exquisite corpse. Already asked at the arrival in 2017 of the surprising entry of Rian Johnson
(
The Last Jedi
)
then updated at the release of his antithetical sequel in December 2019, a question remained since then on the lips of all the spectators taken aback by the disjointed character of these films: wouldn't the trilogy have benefited from being better designed from the outset? This is what JJ seems to regret todayAbrams.
“I learned - sometimes the hard way - that having a plan is the most important thing
,” he said in an interview with
Collider
published Wednesday.
To read also: JJ Abrams: "To assert that the spirit of
Star Wars
was destroyed by Disney seems delusional to me"
Asked about the benefits that a story written in advance could have brought to the trilogy, the American director spoke at length on the subject of planning within the creative industries.
“I feel like the lesson I've learned many times now (...) is that you should always plan things as best you can, and always be able to cope with the 'unexpected. Because the unexpected can take all kinds of forms
, he said.
I think there is nothing more important than knowing where we are going ”
. It has not always been the case. Like the productions of television series, an area he has known well since the time when he co-piloted the series
Lost
, the choice of flexibility seems to have prevailed around its recent projects, with its advantages as well as its disadvantages.
"Things that we thought were very well received went wrong while others, that we thought were just small moments or a character thought for a single episode, became a very important part of the story."
, referred to the director in general terms.
Stay creative in the face of the unexpected
While he doesn't explicitly mention
Star Wars
, JJ Abrams speaks knowingly. Chosen to direct
The Force Awakens
, whose 2015 release marked the saga's thunderous return to the big screen, the director was not originally supposed to repackage with Lucasfilm on a new episode of the film cycle. First entrusted to Colin Trevorrow (
Jurassic World
), the implementation of what would become
The Rise of Skywalker
was not passed in emergency to JJ Abrams until September 2017, after the stormy departure of the original director. More than a year now after the release of the last film, and while
Star Wars
comes in series, the trilogy released between 2015 and 2019 is still divided.
Where some hail a faithful and nostalgic reinvention of the myth developed 40 years ago by George Lucas, many have seen in this series of blockbusters only a pale and meaningless imitation of the films. originals.
You plan things a certain way and then suddenly find yourself doing something that is the complete opposite of it.
JJ Abrams
Read also:
The Mandalorian
: Season 2 rekindles the flame of the
original
Star Wars
If the director is careful not to be too explicit, he admits that some of his works may have disappointed.
"There are projects on which I worked where we had some good ideas which did not succeed, and others where we had ideas which we were not authorized to carry out as we wanted"
, testifies he does. To read between the lines, a not insignificant part of the choices which it must assume and which make the hybrid character of the trilogy, would be to put in equation with the inevitable dispossession, if not the interference, of which films of this magnitude can be subject during their production.
“I've been through all kinds of situations where you plan things a certain way and then suddenly find yourself doing something that is the complete opposite of it,” he
adds.
Even if JJ Abrams seems to prefer today the assurance of a plan well thought out in advance, he does not miss the opportunity to recall the eternal contingency of any large-scale project, whether it is meticulously prepared or not.
“There are times when everything works great and we say 'Wow, that really worked', while other times we say 'My God, I can't believe we are. arrived there ”; sometimes it doesn't work because of the plan, and other times it fails precisely because we don't have one ”
. Failing to have put all the spectators in agreement, the last
Star Wars
films
in any case did not fail to give a smile to Disney and a few shovelfuls of billions. With its experience, Lucasfilm may start on a better basis with the next feature film dedicated to our galaxy far - far away - favorite.