J.J. Abrams is "building a tactile world, a world you can touch. And he's replicating it with all the love of somebody that has the world's greatest collection of Star Wars figures," the "Clerks" director gushed.
Kevin Smith
Despite a blurry, leaked image of the Millennium Falcon, there's been few tangible details released from
J.J. Abrams'
Star Wars: Episode VII set.
So, on June 30, when
Clerks director
Kevin Smith posted an Instagram
photo teasing that he had visited the set at the U.K.'s Pinewood Studios,
Star Wars fans clamored to tease any hint of what Abrams had been planning for
George Lucas' universe.
Smith -- a dedicated
Star Wars fan who earlier wrote a
guest column for
The Hollywood Reporter detailing his dream for the new film -- quickly dashed hopes by noting that he had signed a non-disclosure agreement. But he liked what he saw: "all I can share are this old Bantha-Tracks subscriber's tears and snotty nose of joy. The Force is WITH this movie."
The Instagram post left plenty of unanswered questions. And the director has addressed a few of them, speaking at length during an appearance at Neuchâtel International Fantastic Film Festival in Switzerland on Saturday.
"[Abrams] had sent me an email out of the blue while they were shooting in Abu Dhabi last month," Smith said, explaining the
Star Wars invite.
"So we go to the set and they're actually shooting, and they're shooting -- and this is what I can't tell you what they were shooting -- But what I saw I absolutely loved," he said. "It was tactile, it wasn't a series of f---ing green and blue screens in which later on digital characters would be added. It was there it was happening."
"I saw uniforms, I saw artillery that I haven't seen since I was a kid. I saw them shooting an actual sequence in a set that is real -- I walked across the set, there were explosions -- and it looked like a shot right out of an f--ing
Star Wars movie," he said. Smith also got a tour of "Stage M," where he he saw the full scale Millennium Falcon and stepped inside to walk around.
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Abrams is "building a tactile world, a world you can touch. And he's replicating it with all the love of somebody that has the world's greatest collection of
Star Wars figures," Smith gushed.
Smith was a guest of honor at the Swiss film festival, which runs from July 4-12. Video of the event is
here (NSFW language included), via
Slashfilm. The
Star Wars discussionbegins after the 35 minute mark.
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hea...episode-716843
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This is more of the same, but I love hearing about all the practical being used. Hearing this news is making it hard for me to temper my expectations. I will say that it appears Abrams has a genuine love for the material.