star wars

J.J. Abrams Wants Star Wars to Be As Delightful As a Twirling Umbrella on a Bright Spring Day

Mission Impossible NY Premiere
Just peachy! Photo: Photo Image Press/Corbis

A newborn puppy. Your nephew’s smile. Those inflatable dancing guys that advertise car dealerships. J.J. Abrams’s new Star Wars. The smell of cinnamon rolls. Five dollars in your dirty jeans. What do all of these things have in common? If Abrams gets his wish, they’re all positively, emphatically, indubitably delightful. As the director tells Wired, one question occupied him above all else during production on Force Awakens: “How do we make this movie delightful?†Abrams recalled many wonderful conversations with Lawrence Kasdan about how to accomplish this charming and amusing and splendid and sublime goal: “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.†And if those enchanting and endearing and appealing things end up as equally adorable toys, well, that’s just a delightful coincidence.

J.J. Abrams Wants Star Wars to Be ‘Delightful’