Abrams: “There’s a purity in not knowing every little thing.”

In a new interview with The Telegraph, J.J. Abrams talks a bit about Star Trek, Star Wars and keeping secrets.

Before the release of last year’s Star Trek Into Darkness, Abrams tried to keep secret the identity of the villain played by Benedict Cumberbatch – something he now regrets. “We were trying to preserve the unexpected for the audience, but it came across as if we were trying to be too clever,” he says.

“Star Wars is in every way a different animal. 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. But it feels to me like there’s a purity in not knowing every little thing.”

Secrecy, but not outright Khan-style lying for Episode VII? Let’s hope so.

He also reveals that Bad Robot staffers have “covered up all my windows with black paper,” while he’s working on the Star Wars script, “It seems rather extreme.”

Erm, maybe not. (via)

One Reply to “Abrams: “There’s a purity in not knowing every little thing.””

  1. Original comments:

    1 Emily // Jan 25, 2014 at 1:51 pm

    “…there’s a purity in not knowing every little thing.”

    *snort* Has he met this fandom?

    2 jawajames // Jan 25, 2014 at 3:17 pm

    “…there’s a purity in finally settling the discrepancies of scale and firepower when comparing models of supposedly the same ship from film to film.”

    I think this is what he really meant.

    3 WFDT // Jan 26, 2014 at 8:54 am

    Emily: If he didn’t learn that about Trekkies, he’ll never learn it.

    4 Aaron // Jan 26, 2014 at 9:38 am

    The little things Mr. Abrams can gladly keep to himself, but a couple of the bigger ones might be nice… ;-)

    5 Derek // Jan 26, 2014 at 10:49 am

    I was spoiled rotten for AOTC, but then went “spoiler free for episode three”. I preferred being spoiler free.

    But that’s just, like, my opinion, man.

    6 Aaron // Jan 26, 2014 at 10:52 am

    Well, to be fair: On AOTC Lucasfilm messed up completely, and it became virtually impossible not to stumble over every little detail. On ROTS they ran a much tighter ship, and we basically only got what they gave us. And they didn’t give us too much, I think, except for the trailers, of course, which probably shouldn’t have contained the Sidious/Palpatine revelation or Vader’s suit.

    7 John // Jan 26, 2014 at 11:47 am

    I wonder whether Abrams is referring to the back-story between Episodes VI and VII. Perhaps Lucasfilm is trying to keep the post-Episode VI region sufficiently vague to square with some of the existing EU.

    In general, though, I agree with the sentiment. I’m not a fan of the recent Dawn of the Jedi comics, in large part because I prefer the origins of the Jedi Order and the Republic to be mysterious. Ditto for the foundation of the Rebel Alliance (The Force Unleashed) and, to a certain extent, the Clone Wars. I think that leaving certain elements of setting and back-story vague makes the universe seem larger and more mythic.

    8 Didymus // Jan 26, 2014 at 2:43 pm

    At this point it would be nice to know one little thing! :-)

    Maybe the new policy should be “Spoiler Heaven for Episode VII”!

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