Despite already pushing the release date back to December, there’s been some nervous titters surrounding the oncoming return to a Galaxy Far Far Away. Basically, it’s on an insanely tight schedule. 

But never fear, the tireless man-o-sci-fi J. J. Abrams, talking during the Television Critics Association press tour where we was promoting his new show BELIEVE (because the man needs more projects), had this to say:

“We’re working really hard and we’ve got our script and we’re in deep prep… Full steam ahead.”

So there it is… a script! STAR WARS EPISODE VII is officially closer to being an actual thing, rejoice! In discussing the voracious rumour mill, Abrams seemed humbled if not endearingly unconcerned:

“There’ve been so many of them. It’s amazing to see how many there are. But it’s sweet because it shows that there’s an interest in this movie that we all obviously know is there. But it is an incredible thing to see how many crazy things get thrown out that people often then write commentaries about. How happy they are, how disappointed they are about something that is completely false. It’s a lot of noise, frankly.”

What a charmer. He also offered his thoughts on shooting in IMAX, making it sound like the worst kind of old man:

“In the right situation I would … The problem with IMAX is it’s a very loud camera. It’s a very unreliable camera. Only so much film can be in the camera. You can’t really do intimate scenes with it. It’s slow. They break down often. Having said that, they’re working on digital versions of these and so there may be a version one day. But we’re going to be shooting this next movie on film.”

As a final tid-bit of STAR WARS-y goodness, Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy offered a bit of, albeit still ambiguous, clarity regarding the relationship between the trilogy and the controversial standalone spin-offs.

Talking to The Straits Times she said, “George was so clear as to how that works. The canon that he created was the STAR WARS saga. Right now, EPISODE VII falls within that canon. The spin-off movies, or we may come up with some other way to call those films, they exist within that vast universe that he created. There is no attempt being made to carry characters from the standalone films in and out of the saga episodes. Consequently, from the creative standpoint, it’s a roadmap that George made pretty clear.”

So it seems we’ll have a trilogy following Luke, Leia, Han and their crèche of sprogs (which may or may not include BREAKING BAD’s Jesse Plemons) and the side-tales, whoever they may yet follow, working independently.

Lovely stuff.

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