J.J. Abrams Getting Into "Star Wars" Mode

With  the sequel "Star Trek Into Darkness" now in release director  J.J. Abrams is just starting to

focus on "Star Wars: Episode VII".

 

 

"We are, most likely, if all goes as planned, going to be moving to London at the end of the year for the Star Wars movie," Abrams said Saturday at the Produced By Conference.
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"It is so massive and so important to people," he said. "I think the key to moving forward on something like this is honoring but not revering what came before."

Abrams said the move to London would be quite an inconvenience for his wife and children.

"When you're 13 and 14, it's like, f--k that, I don't care what the movie is," he joked.

Oscar winner Michael Arndt ("Toy Story 3," "Little Miss Sunshine") is writing the script for the “Star Wars: Episode VII. The script is said to include Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia and Han Solo in their later years. No official word yet if Mark Hamill could be tempted to return as Luke Skywalker but he is interested... Carrie Fisher had all but confirmed that she would be back in the role of Princess Leia--but then her rep told CNN that she 'was joking'  Harrison Ford is also interested..."

Franchise creator George Lucas told Bloomberg Businessweek that he begun talks with original stars to have them return to for its new films -- before he had even begun the process of the ultimately $2 billion deal between Disney/Lucasfilm.

"We had already signed Mark and Carrie and Harrison—or we were pretty much in final stages of negotiation. So I called them to say, ‘Look, this is what’s going on. Maybe I’m not supposed to say that. I think they want to announce that with some big whoop-de-do, but we were negotiating with them... I won’t say whether the negotiations were successful or not."

Fellow Original castmates Billy Dee Williams and Anthony Daniels say that they are keen on returning to that "galaxy far, far, away".

Writers Lawrence Kasdan ("The Empire Strikes Back," "Raiders of the Lost Ark") and Simon Kinberg ("Sherlock Holmes," "X-Men: Days of Future Past") have reportedly closed deals to pen the final two installments of the new "Star Wars" trilogy. Kasdan and Kinberg are also indeed developing stand alone Star Wars features.

Kasdan and Kinberg would also join the projects as producers with Kathleen Kennedy.

More from Produced By: Abrams on Film's Future and his Love Hate Relationship With Tech and Endless Production Choices and When High Res Can Be too Much