Patton Oswalt may have captured the hearts of many a “Star Wars” fan with his dream outline for the series’ onslaught of new entries — starting in 2015 with “Star Wars: Episode VII” — but Kathleen Kennedy likely chuckled and kept to her airtight plan. The Lucasfilm President has been endlessly prepping the much-anticipated sequels, and as the films finally start to become a reality, she’s offered up some info on how we’ll be hearing about them in the future.
Kennedy recently spoke about ‘Episode VII’ to ScreenSlam (via SlashFilm), and naturally the question of secrecy around the upcoming shoot came up. The swirl of plot rumors and returning characters have made the topic of secrecy a persistent one, further fueled by director J.J. Abrams‘ well-known “mystery box” approach, i.e. a few vague hints and that’s it. But Kennedy says the “whole issue of confidentiality” is going to be “fascinating” moving forward into production.
“If we’re shooting anything outside, it’s almost impossible to not have things end up on the Internet,” she explained. “So my feeling is, you need to embrace that, especially with the fans around something like ‘Star Wars.’ You need to recognize they’re important to the process and acknowledge there are things you’re gonna want to make sure they get to know.
As Peter Jackson found out first with the ‘LOTR’ trilogy and “The Hobbit,” production diaries can be an insightful, fun way to bring the audience in and excite them, and Abrams is similarly enthused about the power of bonus features (see: the “Star Trek” Blu-ray). Some excellent material could result for the “Star Wars” universe; we’re sure to hear Abrams’ thoughts on the matter as “Star Trek Into Darkness” nears release on May 17th, before his similarly huge follow-up gig awaits.
