Stephen Colbert geeked out with “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” director J.J. Abrams Saturday night in New Jersey and it did not disappoint.
For about 90 minutes, the two spoke of Abrams’ works ranging from “Super 8” and “Star Trek” to “Alias” before talking briefly about the movie on everyone’s mind, “The Force Awakens.”
The talk was part of the Montclair Film Festival’s annual events at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark Saturday evening.
While Abrams didn’t tell us any big secrets about “The Force Awakens,” he did give the estimated 2,800 crowd a few updates on the film and a few behind-the-scenes nuggets.
Keep reading to find out.
SEE ALSO: How you can see "The Force Awakens" before anyone else
The soundtrack for the movie is officially finished.
"This morning, at 2:30 in the morning, we finished the mix of the movie," said Abrams. "And then I left because I had to get to the Montclair Film Festival."
Colbert remarked that Abrams hasn't slept for the past 24-48 hours.
Legendary composer John Williams, who has previously done the soundtrack for every "Star Wars" film, is scoring "The Force Awakens." Abrams mentioned he was speaking with him last night.
"The Force Awakens" will have less lens flare than director J.J. Abrams' other films.
If you're a fan of Abrams then you know he loves adding lens flares to his movies.
Abrams mentioned that after 2013's "Star Trek Into Darkness" even his wife has had enough of his lens flare in movies.
"There was literally one scene where Alice Eve was so obliterated by a lens flare and I was showing the scene to my wife Katie, who just said, 'Okay, you know what? Enough.' I can't see what this scene is about. Who is standing there?'" Abrams recalled.
"So, I kind of pulled back, and as you'll see in the 'Star Wars' movie, I've allowed lens flares to take a very back seat," said Abrams.
They will be there though!
"There are a couple [scenes] where you have to have them though because there's a giant — there's a moment where you go — we're making sure that it looks photorealistic and photoreal," assured Abrams. "But every time there could be a flare, because he [visual effects supervisor, Roger Guyett] knows that I've liked to do that a lot, I've said, 'This is not the movie. These are not the flares you're looking for.'"
Abrams went through original "Star Wars" concept artist Ralph McQuarrie's artwork to draw inspiration for "The Force Awakens."
"We just went back in the archives of Lucasfilm and just looked at every Ralph McQuarrie image and painting and they have things that I have never seen," said Abrams.
"It was an amazing thing to see what he did," he continued. "It was amazing, too, because much of what he did was embracing fundamental form. He wouldn't overcomplicate things. He would use really familiar shapes. So if you think of like the Star Destroyer was a giant triangular ship or a TIE fighter was just sort of two planes and a sphere."
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