J.J. Abrams: ‘Star Wars’ Fans Who Didn’t Like ‘Last Jedi’ Are ‘Threatened’ By Women — Exclusive
As he prepares to reenter the “Star Wars” universe with his upcoming (and still-untitled) Episode IX, “Force Awakens” filmmaker J.J. Abrams is unbothered by the recent backlash to the diversity of “Star Wars: The Last Jedi.” Asked by IndieWire about pushback from “Star Wars” fans who decried Rian Johnson’s film for its focus on more female-centric stories (bolstered by the edition of franchise newbies like Laura Dern and Kelly Marie Tran), Abrams was clear: “Their problem isn’t ‘Star Wars,’ their problem is being threatened.”
Abrams was unfazed. “‘Star Wars’ is a big galaxy, and you can sort of find almost anything you want to in ‘Star Wars,‘” he said. “If you are someone who feels threatened by women and needs to lash out against them, you can probably find an enemy in ‘Star Wars.’ You can probably look at the first movie that George [Lucas] did [‘Star Wars: A New Hope’] and say that Leia was too outspoken, or she was too tough. Anyone who wants to find a problem with anything can find the problem. The internet seems to be made for that.”
Asked if fan outcry would at all impact his vision for the upcoming film, Abrams was clear. “Not in the least,” he said, adding, “There’s a lot that I would like to say about it, but I feel like it’s a little early to be having the ‘Episode IX’ conversation … I will say that the story of Rey and Poe and Finn and Kylo Ren — and if you look, there are three men and one women, to those that are complaining that there are too many women in ‘Star Wars’ — their story continues in a way that I couldn’t be more excited about and cannot wait for people to see.”
Equality in the industry is currently top of mind for the filmmaker, as Abrams is being honored later this month with the Athena Film Festival’s Leading Man Award, given to “men in Hollywood who have a strong track record of serving as vocal allies of and effective advocates for women in entertainment.” Previous honorees include Paul Feig and David Oyelowo.
“I wish it weren’t something that there was a need to do,” he said when asked about the honor. “It’s a bit like Black History Month, like why should it just be a month? Why can’t it just be part of history? Why does there have to be a special award for someone who is working to be as collaborative with as many women as possible? That’s simply good business … We will keep making mistakes and trying to do better, but the end game is equality.”
– abridged, link above for full text [I’ve just realized that the article hasn’t been properly edited as of posting (referring to Rey as one women), but the message is clear.]