J. J. Abrams Calls ‘Star Wars’ A Religion, Discusses ‘The Force Awakens’

The Force Awakens director J. J. Abrams described Star Wars as being more like a religion than a franchise at the Milken Global Conference.

Star Wars
Star Wars has left an impact across popular culture in a way that no other franchise really has, so it’s really no surprise when director J. J. Abrams has the audacity to call it a religion. The director also discussed a few details regarding his own contribution to the franchise, The Force Awakens.

The Wrap reports that Abrams spoke at the Milken Global Conference. While he was there, he talked about the importance of Star Wars to the fans:

“Star Wars isn’t a movie, it’s a religion. But this religion people have — they don’t always know how fungible these things are.”

The director also described an anecdote when he was filming on the set of the Millennium Falcon. Harrison Ford had previously complained about the ship’s cockpit during the original production of A New Hope back in the late 1970s because some of the toggles on the ship wouldn’t remain in place, so Abrams made sure that his concerns were accounted for by adding springs to these yokes, meaning that he could actually flick them like a real plane. Abrams also noted an incident where a set created as part of the pre-visualization process looked odd when actually constructed in real life, mentioning that even new advances in technology have their limitations.

Source: TheWrap