The next Star Wars film could more closely resemble the originals (Picture: LucasFilm)

Star Wars Episode VII producer Kathleen Kennedy has suggested that JJ Abrams’ sequel will see a return to more practical effects, blending them with CGI in an attempt to recapture the magic of the original movies.

Kennedy said that ‘story and characters’ will be central to the saga’s latest instalment and there will be less reliance on computer-generated effects, a charge often made by fans against the franchise’s three prequels.

‘We have an amazing team at ILM, who can create fantastic effects, but if we don’t have a great story and characters, the effects mean nothing,’ Kennedy said at the Star Wars Celebration event in Essen, Germany.



When asked about the integration of more practical effects, she responded: ‘It’s a conversation we’re having all the time in the development of Episode VII.


Kathleen Kennedy says the new Star Wars movie is going ‘fantastically well’ (Picture: AP)

‘Looking at all the Star Wars movies and getting a feel for what even some of the early films did, combining real locations and special effects – that’s something we’re looking very seriously at.’

Kennedy also hinted that we could be seeing less CGI characters like Jar-Jar Binks and more real, physical droids.

‘It’s using model makers; it’s using real droids; it’s taking advantage of artwork that you actually can touch and feel,’ she said.

‘And we want to do that in combination with CG effects. We figure that’s what will make it real.’

Star Trek director JJ Abrams will helm the movie (Picture: Collection Christophel)

Aside from aesthetics, the highly-anticipated sequel will live and die by the strength of the script, with the dialogue of the prequels also having come under fire.

Speaking of the writing team behind the film, Kennedy was very positive, saying:: ‘It’s going fantastically well – JJ and I meet almost every day.

‘We’ve got Larry Kasdan, who worked on Empire and Jedi, as a writer. We have Michael Arndt writing, who had previously been with Pixar doing Toy Story and won an Academy Award for Little Miss Sunshine. And we have Simon Kinberg.

‘I think the team that we’ve assembled, everyone gets on so amazingly well – it’s been fantastic.’

Star Wars: Episode VII shoots in the UK next year and will open in cinemas in 2015.

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