JJ Abrams On Crossguard Lightsaber; Only One Star Wars VII Scene Shot In IMAX

Last night, J.J. Abrams ("Star Trek Into Darkness") received the Visionary Award at the Visual Effects Society Awards. Collider took the opportunity to ask him about Star Wars: The Force Awakens and even slipped in a question about Star Trek 3.

First up, there has been a lot of discussion regarding the new crossguard lightsaber that was shown in the first teaser trailer. It emits a beam, or beams, from the hilt of the weapon. Many have argued that the design would actually be more dangerous to the user wielding the saber than the swordsman's foe. "I will say that what's been funny is, since the lightsaber's come out, I cannot tell you how many contradictory emails I have received from people who have both defended it with unbelievably detailed graphics," J.J. Abrams told Collider. "I've gotten things that are nuts, and I've gotten people who've shown how it'll kill you and how it doesn't make any sense.  It's been the funniest thing to see the arguments that have developed over this thing."

J.J. said he would share the origin of the crossguard lightsaber at a later time, as it is a "long story." Though he did say, "It was a number of conversations [that led to the design].  It was a sketch that became a whole thing and, you know, this was not done without a lot of conversation and it's fun to see people have the conversation that we had, but in reverse."

More and more films today shoot scenes with IMAX cameras to entice people to shell out a few dollars more to see the film on IMAX screens. Makes sense. For Star Wars: The Force Awakens, there will be only one scene devoted to the larger format. "It's really one sequence so it's not a ton [of IMAX footage], but it's a good sequence," J.J. Abrams said.

Meanwhile, J.J. left Star Trek to go work on Star Wars, but he's still producing the thrid Star Trek film. When asked to comment on Simon Pegg being hired to co-write the script"[Pegg] and I had talked quite a bit about story, he had a lot of wonderful ideas," he said.  "It just sort of felt obvious that he would be a wonderful person to work on the story and help craft the story, so he's working on it."

Star Wars: The Force Awakens arrives in theaters December 18, 2015.