Star Wars: The Force Awakens Held Advance Screenings For Dozens Of Terminally Ill Fans

While the case of Daniel Fleetwood hit it big in the press, as the #ForceForDaniel campaign reached fans, news outlets, and Star Wars actors alike, other fans were screened Star Wars: The Force Awakens before it was released. These terminally ill fans, hoping to see the film before passing, were J.J. Abrams' personal favorite fan experiences throughout the movie process, he told EW.com.

"You know, there are a lot of examples of passionate and excitable people but the most, I think, profound experience was that in the time before the movie came out — about a month before — we had a couple people go around to those fans who were not going to survive because of terminal illness until the movie came out. The movie was screened probably two dozen or so times to various people who, tragically, were struck with illness that would prevent them from seeing the movie otherwise," Abrams said.

The director called each of those fans personally, talking to them before and after they saw the film.

"Sometimes they were adults and other times they were children and it was always… it was the most profound thing to be reminded in such a clear and wonderful and heartbreaking way how important this world was that George Lucas created, what it meant to these people," he said. "It was a reminder to all of us how what we were doing was really important to so many people."

Abrams did something similar with Star Trek Into Darkness, screening that film for a dying fan in 2013. He's kept most of such requests a secret, hoping not to "turn [them] into a publicity stunt."

Star Wars: The Force Awakens is now available on Blu-ray, DVD, and Digital HD.