Advice JJ Abrams Got After Showing Star Wars: The Force Awakens To Ava DuVernay

Via Cinemablend.com:

Making a movie is a team effort, and sometimes help even comes from outside of the official team. J.J. Abrams took this to heart when he was shooting Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Even though principal photography on the movie concluded in November 2014, the director and his crew allotted for re-shoots later on. Before those commenced, Abrams showed a rough cut of The Force Awakens to his friend, Selma director Ava DuVernay, and it looks like we have her to thank for a cool moment in the lightsaber battle between Rey and Kylo Ren. As he put it:

“I showed an early cut to my friend Ava DuVernay, and she had a bunch of great suggestions. One of them was she really wanted to see Daisy, in her attack on Ren, have one really cool moment.”

In the new audio commentary on the Star Wars: The Force Awakens 3D Collector’s Edition (via Yahoo), J.J Abrams revealed that it was Ava DuVernay who suggested that Daisy Ridley’s Rey get a chance to shine in a close-up during the duel. As a refresher, there comes a point when Kylo Ren and Rey lock lightsabers, and Kylo attempts to seduce her to the dark side. In the original version shot during principal photography, Rey simply called him a monster and pushed back. However, in the reshoots, she takes Maz Kanata’s earlier advice to heart by closing her eyes and letting the Force flow through her.

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