Stories from the set

George Lucas said that the merger of Lucasfilm and Disney was a necessary measure in order to "hand Star Wars over to a new generation of filmmakers."

Although this film was not announced (nor was the sale of Lucasfilm to Disney) until November 2012, Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher stated that they had discussed their involvement in the seventh episode and subsequent Star Wars films with George Lucas back in the summer of 2012.

This is the first film in the franchise to be distributed by Walt Disney Pictures.

When choosing a director for the film, candidates considered included Matthew Vaughn, Steven Spielberg, Guillermo del Toro, Peter Jackson, Christopher Nolan, Ben Affleck, Joss Whedon, Brad Bird, Rian Johnson, and James Cameron. The choice fell on J.J. Abrams. It was subsequently announced that Johnson would write and direct the eighth installment of the saga, scheduled for release in 2017, and would also take part in creating the ninth installment two years later.

After J.J. Abrams publicly declined to direct the new Star Wars film, Kathleen Kennedy visited his office. Their negotiations lasted more than a month. The main problem for Abrams was that this project is incredibly huge and has great cultural significance.

Jonathan Rhys Meyers was considered for a role in this film.

This is the first J.J. Abrams film whose musical score will not be composed by Michael Giacchino. Giacchino himself said in an interview that he would rather hear John Williams' music in this film than his own.

Brad Bird and Matthew Vaughn declined the position of director for the project. Bird was already signed on to the film «Tomorrowland» (2014). Vaughn entered negotiations and even left the project «X-Men: Days of Future Past» (2014) in order to helm the new Star Wars film, but ultimately declined due to «creative differences».

In the summer of 2013, it emerged that Carrie Fisher and Mark Hamill were actively preparing for their roles as Leia and Luke, respectively.

Director J.J. Abrams made the decision to build the spacecraft "Millennium Falcon" in the smallest detail specifically for the film's shooting. The ship was recreated at a 1:1 scale, that is, life-size, and was also fully furnished inside.