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"Anyone who makes movies will say: 'Please don’t watch my
movies on that,'" J.J. Abrams, 49, the writer-director of the
latest installment in the "Star Wars" franchise, told a seminar
at the South by Southwest film festival in Austin.
"It is the nightmare of every storyteller that people are going
to watch something you made on something so small," he said,
adding it was inevitable that people would find it more
convenient to watch the movie on a handheld device.
Walt Disney Co.'s "The Force Awakens" is the third-highest
grossing film ever worldwide. It was made for about $200 million
and has taken in more than $2 billion globally. It will be
released on iTunes on April 1, and includes extra scenes and a
feature-length documentary on its making.
The technology-savvy filmmaker, who produced the indie sci-fi
film “10 Cloverfield Lane,” which grossed $25 million over the
weekend, added one of the benefits of the proliferation of
smartphones was that anyone could make and distribute movies.
He also said the outcry about the lack of diversity in this
year's Academy Award nominations served as a wake-up call for
the industry and led his production company, Bad Robot, to
broaden its list of candidates for films.
He said it would take time but be good for the bottom line in
the long run to have more unique stories being told.
"This is about opportunity to give people who might not be the
usual suspects a chance in front of, and behind the camera," he
said. "There is no quota. It's simply about consideration."
(Reporting by Jon Herskovitz; Editing by Peter Cooney)
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